For 25 years, our traditional Institutional Investment study has provided in-depth insights into the activities of Finland's most significant institutional investors. At the same time, we have been involved in influencing the development of the entire industry by helping asset managers to better understand their clients' needs and changes in the market.
This post is part of a blog series where we present our study from different perspectives. In this part of the blog series, we examine how research serves the wealth management community and share our clients' experiences of using research in practice. You can find the first part of the blog series here!
SFR Research is an independent research company founded in the early 1990s, and we offer high-quality institutional investment and capital market research for the benefit of the entire wealth management and investor community. Our esteemed research is based on long-term trust and cooperation with the investors we interview. Check out all our studies here!
What is Institutional Investment Services -research?
The Institutional Investment Services Programme, or ISP survey, is an in-depth interview survey conducted regularly since 2000, in which approximately one hundred of Finland's key institutional investors participate annually. The interviewees include a wide range of investors, such as pension funds, insurance companies and foundations, and the combined investment assets of these actors amount to nearly EUR 300 billion.
The interviews we conduct are strictly confidential and the interviewees are our committed partners. We never disclose the names, responses or contact details of individual investors, and all information provided by survey participants is processed statistically in such a way that it is not possible to identify individual respondents.
The study offers a unique perspective on the Finnish institutional market. In it, we analyse, for example, investor allocations, the use of investment instruments and future trends. In addition, we investigate investors' experiences of the operations of different service providers and the reasons behind asset manager choices. Our goal is to strengthen and streamline the market to make it easier for investors to find the most suitable partner and to enable asset managers to meet investors' needs with increasingly high-quality services. You can read more about the study here.
Why is ISP research important for investment service providers operating in Finland?
We serve asset management companies both in Finland and abroad, and our clients utilise our research in a variety of ways to develop their operations. For our long-term customers, the survey serves as an annual review of the development of their own organization and the competitive situation in the industry. For new customers, the unique 25-year time series of our study provides a way to understand the Finnish institutional investment market even better.
Today, asset management firms need to be able to meet clients' increasingly diverse needs for service quality, customization and results, while being transparent and offering customer-oriented solutions. In addition, investors are demanding increasingly high-quality expertise in areas such as responsibility and risk management. This requires asset management firms to make effective use of industry best practices and to continuously adapt to the changing market environment. In the end, those who succeed in the industry are those who are able to offer end-to-end added value by combining deep investor understanding, strong customer relationships and a culture of continuous development where customer expectations and market dynamics go hand in hand.
SFR's ISP research responds to precisely these challenges by providing asset management firms with a tool to monitor their development and competitive position. Tailored to each customer's needs, the package provides concrete and impartial information on how your organization ranks in the market, where there are hidden development opportunities and what investors expect from the future. We review the results annually personally with the business management.
One of our customers describes the significance of the survey as follows: "The SFR survey is an important annual quality check that helps us know where we are doing and how we can develop our own operations further."
Support for measuring the competitive landscape
Our research provides information on, among other things, how investors have evaluated service providers based on criteria such as profit history, quality of customer service and price. It provides a comprehensive picture of the competitive landscape of the Finnish asset management industry and how different asset managers are doing in relation to their competitors. The report also serves as a quality check and an objective measure of customer satisfaction.
One of our clients describes the importance of the Competitive Position Report as follows: "The most important research report is the Competitive Positioning Report, which gives us insight into our relative position in the market. It's important to know how the position changes from year to year and what factors affect your score."
What kind of information do we offer regarding the competitive landscape?
- Service provider utilization rates and their development over the years
- Market shares of service providers and average portfolio size
- Service providers' performance according to several different criteria
- Tailored comparison with key competitors with different criteria and value weightings
- Expected changes by investors in the use of service providers over the next year
- Open comments on investors' assessments of service providers' performance
Rewarding the best performing providers
The annual survey results provide a valuable overview of the market for asset management companies and investors alike. For a long time, we have awarded the operators with the highest ratings in the survey, and the awardees also utilise this prestigious recognition in their own communications. You can read more about the awardees and the awards here.
Overview of investment market trends in Finland
The market report included in our study provides unique information on Finnish institutional investing and serves as an excellent tool for understanding the markets. It helps, for example, in outlining demand trends, compiling the right range of services and identifying the special characteristics of different investor groups.
The report provides information related to, for example, investor allocations and future indicated changes as well as demand trends. In addition, we investigate investors' thoughts on sustainable investing and examine annually changing themes, such as the effects of rising interest rates on allocation.
This report is important for many of our customers to support decision-making, as it can be used to anticipate the development of market trends and make informed decisions, for example, regarding product range. One of our customers commented on the report as follows: "The market report is a faith-building element that reinforces one's own feelings about customer behavior and changes in it."
What kind of market information does the study provide?
- Comparison of the use of different forms of investment service contracts, broken down as a whole and into different investor groups
- Current allocations and their expected future changes as a whole and by investor group
- Use of index funds and ETFs and their expected changes
- Investors' views and practices on sustainable investing
- Topical thematic issues, for example related to rising interest rates
- Open comments on, for example, allocation and sustainable investment
Information on alternative investments
The popularity of alternative investments has increased significantly, which has also increased the importance of their research. Each year, we analyse the structure of investors' alternative investment portfolios and examine demand trends between different investor groups, compiling a comprehensive report on these findings. This report provides asset managers with an essential tool for strengthening their operations in the field of Finnish alternative investing, providing in-depth market information and up-to-date insights related to this ever-growing investment class.
The Alternative Investing Report focuses on analysing the performance of alternative investments by major asset managers and their positioning in the market. In spring 2024, we conducted a separate Alternative Managers study on alternative investing, with a particular focus on private equity funds, with the aim of enabling investors to compare alternative investment funds more easily. The study was the first of its kind as a peer study of Finnish alternative asset managers based on investor interviews. You can check out the SFR Alternative Managers study here!
What makes ISP research the best tool on the market for investment service providers?
SFR Research stands out in the market with its unique and comprehensive research methodology, as all our research is conducted as personal in-depth interviews. In addition, all our interviewers have extensive experience in the asset management industry.
The survey has a very high response rate year after year, which increases the reliability of the survey. This sets us apart from other players and makes our research respected by both asset managers and investors.
Why choose ISP research?
- We provide unique information about the institutional investment market in Finland
- The study has a 25-year history of Finnish institutional investment
- One hundred of the most significant institutional investors are respondents in the survey each year
- The respondents' combined wealth is nearly EUR 300 billion
- The survey has a very high response rate every year
- Personal in-depth interviews are conducted by long-term professionals in the investment industry
Interested in our research?
Our research provides unique and in-depth information on the investment activities and market development of Finland's most significant institutional investors. Our customers use our reports in a variety of ways, for example, to develop their product portfolio, improve the quality of services and understand the market. Our service helps them stay one step ahead of the competition and make decisions based on both trends and investor needs.
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