Producers like American Funds, iShares, and Jackson National: Cogent

American Funds, iShares, and Jackson Nation Life enjoy the strongest “personal connection” with financial advisors who sell their mutual funds, ETFs and variable annuities, respectively, according to Boston-based Cogent Research.

The results were announced in Cogent’s Advisor Touchpoints 2012, a proprietary report based on a survey of 1,741 retail investment advisors in all major distribution channels. Survey participants were required to have an active book of business of at least $5 million, and offer investment advice or planning services to individual investors.

When asked to identify the mutual fund company with which they feel the “strongest connection,” 16% of mutual fund producers named American Funds. More than a third (37%) of ETF producers identified iShares as their favorite ETF company and 24% of variable annuity sellers said Jackson National was their favorite provider of VAs.

 “Trust and familiarity, built up with advisors over many years, has and will continue to sustain these market leaders against the onslaught of competition,” said Linda York, Cogent’s research director. “For Jackson National, which overtook Prudential this year on this measure, it is proof that building a strong connection with advisors can actually propel a company to the top.”

Cogent also asked advisors who don’t currently sell a company’s products to name firms with which they feel personally connected, since the answer indicates what they are likely to sell in the future. Five percent of non-users named J.P. Morgan Funds, 9% named PowerShares, and 11% named Jackson Life indicated that they feel more connected to these firms than their current providers. 

According to Cogent, Jackson ranked the highest in personal connection in the national and independent channels, and among advisors with $100 million or more in assets. Jackson led all VA providers in client activity, with 65% of advisors saying they had received a Jackson external wholesaler visit within the past three months, and 73% saying they had received a Jackson internal wholesaler phone call within the past six months.

© 2012 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.