Insights
Chestnut conducts market research among hundreds of investors and consultants on an ongoing basis to understand current concerns and marketplace trends. We publish our research regularly and speak at many leading industry events. We also host exclusive Chestnut events for our clients.
Future of Investments information available
Your Performance Doesn’t Really Matter
What Successful Managers Do Differently
We wanted to understand why so many outstanding asset managers are finding asset growth increasingly difficult. So we reviewed investment performance and asset flow data for 931 asset managers over a seven year period, and conducted a survey of institutional investors controlling $429 billion of capital. The surprising answers to our query explain exactly what successful asset managers do differently.
Recent Research
Webinar
Global OCIO AUM topped $2.4 trillion this year. In this webinar, we reveal our forecast for 2026. Sharing insights from our research, our panelists from Mercer and Alpha Capital discussed the catalysts driving OCIO growth.
Article
M&A among investment firms is a strategy intended to drive profitable growth. In this article, we examine the trends motivating these deals and the many hurdles to successful deal execution. Please fill out the form below to view our research. Shortly after...
Webinar
We discuss our Future of Investments research on investment firm M&A with leaders from Mercer (Keith Mote) and TIAA (Javier Enrile). Industry changes driving increased M&A activity, the types of asset manager deals that are most (and least) likely to succeed,...
Webinar
As the investment industry faces unprecedented challenges, Chestnut and P&I partnered to conduct comprehensive research into the issues impacting the future of our industry. Chestnut CEO Amanda Tepper provides a first look into how a wide range of industry groups...
Webinar
Distribution leaders Sydney McConathy, Head of Business Development at Hancock Natural Resource Group and Dominica Ribeiro, Chief Marketing Officer at Breckinridge Capital discuss how they have successfully steered their relationships with investors and consultants...
Webinar
Chris Philips, Head of Vanguard’s OCIO business, discusses how he has navigated his team over the last year, through the transition to an all-remote work environment, adding private equity to their platform, and driving growth in an increasingly crowded and...
Webinar
CIBC Asset Management manages more than $100B in retail assets and is one of the largest subadvisory platforms in Canada, with more than $30B of externally-subadvised assets. In this webinar, we speak with CIBC Asset Management's Managing Director of Investment...
Webinar
Amanda and Simon talk with David Pappalardo of Segal Marco about best practices for managers who seek to gain the attention of retail intermediaries. Please fill out the form below to view our research. Shortly after submitting you will receive an email with a link to...
Webinar
Retail assets are expected to grow at nearly twice the rate of institutional assets over the next 5 years. The globally-recognized investment consultant Mercer has been at the forefront of the segment's rapid growth. David Hyman, who leads Mercer's Financial...
Webinar
Matthew Wright of Disciplina and Joe Halwax of Wespath share timely insights into how their firms select asset managers for their clients' portfolios and how their unique business models differ from those of the largest OCIOs. Please fill out the form below to view...
Webinar
Stephen Beinhacker, SEI's Global Head of Manager Research, discusses many aspects of SEI's manager research and the firm's unique business model with Amanda Tepper and Natalie Marvi-Romeo of Chestnut. Please fill out the form below to view our research. Shortly after...
Article
Although retail is the fastest-growing segment of the investment marketplace, massive recent changes have asset managers scrambling to adjust to the new paradigm. In our quest to identify best practices asset managers can use to grow their retail business...
Webinar
Andy Kitchen and John Forrest of Russell Investments join Chestnut's Simon Segall and Elyse Goodman to discuss their approach to client service and manager due diligence during a pandemic. They also share their recommendations on asset mix, active vs passive, and...
Article and Webinar
When we saw the COVID-19 crisis beginning to upend the capital markets, we turned to consultants and OCIOs to gain a clearer understanding of the state of the investment marketplace. Our research reveals how this crisis has accelerated some key industry trends while...
Webinar
Chris Philips, Head of Institutional Advisory Services at Vanguard, shares with us key elements in the evolution of Vanguard's rapidly-growing OCIO business, including how Vanguard is now adding private assets to their OCIO platform, their post-pandemic growth outlook...
Webinar
Goldman's $143B Global Portfolio Solutions business has grown rapidly via a compelling mix of build and buy strategies. Greg Calnon, who has been leading this business since October 2019, discusses key issues he is facing today, including crisis communication with...
Webinar
Asset managers seeking to grow their business today are facing a brave new world. Due to the COVID pandemic, investors' needs and interests have changed. All investor meetings today are virtual and asset management salespeople are grounded, learning new tools and...
Webinar
David Eisenberg rejoined Cambridge Associates in December 2019 as an OCIO in the firm's pension practice. In this webinar, he discusses: Is the COVID crisis accelerating the growth of OCIOs? What are investors' biggest portfolio issues now? What do consultants most...
Webinar
We share our insights from investors regarding best practices for asset managers today. Now is the time for managers to retain clients and build trust so that they can accelerate growth when crisis abates.
Article
We partnered with Pensions & Investments to determine what institutional investors want most from investment manager content today. Our research reveals steps managers can take – and mistakes they can avoid
– in their ongoing efforts to educate investors.
Article
Chestnut recently held a discussion with Blackstone’s Head of Private Wealth Solutions Joan Solotar to understand how the firm is navigating the rapidly changing retail distribution landscape. We believe Blackstone’s retail growth strategy and tactics embody best practices that, when implemented thoughtfully and carefully, can successfully drive growth at any asset manager.
Article and Webinar
Severe disruption across the asset management industry is driving managers to pursue new distribution strategies. Our research indicates that the most successful asset managers are taking an increasingly marketing-led approach to distribution.
Article and Webinar
Our research confirms trust as the single most important factor driving the decision to fire an asset managers and highlights concrete steps managers can take to actively cultivate trust with investors to build their business.
Article and Webinar
Asset managers spend enormous resources regularly populating over 40 manager databases in hopes of screening well and gaining more AUM. Our research reveals how managers can improve their database efforts, better positioning them to win new business.
Article and Webinar
After spending enormous resources crafting a message designed to resonate with investors, managers face a second hurdle: getting their message heard. Although investors tell us they feel overwhelmed with information, our research shows that few manager messages reach their targets as intended. We’ve identified the best approach to ensure investors actually hear what you have to say.
Article and Webinar
The rapidly evolving OCIO market has created new opportunities and risks for asset managers. We spoke with leading industry experts to help identify the best way for managers to make the most of this growing opportunity.
Article
Performance reviews are among the most important conversations an asset manager has with their investors. Based on our extensive research, we’ve outlined the hallmarks of a superb performance review that you can use every quarter from now on, whether you’ve outperformed or not.
Article
Our latest research reveals that trust and understanding drive consultant recommendations. Asset managers must create a world class investor communications effort to gain that trust.
We’ve outlined just what types of communications consultants are looking for from asset managers’ and how you can best position your firm for success.
Article
Our latest research among institutional investors reveals that once hired, asset managers go silent on fees; most investors also lose focus on this important topic. Investors’ resulting ignorance about their managers’ value proposition leaves managers vulnerable to misunderstanding that can lead to termination.
Article
Asset managers are increasingly inundating allocators with thought leadership in hopes of growing their business. Allocators tell us most of these ‘insights’ are not helpful. To determine the key elements of truly great thought leadership we conducted research among over 100 institutional investors and consultants, as well as over 50 asset managers.
Article
We wanted to understand why the biggest managers keep gaining market share from everyone else. So we reviewed investment performance and asset flow data for 931 asset managers over seven years, and conducted a survey of institutional investors controlling $429 billion of capital. The surprising answers are detailed in this white paper.