Top1000funds.com rated ‘most useful’ by readers 

Research into Top1000funds.com readers’ preferences and habits reveals that the publication is rated as the most useful to them in the performance of their jobs, and is read by some of the most senior investment professionals inside asset-owner organisations around the world.  

New independent research reveals that Top1000funds.com readers consider the publication the most useful of its type for delivering news, insights and analysis that help them in their jobs.  

The publication, launched in 2008 with the aim of promoting best practice in asset ownership and management in the global community of international pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors, is rated by almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of its readers as the most useful publication to them. 

It ranks well ahead of Bloomberg (68 per cent) and FT.com (65 per cent), while less than half consider Institutionalinvestor.com (48 per cent) and Pionline.com (28 per cent) to be most useful to them. 

Overall, 96 per cent of Top1000funds.com’s readers find the publication useful, including 62 per cent who say they get information from it that they simply cannot get anywhere else.  

Top1000funds.com’s focus on investment strategy and implementation issues and commitment to original news stories, case studies and research means that almost a third (31 per cent) of its readers say it is an essential business resource for them, and around four in 10 (39 per cent) regularly share articles published in Top1000finds.com with colleagues and friends. 

The publication’s differentiating factors – including being for and about asset owners, and the mission to lead the global investment industry to continuous improvement – have positioned it well among readers. The publication continues to push the industry to question whether status quo processes and behaviours to tackle risks and opportunities will be sufficient in the future, and actively campaigns for diversity, sustainability, transparency, innovation and better alignment of fees in the investment industry. 

The research, conducted independently by US-based market research firm Signet Research, shows that more than half (52 per cent) of Top1000funds.com’s readers are employed by asset owners, including public and corporate pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, and non-profit institutions. 

96 per cent of Top1000funds.com’s readers find the publication useful for their jobs

It shows that Top1000funds.com reaches the key decisionmakers inside asset-owner organisations. More than half of its readers hold senior roles within their respective organisations, including 18 per cent who are chairs, chief executives, presidents or partners; and more than a quarter (26 per cent) who are chief investment officers, portfolio managers or heads of asset classes. 

In addition, almost half (47 per cent) of readers are involved in investment policy committees, pension boards, boards of directors or executive committees, or other committees and boards.  

Around 45 per cent of readers are personally involved in selecting external asset management firms – and for around half of the 55 per cent that are not, it’s only because their organisations do not employ external firms. 

Overall, about 85 per cent of readers are directly or indirectly involved in or influence asset manager selection. 

Almost a quarter of Top1000funds.com’s readers work for organisations that manage $100 billion or more. The average asset size of a Top1000funds.com reader is $148 billion. 

Top1000funds.com enjoys a truly international reach and a geographically diverse readership, with 44 per cent located in North America, 28 per cent in Europe and 19 per cent in Oceania.  

And its readers are loyal, with one in seven (14 per cent) having read the publication for 10 years or more, and another four in 10 (38 per cent) having read it for between five and 10 years. But it also continues to attract new readers, with around one in 12 (8 per cent) having read the publication for a year or less. 

Three of Top1000funds.com’s regular featured editorial and research projects and Fiduciary Investor Symposium (FIS) events are well understood and supported by its readers, with 66 per cent, 63 per cent and 57 per cent of readers aware of the Asset Owner Directory, CIO Sentiment Survey and Global Pension Transparency Benchmark, respectively. 

More than a third (35 per cent) of readers have already attended a FIS event and will attend again in future, with another 24 per cent saying they plan to attend their first FIS event in future. 

Around eight in 10 (79 per cent) of Top1000funds.com readers are male and two in 10 (20 per cent) are female, with an average age across the board of 54 years. Almost six in 10 (58 per cent) hold a master’s degree or higher, including 12 per cent who are PhD qualified.