Well-designed fund websites, in both the functional and aesthetic capacities, are empowering for both the fund company and the end user. It’s easily an asset manager’s best sales and marketing tool, working around the clock, 24/7.
Intuitive design is how we give the user new superpowers.”
– Jared Spool, Web Site Usability: A Designer’s Guide
In an industry that has been slow to make the digital shift, you’ll find a fund manager websites that are all over the spectrum – some great, some good, and some so bad they might as well not exist.
What makes a great fund website?
There are a number of features every fund website should include to be considered a useful website for fund marketing: 1) aesthetic appeal 2) print & share options 3) mobile responsiveness 4) interactive fund tables & charts 5) search, compare & watchlists and 6) speed.
The fund sites on this list have been ranked according to how well they’ve executed in these six categories. We arrived at this highly subjective list by adding up the scores we’ve given each site in the different categories. It’s important to note that some of these sites perform better in one category than in another For instance, some have a great aesthetic design, but lack the print/share features that make for an optimal fund exploration experience.
Without further ado, here are the top 20 investment managers in Europe and the US, ranked by overall usefulness:
20. UBS
Slow and steady doesn’t always win the race, especially when it comes to features on a website. UBS Switzerland’s fund performance comparison tool lands at the bottom of our list with its retro appearance, homegrown feel and sluggish load time!
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Watch List |
19. Amundi Asset Management
Changing between tabs is quick and easy once you’re in the performance tab, but it’s a different experience on the homepage. Switching tabs on the homepage is a painfully slow process. The Parisian asset management firm’s performance charts are cool and interactive, but unfortunately don’t load on the iPhone or iPad because they are Flash-based.
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Share/Print features |
18. Natixis
Natixis’ site might be fast, but it’s completely static. The fund performance data is only available in PDF format. And while you can narrow the list of investment vehicles by asset class, share class and investment manager, there’s no watchlist options and no live charting anywhere on the website.
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Fast Loading |
17. Generali Group
We had major problems viewing the pages on this Italian investment giant’s website. And if you were thinking about using the site on your phone, forget about it. The mobile version is terrible. There are some cool points to be awarded here though — Generali Group provides interactive charts and the ability to download performance data into Excel files.
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Interactive Charts |
16. Allianz Group
There are some performance charts on the Allianz Group’s website, but they’re all flat, Excel-style graph images with no interactivity. The document tabs allow you to download PDFs of annual reports. Unfortunately, Allianz joins the list of firms with a mobile unfriendly site.
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Share/Print features |
15. HSBC Global Asset Management
The design of HSBC’s Holdings UK website is dated, but it does work well on an iPad. The site has no data visualization and very limited features, which decreases the usefulness of the site to a potential investor.
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Share/Print features |
14. Prudential Financial
Recognized by its logo, the rock of Gibraltar, this company’s website often presents the user with multiple ways to access fund data. Although this is a great feature, outside of a single “mountain chart,” there is very little interactivity on the individual fund pages. The site has been optimized for mobile viewing.
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Share/Print features | Mobile Friendly | Interactive Charts |
13. Legal & General Group
The fund website of the London-headquartered Legal & General has a confusing UI. There’s a weird combination of static performance charts and interactive pie charts. Even with that said, the site is fast and works well on an iPad.
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Interactive Charts | Fast Loading |
12. Deutsche Bank
No “sticky” or engaging performance graphs, but this Teutonic titan’s website does have some well-developed bar charts. The portfolio composition using percentages and simple icons to illustrate the different sectors is an effective way to convey sector data. The accessible PDFs round out their pages nicely, making info easy to print and share.
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Share/Print features | Fast Loading |
11. AXA Group
Break out the reading glasses to scan AXA’s website — or look to the top right of the page to increase the font size to it’s max size. The “Add to MyFunds” (watchlist) and “Export to Excel” buttons on the Fund Centre page help to organize and use their fund information, but visuals would help illuminate their data.
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Share/Print features | Watch List |
10. Franklin Templeton
FT scored high on the “print/share-friendly” category with their website’s effective print button features. Their bulk factsheet download is handy, but their watchlist features aren’t viewable. The website’s fixed charts need some life!
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Share/Print features | Fast Loading |
9. BNP Paribas
Rather than making performance charts visible on the page, BNP Paribas’ homegrown site emails them to the interested investor. There are a few great features we love, like the ability to create your own booklet of funds, quick PDF generation and the easy-to-use fund search.
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Share/Print features |
8. Vanguard Group
The American investment management company received an honorable score in the “Search, Compare & Watchlist” category. Vanguard’s site provides a good number of quality tools and solid cross-linking between related share classes and ETFs. The Morningstar-based fund comparison tool is particularly interesting.
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Share/Print features | Interactive Charts | Watch List | Fast Loading |
7. Fidelity Investments
Although the page design is an old school, left-aligned 1024×768 type of site, the fund tools are packed with information. The Fidelity site is fast and the charts are interactive (just the way we like ’em). One of our favorite features is the “buy/trade” button that acts as a clear call to action.
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Share/Print features | Interactive Charts | Watch List | Fast Loading |
6. The Capital Group
Seems like Capital Group’s site went through a recent redesign – and it looks great! CG’s well-designed site has a clean layout with beautiful fonts and charts (lacking interactivity though). Their watchlist is activated with the “tracker” button at the top right, although you can’t bookmark funds unless you have a registered account. This site looks great on mobile with a nicely designed version for your smartphone.
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Great UI | Share/Print features | Mobile Friendly | Interactive Charts | Watch List | Fast Loading |
5. Neuberger Berman
You have to check out the design of this site – it’s really amazing. It looks very similar to the J.P. Morgan fund tools and BNY Mellon’s solution for fund document distribution. The fund site is easy to navigate. When you click into a fund, there are vector icons (in a navigation bar) that allow you to go directly to the section of the fund you’re most interested in.
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Great UI | Share/Print features | Interactive Charts | Watch List | Fast Loading |
4. BlackRock
The world’s largest asset manager gets big scores across many of our categories. BlackRock’s stellar print and share features, data interactivity in charts and tables, and blazing speed puts this fund website in our list’s top four. However, BlackRock’s slider chart, while particularly useful in allowing the user to pinpoint comparative performance on any given date, is unfortunately slow.
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Great UI | Share/Print features | Interactive Charts | Watch List | Fast Loading |
3. BNY Mellon UK
The Bank of New York Mellon UK Wholesale site is packed with helpful content and features for the probing user. No login is required for the fund watchlist, where you can track and compare up to 5 funds. Their charts’ data interactivity is some of the best on our list, and as well, they’re fully responsive for all devices. And we love seeing the fund manager video content embedded alongside many of their funds .
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Great UI | Share/Print features | Mobile Friendly | Interactive Charts | Watch List | Fast Loading |
2. J.P. Morgan UK Asset Management
The JPM UK website takes the silver medal in our list of best fund comparison tools. All features work very well on desktop or tablet devices. Favorite attributes of the slick UI include fund size sliders and type-ahead search (the only site to have this handy feature). Want to see the performance of the fund? No problem! Just click on the “show performance & documents” text — a dropdown, live chart neatly displays how the fund has performed in the time span you select.
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Great UI | Share/Print features | Interactive Charts | Watch List | Fast Loading |
1. Goldman Sachs Group
Our top spot goes to the firm infamously described by Rolling Stone as the “great vampire squid.” GS scores highest across our criteria on all fronts, and in particular, we appreciate the maximum use of screen space, including responsive design for tablet and mobile. There are plenty of useful filters making it easy to navigate to what’s most important, including featured funds, star performers and recently viewed funds.
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Great UI | Share/Print features | Mobile Friendly | Interactive Charts | Watch List | Fast Loading |
Launch site
Have a look at each of sites. You be the judge. How would you rank them? See our earlier review of 19 of the Best-Designed Asset Management Websites
