FRANKFURT, 15 March 2024, Wellington Management, one of the world's leading independent asset managers with assets under management of US$1.1 trillion, received a Morningstar Award for Investing Excellence 2024. At the awards ceremony yesterday evening in Frankfurt, Wellington Management was named ‘Best Asset Manager’ in Germany by the market research and analysis company Morningstar. The Morningstar judges based their decision on, among other things, the fact that Wellington stands out among European, global and emerging markets equity strategies; and on the bond side, the house scores points, with global and emerging market bond funds. Wellington has achieved a quality Parent Rating of Above Average. A total of 23 equity funds, 14 bond funds and 2 mixed funds were included in the quantitative evaluation. For more information, see the 2024 Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence Winners.
“The award in the 'Best Asset Manager' category for Germany at the Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence is one of the milestones that once again confirms our long-term strategy — to continuously expand our customer and investment platforms in order to expand our local customer base with our sales partners here to be able to serve Europe even more efficiently”, says Susanne Ballauff, head of the Frankfurt office of Wellington Management and also president of Wellington Management Funds Global and head of Wellington Management Europe.
Wellington Management is recording positive long-term development in its core market of Germany. In line with business development, the asset manager has increased the team and spatial resources in Frankfurt in recent years.
Morningstar writes about Wellington Management: “More than 50 investment teams have access to a central team of equity, credit and ESG analysts. This combines the autonomy of an investment boutique with the resources of large asset managers. There can be a risk of teams working in silos, but Wellington promotes thoughtful talent management, succession planning and collaboration across the platform. The fact that Wellington is privately owned also ensures stability and aligns the company's interests with those of its customers”.
Growing distribution business with new partners
The targeted expansion of the distribution business, especially in the core market of Germany, has also been providing a boost to growth and brand awareness for almost two years: “We are currently reaping the fruits of persistent preparatory work. We recently brought three more strong sales partners on board”, says Marco Näder, who, for the past year, has been responsible for third-party sales in Germany and Austria. And further: "In 2023, Wellington showed the biggest jump in brand perception in the 'Fund Brand 50' study — from 75th place to 17th place. The Morningstar Award confirms our customer- and investment-oriented approach as one of the largest asset managers in the world”.