The Bottom Line:  The recently released Axios Harris reputational rankings poll includes two fund firms-

Fidelity and JPMorgan Chase-that received Very Good overall reputational scores.

Axios Harris Poll 100 Reputational Rankings-Financial Services Companies

Source: Axios Harris Poll 100. Guide to scores:  Purple-Excellent, Light blue-Very good, Green-Good, Yellow-Fair, Orange-Poor, and red-Very poor.

Observations:

• The latest Axios Harris Poll 100, which ranks the reputations of 100 companies most on the minds of Americans, was released in late May.  According to this year’s survey results, nine financial services companies made their way onto the list consisting of the 100 most visible companies.  Of these, only two firms, Fidelity Investments and JPMorgan Chase & Co. offer proprietary investment products, including registered sustainable mutual funds and ETFs.  Using a scale that runs from Excellent to Very Poor, both firms received Very Good overall scores, and Excellent scores for their products and services.  Investors and financial intermediaries may wish to also consider this indicator in the process of conducting firm-wide due diligence in connection with the review and selection of sustainable funds.
• The Axios Harris Poll 100 ranks the reputations of companies most on the minds of Americans, with a framework Harris has used since 1999.  The 2023 rankings are based on a survey of 16,310 Americans from a nationally representative sample conducted this year between March 13 and March 28.  The Axis Harris Poll conducts a two-step process that starts fresh each year by surveying the public’s top-of-mind awareness of companies that either excel or falter in society.
• Americans are asked their opinion regarding which two firms stand out as having the best reputation today and which two have the worst. All nominations are compiled into an aggregate list to determine the “most visible” companies. Subsidiaries and brands are tallied within the parent company to create a total number of nominations for each company.  Respondents rated those 100 most visible companies on nine dimensions of reputation to calculate the company’s Reputational Quotient, or RQ score for inclusion in the Axios Harris Poll 100.
• According to this year’s survey results, nine financial services companies made their way onto the 100 most visible companies list.  Of these, only two firms, Fidelity Investments and JPMorgan Chase & Co., with overall ranks of 29 and 31 (up 17 ranking points versus last year) offer proprietary registered investment funds, including sustainable mutual funds and ETFs.  Fidelity Investments currently offers 206 sustainable funds with $4.2 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2023, based on Morningstar data.  At the same time, JPMorgan Chase, through J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc, offers 21 sustainable funds with $562.4 million in fund assets under management.  That said, JPMorgan’s sustainable fund assets exceed this level by a wide margin based on the firm’s strategy of integrating relevant and material ESG factors into decision making, however, Morningstar applies a more restrictive definition that serves to understate JPMorgan’s sustainable assets under management.
• Fidelity and JPMorgan received Very Good overall scores.  Both firms received Very Good scores for character, trust, culture, and ethics as well as Excellent Scores for their products and services.  Perhaps surprisingly, the largest asset management firm as well as the most visible and outspoken investment company on the polarizing topic of ESG investing, BlackRock, did not rank within the list of the 100 most visible companies.