Products March 25, 2009

Morningstar Launches Tool for Analyzing Fund Flows

Morningstar, Inc., has launched Fund Flows, a tool for monitoring current fund asset flow and market share data, in Morningstar Direct, the company's research platform for institutions.
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According to a press release, Fund Flows will enable fund industry professionals to research estimated asset flow and market share data for:

  • U.S. open-end and money market funds—22,000-plus share classes updated by the eighth business day;
  • U.S. ETFs—more than 800 funds updated by the end of the first week of the month;
  • European and offshore funds—more than 39,000 share classes updated at the end of the second week of the month;
  • Japanese open-end funds—more than 3,800 share classes updated by the third week of the month.

Fund Flows allows users to examine flows and market share by proprietary Morningstar statistics such as the Morningstar Rating, Morningstar Categories, and Morningstar Stewardship Grades, the release said. Users can also analyze data by fund family, asset class, fund, or fund class.

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In addition, the Investment Company Institute’s (ICI) proprietary method-of-sale data can be applied to examine market share by distribution channels such as non-proprietary, direct, and institutional. Users can also export data to Microsoft Excel to create custom reports.

Data & Research March 25, 2009

Third of Polled Sponsors Dropped, Reduced DC Match

Just more than a third of U.S. employers responding to a recent survey said they have cut back or cut out their defined contribution plan match since January 2008.
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A Spectrem Group news release about its study said 34% of 150 plan sponsors polled in February had taken steps to change their match policies.

Some 29% of plan sponsors in the poll said they intend to reduce or eliminate the match in the next year. Spectrem said the 29% includes some employers who have already reduced matches and might be planning to make further reductions or eliminate the match.

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Meanwhile, Spectrem found in a separate survey that 20% of employees participating in defined contribution plans have decreased their deferral rates, and another 5% intend to do so over the next 12 months.

The participant survey was based on an online poll of 400 participants nationwide in February.


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