Fidelity, JPMorgan recognized for offering strong educational services to investors, advisers
Fidelity Investments is leading the way when it comes to providing investors and advisers with good educational resources, according to a report today from Corporate Insight Inc., a New York-based financial services consulting firm.
Fidelity Investments is leading the way when it comes to providing investors and advisers with good educational resources, according to a report today from Corporate Insight Inc., a New York-based financial services consulting firm.
Across seven financial services industry segments studied, Boston-based Fidelity emerged as a leader in five areas: annuity issuers, brokerage firms, mutual fund companies (retail), mutual fund companies (adviser) and retirement plan providers.
Other segments studied were banks and credit card issuers.
Another firm singled out for praise was JPMorgan Chase & Co. of New York “for doing more to educate struggling homeowners than most other financial institutions, and for offering strong credit-related education,” according to the report.
But while Fidelity and JPMorgan are identified as leaders, they aren’t the only firms to have come to the conclusion that education is important.
The report, “Consumer Financial Education Today: Best Practices,” indicates that over the past eight months, 33% of the self-directed-brokerage firms that Corporate Insight tracks have made major improvements to their online education, incorporating interactive media such as webinars into their offerings.
“Top financial institutions understand that good educational resources can help consumers during our current economic crisis” James McGovern, vice president of consulting services at Corporate Insight, said in a statement. “With industry skepticism at an all-time high, it is more important than ever for firms to prove that they’re customer advocates. Offering their clients objective, informative and impactful educational content is one way to do this.”
One finding of the report was that a number of companies choose to use third-party vendors to supplement their existing educational content,.
Corporate Insight also found that several financial services companies have begun using social media —such as company blogs and third-party sites such as Twitter and Facebook — to engage clients and provide a platform for investors to communicate with each other and the firms directly.
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