New Index Finds Even Leading Asset Managers Have Room to Realize More Human Value
What Sets the Highest Ranked Firms Apart
Why Asset Owners May Care
A Free Assessment for Any Organization
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A new Investment Credibility Index from Moore Squared Communications and the Maturity Institute examines how asset managers manage human capital and create value for stakeholders. The highest ranked firms show strengths in adaptability, business models and authenticity, but the index’s authors say even they have substantial room to improve. Stuart Woollard, co-founder of the Maturity Institute, says the findings point to an opportunity for asset managers to make better use of human potential, build stronger relationships with asset owners and demonstrate their capacity for long-term success.
A free version of the underlying maturity assessment approach is available to organizations in any sector through the Enterprise Engagement Alliance.
What Sets the Highest Ranked Firms Apart 
The index’s launch announcement says it assesses 25 firms against 32 characteristics developed by the Maturity Institute. Man Group, Schroders, L&G Asset Management, Neuberger Berman and Amundi occupy the top five positions. According to the authors, these firms are better able to adapt to changing client needs and manage their businesses using measures that extend beyond assets under management, costs and revenue to include quality and stakeholder impact. They also score comparatively well on authenticity, although the authors say even the leaders could improve the consistency between their promises and practices.
Woollard says the central finding is how much value even the strongest firms have yet to realize. At the launch, he compared firms operating at what he described as 60% to 65% of their human potential with a manufacturing plant or hotel operating at the same proportion of capacity.
“Why do so many firms only realize this level of human potential?” he asks. By contrast, he says organizations the Maturity Institute has studied in other industries, with coherent systems and cultures designed to create human and stakeholder value, achieve at least 80%. Those percentages reflect Woollard’s interpretation of the Institute’s assessments; they are not measures of how much time employees spend working. His question for asset managers is what changes to leadership, culture and management systems would help them close the gap.
The bottom five in the index are Janus Henderson Investors, BlackRock, Natixis, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Aberdeen. The authors report less evidence at these firms of systems for accountability, organization-wide quality management and measuring returns on investment in people. These are assessments of management practices under the index’s methodology, rather than rankings of investment returns. The study also examines what Moore Squared calls the “four Cs” of credibility: clarity, culture, communications and consistency.
Why Asset Owners May Care
Woollard says the findings matter because asset managers are suppliers to asset owners, who increasingly want investment providers whose practices align with their own priorities. In his view, meeting that expectation requires more than a statement of values. Managers need relationships that support collaboration and partnership, along with internal systems that make those commitments credible in practice.
The index methodology draws on publicly available company reports, websites, media, regulatory information and other third-party sources. Its authors say the resulting ratings are intended to sit alongside financial measures by examining a firm’s human systems and stakeholder relationships. Firms listed in the index can also seek a kitemark to communicate their rating to asset owners. Woollard says there was interest at the launch in using this independent measure to show a commitment to transparency and long-term value creation.
According to Woollard, the next steps include an open workshop for asset managers in November, in-house workshops for firms interested in the assessment and kitemark, and outreach to additional managers. He says the team plans indices for asset owners in January 2027 and insurers in April 2027.
A Free Assessment for Any Organization
The index applies the Maturity Institute’s approach to asset management, but organizations in other sectors can examine their own practices. Through the Enterprise Engagement Alliance’s free, confidential Stakeholder Management Assessment Calculator, a company can complete a short Maturity Index assessment and receive a maturity rating and gap analysis. More extensive assessment options are also available.
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