JPMAM awarded Gold Standard for Fund Management

JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) has been awarded the Gold Standard for Fund Management for the sixth consecutive year by Incisive Media, making it the first company ever to win the Gold Standard for fund management six times in a row.

The Gold Standard Awards aim to reward the best in financial services companies, based on five criteria: financial strength, capability to conduct business well, service to customers, offering value for money and trust - all key measures in a company's commitment to Treating Customers Fairly.

Campbell Fleming, Head of UK business at JPMorgan Asset Management, said, "We were more than delighted to have won this award for the fifth consecutive time last year but winning a record sixth in a row is a fantastic achievement by anyone's standards. This demonstrates our focus as a business and our commitment to clients in providing the highest quality of products and services in the market place - it is testament to our continued efforts and our commitment to our clients in the UK, particularly in terms of support and guidance through these volatile markets."

Among JPMAM's initiatives this year were the ‘Changing Fortunes' white paper, which introduced a tool to measure how financially ‘obese' individual's are and suggested that the government implement a ‘financial 5-a-day' campaign to address the desperate need for greater financial education in the UK. JPMAM also recently released a report on the TCF initiative for IFAs in the UK, offering a number of considerations to aid them in demonstrating that they are treating customers fairly ahead of the December 2008 deadline.

One of the Gold Standard judges described JPMAM's efforts as "a strong and polished performance". Another noted that JPMAM uses every conceivable means to communicate with its customers, and was the only company among the five entries they judged to offer a 24/7 helpline.

In addition, the JPMAM Academy, an innovative and free training and development initiative designed to help IFAs and ultimately investors better understand the market place was awarded the accolade of ‘Best On-Line Educational Initiative' for 2008 by IFA Online.

Campbell Fleming continued, "Though we always strive for excellence in the performance of our product offering, we also aim to offer our clients guidance and support regardless of prevailing market conditions. We set ourselves very high standards that we deliver on as we believe that is what our clients deserve and we're delighted that this is being continually recognised by the industry."