Ferguson Wellman Capital Management was recently named by Financial Times to their “FT 300 Top Registered Investment Advisers” list.
According to their detailed methodology, the RIAs were first examined via the RIA database and then only firms with $300 million or more in assets under management were considered. Next, Financial Times (FT) and its sister company, Ignites Research, invited more than 2,000 qualifying RIAs to complete a lengthy application. From there, Financial Times added the survey data to their own research, which included data from regulatory filings. Some 740 RIA companies applied and 300 made the final list – of that number, only two from Oregon made the list. The formula the FT uses to grade advisers is based on six criteria and calculates a numeric score for each. Among the items of consideration are adviser assets under management, asset growth, the company’s age, industry certifications of key employees, SEC compliance record and online accessibility. According to the editors of the FT 300 RIA list, this year they emphasized long-term client satisfaction and used a three-year growth rate instead of the one-to-two-year growth rates they had used in the past. Additionally, the FT caps the number of advisory companies from any one state, based roughly on the distribution of millionaires across the U.S. They reiterated as they have in years past that the FT 300 is presented as an elite list, not a competitive ranking of one to 300.
“We are always pleased to see our firm mentioned on these lists among our peers,” said Jim Rudd, principal and chief executive officer. “It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone at Ferguson Wellman and West Bearing, but even more importantly, to the clients we serve.”
Methodology and Disclosure from Financial Times:
This sixth edition of the FT 300 assesses registered investment advisers (RIAs) on traits desirable to investors. To ensure a list of established companies with substantial expertise, we examined the database of RIAs registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and selected those that reported $300m or more in assets under management (AUM). The Financial Times and its sister company, Ignites Research, invited more than 2,000 qualifying RIA companies to complete a lengthy application that gave us more information about them. We added this to our own research into their practices, including data from regulatory filings. Some 740 RIA companies applied and 300 made the final list. The formula the FT uses to grade advisers is based on six broad factors and calculates a numeric score for each adviser. Areas of consideration include adviser AUM, asset growth, the company’s age, industry certifications for key employees, SEC compliance record and online accessibility. The reasons for these are as follows: AUM signals experience managing money and client trust; AUM growth rate can be a proxy for performance, as well as for asset retention and the ability to generate new business; companies’ years in existence indicates reliability and experience of managing assets through different market environments; compliance record provides evidence of past client disputes – a string of complaints can signal potential problems, for example; industry certifications show the company’s staff has industry knowledge and signals a professional commitment to investment skills; and online accessibility demonstrates a desire to provide easy access and transparent contact information. AUM accounted for an average of 70 to 75 percent of each adviser’s score. Also, asset growth accounted for an average of 15 percent. This year, to emphasize long-term client satisfaction, we used a three-year growth rate instead of the one- and two-year growth rates we used in the past. Additionally, the FT caps the number of advisory companies from any one state, based roughly on the distribution of millionaires across the U.S. We present the FT 300 as an elite group, not a competitive ranking of one to 300. This is the fairest way to identify the industry’s elite advisers while accounting for the companies’ different approaches and different specializations. The research was conducted on behalf of the FT by Ignites Research, a FT sister publication.
Additional Disclosures:
Financial Times produced this list by Ignites Distribution Research, a sister company of Financial Times. Ferguson Wellman (the firm) is not aware of any facts that would call into question the validity of the ranking. The firm does not believe this advertisement is inappropriate and is not aware of any unfavorable rating towards the firm. The rating category is the top 300 registered investment advisers, the number of firms surveyed was 740, and the percentage of advisers that received the rating of top 300 RIAs was 40.5 percent. The rating is not representative of any one client’s experience and is not indicative of Ferguson Wellman’s future performance. Ferguson Wellman did not pay a fee to participate in this survey.