Broker Incentives and Mutual Fund Market Segmentation

59 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2010 Last revised: 27 Jan 2023

See all articles by Diane Del Guercio

Diane Del Guercio

University of Oregon, Lundquist College of Business; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Jonathan Reuter

Boston College - Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Paula A. Tkac

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Date Written: August 2010

Abstract

We study the impact of investor heterogeneity on mutual fund market segmentation. To motivate our empirical analysis, we make two assumptions. First, some investors inherently value broker services. Second, because brokers are only compensated when they sell mutual funds, they have little incentive to recommend funds available at lower cost elsewhere. The need for mutual fund families to internalize broker incentives leads us to predict that the market for mutual funds will be highly segmented, with families targeting either do-it-yourself investors or investors who value broker services, but not both. Using novel distribution channel data, we find strong empirical support for this prediction; only 3.3% of families serve both market segments. We also predict and find strong evidence that mutual funds targeting performance-sensitive, do-it-yourself investors will invest more in portfolio management. Our findings have important implications for the expected relation between mutual fund fees and returns, tests of fund manager ability, and the puzzle of active management. Furthermore, they suggest that changing the way investors compensate brokers will change the nature of competition in the mutual fund industry.

Suggested Citation

Del Guercio, Diane and Reuter, Jonathan and Tkac, Paula A., Broker Incentives and Mutual Fund Market Segmentation (August 2010). NBER Working Paper No. w16312, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1667344

Diane Del Guercio (Contact Author)

University of Oregon, Lundquist College of Business ( email )

Lundquist College of Business
1208 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
United States
541-346-5179 (Phone)
541-346-3341 (Fax)

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Jonathan Reuter

Boston College - Department of Finance ( email )

Carroll School of Management
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3808
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Paula A. Tkac

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta ( email )

1000 Peachtree Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30309-4470
United States
404-498-8813 (Phone)
404-498-8810 (Fax)

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