RBC Wealth Management, the unit of Royal Bank of Canada of Toronto that oversees almost $200 billion for more than 350,000 households, won the highest satisfaction ranking in a survey of full-service investment firms' customers, J.D. Power & Associates said.
RBC earned a score of 814 on a 1,000-point scale this year compared with 793 in 2010, with strong marks for brokers' customer service and account information, said the survey of about 4,200 investors, which was released Thursday. The average score was 772.
Communicating well with customers, including explanations of investment performance and fees, are crucial contributors to customer satisfaction, said David Lo, director of investment services at J.D. Power, a Westlake Village, Calif., marketing information company.
"One of the big things coming out of the recession we've seen is the expectation for proactive communication has increased," Lo said Wednesday in an interview.
"People want more touch, more contact from their advisor."
The 2011 U.S. Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study measured companies using seven criteria such as investment performance, account information, website, offerings and fees. The report is based on responses in March from investors who make some or all of their investing decisions with a full-service broker, according to J.D. Power, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. of New York.
Full-service brokers managed about $8.7 trillion of client assets, or about 70% of the $12.4 trillion wealth management market, as of the end of 2009, based on the most recent data from Aite Group.
Charles Schwab & Co., a unit of Charles Schwab Corp. of San Francisco, was ranked second with a score of 805, jumping from fourth place last year on higher marks for its website and range of investment products, Lo said. Fidelity Investments of Boston rose to third place from seventh in 2010.
Last year's winner, Edward Jones slipped to fifth place as its rating on investment performance fell.
"The competition is catching up with us, and in some instances have passed us by a little bit," John Beuerlein, a general partner at Edward Jones, of St. Louis, who is responsible for client satisfaction, said in a telephone interview.
The lowest scoring company was Citigroup Inc., at No. 13 with a score of 670. Citigroup wasn't ranked in last year's survey.
"We take the feedback we receive from our clients very seriously," Will Howle, chief operating officer of North America Consumer and Commercial Banking for Citigroup, said in an email. "Our aspiration is to lead in client satisfaction."
Chase Investment Services Corp., a unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co., was next to last with a score of 704, after taking the bottom spot in the 2010 survey.
Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch rose to ninth place with a score of 758, from its ranking of 11th last year. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Wells Fargo & Co.'s Wells Fargo Advisors also scored below the industry average. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney ranked 10th and Wells was 11th.
More than half of Americans surveyed said their retirement portfolios haven't yet recovered from the 2009 market lows, according to a study released last week from Edward Jones.
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