Where Investors Go for the Best Corporate Access

Once again, it’s unanimous: JPMorgan Chase & Co. is getting corporate access right — for both the buy side and the executives investors want access to.

As in 2020, the firm was voted No. 1 in Institutional Investor’s 2021 ranking of America’s Top Corporate Access Providers. It maintained its top ranking based on the opinions of both buy-side money managers and corporate respondents in two separate top-10 leaderboards.   

In the leaderboard based on money manager responses, JPMorgan was followed by Morgan Stanley in second place. BofA Securities took third, while Goldman Sachs and UBS placed fourth and fifth, respectively. An additional leaderboard based on assets under management mirrored these results.

Corporate respondents, meanwhile, awarded Robert W. Baird & Co. second place this year, an improvement of one spot from 2020. Morgan Stanley took third, followed by BofA Securities in fourth. Goldman Sachs rounded out the top five. 

Institutional investors and corporate executives were asked to consider their corporate access providers’ proficiency in six categories: conferences, logistics, roadshows, field trips, team quality, and virtual events. JPMorgan topped every one of these attributes in both rankings.

Throughout the pandemic, JPMorgan has sought to be a bridge between investors and corporates, according to Bernal Vargas, head of U.S. and international equity franchise sales, and North America investor access. “It was clear at the start of the pandemic that connectivity between our institutional and corporate clients was going to be of the utmost importance,” said Vargas. “Our team, across research, sales and investor access, quickly pivoted to ensure we could provide both the breadth and depth of access needed.” 

Vargas credited JPMorgan’s success to its differentiated and highly client-centric approach to corporate access and consumption. “We put the needs of our clients, corporate and institutional, at the center of our efforts,” he added. “Throughout the last year, we have spent hundreds of hours listening to what types of access our clients want, how they want to consume it, and in what frequency. All the while, we want to ensure a seamless, high-quality experience, whether virtual or in-person.”

JPMorgan has been investing in technology to improve the entire client experience, according to Vargas, including a new proprietary JPMorgan events platform built over the last year, which offers clients the direct ability to request access to corporate, analyst, and expert events. 

Still, investors and corporates alike are “anxious to return to in-person events and conferences,” Vargas said. “We held our first in-person conference in September with great success, and look forward to a full calendar of events in 2022.”