Fidelity and Schroders are among the most popular firms on gatekeepers' buylists, according to the second issue of the Fundscape/gbi2 gatekeeper report.
The study surveyed 48 gatekeepers, up from 36 last year, in four different categories; D2C buylists, adviser buylists, ratings agencies and discretionary fund managers. They were analysed over one, three, five and ten years.
Gatekeepers control around 70% of platform flows, seeing gross sales of £94bn and net sales of £38bn.
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The most popular fund group was Fidelity, which featured 243 times, followed by Schroders at 233 times and Old Mutual at 220.
Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders remained the most popular fund with 29 appearances in 48 lists, up from 27 last year.
This was followed by Woodford Equity Income, Fundsmith Equity, Jupiter European and Schroder Tokyo, which all had 23 picks.
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The report also highlighted a series of factors that made firms more likely to have their funds featured on a gatekeeper's recommended list.
These were consistent alpha in the previous three years as well as the current year, assets of at least £200m, a five-year track record, and a competitive fee structure.
Graham Bentley (pictured), managing director of gbi2, said: "The importance of research in fund selection is undeniable, but there are significant differences in the quality of the research processes we reviewed.
"Tight budgets mean managers need to know which researchers to engage with and who to ignore. We see funds that are not on the lists that should be; our analysis provides the tools to challenge the status quo."
