Blog · Board and management reporting · Asset managers
The ten distribution KPIs an asset manager should run on, each with its formula, the export it comes from and what it tells you: net flows by client and strategy, gross sales and redemptions separately, share of an intermediary's flows, redemption watch, coverage of intermediaries and consultants at cadence, channel share per strategy, flow concentration, fee yield on flows, strategies held per client, and consultant rating coverage. Also the three measures most distribution teams miss, the figures to drop, the identities, and who owns what.
Assets move slowly and flows move first. The measures that matter for a distribution team show which intermediaries and clients are adding, which have turned, how much of their flows you take, and whether anyone has spoken to them.
| # | Measure | Formula | Export | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Net flows by client and strategy | Gross sales − redemptions, per client, per strategy, per period | Transfer agency or platform flow file | Who is adding and who is leaving, by strategy |
| 2 | Gross sales and redemptions, separately | Each as a share of opening assets | Flow file; asset file | Rotation and retention hidden inside a flat net |
| 3 | Share of intermediary flows | Your gross sales at the intermediary ÷ its category gross sales | Flow file; market flow data or stated allocation | How much of the available flow you win |
| 4 | Redemption watch | Intermediaries whose trailing 3-month net flow turned negative while assets are still near peak | Flow file; asset file | Assets about to fall, while there is time to call |
| 5 | Coverage at cadence, by assets | Assets of intermediaries touched within tier cadence ÷ total assets | CRM activity; asset file | Whether the largest holders are being seen |
| 6 | Channel share per strategy | Flows by platform, wirehouse, independent adviser, institutional ÷ strategy flows | Flow file with channel | Which channel each strategy actually sells through |
| 7 | Flow concentration | Top ten intermediaries' share of gross sales; largest single share | Flow file | Dependence on a few platforms or gatekeepers |
| 8 | Fee yield on flows | Revenue-weighted fee rate on new flows against the rate on the existing book | Flow file with share class; fee schedule | Whether growth is arriving in the cheapest share class |
| 9 | Strategies held per client | Count of strategies held, against the norm for the client type | Asset file | Single-strategy relationships; cross-sell list |
| 10 | Consultant rating coverage | Strategies rated by each consultant ÷ strategies eligible; meetings in the last 12 months | Ratings log; CRM | Gatekeepers nobody has called |
Every one of these is computed per account, per salesperson and channel, and in total, and every one carries an identity that must hold before the table is shown.
Gross flows split from net. Net flow is the headline everywhere, and it hides both the clients rotating out and the ones quietly leaving.
The turn before the fall. Assets are near a high and the dashboard is green. The three-month flow went negative two months ago. That is the call list.
Fee yield on flows. Sales are up and revenue per asset is down, because the flows went into the institutional share class.
An intermediary holds $420 million, near its peak. Trailing three-month gross sales are $18 million against redemptions of $41 million: net outflow of $23 million, the first negative quarter in two years. Assets are down only 2 percent because markets rose. On an assets report this relationship looks healthy; on the redemption watch it is row one, and the last logged meeting was five months ago.
Assets under management as a sales measure. It moves with markets. Flows are what distribution controls.
Meetings held. Count without direction. Replace with coverage at cadence, by assets.
Net flows alone. Always beside gross sales and redemptions.
| Table | Must hold |
|---|---|
| Flows | Opening assets + gross sales − redemptions + market movement = closing assets |
| Channel share | Channel flows sum to strategy flows; strategy flows sum to the firm total |
| Coverage | Intermediaries = covered + uncovered; each in one tier |
| Concentration | Intermediary flows sum to the flow file total |
A table whose identity fails is a table with a row missing or counted twice. It is not shown until it is fixed.
| Measure | Owner | Reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Redemption watch; coverage at cadence | Head of distribution; channel heads | Weekly |
| Net, gross and redemption flows by client | Salespeople; channel heads | Monthly |
| Share of intermediary flows; channel share; fee yield | Head of distribution; product | Quarterly |
| Consultant coverage; concentration | Head of institutional; head of distribution | Quarterly |
A measure with no owner is a metric, not a KPI; see KPI versus metric versus measure.
Ten measures from the flow file, the asset file and the CRM. Flows lead assets, so the redemption watch and coverage by assets are the weekly pair. Covirage computes all of them from the exports distribution teams already produce, files only, with the definitions stated and the identities checked. See Covirage for asset managers.
Because net flow of zero can be no activity or two hundred million in and two hundred million out. The first is a quiet client; the second is a client rotating out of one strategy into another, or an intermediary with a retention problem. They need different conversations, and net alone cannot tell them apart.
From licensed market flow data where available, or from the intermediary's stated allocations, labelled by source grade. The denominator is the intermediary's flows in the category your strategy competes in. It is an estimate and is shown as one, but even a rough share separates a platform where you take 2 percent of category flows from one where you take 20.
Set by assets and potential: monthly for the top tier, quarterly for the next, twice a year for the rest. Coverage is then assets held by intermediaries touched within their cadence over total assets. A firm can be at 85 percent by count and 60 by assets, which means the largest holders are the ones not being seen.