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Archive » May 2020 » Mutual fund advertising, Investors' decisions and Financial advisory: an analysis of the Italian market

Mutual fund advertising, Investors' decisions and Financial advisory: an analysis of the Italian market

Riccardo Ferretti, Francesca Pancotto, Emanuela Giacomini
May 2020 - n. 5
Keywords: Fondi comuni d’investimento, pubblicità finanziaria, banche
Jel codes: M37, G14, D53

There is a clear evidence to support the hypothesis that advertising can influence investment choices. In particular, Mutual funds advertising influences subscription flows, using a behavioral model of persuasion rather than a rational one. What is overlooked in the literature is whether and how the dynamics and content of the advertising message are influenced by the funds' distribution channel. In case of distribution through a captive network, the action of sellside financial advisors could, in fact, reduce the importance of savers' sentiment in the decision to buy mutual funds, making the effectiveness of advertising independent of the market phase. In contrast, for funds bought directly from investors, such as Etf, market sentiment should take over. Using a dataset containing 3,344 advertisements collected from 2006 to 2018, this work provides early evidence about the relationship between the distribution channel of financial instruments and the effectiveness of advertising in different market phases.

 

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