American Funds [see profile] beat out other mutual funds in four of seven positive brand categories according to kasina's and Horsesmouth's FA Vision Brand Index for the fourth quarter of 2010. Advisors pointed to American Funds as "consistent" (33.2 percent named American Funds first), "dedicated to advisors" (25.8 percent), "ethical" (33.0 percent) and "trustworthy" (33.1 percent).

The only category winners were Franklin Templeton [see profile] for "global expertise" (21.9 percent), Vanguard [see profile] for "inexpensive" (43.0 percent) and BlackRock [see profile] for "innovative" (10.9 percent).

Horsesmouth and kasina gave American Funds an overall brand index score of 25.06, way ahead of all the competition: Vanguard came in second with 8.58, Franklin third with 8.46 and BlackRock (excluding iShares) came in fourth with 6.37. 

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