Lipper tapped Vanguard Group's Joel Dickson, principal, and Eaton Vance Management's Duncan Richardson, senior vice president and chief equity investment officer, to help market its now enhanced and still free fund evaluation tool, the Lipper Leader system.

The product was unveiled to the financial services press in a briefing this morning. Vanguard and Eaton Vance were the only two fund firms to present at the briefing.

In a bid to expand further into the financial intermediary channel, the firm has expanded its evaluation tool to five key criteria from two, and will offer the service in seven languages. The initiative is part of Lipper's long stressed strategy related to that market segment, said Robin Thurston, a Lipper vice president and global director of research, media and marketing.

In addition to the investor criteria of Consistent Return and Preservation, which measures success at avoiding losses, Lipper has added Total Return, Tax Efficiency and Expense. Dickson and Richardson stressed the lack of investor awareness of negative impacts on returns of expenses and taxes, respectively.

Dickson noted that expenses and tax efficiency are the two most controllable aspects of investing in funds, while Richardson highlighted the tax issue as the key priority for high-net worth clients. 

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