A new report from Reuters and Tempest Consultants finds that most fund managers think sell-side analysts’ work is compromised due to their involvement with investment banking, according to the Financial Times.

The survey found 86% of fund managers think that sell-side analysts’ involvement in corporate finance work dilutes their value to institutional investors. The survey talked to 84 managers who focus on European small caps. It found that fund managers believe that analysts spend about 33% of their time on investment banking, with about 25% of their time doing fundamental research, and less than 20% actually visiting companies.

The survey said that fund managers said they would prefer that analysts devote 45% of their time to actually doing research, 29% on company visits, and less than 10% on corporate finance work. According to the FT, the brokers told the survey that they already spend less than 10% of their time on corporate finance and would like to spend more; whereas they claim to spend around 39% of their time on research, and would like to spend less, around 36%.

The report says, “If brokers are thought to provide a research product which adds little value to fund management groups or simply follows the company line and ‘consensus numbers’, they are likely to see significant reductions in both the commissions rate and total commission paid [by fund managers].”

The best brokerage house, as ranked by fund managers, was Deutsche Bank, followed by Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, Cazenove & Co, UBS Warburg and Merrill Lynch. The best fund management house, as voted by companies, was Fidelity Investments, followed by Capital Group, JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management, and Merrill Lynch Investment Management.