Merrill Lynch has been named as the top investment manager amongst the top 500 charities in a new study.

Who manages the money? is a detailed account by CAF into the use of financial auditors and investment managers by the top 500 fundraisers and the top 500 grant-making trusts. It lists Merrill Lynch as "top of the league" for managing investments in behalf of these charities and trusts. Between 2002-03, the firm managed £2.6 billion (9%) of the top organisations’ investments.

Merrill Lynch does not look after the largest average client fund however. This is taken care of by Gartmore Investment Management, which, with just 5% of the market, is responsible for funds worth around £340 million per charity.

PricewaterhouseCoopers audited the largest share of grant-making trusts (27%) to a value of £849 million, while the highest number of audits of fundraising charities’ incomes took place by Deloitte & Touche. They audited £1.8 billion, giving the firm a market share of 22%.