08 Mar 2016 We have lift-off!
Last Wednesday 2nd March, at a breakfast briefing hosted by Schroders, we launched the Gatekeepers report to a packed room of senior figures from the fund management industry. We were overwhelmed by the turnout — of the 50 groups that were invited to attend, 48 attended and demand has been such that we’re holding a second event on 30th March (if you’d like to be come, let us know).
We presented our findings on fund selectors and buy-lists and how they performed, as well as the factors that will increase the chances of a fund being listed. Our study covered the 36 gatekeeper (listed alphabetically below) from four different categories (ratings agencies, D2C buy-lists, adviser buy-lists and off-platform lists). Now that the process has been nailed down, we plan to add more buy-lists in the future including Discretionary Fund Managers. To download the presentation click here.
| AXA Self Investor - Top 100 | Fund Calibre - Elite Rated Funds | OM Wealth Select List |
| AXA Tailored Selection | Fund Expert - Dyn Fund Rating | RSM Rated Funds |
| Barclays Stockbroker's Fund List | HL Core Tracker Funds | Share Centre Platinum 120 Funds |
| Bestinvest - Best Of Breed | HL Wealth 150 | Square Mile Fund Rated |
| Bestinvest - Premier Selection | HL Wealth 150 Plus | TD Recommended Funds |
| Ch Stanley Foundation Fundlist | IBOSS Core Funds | The Chelsea Core Selection |
| Citywire Selection | Investment Adviser 100 Club | The Chelsea Selection |
| Citywire Star Picks | ISA Ltd - Equity Income Portfolio | The Trustnet Direct 100 |
| Close 50 Funds | ISA Ltd - Growth Portfolio | TQ Invest Hero Funds |
| Cofunds List (OBSR) | ISA Ltd - Star Managers Portfolio | Trustnet FE Alpha Managers |
| Fidelity - The Select List | Morningstar OBSR Analyst Rating | Trustnet FE Crown Rating |
| Fin. Disc Direct – 1st Clss Funds | Morningstar Star Rating | Wills Own Inv Grth & Inc |
As well as measuring the buy-lists over one, three, five and ten-year returns, we also evaluated the buy-lists using our Fundscape Factors, a weighted combination of seven different indicators ranging from assets under management to the Sales Performance Balance Ratio (SPB ratio) TM. On this basis, we found that the leading gatekeepers (interestingly top three were all D2C lists) were:
- HL Wealth 150 Plus
- Bestinvest – Best of Breed
- ISA Ltd – Growth Portfolio
Funds and fund groups
In terms of overall representation on buy-lists, the top three fund groups were Schroders, Fidelity and Invesco. Among the underlying funds and fund groups being selected by fund lists, the funds with the most appearances across all fund lists were:
| Fund | # Appearances |
|---|---|
| Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders | 27 |
| BlackRock Gold & General | 21 |
| Artemis Income | 20 |
| Axa Framlington UK Select Opportunities | 20 |
| M&G Optimal Income | 19 |
Fundscape Frontier Funds
We also revealed our Fundscape Frontier Funds (currently a list of 99 funds from all sectors but could go up or down) using the Fundscape Factors and which will be updated on a quarterly basis. We believe these funds should be considered for inclusion on buy-list, and to ensure they stand the test of time, we will evaluate the Fundscape Frontier funds alongside other fund selectors’ lists.
The future is bright
The Gatekeepers study is very much a work in progress. As we waded through the lists and funds and refined our criteria, there were things that we wanted to analyse and delve into deeper, but which we had to set aside for the next phase of the study or we would never finish! We have already had gatekeepers submit their lists to us and the next stage will be tackling the huge DFM cohort that is pretty opaque…