News

The outcomes from the FCA’s Asset Management Market Study (AMMS) are changing the ways fund groups work and even the way they are structured, all in the name of acting in investors’ best interests and delivering better outcomes for them.

The FCA published Policy Statement PS19/4 in February with further remedies for UK Authorised Fund Managers (AFMs) as a follow-up to its Asset Management Market Study (AMMS).

Last night, FE brought together over 250 members of the fund management industry at LSO St Luke’s to celebrate the 2019 FE Alpha Manager of the Year Awards. The ceremony was hosted by British favourite, Hugh Dennis, who presented 12 awards to this year’s best fund managers.

Financial experts have long debated whether investors should go down the active or the passive route when it comes to selecting their investments.

Ten new funds have been given a ‘buy’ rating and four funds have been removed from the FE Invest Approved List of funds in the latest review. FE Invest rebalances its list of preferred funds twice a year.

FE, the investment ratings and research agency, announced today the fund managers that have made it onto the shortlist for this year’s FE Alpha Manager of the Year Awards with David Dudding, Gary Greenberg, Francis Brooke, Hugh Yarrow, Stephen Moore and Aziz Hamzaogullari among the list of the industry’s top talent.

FE’s latest survey of UK advisers finds that the industry is adapting gradually towards the changing regulatory landscape, rather than adopting new rules such as MIFID II immediately.

The Joint Committee of the three European regulators responsible for PRIIPs has just updated its Q&As and includes a detailed answer on how to arrive at the Recommended Holding Period (RHP) of a PRIIP.

It goes without saying that investments should only be recommended to, or included in discretionary portfolios of, clients whose needs, characteristics and objectives they meet.

FE has been ranked number 43 in the annual Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100, which was published in the Business section of The Sunday Times on 7 April 2019.

A recent study by Ben Carlson showed “the only one of the [US-based] three major asset classes that’s up this year is actually cash”. Carlson has found out that “it’s only happened 10 times in 92 years”.

Following the EU referendum in 2016, investors expected property markets to fall sharply, resulting in a rush of withdrawals from property funds. Several funds had to suspend withdrawals or apply value adjustments to stave off the tide while they raised money through the sale of assets.

FE announced today that 61 fund managers have made it into the 2019 FE Alpha Manager Hall of Fame - an elite group of managers who have been consistently FE Alpha Manager rated over the last seven years.

Following the launch of MiFID II, the FCA recently carried out a review of MiFID authorised firms* to gauge how firms are complying with the new rules and what challenges they have faced.

Having selected 50 assorted MiFID II investment firms – D2C platforms, robo-advisers, DFMs and fund managers – the FCA looked at their understanding of the rules, where they might be falling short, how well costs and charges information is shared between groups and whether cost disclosure has improved the transparency of client communications.

The FE Alpha Managers make up the top 10 per cent of UK retail-facing managers based on their track record going back to the year 2000, with extra weighting for managers with the longest track records to highlight the benefits of experience.

Despite a lack of ability to do much at a local level about PRIIPs, the FCA issued a Call for Input (CfI) last year to ask for industry views on issues such as the scope of the PRIIPs Regulation and the calculation and presentation of risks, returns and costs on a KID.

There has been a big churn of talent in the 2019 FE Alpha Manager rebalance, with 54 managers joining the ranks and 52 losing their FE Alpha Manager title.

FE is delighted to have won the award for 'Best Model Portfolio Service' at the Professional Adviser Awards 2019, held last Thursday 7th February.

The 19 financial advisers and wealth managers on the FE Adviser Fund Index (AFI) panel[1] have hiked risk across all three indices in this month’s bi-annual rebalancing by increasing exposure to global and emerging market equities, whilst trimming UK positions.