Strong performances in S&P diversified fixed interest review
Standard & Poor’s Fund Services (S&P) has released its International Fixed Interest — Diversified Fixed Interest sector review, with PIMCO’s Diversified Fixed Interest Fund the only maximum five-star rating in what was a strong field overall.
Legg Mason’s Global Multi Sector Bond Trust was the only upgrade, moving to four stars, while the only downgrades were from the UBS Diversified Fixed Income fund and a CFS FirstChoice fund, which dropped to three and two stars respectively.
Overall eight managers were rated four stars, six managers were rated three stars and one fund was rated two stars.
“The high number of funds rated four stars and above reflects the strength of the peer group, which can be characterised by large global investment teams, well-established processes, and market leading systems,” said S&P analyst Anthony Karaminas.
The review highlighted the benefits of accessing certain specialist sectors, while there was also a bias towards the domestic market, he said.
“A larger allocation to high yield, emerging markets, ABS, and the bank loans sector has been a theme in the past 12 months, with established managers using internal specialist teams to gain an advantage,” he said.
Most managers outperformed their benchmark in the past 12 months, which was to be expected in the current environment, he said.
Recommended for you
The FSCP has announced its latest verdict, suspending an adviser’s registration for failing to comply with his obligations when providing advice to three clients.
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.
