AJ Bell has launched a Passive Global Growth fund, adding a higher expected return option to its passive multi-asset range.
The company said the fund has been launched in response to the increased global outlook of advised clients, as well as the ongoing demand for higher risk investment strategies from long-term investors.
It also claims that its passive funds give advisers and their clients a hassle-free way to access investment markets through a choice of six fully managed, risk-targeted portfolios.
The fund differentiates itself from similar funds in the market through its focus on assets such as emerging markets and technology, which are likely to make up a larger part of future indices.
With the pace of growth in emerging markets continuing to outstrip that of developed markets and new ideas and industries pushing greater growth in the technology sector, the fund aims to harness the promising growth of these two sectors to deliver higher expected returns.
The fund will also invest in shares across different regions, including Europe, North America and Asia, with minimal exposure to lower risk assets such as bonds and cash.
It will be monitored and updated so that it consistently performs in line with the designed level of risk and exposure, providing investors with an easy way to access global markets.
The launch offer period opens on 24 May with a fixed price of £1 per unit, with the fund starting trading on 11 June 2018.
AJ Bell has waived its platform charge for holding its passive funds until January 2019. There will also be no trading fees for purchasing the funds.
The fund is available for investment via AJ Bell’s Isas, pension and general investment account.
Provider view:
Kevin Doran, chief investment officer and managing director of AJ Bell Investments, said: “As globalisation continues its march forward, it’s no surprise that investors are thinking more globally and seeking ways to access the potential growth of global markets. True to our guiding principle of making it easy for people to invest, we are delighted to extend the AJ Bell Passive fund range with a unique higher risk and higher expected return option that offers the access to global growth opportunities that so many advisers and their clients are seeking.
“Our exposure to the top emerging market countries, known as the EM7, (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey) and innovative technology companies is higher than similar multi-asset funds on the market, enabling the global growth fund to truly harness the countries and sectors driving growth across the globe, giving investors the opportunity to buy the portfolio of the future, today.”
Fee/charge:
Total annual charge of 0.5 per cent.
Adviser view:
Alan Chan, director at IFS Wealth & Pensions, said: “As with any fund, we’d want to see the fund run for a couple of years with little tracking error and have a good size of assets under management before we include it for our clients. Of course, if it did the same job at lower cost, we’d certainly consider it within a client’s portfolio. However, I suspect the fund is only available on the AJ Bell platform, in which case it wouldn’t be available to other platform clients. The zero platform fees promotion makes it more attractive.
