The Chinese property sector, which makes up around a quarter of the country’s economy, has been a particular drag on returns over the last year. In January, one of the sector’s leading players, China Evergrande, entered into a forced liquidation.

This was seen in the month’s worst performing individual funds, with the £14.1m Redwheel China Equity, £203.3m Baillie Gifford China, and £5.8m JPM China all among the bottom 10 for returns. Climate strategies, such as Baillie Gifford Climate Optimism and Active Solar also struggled in January.

In contrast, IA North America and Technology were the two best-performing sectors, up 3% and 4.8% respectively.

Ben Yearsley, director at Fairview Investing, said. “These two are so intertwined that it does distort the picture of US equities. Microsoft is again the world’s largest company with a value just under $3trn. But with Apple, Alphabet and Amazon also in the top ten, a tech fund, a Nasdaq tracker, an S&P tracker and a MSCI World tracker look very similar and perform in tandem.”

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He added: “The positive equity stories of 2023 all continue with tech, India, and Japan all starting 2024 with a bang. Two of those areas look pretty expensive – then again they almost always do. Japan remains one of the most interesting stories with corporate change and more shareholder awareness helping drive markets. On the other side, China can’t seem to escape the doom loop – Beijing need a big bang to pull markets from historic lows.”

Yearsley pointed out that, for a brief period of time in January, markets regained some confidence after Beijing announced stimulus measures. However this confidence evaporated, with the Hang Seng index finishing the month down by more than 9%.

“Contrast that with Japan where the Topix put on almost 7% – the BoJ has kept the world’s last remaining negative interest rate policy and wants inflation. Despite the excellent returns from Japanese equities many fund managers are confident on future returns and thinking this is just the start of a sustained bull run. The FTSE had a lacklustre start to 2024 falling 1.27%.”

Oxeye Hedged Income was the top performing fund, returning 9.5% in January. Yearsley noted the fund has regularly topped and tailed the monthly performance tables over the past few years.

Jupiter’s India-focused offerings, Jupiter India and Jupiter India Select, both performed strongly by returning 8.7% and 8.3% respectively. The average IA India fund returned 1.8% over the month.

Brewin Dolphin has been appointed investment advisers by Guinness Global Investors (formerly Guinness Asset Management), meaning both funds are labelled as ‘PoweredBy’ Brewin.

They follow Brewin’s US$ Global Asset Allocation and Tactical Asset Allocation, with fund selection leveraging the firm’s established fund research capabilities and experience.

The funds are US dollar focused, and non-UK situs, which Brewin said makes them ideal strategies for clients with international needs.

Jonathan Simons, director of Acorn International, which helps to market and distribute the Guinness funds to the international IFA community, said: “Over the last few years, we have seen increasing demand for such multi-asset funds from the advisers that we speak to, and we are absolutely delighted that Hansard have decided to add them to their range.

“Now more IFAs have the opportunity to access these highly popular funds and we are delighted to increase the access to Brewin Dolphin’s multi awarding winning offerings via Guinness. We look forward to working closely with Hansard with this offering going forward.”

Brewin Dolphin’s head of nationals, networks and international distribution, Ian Kloss, said: “I am excited about the partnership opportunities that the Hansard addition creates for advisers.”

Kloss, who was previously chief executive of Quilter International Singapore, added: “Brewin Dolphin’s investment expertise via the Guinness multi-asset funds works well for the clients of advisers who are based internationally and want to make the most of their investments, especially in the year ahead when higher inflationary pressures are forecast.”

The wealth management firm has made changes to its leadership team in the Channel Islands.

Konstantin Graf von Schweinitz has been appointed chairman and independent non-executive director to Kleinwort Hambros’ Channel Islands bank board.

He has been a non-executive director for SG Hambros Bank Limited since 2016.

Dragica Pilipovic-Chaffey has been appointed as an independent non-executive director to both the Channel Islands bank and trust boards.

Also, Kleinwort Hambros has named Thomas Cummins as head of private banking Channel Islands.

He was previously head of private banking Jersey.

UBS Global Wealth Management

The wealth manager has restructured its regional UK business to facilitate further expansion.

Debjani Raffan and Martyn Begbour will, respectively, become regional head with responsibility for the two geographical areas.

Raffan will take responsibility for Scotland, Northern Ireland, north east and Yorkshire, while Begbour will be in control of north west, Midlands, south west and Wales.

Aidan Dunstan (north east), Scott Young (Scotland), Neil King (Yorkshire), Jane Booth (north west), Andy Jackson (Midlands), and Matthew Marsden (south, south west and Wales) will work alongside Raffan and Begbour.

Alongside the restructure, UBS has also announced a number of hires within its regional business with the hiring of Tom Gorman, Jack Askew and Kieran Duffy.

Calamatta Cuschieri

The Malta-based firm has promoted Jordan Portelli to the role of chief investment officer.

Portelli will also lead the wealth management arm within Calamatta Cuschieri.

Guinness Asset Management

The independent global asset manager has named Giles Kidd-May as chief marketing officer.

Kidd-May was marketing and communications director at Crux Asset Management which he helped launch in 2014.

Tilney Smith & Williamson

The UK wealth manager has named Rob Bickerstaffe as business development manager based in the north west.

He joins from Puma Investments, where he has worked since 2016 as a senior business development manager.

Ashburton Investments

James Cooke has been appointed to the board of Ashburton (Jersey) as director of investments for Ashburton Investments (International).

This follows his recent promotion to head of global equities.

Quilter Cheviot

The investment firm has hired Jamie Maddock as an equity research analyst.

Maddock joins the business from AGF Investments.

They are accessible through the Regular Savings Plan, Quantum, Oracle, Paragon and LifePlan products.

Passive with a touch of active

The Guinness Multi Asset Balanced Fund and the Guinness Multi Asset Growth Fund are based on Brewin’s Passive Plus MPS.

They predominately use lower-cost index funds to gain market exposure.

But the discretionary fund manager believes that some sectors cannot be replicated by passive investments; namely absolute return, smaller companies and income-producing firms.

“Adding actively managed funds to the mix provides diversification and has the potential to enhance long-term performance, compared to indices,” Brewin said.

Multi-asset demand

Robin Beer, managing director of investment solutions and distribution at Brewin Dolphin, added: “This is the first time we have offered our intellectual capital to a fund manager under the ‘powered by Brewin Dolphin’ branding.

“The funds are designed to act as a core holding, alongside complementary satellite holdings in specific single strategy funds.”

The Guinness Multi Asset Balanced Fund and the Guinness Multi Asset Growth Fund are based on Brewin’s Passive Plus MPS.

They are designed to act as a core holding, alongside complementary satellite holdings in specific single strategy funds.

Asset allocations are set by the Brewin Dolphin asset allocation committee and the underlying funds, which are recommended by the Brewin fund research team, are reviewed and managed by London-based Guinness Asset Management.

Marketing outside the UK will be handled by Acorn International Distribution.

Blend of active and passive

The two funds predominantly use lower-cost index funds to gain market exposure, to reflect the Brewin Dolphin asset allocation view.

However, Brewin’s fund research team believes that some sectors cannot be replicated by passive investment; namely absolute return, smaller companies and income-producing firms.

This is where the ‘plus’ element of the DFM’s Passive Plus strategy comes into play, by offering exposure to active funds.

Adding actively managed funds to the mix provides diversification and has the potential to enhance long-term performance, compared to indices, the firm said.

International adviser demand

According to Tim Guinness, founder and chief investment officer at Guinness Asset Management, demand for the funds came from the firm’s “strong relationships with international advisers”.

“For some time, they have been asking us how we can help them further by providing a core multi-asset solution. By partnering with Brewin Dolphin we can now offer them just that.”

Robin Beer, managing director of investment solutions and distribution at Brewin Dolphin, added: “This is the first time we have offered our intellectual capital to a fund manager under the ‘powered by Brewin Dolphin’ branding.

“We hope that Guinness’ international advisers and their clients can benefit from our combined expertise in asset allocation and fund selection, executed via a daily traded Ucits fund structure.”