Fixed income strategies Aegon High Yield Bond and BlueBay Emerging Market Unconstrained Bond were among the funds to receive the rating, which recognises strategies the FundCalibre research team believes to be the best among their asset class peers.

FundCalibre research director Juliet Schooling Latter noted the £611m Aegon fund’s “excellent” track record in recent years, which has seen it placed among the top quartile of performers in the IA Sterling High Yield sector over one, three, and five years, according to FE Fundinfo data.

Elsewhere, Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust was also commended by Schooling Latter.

She said: “Launched in 2018, this trust invests in Indian companies of all sizes. The trust adopts a stock-picking approach to target scalable businesses with sustainable superior returns on capital. Aided by a huge bank of experienced research analysts, the trust has comfortably been the best performer in its sector since inception.

“We like the trust’s unique approach to stock selection and its ability to go deeper into both the mid and small-cap markets. A highly unconstrained vehicle, we also like its approach to ESG, specifically governance, which can be a critical issue in India.”

See also: Lindsell Train, Invesco and Schroders managers join 2024 FE Alpha Manager list

Fidelity Asian Smaller Companies fund manager Nitin Bajaj was commended by FundCalibre for his clear philosophy and wealth of experience investing in the region.

“This is a genuine stockpicking fund with an emphasis on buying good businesses at prices discounted by the market. The fund has a contrarian ‘value’ bias and high active share. Risk is considered in absolute terms rather than relative to any benchmark or peer group,” Schooling Latter noted.

Comgest Growth America was commended for its “clear process” and “experienced management team”. The $990m strategy has achieved top quartile returns in the IA North America sector over one, three and five years.

Meanwhile, the £257m Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust was also highlighted for its long term performance.

“The trust’s manager, Zehrid Osmani, has proven himself to be an excellent manager of high conviction strategies. The highly-driven research approach has proven to be extremely successful over the longer term across a range of portfolios and we see no reason why this cannot continue on this trust,” Schooling Latter said.

See also: Investors increasingly eyeing alternatives as volatility fears rise

Ninety One Diversified Income, which launched in 2012, is designed to either replace or complement bonds in a portfolio. The majority of the fund is held in fixed income assets, while it also incorporates strategic equity positions.

“We also like the team’s use of future options and swaps to hedge equity, duration and credit risk,” the FundCalibre research director added.

Four funds were also handed the ‘Elite Radar’ badge, which is awarded to strategies that are on the research team’s shortlist and could receive an Elite rating in the future.

The strategies receiving the rating were Artemis Leading Consumer Brands, GQG Partners US Equity, Man GLG Dynamic Income, and Redwheel Biodiversity.

This article was written for our sister title Portfolio Adviser

While the firm pointed out that geopolitical risk only increased last year, it said “there is always a good cohort of fund managers across asset classes” who are able to perform irrespective of how challenging the backdrop is.

Below, Square Mile’s team of fund analysts discuss nine funds they have a “good level of conviction” in for meeting their investment goals in 2024:

Polar Capital Global Insurance

The Polar Capital Global Insurance fund, which holds an AA rating in Square Mile’s Academy of Funds, typically holds 30 to 35 holdings mostly in medium-sized insurance companies. The fund aims to return 10% annually, and avoids investments in long-term liability claims as well as, for the most part, life insurers.

David Holder, senior investment research analyst for Square Mile, said: “We like the AA-rated Polar Global Insurance fund for several reasons, not least due to the proven investment approach of its lead manager, Nick Martin.

“It invests in a sleepy sub-sector of markets that is not widely covered, perceived as complex and which includes many firms of variable quality. Mr Martin has built a deep pool of company knowledge and is well informed in the intricacies of investing in this sector.”

Redwheel Global Emerging Markets

The Redwheel fund, which holds an A rating from Square Mile, aims to outperform the MSCI Emerging Markets index by 3% yearly over five-year periods. The long-term capital growth fund is run by manager John Molloy.

Amaya Assam, head of fund origination, said: “He has an impressive long-term track record and is supported by a diverse and experienced team of dedicated analysts.  Mr Molloy applies a well-constructed process which includes markets that are often overlooked by other investors, and he seeks to take advantage of these where they present attractive growth opportunities.”

Comgest Growth Europe Smaller Companies

The Comgest fund, which invests in 25 to 30 companies with a market cap of €1-€10bn, has an A rating from Square Mile.

“The team’s edge is its company analysis and an absolute return mindset with the strategy’s success measured by investee companies’ longer-term earnings capability,” Assam said.

See also: RLAM and Artemis funds added to Square Mile academy

“The portfolio can have some sizeable positions at the stock, sector and country level which can be a double-edged sword at times, as the portfolio concentration can be beneficial when stock selection is working. However, it can also add to the fund’s volatility, which is already an inherent feature when investing in smaller companies.”

Liontrust Special Situations 

Anthony Cross and Julian Fosh’s Special Situations fund is marked with an AA rating and has 55 holdings, with a fund size of £3.9bn. Established in 2005, the fund has a low stock turnover and operates as a capital growth-oriented strategy.

Mark Hinton, equity fund research manager, said: “The team works in a highly collegiate manner and has complementary skill sets, and together its members apply a very well-considered and defined investment process.  This steers them towards relatively steady businesses that are gradually growing, generating high levels of cash and have a clear competitive edge.”

Man GLG Sterling Corporate Bond

While Square Mile said this ‘positive prospect’-rated bond fund can experience short-term volatility, it believes the fund is a good option for offering growth and income. The fund is managed by Jonathan Golan, who has a goal of extracting “100% of the fund’s performance aspirations through credit selection”, said Square Mile’s Eduardo Sánchez, the associate research director for fixed income, alternatives & multi-asset.

“Unlike many of its peer group, this fund’s edge lies in its bottom-up focus on smaller issuers and Mr Golan’s supporting team’s ability to extract excess returns from undervalued credits; many of which are overlooked by larger scale investors,” he said.

Wellington Global Impact Bond

The Article 9 fund from Wellington holds a Responsible AA rating from Square Mile and has $602.7m assets under management as of 9 January.

“Their impact investment process is well thought through, considering issuers against the materiality, the additionality and the measurability of their impact investment case,” Sánchez said.

“We believe that these considerations have created a very solid base on which the team has built a credible impact strategy while also aiming to provide above-market financial returns.”

Artemis US Smaller Companies

The AA-rated fund has 50-70 companies with a market cap ranging from $1bn to $10bn in US companies. Led by Cormac Weldon, the fund holds £748m assets under management and launched in 2014.

Ajay Vaid, investment research analyst, said: “He and his team believe that investors can be slow to price in the implications of change that can enable style-agnostic investors to outperform the market, regardless of market conditions.

“The team conducts considerable macroeconomic analysis in order to understand cyclical and secular trends, as well as the broader outlook for the US economy.”

WHEB Sustainability

The Responsible AA-rated WHEB fund invests in 40 to 60 responsible companies and holds £717.1m assets under management. Stocks fall under nine themes, including cleaner energy, sustainable transport, resource efficiency, environmental services, water management, well-being, health, safety and education, and must derive 50% of its revenue from these themes.

Charlie McCann, investment research analyst, said: “Collectively, they apply an investment process which sets a high hurdle for inclusion in the portfolio to keep the overall impact high.

“As a result of this process, and where the team tends to find suitable stock ideas, the fund is likely to have significant biases to areas of the market such as the healthcare and industrials sectors, and towards mid-capitalisation companies. Conversely, it is unlikely to have any meaningful exposure to the energy and financials sectors and has a notable underweight to the largest companies within its MSCI World benchmark.”

Ruffer Diversified Return

The Ruffer fund, which holds an A rating, is managed by Duncan MacInnes and Ian Rees, but asset allocation and investment themes are determined by Ruffer’s asset allocation committee which meets at least once a week. The fund balances out global equity investments with holdings including cash, conventional bonds, index-linked bonds, and various derivatives. As of the end of December, it held £1.9bn in AUM.

Alex Farlow, associate director of multi-asset research, said: “The exposure to options and other derivatives is primarily used to reduce directional equity market or interest rate risk when deemed appropriate.

“This sets this fund apart and has been particularly and consistently successful in protecting investors’ capital when it matters most. We note that performance has been disappointing in 2023, but we expect it to bounce back in 2024.”

This article was written for our sister title Portfolio Adviser

The asset management giant has named Peter Hall as chairman of Schroders Wealth Management and Mary-Anne Daly as global head of wealth management.

Hall will continue to oversee Schroders’ global wealth strategy and to chair the Cazenove Capital and Benchmark Capital boards.

Daly retains her role as chief executive of Cazenove Capital, while also taking ultimate responsibility for the wealth management offices in the Channel Islands, Switzerland, and Singapore.

She will chair the boards of Schroders Channel Islands. Schroders Bank, and Schroders Asia.

Dominic Emmerson has also become deputy chief executive of Cazenove Capital.

Novia Financial

The platform business has appointed Lucy Bristow as chief customer officer, with immediate effect.

Bristow moved to Novia from the Wealthtime platform in March last year to take up the role of strategic partnerships director with responsibility for senior relationships with strategic adviser partnerships across the group and she had more recently stepped into the role of people experience director.

To support Bristow, Nicola Clark, who previously worked at Novia’s sister platform Amber, rejoins the business as customer service transformation lead.

Man Group

The global investment management firm has appointed Robyn Grew as chief executive.

This comes after Luke Ellis informed the board of his decision to retire.

Grew is currently president of Man Group and a member of the senior executive committee, based in the US.

She will take over from Ellis as chief executive as of 1 September 2023, at which time she will also join the Man Group Board as an executive director. While she will relocate to the UK following her appointment, she will continue to spend a substantial proportion of her time in the US, given the firm’s presence there.

Ellis will continue as chief executive and remain an executive director of the company until 1 September 2023 to ensure an orderly transition and oversight of the company’s 2023 interim results.

BNY Mellon Pershing

The provider of global financial business solutions has named Colin Murphy as chief commercial officer of its Emea business, effective May 2023.

Murphy joins from SmartTrade, where he was chief revenue officer.

The Openwork Partnership

The UK financial services network has recruited Warren Vickers as commercial development director.

He was previously managing director at Tenet Compliance Services.

Nucleus Financial

The adviser platform has appointed Heather Hopkins as chair of its advisory board.

Hopkins is managing director and founder of consultancy firm NextWealth.

Stonehage Fleming

Natasha Newell has been named as director to the group’s family office team in Guernsey.

She has extensive experience of offshore trusts, having worked as a senior lawyer for some offshore law firms, most recently Carey Olsen.

The Independent Investment Management Initiative (IIMI)

The boutique asset management think tank has named Dani Hristova as chief executive.

Hristova joins from Nordea Asset Management, where she was responsible for building the firm’s presence in the UK insurance market.

M&G Wealth

The advice firm has appointed Ella Hugh as its director of proposition and marketing.

Hugh joins the company from Abrdn. where she was latterly group chief of staff and head of client proposition having held senior strategy, planning and management roles since 2016.

Close Brothers Asset Management

The wealth firm has named Adam Finlay as investment manager.

With over 10 years’ experience in the wealth management sector, Finlay began his career at Capelin Financial Management, a West Midlands IFA firm, before joining Investec Wealth & Investment in 2016.

Tyndall Investment Management

The wealth manager has appointed three investment professionals to its private client practice.

Mark Jenkins and Dennis Cooper join the firm as investment directors, while Joe Holland assumes the role of assistant investment manager.

All three join Tyndall from Walker Crips.

Deutsche Bank International Private Bank (IPB)

The banking group has appointed Arjun Badhwar as the deputy head of its global south Asia team.

Badhwar, who is based in Singapore, will take on his role immediately and report to Rajesh Mahadevan, the head of global south Asia.

Julius Baer

Marcel Suhner has taken on the role of head of intermediaries for German- and Italian-speaking Switzerland at the wealth manager.

He is taking over from Michel Yigit, who has decided to pursue a new opportunity outside the bank.

Suhner has been with Julius Baer since 2015, when he joined the intermediaries northern Europe and UK business development team.

Since 2016, he has been head of intermediaries Europe.

David Reymond, head of intermediaries Apac and Emea, will take over as head of intermediaries Europe ad interim.

Progeny

Freya Robertson has been appointed to the new role of chief of staff to the chief executive.

She previously spent four years as executive assistant to chief executive Neil Moles.

Impax Asset Management

The asset manager has hired Leah Wood as global head of marketing and client experience.

She joined Impax in 2016 to build and lead the client service function in North America, and most recently held the role of head of global client experience.

Artemis

The fund manager has hired Toby Gibb as head of investment solutions.

He joins in June from Fidelity International, where he most recently held the role of global head of investment directing.

Also, Artemis has announced that David Hollis will take over management of its multi-asset, absolute return vehicle, the Artemis Strategic Assets Fund.

Hollis joined Artemis in October 2022 to develop systematic, multi-asset solutions for retail and institutional clients.

Evelyn Partners

The wealth management and professional services group has hired Ciara Oliver as a financial planner in its London team.

Oliver was previously at UBS Wealth Management and Killik & Co.

TrustQuay

The technology provider for trust sector has named Diane Betts as global head of professional services.

She previously led digital transformation and payment solution programmes for global banking clients at Fiserv and Dovetail.

Quilter Cheviot

The investment manager has hired Margaret Schmitt as responsible investment analyst.

Schmitt joins Quilter from infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, where she held the role of climate and sustainability consultant.

The UK regulator has appointed Therese Chambers and Steve Smart as joint executive directors of enforcement and market oversight.

This is due to the imminent departure of Mark Steward on 13 April 2023.

Chambers is currently director of consumer investments in the supervision, policy and competition division at the FCA. Chambers will take on the role on 1 April 2023.

Smart joins from the National Crime Agency, where he sits on the executive committee as director of intelligence. He will join on 21 June 2023

The FCA has also announced the creation of a single legal function headed by current general counsel Stephen Braviner-Roman.

This will bring together the general counsel division and the legal group, which currently sits within enforcement and market oversight, in a single unified legal division.

Sarah Pritchard will take over executive responsibility for the FCA’s international work once Steward leaves, in addition to her existing role as executive director, markets, in the supervision, policy and competition division.

HSBC Global Private Banking

Henry Lam has been named as regional head of wealth planning and advisory for Asia Pacific

He joins HSBC from Credit Suisse, where he was most recently managing director, head of wealth solutions Apac.

Fairway

The financial services provider has appointed Dominique Burnett to Fairway Trust board and Jodie Gray as director within the private client team.

Burnett joined Fairway in 2022 as a private client director.

Gray joins Fairway from Maples Group, where she was vice president.

DWS

Vanessa Wang will become head of Apac from 1 April 2023, taking over from Holger Naumann, who will return to Frankfurt as part of a planned retirement.

Based in Hong Kong, Wang joined DWS as head of client coverage for Apac in September 2021.

Naumann has been head of Apac in the last four years and was based in Hong Kong and subsequently, Singapore.

Aviva Investors

The asset management arm of Aviva has appointed Dean Cook as multi-asset portfolio manager.

Cook joins following six years at M&G, where he was latterly multi-asset portfolio analyst.

In addition, Harriet Ballard also recently joined the team as multi-asset portfolio manager.

Ballard previously worked in the Aviva Investors investment strategy team.

Just Group

Yannis Katsis has joined the retirement planning firm as business development director, according to his Linkedin profile.

He joins from Epic Investment Partners, where he was part of the business development team.

MWA Financial

The London-headquartered advice firm has appointed Phil Young as non-executive director.

Young has held numerous non-executive and executive director roles over the past decade. These include Threesixty, Sense Network, Ludlow Wealth Management and Pareto Financial Planning.

Artemis

The fund manager has strengthened its global investment capabilities with the appointment of Natasha Ebtehadj as part of the team managing the Artemis Global Select open-ended fund and the Mid Wynd International investment trust.

She will be based in London and starts with the firm on 12 June 2023.

Ebtehadj joins from Columbia Threadneedle Investment (CTI), where she has been a portfolio manager on the Global Select team.

The investment arm of Octopus Group has appointed Benjamin Davis as chief executive to lead its retail and institutional fund management business.

Davis is a 12-year veteran within the Octopus Group and current chief executive of Octopus Real Estate.

He will succeed Ruth Handcock, who has been chief executive of Octopus Investments for four years, will be remaining within the wider Octopus Group, leading its drive to help more people get access to help with their money.

She will support Davis through a transition period in an advisory capacity and remain on the Octopus Investments board.

Handcock will continue to act as chair for Octopus MoneyCoach, Seccl, and Guardian Angel.

Progeny

The financial planning group has appointed Heather Ross to the newly created role of head of academy.

She was most recently learning and development director at Balmoral Asset Management – which was acquired by Progeny in July 2022 – where she was also responsible for its graduate academy.

Sigma Private Office

The Dubai wealth firm has hired Chris Cocker as chief investment officer.

He was previously investment adviser and executive director at UBS and Barclays Private Bank.

Waverton Investment Management

The discretionary investment manager has appointed Sarah Keltie as business development director to lead the growth plans for its private client channel.

Keltie joins from Close Brothers Asset Management, where she was responsible for the firm’s strategy attracting clients within the professional services sectors, including lawyers, accountants, trust companies and investment consultants.

Nuveen

The asset manager has promoted Romina Smith to head of continental Europe within the global client group.

Christoffer Hedberg, who is responsible for northern Europe, and Sergio Trezzi, who leads southern Europe, will report to Smith going forward.

Smith will continue to be based in Frankfurt and will still report to Simon England-Brammer, head of Emea and Apac global client group at Nuveen.

Artemis

The fund manager has appointed Alex Stanic to the newly created position of head of global equities.

This is following the decision by global equity fund manager Simon Edelsten to retire from the firm.

Edelsten who manages the Mid Wynd International Investment Trust and the open-ended Artemis Global Select Fund, will leave the fund boutique and retire as an Artemis partner at the end of 2023.

To ensure a smooth handover, Edelsten will continue managing the funds alongside Stanic, who joins from JP Morgan Asset Management’s international equity group on 1 March.

Stanic spent seven years at JP Morgan, where he led on the global equity funds in the Global Specialist team, including the Global Unconstrained Equity Fund.

Also, Alex Illingworth – who co-manages the Mid Wynd and Artemis Global Select vehicles with Edelsten – will leave Artemis at the end of this month.

The firm expects to announce shortly the appointment of two other new members of the global equity team. They will report to Stanic and work across the two portfolios and other global equity mandates alongside analysts Bobby Powar and May Laghzaoui.

Alex Picot Trust

Chelsea Ford has been named as a trust manager at the company.

She joins from VG, where she gained private client experience involving UK real estate and family office structures for an international client base.

Kingsley Napley

The law firm has named Waqar Shah as a partner of its tax disputes and investigations service offering.

Waqar joins from Mishcon de Reya, where he became a partner in 2021.

Oakbridge Wealth

The Jersey investment manager has named Charlotte Larbalestier as compliance officer.

She joins Oakbridge with over 10 years’ experience having previously held compliance and client data analysis roles with Canaccord.

Altum Group

Baroness Helena Morrissey has been appointed chair of the fund and family office services provider.

Formerly chief executive of Newton Investment Management, Morrissey currently sits as chair of Diversity Project, AJ Bell, and Fidelis Insurance having previously served as chair of the Investment Association (IA).

During her career, she has gained a reputation as a champion of diversity having founded the 30% Club in 2010, a campaign aiming to increase the representation of women on boards. Since launch, representation on FTSE 350 boards has increased to almost 40% from 10%.

Morrissey entered the House of Lords in 2020 after being appointed a Dame in 2017 for her contribution to improving diversity in the financial services industry.