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Page 1: The Old Mutual Compass portfolios

The Old Mutual Compass portfolios

July 2018

Sponsored by

Page 2: The Old Mutual Compass portfolios

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ContentsIntroduction 3

Understanding the universe of multi-asset funds 4

Risk bound fund families 6

A rating framework for selecting risk bound funds based on quality

7

Selecting risk bound funds based on suitability 9

Benefits of using risk bound fund families 11

Old Mutual Compass portfolios 12

Conclusion 20

AUM Assets under management

DNA Data numerical analysis

NURS Non-UCITS retail scheme

SAA Strategic asset allocation

TAA Tactical asset allocation

UCITS Undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities

Acronyms

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IntroductionConsidering a suitable investment proposition for a client is a complex task. An adviser and their client will have been through a lengthy process to discover the client’s needs, objectives, attitude to risk, investment amount, amongst other things. The client will be placing their trust in the adviser’s expertise, with which comes great responsibility. The adviser must research how best to meet those client needs, and increasingly advisers are looking to multi-asset funds for that solution.

Recently, advisers and their clients have started to show an interest in matching long-term suitability and risk to their investments, rather than simply the potential return. These types of funds are ‘risk bound’ rather than the traditional ‘return focused’ funds often used previously.

Providers of risk bound funds typically have a ‘family’ of four or five funds, spread across a range of risk levels and run by the same management team to the same investment process. Each fund aims to maintain a risk level over time, by making adjustments to the asset allocation in response to market movements. Even with the volatility of the market, the risk profile of each of these funds should remain fairly consistent, thus enabling an adviser to align the risk attitude of their clients to the funds.

This document will take a closer look at the multi-asset funds universe and, in particular, risk bound funds. We will provide an overview of ways in which multi-asset risk bound funds can be rated, both from a suitability and a quality point of view. Finally, we will look at the Old Mutual Compass Portfolios; a range of multi-asset risk targeted funds. We will consider the people and the investment process, together with the asset allocation and performance of the range.

Nancy Mills Defaqto Insight Support Analyst (Funds and DFM) [email protected]

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Understanding the universe of multi-asset fundsIdentifying the appropriate strategyMulti-asset funds come in various forms. Our ‘quadrant’ chart below offers a framework to help advisers identify the key investment characteristics and the positioning of each multi-asset class investment fund.

Risk bound

Risk targeted

Risk focused

Multi-asset fundsTraditional Active

PassiveAlternative (and traditional)

Multi-manager

Fund of funds

UnfetteredFettered

Manager of

managers

Single-manager(direct)

Return focused

Investment style

Management approach

Asset type Investment method

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1. Investment style

Multi-asset funds can be either:

• Risk bound – existing as ‘families’ (sets of funds), with either each fund in the family targeting a certain numerical level or range of risk, and return being the secondary aim (risk targeted), or with each fund having more emphasis on return but being constrained by risk in some way, eg through the Investment Association sector it sits in (risk focused)

• Return focused – funds primarily aim to outperform a benchmark or a sector with risk being the secondary consideration

Return focused funds are useful if an investor is trying to achieve a certain level of growth over time or a particular goal in terms of amount of money. Risk bound funds, the main focus of this case study, are discussed in more detail in the next section.

2. Management approach

Multi-asset funds can also be either:

• Single-manager – one fund manager or team manages all the investments in the fund

• Multi-manager – different fund managers are used across, and sometimes within, the various asset classes

The rationale for multi-manager investing is that no one manager can be the best across every single asset class and, instead, one should seek out a specialist manager for each different area. The disadvantage of this approach is that by employing other managers, an extra layer of fees will be introduced, which can make multi-managers more expensive on average.

Multi-manager funds may be either:

• Manager of managers – a mandate will be set up with the sub-fund manager and run on a segregated basis

• Fund of funds – the multi-asset manager is buying and selling all or part of its underlying funds

Fund of funds may be either:

• Fettered – the multi-asset fund manager can only use funds from elsewhere within their organisation

• Unfettered – funds from any firm may be used

The big advantage of unfettered is that the opportunity set is much larger, not only in terms of funds but also investment styles and strategies, with the result that the manager should be able to achieve greater diversification. With fettered funds, however, costs will usually be lower, and the multi-asset manager will have more detailed access to the underlying fund managers. Also, monitoring fewer managers allows for greater concentration on the individual manager.

3. Asset type

Multi-asset funds may be either:

• Traditional asset funds – investments are long-only and in the ‘traditional’ asset classes of equities, bonds, cash and property

• Alternative (and traditional) asset funds – investments are a combination of traditional asset classes and ‘alternative’ assets, such as private equity and infrastructure. Alternative asset classes offer greater potential for higher returns and diversification; however, they can also be more risky and expensive, lack liquidity and be less transparent.

4. Investment method

Finally, multi-asset funds can be:

• Active – the underlying managers attempt to generate returns in excess of the stated benchmark/index, although there is the risk of them underperforming it

• Passive – the underlying funds simply aim to track the benchmark/index on a gross of fees basis (although this is not guaranteed and passive funds will generally have small tracking errors associated with them) and will normally be much less expensive. Allocation between the funds will be made on a long-term basis using a strategic asset allocation (SAA) and there is no short- or medium-term active allocation (short- to medium-term here means an investment horizon of roughly one to five years and would involve tactical asset allocation (TAA))

As can be seen, Defaqto’s framework focuses on four key themes:

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Risk bound fund familiesIn the case of risk bound, there are on average four or five funds in a family, with each fund in the family being used by different investors, depending on their risk tolerance and financial circumstances.

Investors who are comfortable taking risk would be expected to use the higher risk funds in the family, with their corresponding higher levels of expected return, while more risk averse investors will tend to use the lower risk funds, accepting their probable lower expected returns.

One advantage of risk bound fund families, therefore, is that if the investor’s circumstances change, then they can simply move up or down the risk scale accordingly to a different fund within the same family that is more suitable.

The adviser may, in turn, have a reduced amount of due diligence to carry out in terms of finding a new proposition, as this will have been done at the start. As a result, the investor could be in the same fund family for most, if not all, of their lifecycle.

The funds within each family will usually be managed by the same person/team and follow the same investment process, with the different levels of risk being achieved mainly through varying the asset allocations across the family but also, to a lesser extent, by selecting different underlying funds or managers.

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A rating framework for selecting risk bound funds based on qualityDefaqto introduced Diamond Ratings to help advisers and investors navigate the fund universe by providing an independent assessment of where funds and fund families sit in the market.

In scoring multi-asset and other types of funds, we apply a data numeric analysis (DNA) methodology, with each fund feature and performance attribute being scored from 1 to 5, where 5 indicates the best possible characteristic (top quintile) and 1 indicates the worst characteristic (bottom quintile). We divide funds into different universes when doing this, so that we are comparing like with like.

The sum of the individual DNA scores across the range of fund features and performance attributes provides an overall score which we use to rank each fund or fund family within its respective universe and then give it a Diamond Rating of 1 to 5.

Under our standard methodology for rating risk bound fund families (which applies to those with five or more years of performance data), all families are rated on their risk adjusted performance, as measured by Defaqto’s proprietary ‘risk adjusted alpha’. This is defined as:

The fund’s actual return

The return expected for the amount of risk taken over the measurement period

Expected return is determined from Defaqto’s ten risk levels (see next section) – each level will have an associated volatility and return. The risk versus return of the ten risk levels is plotted on a chart and a curve of best fit is produced. From that curve, there will be an expected return corresponding to a given volatility, and the fund’s actual return will either be above or below that. The average risk adjusted alpha is taken across the family.

We then look at family ‘risk shape’ as part of our Diamond Rating for risk bound fund families, which consists of three different proprietary measures of how the funds in the family behave in relation to one another:

• Spread – the range of risk available in the family of funds, calculated as the difference in risk between the maximum and minimum risk fund, with a wider spread being seen as better

• Consistency – how even the increases in risks are when moving between one fund and the next, calculated as the variance of these changes in risk, with a lower variance (ie more even steps in risk) being rated as better

• Shape – according to investment theory, if investors take extra risk, they should be rewarded with higher returns, at least over the medium to long term. Shape measures the conformity of the family of funds to this expected positive relationship between risk and return, with a closer fit to this pattern receiving a higher score

The weightings on each of these are doubled to give performance and risk shape a higher impact on the overall rating.

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Newer fund families

Where there is no performance data, or data of less than a year, we instead rate the fund family through at least one due diligence meeting with the fund manager on the following five criteria:

• Business strength – including ownership stability, financial strength, ability to deal with business growth and key person risk

• Staff quality – experience and skills of the team members, in particular the key decision-makers, team stability, how well the team is incentivised and staff turnover

• Investment philosophy – is there anything unique about the manager’s beliefs and philosophy? Can they be translated into excess returns (alpha)? If so, in what type(s) of market are they likely to do well?

• Investment process – is it clear, understandable, well thought out and consistent with the philosophy? How does the manager research and select investments? How do they put portfolios together and what are their sell disciplines? How do they analyse and manage risk?

• Research capability – level and type of resource, in particular the size of the research team

Where there are between one and five years of performance numbers, this part of the ratings will be a mix of the performance/risk shape and the due diligence scores.

Additional features

Our Diamond Rating scoring methodology also takes into account the following additional features and these are looked at in the same way regardless of the age of the family:

• Number of funds in the family – more funds in the family is seen as better, as it means that advisers can more closely align a fund’s objectives to the needs of a particular client

• Family assets under management (AUM) – needs to be above a minimum level to be economically self-sustaining, plus size of AUM is an indicator of total resources available to the funds

• Manager tenure – managers with greater experience of managing the fund family are a likely indicator of achieving the fund objectives in the future

• Ongoing fund charge – a lower charge is less of a drag on performance

• Undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS)/Non-UCITS retail scheme (NURS) status – funds that operate under a UCITS structure have greater controls over risk management and reporting

• Domicile – funds registered within the UK will enable investors to access the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if necessary and avoid potentially complex tax implications

These features receive no extra weighting when adding up their DNA scores, resulting in the overall Diamond Rating attribution in Chart 1. In this chart, number of funds in the family, family AUM, manager tenure, UCITS/NURS status and domicile are grouped into ‘other features’.

Charges

Other features

Performance / due diligence scores

Risk shape / due diligence scores

7.1%

35.7%

14.3%

42.9%

Chart 1: Diamond Rating attribution

Source: Defaqto

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Selecting risk bound funds based on suitabilityDefaqto researches funds and portfolios in detail to assign them a Defaqto Risk Rating, with each rating corresponding to a Defaqto Risk Profile. Defaqto’s Risk Ratings allow advisers to assess multi-asset funds in terms of their risk and hence suitability for each client.

These ratings are reached by:

• Looking at the fund’s past volatility (standard deviation) of returns over 1, 3, 5 and 10 years, where that data exists

• Looking at the fund’s projected volatility using its asset allocation and assumptions for future returns, volatilities and co-movements of the asset classes it holds

• Discussing these numbers with the manager of the fund

The perceived risk of each fund, normally the highest of the past and projected volatilities, is mapped onto a scale, where 10 is the most risky and 1 is the least risky, to give the fund its Defaqto Risk Rating.

Defaqto risk profilingAdvisers who work with Defaqto tend to undertake the following process to select a suitable investment strategy:

3Research suitable

investments21 Agree a risk profile

Understand the client's objectives

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Understanding the client's objectivesThe adviser will need to understand the client and the client’s financial planning goals, objectives and priorities to give suitable advice. They will do this by asking questions about various aspects of the client’s financial circumstances, which are likely to include the following:

Agree a risk profileThe adviser will then need to assess the client’s attitude to risk and will likely do this by asking the client to complete a questionnaire to determine their natural risk level on a scale of, for example, 1–10, where 1 is the lowest risk and 10 is the highest.

They should also discuss the client’s capacity for loss, which will explore how much capital they can afford to lose that will not materially affect their standard of living, while still meeting their financial goals. Capacity for loss can be described as the client’s ability to absorb falls in the value of their investment if any loss of capital would have a materially detrimental effect on their standard of living.

Required return can often be the most dominant assessment criteria. How much will be invested and for how long? Is there a regular investment (how much and how often)? If the return (growth and/or income) required can be achieved by having to tolerate less overall volatility and risk, then there is no need to invest in a combination of assets beyond a particular risk level, even if the investor’s attitude to risk indicates a higher level of risk would be acceptable to them.

Once the adviser understands the client’s investment amount, required term, natural risk level and capacity for loss, they will work with the client to identify an agreed risk level, also on the scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest risk and 10 is the highest. This may be different from the client’s natural risk level and may also be different from other investments, eg retirement saving compared with investing a windfall. This agreed risk level helps determine the client’s Defaqto Risk Profile for that investment.

By defining a particular level of risk to take (and thus a commensurate combination of assets), one can assess whether the individual’s financial situation is able to withstand the impact of a worst-case outcome, or a near worst-case scenario, based upon a given percentage probability of an event occurring.

Defaqto Risk ProfilesDefaqto has created ten Risk Profiles which align to the attitude to risk levels. The higher the risk profile, the greater the potential return but also the increased potential falls in value.

Each Risk Profile includes a description of a typical investor’s attitude to investing. For each Risk Profile there is also an indication of the potential rises and falls in value over a ten-year investment term to guide decisions.

Researching suitable investmentsAdvisers can use the Defaqto Risk Profile to review any existing investments held by the client and research the market for suitable funds or portfolios. They can then make recommendations, either using these risk rated funds or portfolios, or construct a separate portfolio depending on the client’s objectives.

It is worth noting that Defaqto’s Diamond Ratings rate risk bound funds as a family, often looking at how the funds behave in relation to each other; therefore there will be just one rating for the whole family. Our Risk Ratings, however, rate each fund in the family on an individual basis, with each fund in the family almost always receiving a different Risk Rating.

It is also worth remembering at this point the difference between ‘risk targeted’ and ‘risk rated’ funds – ‘risk targeted’ means a fund will aim to keep its volatility at a certain level or within a specific range, while ‘risk rated’ means that a fund has been assigned a rating based on its perceived risk, either by ourselves or one of the other providers in the market. Therefore, a fund can be either risk targeted or risk rated, or be both or be neither.

How much will you be investing?

How long will you be investing for?

Will there be a regular investment

(how much and how often)?

What is your required return?

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Investors who are comfortable taking risk would be expected to use the higher risk funds in the family, with their corresponding higher levels of expected return, while more risk averse investors will tend to use the lower risk funds, accepting their probable lower expected returns.

For the adviser, the benefit is that there is a reduced amount of due diligence to carry out in terms of finding a new proposition, as the majority of work will have been done at the start when researching the market and selecting the family of funds.

Risk bound funds offer investors access to disciplined, well-resourced and process-driven solutions to manage and meet client expectations and attitude to investment risk. Risk bound solutions managed with discipline lend themselves to maintaining alignment with a client’s tolerance for loss, both now and in the future. In most cases it is possible for the client to invest in the same family of funds throughout their investment lifecycle.

However, there can be significant differences in structure, process and other features across the various risk bound fund families in the market, so due diligence is still very important – such funds need to be monitored to ensure that they are meeting the client’s aims and objectives on an ongoing basis, as with any other fund.

Benefits of using risk bound fund familiesFor the investor, the benefit of these types of funds is the simplicity of them, as it is possible for a client to invest in the same family of funds throughout their investment lifecycle.

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Old Mutual Compass portfoliosQuilter Investors offers a multi-asset, risk targeted portfolio range called ‘Compass’ which are potentially suitable as a risk bound solution for clients. The range consists of four portfolios, with expected risk and return increasing through the family. All four portfolios were launched in April 2016.

What sets the Compass portfolios apart from other risk bound fund families is that the range has been designed primarily for international investors. The portfolios are all managed with USD as the base currency, and the asset allocation is truly globalised with no home bias to the UK or any other country. The portfolios are actively managed multi-asset, multi-manager portfolios with each targeting a different risk level and are domiciled in Ireland. As they are multi-manager portfolios and the range is managed from a global perspective, the managers have the pick of international fund managers from anywhere in the world. There is, however, a GBP share class to satisfy the needs of the UK investor.

Assets under management for the Compass portfolio range, as at 28 February 2018, were $745.7m (USD being the base currency of the portfolios).

The Compass portfolios will rebrand at a later date to reflect the new name for the specialist multi-asset investment unit of Quilter plc (previously known as Old Mutual Wealth) into Quilter Investors.

Background

Business

Quilter Investors is the investment arm of Quilter plc, which is formed of a range of companies specialising in advice, investment and wealth management. Quilter Investors provides advisers and clients with multi-asset solutions to meet a range of evolving needs and manages more than £17b of client assets. Quilter’s history dates back to 1771 and in June 2018 they listed on the stock market.

People

Anthony Gillham is a Co-Director of the 26 strong investment team and also the co-fund manager for the Compass range alongside Sacha Chorley. Anthony and Sacha have managed the Compass range since its inception and are supported by five other Portfolio Managers and other members of the investment team, which is split into the sub teams below:

• Fund Research

• Direct Investment

• Relative Value

• Quant

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Within the research team there are analysts overseeing every major asset class from international equities through to bonds, property, commodities and hedge funds. These analysts are supported by extensive in-house modelling teams who use quantitative and relative value analysis to examine, test and challenge every investment decision made.

Anthony has been with Quilter Investors since 2000, becoming a Global Bond Portfolio Manager in 2007 before joining the Multi Asset team in 2015.

Sacha joined Quilter Investors in 2011. Beforehand, Sacha had been an analyst for three years.

Investment processThis can be broken down into three areas:

• Strategic asset allocation (SAA)

• Tactical asset allocation (TAA)

• Investment selection

Strategic asset allocation

The investment team creates the Compass portfolios utilising input from Moody’s Analytic. These forward-looking estimates of risk, return and correlation are then run through the team’s proprietary optimiser – Monte Carlo Mean Variance Optimisation (MCMVO) – designed by Anthony. This creates the SAA for each Compass portfolio and this is reassessed each quarter. As these portfolios are truly globalised and aimed at the international investor, there is no UK bias to the SAA, often preferred by UK fund managers.

Tactical asset allocation

The investment team manages the portfolios on a daily basis making investment decisions as appropriate. As part of this process, the team meets weekly to score every market and asset class using their proprietary VTEC tool. Each market and asset class is given a score on all of the following: valuation, technicals, economics and corporate activity, with the latter using the Direct Investment team. The overall scores determine the investment team’s level of conviction for each respective asset class or market. In turn, this leads to understanding whether the current TAA is in line with their conviction.

The TAA is made up of both investments in other funds and direct investment in fixed income and equities.

Anthony and Sacha ensure that the risk budget for each portfolio is split equally between the TAA and the actual stock selection used to meet that TAA. The maximum risk budget is divided into smaller units of risk which can be used in any asset class and by any amount. By dividing risk into smaller units it enables the team to align the risk they take in any given asset class or market with their conviction. It also ensures that a disproportionate amount of risk is not allocated to one particular asset class, and these risk measures should offer increased assurances to the investor.

Investment selection

The investment team believes that to be successful as an active manager, each investment market will require a different investment approach and a different skill set. For the Compass range of portfolios, the team can use investment houses all over the world; they are whole of market. The Fund Research team is responsible for researching and selecting the best managers globally for each asset class.

Fixed Income investments are managed by the investment team, as they believe they have the best skills for this particular market. They also invest directly into equities, where they aim to add value.

Underpinning the team’s direct investments is a proprietary tool, Wingman. This tool analyses portfolio holdings and triggers action when a position is not behaving as expected; eg when a stock held is materially down. The team's research suggests that inaction is far worse than action under these circumstances, indicating that ‘winners’ adapt – either by doubling up on their holding or by exiting the position. Wingman identifies such situations and issues a call to action.

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Within the multi-asset universeBased on the ‘quadrant’ multi-asset framework described earlier, Defaqto classifies the Compass portfolios as:

Multi-asset framework

Investment styleRisk bound

Management approach• Multi-manager• Fund of funds • Mainly unfettered

Asset typeTraditional and

alternative

Investment method

Active

Defaqto Diamond RatingThis fund family is less than five years old and has therefore been rated using a combination of our standard methodology and a due diligence score, following a meeting with the fund manager. In terms of the additional features, this family has a high total AUM figure. However, the charges for the portfolios are high in comparison with their peer group, although it should be noted that these solutions are designed for the offshore market, where pricing is still bundled, with an allowance made for adviser servicing fees.

Overall, this family receives a Diamond Rating of 5.

For each individual portfolio, the following pages show the portfolio’s objective and its asset allocation.

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Compass Portfolio 2

UK Cash 15.11%UK Government Bonds 18.73%Global (ex-UK) Fixed Income 21.04%Absolute Return 22.02%UK Equity 0.41%Europe (ex-UK) Equity 4.61%North American Equity 10.99%Japan Equity 1.68%Emerging Markets Equity 5.42%

ISIN code: IE00BYV77390

Portfolio description

The investment objective of the Old Mutual Compass Portfolio 2 is to generate a long-term total return within the portfolio's risk target.

Compass 2 Asset allocation

Source: Quilter Investors, as at 31/03/18

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Compass Portfolio 3ISIN code: IE00BYV77408

Portfolio description

The investment objective of the Old Mutual Compass Portfolio 3 is to generate a long-term total return within the portfolio's risk target.

Compass 3 Asset allocation

UK Cash 10.95%UK Government Bonds 13.10%Global (ex-UK) Fixed Income 13.97%Absolute Return 13.65%UK Equity 0.98%Europe (ex-UK) Equity 9.04%North American Equity 24.19%Japan Equity 3.36%Emerging Markets Equity 10.76%

Source: Quilter Investors, as at 31/03/18

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Compass Portfolio 4

UK Cash 4.77%UK Government Bonds 5.89%Global (ex-UK) Fixed Income 6.90%Absolute Return 9.21%UK Equity 1.68%Europe (ex-UK) Equity 13.47%North American Equity 36.58%Japan Equity 5.00%Emerging Markets Equity 16.51%

ISIN code: IE00BYV77D98

Portfolio description

The investment objective of the Old Mutual Compass Portfolio 4 is to generate a long-term total return within the portfolio's risk target.

Compass 4 Asset allocation

Source: Quilter Investors, as at 31/03/18

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Compass Portfolio 5ISIN code: IE00BYV77N96

Portfolio description

The investment objective of the Old Mutual Compass Portfolio 5 is to generate a long-term total return within the portfolio's risk target.

Compass 5 Asset allocation

UK Cash 4.35%UK Equity 1.92%Europe (ex-UK) Equity 18.07%North American Equity 48.67%Japan Equity 6.68%Emerging Markets Equity 20.31%

Source: Quilter Investors, as at 31/03/18

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Compass portfolio family performance

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Apr-

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Compass 2 Compass 3 Compass 4 Compass 5

As can be seen from the chart, since inception of this family of portfolios, realised returns for each portfolio increase in line with the amount of risk targeted. This is what we would expect to happen.

Source: Morningstar reinvested price series for A share class (USD) Accumulation rebased with April 2016 = 100

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ConclusionRisk bound funds offer investors access to disciplined and process driven solutions to match their attitude to risk, both now and in the future. A range of risk bound funds managed by the same team, using the same process, can allow an investor to remain invested in the same fund family throughout their investment lifecycle. Should the investor’s risk requirements change, they can simply move up or down the risk scale offered by the family.

There can, however, be significant differences in structure, process and other features from one fund family to another; therefore, due diligence is still very important. Such funds need to be monitored to ensure that they are meeting their aims and objectives on an ongoing basis, as with any other fund.

Defaqto’s Diamond Ratings can act as a framework for research into and selection of risk bound fund families. Our methodology considers the family as a whole, rather than the individual funds. We consider all known risk bound fund families in the universe, and each of our criteria is used to rank the families and the best quality fund families gaining a 5 Diamond Rating.

In addition, Defaqto’s ‘quadrant’ analysis of the multi-asset fund universe across four different investment dimensions has been designed to help, guide and educate the adviser market audience in this potentially complex area.

The Old Mutual Compass range is an example of a risk bound fund family. Based on our review of this offering, we believe its strengths include:

• An experienced fund manager supported by a large investment/research team

• Portfolios fully global in their objectives and asset allocation

• Access to specialised fund managers from all over the world and direct investment

• A Defaqto 5 Diamond Rating concludes the quality of this fund range

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Send us your feedback Your feedback is extremely important to us and we would be grateful if, after completing this publication, you would take a few minutes to complete a short survey. Your answers will be treated in the strictest confidence and the results of this will help the development of future publications.

The survey can be accessed at:

https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=144610976149

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Our experts research, collect and continuously assess over 41,000 financial products. Our process is extremely robust and is driven by over 60 specialist analysts who have unparalleled knowledge of financial products, services and funds in the market. Our independent fund and product information helps banks, insurers and fund managers with designing and promoting their propositions.

Defaqto RatingsDefaqto Star Ratings are the most trusted expert assessment of products in the market. Products can receive a Rating of 1 to 5, depending on the quality and comprehensiveness of the features it offers; a 1 Star Rating indicates a basic product, while a 5 Star Rating indicates one of the highest quality products in the market. Star Ratings provide consumers, advisers and brokers with an accurate benchmark so that they can see at a glance how products and policies in the market compare.

A Diamond Rating reflects the performance of a managed fund or fund family. Funds or fund families can receive a Rating of 1 to 5 based on a detailed and well-structured scoring process, allowing advisers and other intermediaries – and their clients – to see instantly where they sit in the market in terms of fund performance and competitiveness in areas such as fees, scale, access and manager longevity. A 5 Diamond Rating indicates it is one of the best quality funds available in the market.

Service Ratings provide advisers with a simple and unbiased assessment of provider service. Based on advisers’ perceptions of the service they receive, providers are rated Gold, Silver, Bronze.

Risk Ratings use the projected volatility of a fund using asset allocation and historic volatility based on observed standard deviations to map a fund to a Defaqto Risk Profile. Risk Profile 10 indicates highest risk and Risk Profile 1 represents lowest risk.

Income Risk Ratings are unique to the market, comparing fund objectives, asset allocations, income and capital volatilities, and maximum drawdown. The Ratings are mapped to four Income Risk Profiles based on the income required and the level of risk. They are: capital preservation, low income volatility, medium income volatility, high income volatility.

About Defaqto Defaqto is an independent financial information business, helping financial institutions and consumers make better informed decisions.

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Engage Core at a glance:

• Over 7,200 advisers use Engage

• Over 600 risk rated funds

• Accumulation, decumulation and research workflows

• Built-in risk profiling

• Import and review clients’ existing holdings

• Flexibility to choose portfolio construction method and set up your own CIP

• Unique, three-way, dynamic research to select compatible funds, products and platforms

• Seamless integration with back office and the possibility to store your clients’ data in one place

For more information, or to arrange a demonstration, visit https://defaqto.com/advisers/

Panel support

Our unique in-house knowledge, expertise and market leading data, through Engage, provide a one stop solution to support advisory businesses’ panel construction and maintenance requirements. We can help strengthen your client adviser proposition by creating a panel to meet your business requirements (no matter how niche). We can also help you manage regulatory risk through developing repeatable processes to maximise your control. Our approach saves time and reduces cost by enabling efficient distribution of your panel across your business – via Engage – giving advisers a solution they can use with clients quickly and easily.

For more information visit https://defaqto.com/advisers/panel-consultancy/

Engage Core is an end-to-end financial planning software, developed by our team of experts, which adapts to your centralised investment proposition (CIP) and client segments. You can create, store and manage client information, investment goals and fund research all in one place and seamlessly integrate with your back office, ensuring a consistent and efficient advice process. Our Ratings are available in Engage Core.

Engage Core

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Please contact your Defaqto Account Manager or call us on 0808 1000 804

defaqto.com/advisers

© Defaqto Limited 2018. All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced or used in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known orhereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the express written permissionof the publisher. The publisher has taken all reasonable measures to ensure the accuracy of the information and ratings in this document andcannot accept responsibility or liability for errors or omissions from any information given and for any consequences arising.