Square Mile’s quarterly MI Report captures the viewing patterns among users of our Academy of Funds, which provides insights and data on what advisers have been researching over the last quarter. Below are some of the key trends we saw over Q2 2021.
During Q2, the broad global equity indices continued to grind higher, with the US equity and European markets helping drive that performance. In contrast, the Far East equities markets were more muted over the quarter. In the bond markets, bond yields reversed some of their Q1 performance.
There was no clear trend across asset class or region this quarter in the most viewed funds within the Academy of Funds. The most viewed fund was the M&G Emerging Markets Bond fund, followed by the BNY Mellon Long Term Global Equity and the Aegon Diversified Monthly Income funds.
There were four Responsible rated funds in the top 20 viewed funds this quarter, with the most viewed Responsible rated funds being the Threadneedle UK Social Bond fund, the Wellington Global Impact Bond fund and the Royal London Sustainable World Trust.
The interest in their Emerging Markets Bond fund meant that M&G was the most viewed fund group over the quarter, followed by Schroders, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Aegon Asset Management and BNY Mellon.
Interest in fixed income jumped significantly from 19.9% to 35.2%, while equities increased marginally from 46.6% to 48.1% and multi-asset views almost halved to 16.3%.
In terms of searches per outcome, capital accumulation remains the most sought-after, remaining at 59.5%, a similar level to last quarter, while capital preservation dropped sharply to 13.5% and income rose from 7% to 20.3%. Inflation protection remains the least popular outcome with only 6.8% of views, reflecting the smaller number of funds in the Academy with this outcome.
The IA Global, IA UK Equity Income and IA Asia Pacific Ex Japan sectors remained popular over the quarter, while significantly fewer people looked for funds within the UK All Companies sector.
Changes at Aberdeen Standard Investments meant several of their Risk Targeted ranges were removed from the Academy. As a result, Liontrust Partners, Legal & General Investment Managers and Premier Miton were the most viewed managers over the quarter.
In the passive space, Vanguard held their top position ahead of Blackrock and Fidelity.
Turning to the Fund Dashboard, the most clicked on pillar remains the opinion pillar with 37.5%, followed again by ESG which was just over 30%. Performance at 8%, risks at 13.6% and costs at 10.2% made up the remainder.
At a more granular level, when those underlying pillars are broken down, the Square Mile Opinion and the ESG section were once again the most popular sections.
For a quick snapshot of the findings from Square Mile's Q2 2021 Market Intelligence Report, download the summary report. If you would like more information, get in touch.