New Fund Launches – Our Wishlist Updated and Now Public

As asset allocators we are aware of the surplus of funds in some areas, and glaring gaps in others.  That’s why we maintain a wishlist which we share in our catch ups with fund houses.  We are now making this public to drive industry engagement.

What new fund launches do we want to see in the UK? What are the best ideas for new investment funds?

By Henry Cobbe, Director & Head of Research, Elston Consulting

What fund providers want to launch and what advisers and Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) providers want to see launched are sometimes quite different.

We give feedback to the fund houses we work with as part of an annual strategic review.

Whilst their own internal product strategy is surrounded in secrecy, we are delighted that many of the requests we have shared with them on our wishlist over the last few years have now come through.  Sometimes this is part of a broader industry trend, sometimes with our direct design input, and sometimes with the help of seed capital from Elston Portfolio Management.

There’s also a nuance in that whilst fund houses love launching ETFs, in the platform based IFA/MPS market, the OEIC format is preferred owing to the larger platforms’ technology not embracing fractional trading of ETFs.

We update our wishlist below to highlight what gaps have been filled and what have not.  We have also decided to make it public to drive more industry engagement on what we think managers and advisers might actually need or want.
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Of the 14 items that have been on our wish list over the last few years, only 6 are left.
If any fund providers would like to reach out to discuss any of these remaining items, please do get in touch.

Wish	Rationale	Status	Our Role
S&P 500 Equal Weight Index Fund	Lots of ETFs, no OEICs	Launched by HSBC Global Asset Management	Advocate, early adopter, introducing seed capital
Emerging Market USD Debt Index Fund	Lots of ETFs, some pricey OEICs	Launched by HSBC Global Asset Management	Advocate, early adopter, introducing seed capital
World Equity Factor Index Funds	Some ETFs, no OEICs	Launched by Legal & General Investment Management	Advocate, early adopter
50/50 Listed/Direct Property Funds	Improved liquidity management	Evolved by Legal & General Investment Management	Advocate
Active sector selection fund	Sector allocation OEIC built with ETFs	Launched by Sequel & State Street Global Advisers	Co-designer, index provider
A thematic allocation fund	Thematic allocation fund	Launched by BlackRock	Advocate
A defence sector ETF	Structural paradigm shift into defence & security	Launched by HanETF	Advocate, early adopter
A mainstream Buffer ETF	Embedded downside protection	Launched by BlackRock	Advocate, early adopter
A Global 500 Equity Index Fund	Lower replication costs	WISHLIST Index just launched by Wilshire Indexes. Needs a fund.	Advocate, potential seed introducer
A factor allocation fund	Factor allocation OEIC built with ETFs	WISHLIST	Advocate, index already launched
Listed/Direct hybrid Private Markets Fund	Improved liquidity management	WISHLIST	Advocate
A fund of gold and precious metals ETCs (NURS OEIC)	Lower cost exposure than gold miners OEIC	WISHLIST	Designer, index already launched
An all weather (Equal Weight Portfolio) fund	Low cost absolute return strategy OEIC	WISHLIST	Designer, index already launched
A Commonwealth Equity Fund	Differentiated global equity OEIC	WISHLIST	Advocate