Axa Wealth has highlighted six Showcase funds it believes are overlooked by rivals as part of a researched list of funds it is making available to advisers.
The group said its researched range, which will have up to 80 funds, will feature both active and passive products selected by its multi-manager arm Architas.
Within this list, the group has listed six Showcase funds, those it believes are lesser-known and overlooked by rival fund buy lists and multi-managers.
The Showcase list features the Axa Framlington Blue Chip Equity Income fund, Franklin European Opportunities, Pictet Global Megatrend Selection, RWC Global Convertibles, Schroder Global Recovery and Swip Absolute Return Bond.
Head of research Anna O’Donoghue said the Showcase list was likely to be expanded but said the wider list would remain at 50 active funds.
The researched list is being made freely available to Axa clients, including adviser through its Elevate platform. Advisers will be able to use funds from the researched list to build their own portfolios or will be able to choose an asset allocation linked to a client’s risk profile and then choose funds off the research list to populate the portfolio.
Asked about the proliferation of researched fund lists and how Axa’s would stand out, Hans Georgeson, managing director at Architas, said his company’s list had “pure investment integrity”.
“Post-RDR, we have been worried about the erosion of investment integrity,” he said.
“Commerciality has been creeping through via controlled distribution or deals with asset managers. If you look at a list as an adviser, do you know what that list represents?
“We won’t include a fund because we have been offered a super clean price or exclude one because we haven’t got the cheapest price.”
The research fund list comes as the group has also launched the Axa Fund Collection, a range of single and multi-asset funds run by Axa, including some priced at a bespoke level not available from third parties.
The Axa Sterling Index Linked Bond fund, for instance, is available for 0.25 per cent through the Axa Fund Collection.
Mike Kellard, chief executive at Axa Wealth, said research the group had done showed a large percentage of people were enthusiastic about the pension liberalisation announced by chancellor George Osborne and that as many as 80 per cent thought they would need advice through their retirement.
Mr Georgeson added: “The government will want less to do with providing pensions and that responsibility will come to us, either because we are forced to or because we want to.”
