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Fidelity’s Wealthbuilder fund is at the “mercy” of its inexperienced underlying fund managers, according to Morningstar.

Morningstar described the Fidelity Wealthbuilder team as experienced, but said it needed more grey hairs among its underlying managers.

The fund analyst company described Richard Skelt, who has headed the £738.4m fettered fund of funds since launch 12 years ago, as "a highly experienced multi-manager investor".

Geraldine Stewart, head of investments at Fidelity International with an 18-year tenure at the company, is just one of the managers and analysts who assist him on the fund.

However, Morningstar observed that, because the vehicle is fettered, it relies on Fidelity's internal portfolios.

In 2006, Fidelity missed a large-cap rally in the middle of the year and lost money on online gambling stocks, Morningstar said. This meant the portfolio underperformed its category peers for the first calendar year since launch.

Morningstar pointed out that, following this underperformance, Fidelity underwent substantial manager turnover.

Jorma Korhonen started on the £1.5bn Global Special Situations fund, Sanjeev Shah on the £2bn Special Situations fund, Tom Ewing on the £390.4m UK Growth fund, Aruna Karunathilake on the £223.2m UK Aggressive fund, Michael Clark on the £392.8m Income Plus fund and Matt Siddle on the £202.7m Growth + Income fund, among others.

At the end of this period, the fund has ended up 91st out of 148 funds in the Global Growth sector over three years, with returns of 11.7 per cent against an 8.7 per cent average.

Peter Hicks, head of IFA channel at Fidelity, said he agreed with the analysis from Morningstar, but defended the relative lack of experience of the underlying fund managers.

“The inexperience of the fund managers is compensated for quite a lot by their experience overall as investment managers," he said.

"They have worked together for a long time as part of a team, and Mr Stewart and Mr Morse have huge experience. It’s their first retail fund, and that’s a fact, but there’s nothing to be concerned about."

Morningstar added that, although many of these managers have started on their funds comparatively recently, Mr Skelt is a member of Fidelity's asset allocation committee and can use his experience in this respect to boost performance.

The fund uses a composite benchmark of 40 per cent the FTSE All-Share index and 60 per cent the MSCI World.

The manager's regional weights are usually within 200 basis points of the benchmark, and he meets with teams on his underlying funds weekly.

He can use futures and ETFs to achieve his targets, and from early next year, he will also be able to invest in Fidelity's offshore portfolios.