Cazenove suggests new IMA definitions for managed sectors

13 May 2011 8:00 am | By Joanne Ellul

Cazenove head of multi-manager Marcus Brookes has called on the IMA to consider adding three additional categories to its managed sector definitions.

Brookes says the gap between the cautious and balanced managed categories is too great.

He says: “I wonder whether there should be a stage between cautious and balanced managed. Going from a maximum equities exposure of 60 per cent to a maximum exposure of 85 per cent is a big jump. Adding two additional categories, one with equities exposure below 60 per cent and one with exposure below 40 per cent could result, in a suite that fits most risk types. This is something the IMA could look at.”

PSigma chief investment officer Tom Becket says multi-manager multi-asset funds should have their own sector.

He says: “There are a few balanced funds that consist of lots of equities, a few bonds and a bit of cash. It might be better to separate out performance of genuinely multi-asset funds from these funds.”

The Association of British Insurers dropped the balanced and managed sectors for mixed investment sector definitions in February.

Yellowtail Financial Planning managing director Dennis Hall says: “The bigger problem here is you have got the IMA and ABI saying different things. Increasing the number of sectors is not going to help IFAs until we have clarity across all funds.”

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