Sustainable funds continued to dominate the top performers in the latest quarterly review of FE Fundinfo’s Crown Ratings.
Overall, there are now currently 397 funds from the wider universe with the highest Five-Crown rating, as 15 gained the status for the first time and nine moved from the lowest one-crown to the highest level.
However, 17 of these new entrants to the Five-Crown club had an ethical or sustainable focus, including the BNY Mellon Sustainable Global Equity Fund and Sustainable Real Return, and the Jupiter Global Sustainable Equities Fund.
“The strong performance of sustainably-focused funds has largely come about from a combination of favourable market conditions and growing interest in ESG investing from both investors, who are looking beyond returns and wanting to know where their money is going, and institutions and fund groups who are looking to diversify their propositions,” said FE Investments research manager Charles Younes.
FE fundinfo Crown ratings are calculated by building up a ‘Crown Score’. The score is made up of three parts, and each part is calculated by reference to a benchmark for the fund. Once the benchmark is assigned, FE fundinfo then applies three tests (an alpha based test, a volatility score and a consistency score) to the total return history of the fund. Three years of history is required to carry out these scores, so any fund with less history than this will not qualify for a rating.
Funds are assigned ratings based on their total scores, according to the following distribution:
- the top 10% – 5 FE fundinfo Crowns
- the next 15% – 4 FE fundinfo Crowns
- the next 25% – 3 FE fundinfo Crowns
- the next 25% – 2 FE fundinfo Crowns
- the bottom 25% – 1 FE fundinfo Crown
Other sustainable portfolios awarded a new Five Crown Rating include Aegon Global Sustainable Equity, Baillie Gifford Stewardship and Positive Change funds, Impax Environmental Markets, Fundsmith Sustainable Equity and Pictet Global Environmental Opportunities.
| Sustainable funds with new Five Crown Rating |
| AB SICAV I Sustainable Global Thematic Portfolio |
| Aegon Global Sustainable Equity |
| Baillie Gifford Global Stewardship |
| Baillie Gifford Positive Change |
| Barclays Charity |
| BNY Mellon Sustainable Global Equity |
| Brown Advisory US Sustainable Growth |
| Fundsmith Sustainable Equity |
| Impax Asian Environmental Markets |
| Impax Environmental Markets |
| Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity |
| Jupiter Global Sustainable Equities |
| Montanaro Better World |
| Montanaro Better World Distribution |
| Morgan Stanley Emerging Leaders Equity |
| Pictet Global Environmental Opportunities |
| Scottish Widows Environmental Investor |
Younes highlighted ESG investing is relatively new for large parts of the industry and funds are only just falling into their screens.
“Many sustainable funds are now coming into maturity, having been launched three or more years ago and are now eligible for a crown rating. That so many have been rated so highly and so soon, is testament to the strength of their proposition and their ability to capitalise on current market conditions,” he added.
