Moneyspider in the News

Abbey has a habit of delivering bad returns

Bristol Evening Post

Four of Britain's biggest high street banks have been "named and shamed" for delivering abysmal investment performance to investors.

NatWest, Abbey, Halifax and HSBC have topped the horror ratings as a result of managing the lowest number of top-ranked funds, according to research from Moneyspider, a fund data provider.

Moneyspider rated all the funds in a group's range against their peers and performance from a high A to a low ranking E. Leading the "high street horrors" is Abbey. Only six of the firm's portfolios received a top A or B rating.

Moneyspider's Tony Ahearne said: "This means only 24 per cent of all Abbey funds have an A or B ratings, a fact which should ring alarm bells in investors' heads, especially given the recent market volatility."

During the second half of July, the FTSE 100 fell by eight per cent, slashing £120 billion off the index.

The top spots in the survey went to relatively unknown "boutique" managers such as Rathbone, Artemis and First State. The survey found almost 91 per cent of First State's funds have a top-class A and B rating. Artemis Fund Managers comes second with 90 per cent of its funds being A or B rated while Rathbone Unit Trust Management had 87.5 per cent of its funds ranked in the top two categories.

Over the past five years to July 27, the Abbey National Growth fund delivered 79 per cent while the HSBC UK Growth & Income fund achieved a return of 80 per cent, but the FTSE All-Share posted growth of 95 per cent.

Experts assert that there are a number of alternative funds, which have delivered far superior returns that investors could switch into. The Artemis Special Situations portfolio achieved a massive 143 per cent for over the five years, while the Merrill Lynch UK Special Situations fund returned 130 per cent.

Ben Yearsley, of Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "High street bank funds have been delivering grim results compared to their niche competitors. Some investors need to re-evaluate their portfolio's and be aware that superior returns are being consistently delivered elsewhere."