Square Mile and FE fundinfo bring Fund Dashboard to the market

Square Mile Investment Consulting and Research (Square Mile) and FE fundinfo today launch the Fund Dashboard, an easy-to-interpret overview of core information designed to help advisers assess a fund's ability to meet clients’ investment objectives. Combining Square Mile's qualitative fund research with FE fundinfo's quantitative analysis, the Fund Dashboard aims to deliver a significant amount of fund data in a simple and intuitive format.

The Fund Dashboard provides an interactive interface offering a snapshot of five key fund elements that advisers consider when selecting investments. Advisers can then click on each of the five elements to gain deeper analysis and insight to help them make informed decisions. This initiative draws on a broad industry consultation to determine which elements should be included and references further market feedback gathered since the concept was announced in December 2019. The five pillars within the Fund Dashboard are:

    1. Opinion: A combination of a qualitative and quantitative assessment of a fund's ability to meet its objectives through Square Mile's ratings and FE fundinfo's Crown Fund ratings respectively. The Square Mile rating also indicates whether the fund has a responsible outcome or target built into its objective or mandate.

    2. Performance: A representation of a fund’s absolute annualised return over 3 years, or since inception if the fund's history is shorter. If a primary output is income, the fund's current yield is shown instead. In addition, the fund's success is shown as a percentage of time the fund has achieved its investment objective or Square Mile's expected outcome over the stipulated time frame.

    3. Risk: An assessment of the risk of the fund and the asset class in which it invests as well as its Synthetic Risk and Reward Indicator (SRRI) profile.The fund's maximum drawdown during the last 3 years or 1 year if the fund has a shorter history.

    4. Cost: An overview of the fund's ongoing charges, its ex-ante transaction costs and the total cost of ownership. The ongoing charge and transaction costs are sourced from the European MiFID Template (EMT), provided by fund managers' data teams to FE fundinfo. The comparison as illustrated by the value-o-meter shows funds in the same peer group on a like for like basis i.e. active vs. active and passive vs. passive.

    5. ESG credentials: An assessment of ESG credentials at a company and fund level based on Square Mile's ESG Integration Assessments. These are expressed by one of seven grades to reflect this level of ESG integration.
The Fund Dashboard is displayed alongside each fund within Square Mile's free-to-access Academy of Funds, and within the extensively used FE Analytics platform. Each Fund Dashboard will be reviewed monthly with data updated on the 16th day of each month (or the nearest working day). They have been produced for funds rated by Square Mile, with the intention to widen the Fund Dashboard to a broader universe of products in due course. Advisers can also access comprehensive guidance and methodology documents for use as an aid in their conversations with clients.

An example of the Fund Dashboard:
Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders B Acc GBP
Fund Dashboard Example
Image is for illustrative purposes only.

Square Mile's Managing Director Richard Romer-Lee said, “The aim of the Fund Dashboard it to introduce greater clarity on a number of areas to support advisers in their fund selection. It is designed to be simple and intuitive, delivering a large amount of essential fund information through an easy-to-interpret digital platform.

We have received very positive, constructive feedback on this initiative from advisers, asset managers and the IA throughout its development. We believe the Fund Dashboard provides a comprehensive level of information on the five core elements which were identified as being the most important for advisers when considering suitable investments for their clients. The investment industry has a duty to make fund information more accessible and easier for advisers to interpret: the Fund Dashboard is aimed at meeting that obligation."

Stephen Mitchell, Head of Propositions at FE fundinfo, said, "Transparency in the investment world is becoming increasingly important. As a leading provider of global fund data, we have always strived to make the industry more transparent and accessible and ultimately help people make better investment decisions.

It is also clear that investors themselves are increasingly looking beyond performance as the only measure of success regarding their portfolios. Ratings alone should not be used in isolation, but by providing them with clear and comprehensive information that looks beyond returns as part of broad fund research and analysis, the Fund Dashboard will play an invaluable role in giving a more rounded overview of a fund’s performance, both in the short and long-term."

To find out more about the Fund Dashboard, read our FAQ

To understand the detail behind the Fund Dashboard, read the Methodology.