Professional management

Investing in an investment fund is a streamlined and cost-effective way of accessing the world's stock and bond markets as well as other assets in a regulated and controlled environment. Professional fund managers operate within clearly defined parameters, apply risk management techniques and where appropriate apply specialist investment techniques. Their role is to construct a portfolio of assets designed to achieve the fund's specified investment objective.

Fund managers with specialist expertise of each asset class, region, country or sector can construct a portfolio that refers to the performance of a particular index or basket of shares. Their expert research and analysis helps identify those assets that should contribute to achieving the fund's objective.

Fund managers build a comprehensive picture of the economic landscape by examining developing market trends, political development, regional influences and factors affecting the growth of particular industries or markets. Armed with this overall economic picture, fund managers select the mix of assets that they believe will deliver the best investment performance within the fund's remit.