St. James’s Place (SJP) has created four new funds-of-funds within its Polaris Multi-Index range, the firm announced this morning, combining active top-down asset allocation with index-tracking holdings.
The equity allocations of each fund rises by 20 percentage points depending on the level of risk clients want to take. Starting at 40%, Polaris Multi-Index 1 is the lowest-risk option in the range, while Polaris Multi-Index 4 will be entirely invested in stocks.
They will invest in 14 underlying index-tracking funds produced by State Street Investment Management.
Allocations will be determined by the firm’s in-house investment team, which is led by chief investment officer Justin Onuekwusi and includes fund managers Robin Ellis and Hamish Gibberd.
Tom Beal, group investment director at St. James’s Place, said: “Some investors want to complement or diversify their active fund exposure, while others may prefer a more straightforward option. For many, cost is also a key factor, and index trackers provide a lower-cost alternative.”
The new funds have an ongoing charges figure (OCF) of 0.2% and will sit alongside the existing active Polaris range.
Onuekwusi said: “Polaris has been a great foundation, bringing together world-class managers with our own global asset allocation views, growing into one of the UK’s largest and most successful multi-asset ranges. But we can’t stand still. The launch of our new Polaris Multi-Index funds is the natural next step in the development of our product offering.
“We are applying the same investment discipline and medium-term active asset allocation views but now combining this with the efficiency of index-tracking to complement the existing multi-asset proposition.”