Offshore funds added to IMA listings

The Investment Management Association (IMA) will include offshore funds in its sector-by-sector rankings for the first time next year.

According to the Financial Times, the development is set to ’increase choice and competition in the UK fund industry’, with a total of 586 investment funds being added to the listings.

Based in offshore centres such as Luxembourg, Dublin, Jersey and Guernsey, the new funds should encourage investors to look beyond the UK market and offer more exposure to niche investment categories.

’We welcome the progressive action taken by the IMA to make offshore-domiciled funds eligible for inclusion in their sectors,’ Rod Aldridge of Baring Asset Management told the newspaper.

However, other advisers have noted that UK-domiciled funds still tend to have lower fees and charges than their offshore counterparts.

The IMA is the trade body for the UK’s asset management industry and produces a categorised directory of authorised funds for prospective investors.

It already includes some offshore funds in the Absolute Return sector, which was introduced in May 2008.ADNFCR-2318-ID-19514408-ADNFCR