Why the IMA sectors need redefining

IMA SECTOR REVIEW

The IMA sectors have been a bastion of stability for over a decade, providing a structure to compare funds against their peer group. But they now need changing.

As the industry has evolved the scope for differentiation of funds within sectors has increased exponentially, to the point where in some cases the comparison is almost meaningless. With a review of the sectors on the cards, many aspects need to be revisited to ensure that sectors remain relevant. The IMA sectors aim to provide a framework where funds investing in the same things can be compared fairly. To achieve this they define each sector in terms of what the fund invests in; this process has worked admirably for many years but has had some unintended consequences. As sectors have...