Poor fund performers trap £14bn

The UK's worst performing funds have grown in size by £1bn since the start of the year, research shows.

Chelsea Financial Services says assets in funds in its Relegation Zone of underperformers now stand at £14bn, with market volatility pushing the number of funds into its list from 79 to 85. The largest of the laggards is the £1.6bn Scottish Widows UK Growth fund, which also featured in the last Relegation Zone, published in December. This fund has dropped 12.4% over three years compared to an average fall of 8.5% among its peers, yet £17.5m has flowed into the fund since the start of the year. "The correlation between underperforming funds and increased asset inflow needs to be broken...