Skandia has dropped HSBC's £152m ($251m) Frontier Markets fund from its platform because of the timing of its trading days.
The fund, which launched in 2011 and is still open to investors on other platforms, cannot be traded on a Friday, Skandia said, and therefore does not offer daily liquidity.
As a result, the platform has taken the unusual decision of removing the fund from its range of products, having already closed it to new business, switches in and top ups late last year.
A Skandia spokeswoman said the decision was taken to remove the fund from the platform because it could not deal on a Friday. She said the platform’s policy is that funds should trade daily.
Skandia's decision is at odds with a number of other platforms which Investment Week spoke to.
Novia offers the HSBC Frontier Markets fund and has no plans to drop it. A spokeswoman said: “We have plenty of funds on the platform that do not trade every day, and many that are in jurisdictions with differing public holidays from ours. If that is the case we would normally hold the trade until the next available dealing date.”
AXA Elevate also offers the fund to users. A spokeswoman said funds that do not trade daily can be processed at the next available trading point, under Financial Conduct Authority rules.
FundsNetwork also confirmed a Friday closure would not affect the choice of funds offered on its platform.
HSBC launched the Frontier Markets fund - run by Andrew Brudenell - in November 2011. The fund is invested primarily in the Gulf States, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Over the year to 7 January 2014, according to FE, the fund is up 25.8%, compared to an average for emerging market equities of -3.8% over the same period.
