UK needs to 'take a leaf' from US and China to turn around its popularity

How to fix the UK's unpopularity

Eve Maddock-Jones
clock • 4 min read

The unpopularity of UK-focused equity funds is somewhat undeniable, given that they have received no net new money since 2015, missing out on the £49bn invested in equities during that time, data from Calastone recently revealed.

The turning point to this unpopularity is debated, but a big catalyst was the Brexit referendum in 2016, as Ken Wotton, lead manager on the LF Gresham House UK Multi Cap Income fund, explained that a lot money "swiftly exited" UK funds after the vote "and since then it has been very volatile". John Husselbee, head of multi-asset at Liontrust Asset Management, said this trend had started as early as the 1990s when UK investors "discovered globalisation and global diversification", disrupting the domestic biases that had been held. Scottish Mortgage loses position as largest trust Ei...

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