Closet index trackers

Halifax UK Growth Fund – Note for ShareSoc Members – Appeal for Help

Harcus Parker (HP) has been investigating claims against fund managers and others for closet tracking: the practice of describing a fund as actively managed and charging for that service but in fact merely tracking an index or constraining performance. HP are currently focussing investigations on two subsidiaries of Lloyds Banking Group, Scottish Widows and the Halifax. HP have now identified that the Halifax UK Growth Fund appears to be managed in exactly the same manner as the Scottish Widows UK Growth Fund, ...

Closet Index Trackers – Investigations in Progress

Since publishing a previous article on closet index trackers back in December 2014, the topic has received a lot more coverage in the financial press. Closet index trackers are those investment funds that claim to be "actively" managed and charge fees more commonly appropriate to that investment management process, while in reality their funds are so similar to those of index tracking funds that they match the index. The allegation is that they are obtaining higher fees on the pretence of ...

Closet index trackers – are you paying over the odds?

Organisation Better Finance, a representative body for European individual investors, have raised the issue of " closet index trackers" and their fund management charges. It is suggested that many funds who pretend to be "active" in nature (as opposed to simple index trackers or passive funds) are not in reality because they hold very much the same stocks as index funds. This means that their performance is very similar to index funds. However, they charge management fees that are more like ...