Monday 19 November 2018

Vanguard is the tops!

It's the Colosseum. It's the Louvre Museum. It's the Nile. It's the Tower of Pisa. It's the smile on the Mona Lisa. It's - 'Yeah, yeah. Who says, boss?' Scope. Look -

Vanguard reached top spot for the first time in Scope's Q3 ranking of large asset managers, just released. The share of Vanguard funds rated A and B rose from 50% in Q2 to 58%, thanks mainly to the positioning of its product range.

Well, well ... / Is this worldwide?

Scope's large asset-manager category ranks managers that have a minimum of 25 rated funds authorized for distribution in Germany. Vanguard offers multiple passive strategies focused on US and global equities. In US equities especially, fewer active funds can generate out-performance. As a result, an increasingly greater number of passive products are achieving top ratings in their respective peer groups.

Okay. They've got to be authorized for distribution in Germany. But are they/it ... the tops worldwide?

MFS made the biggest jump within the top 10. The US asset manager's share of top-rated funds went from 47% in Q1 to 57%, allowing it to leap from 10th to second. Worth noting was MFS's ability to gradually and significantly increase its ratio this year. In January of this year, only 36% of its rated funds had a top rating.

The only new name in the top 10 was Union Investment, whose share of top-rated funds rose from 45% to 50%, a rise from 13th to 10th place. Allianz GI fell out of the top 10 in Q3: even with a slight improvement in the ratio from 48% in Q2 to 49%, the manager slipped to 12th place.

Among small assets managers (those with eight to 24 funds), there was also a change at the top: Wellington Management secured first place thanks to its improved share of top-rated funds, from 78% to 83%. The upward trend had already begun at the end of 2017. At that time, its ratio was 59% but it has gradually risen since. Worth noting: of Wellington's 12 rated equity funds, 11 have top ratings. Wellington dislodged Comgest from the top spot; Comgest's ratio of 82% was unchanged.

Lupus Alpha, Sparinvest, Dimensional and Investec all fell out of the top 10, replaced by MainFirst, Polar Capital Partners, MEAG and Wells Fargo AM. MainFirst and Polar Capital Partners entered the top 10 for the first time.


Okay, okay. I'll guess we'll never know. Not that I'm bothered, dear reader(s). I've got different fish to fry. 'It probably is worldwide, boss. I mean, who cares which asset manager is the tops in Germany?' Er ... Germans? 'Good point!' Oh, it's gotta be worldwide, man. I'm in England. Scope knows that. And I'm the world's foremost financial shaman. 'And they know that.' Fuckin' A they do!

...

Right. Anything else? Music? My music? I've ordered some moving blankets from Amazon. 'What are they, boss? Do they move around?' I hope not, Voice. They're called moving blankets because they're heavy blankets used for removals. 'Is this about music?' Yes. Because I'm going to put these blankets over my windows. 'Eh? Why?!' Sound-proofing, idiot! 'Oh, I get you.' At last! Thank Christ! / They won't keep every noise out, or in, but I'm sure they'll help a lot. I Googled "cheap ideas for sound-proofing" yesterday, and that's what I got. Some people say they don't work. However, one guy on a forum said that if they're good enough for Ray Charles, they're good enough for him. 'You can't argue with that.' No.

Uh. What am I listening to? Right now? Liquid Swords. Okay, laters!