Background to the Awards

The aim of the Investment Week Fund Manager of the Year Awards is to highlight funds that produce consistent performance and where there is, in the judges opinion, a high chance that the manager will not disappoint in the future.

A look at the previous winners section shows many of the managers who won in previous years are still considered to be at the top of their peer groups today. While the last few years have seen a high level of manager turnover, the awards continue to be eligible only for funds where the manager has been in place for three years. Just as the judges are looking for consistency of return, they believe one of the best ways for a fund to achieve this is via the consistency of a fund manager's tenure. We are at a point where the length of time a manager runs a fund is coming down, the top managers tend to be those who stick with their portfolios for the long-term.

Growing manager turnover is a side effect of a shift by many talented individuals from large fund houses to boutiques, which often set up their funds offshore in Dublin. As such the Fund Manager of the Year Awards has extended its coverage of funds from purely UK onshore to include offshore funds.

The judges are looking to give awards to funds purely on the basis of consistent performance rather than brand name. With so many offshore funds now available to UK investors, the awards are designed to highlight and celebrate the very best of what is available in the investment universe, not simply the best available within a narrower range of onshore brands.