Following The Adviser Centre Monthly Review Meeting on 29^th August 2018, we have removed Absolute Insight Emerging Market Debt from the service.

We have taken this action after discussions with the manager, Colm McDonagh, about the challenges of running an absolute return mandate in this asset class.  In particular, he noted that the implementation of short positions can be imperfect because of cost and efficiency issues.  That said, the team continues to manage the fund with a view to achieving absolute returns, deploying a flexible approach and investing in a highly selective manner.

In practice, most global emerging market debt managers run their portfolios with a flexible approach and, to varying degrees, with a total return mindset, using the benchmark as a reference point rather than a strict framework for asset allocation.  We currently feature two funds from the IA Global Emerging Markets Bond sector in our service:

•  First State Emerging Markets Bond, which is benchmark-aware and focused upon government bonds denominated in US dollars.
• M&G Emerging Markets Bond, which is a flexible fund investing across the broad emerging market debt universe of hard currency government bonds, local currency government bonds and dollar-denominated corporate bonds.