Advisers are split between funds which aim to deliver capital accumulation versus those which provide income, according to a report from Square Mile.
According to the research, which looked at the last quarter of 2023, these two outcomes each accounted for 40.6 per cent of adviser searches via the Square Mile Academy of Funds.
This figure represented a slight fall in interest in income strategies (46.7 per cent in Q3) and an uptick for capital accumulation (33.3 per cent in Q3).
The firm said the quarterly report provides an indication of sentiment among fund selectors towards investment outcomes, funds and fund groups and asset classes.
According to the report, there was a major shift in adviser research into individual funds in Q4.
Among strategies with an explicit responsible investment mandate, interest in the BlueBay Impact Aligned Bond fund increased considerably compared to the previous quarter.
With a 5.8 per cent share of all views, it was the most viewed responsible fund, moving up to pole position in Q4 from 17th place in Q3.
The Edentree Responsible and Sustainable Short Dated Bond fund came in second, up from 13th place in Q3 and accounting for 5 per cent, level pegging with Wellington Global Impact Bond, previously the most researched strategy.
Scott Dakers, business development director at Square Mile, said: “The last quarter witnessed a considerable sea change in the patterns of adviser research via the Square Mile Academy of Funds.
“Interestingly, the most researched responsible funds over the last quarter were all fixed income strategies.
“Historically, the responsible investment field was dominated by funds investing in equities and this shift perhaps reflects the greater diversity of options available and the maturity of responsible investment as a whole.”
There was also a change in the mainstream strategies occupying the top three positions.
The Aegon Diversified Monthly Income fund was the most researched fund over the quarter, moving up from eighth place in Q3 and accounting for 3.5 per cent of all views.
This was followed by WS Amati UK Listed Smaller Companies fund which had a 2.6 per cent share boosting it from 12th place in Q3 to second place in Q4, and Abrdn Liquidity Sterling fund at 2.2 per cent (2.1 per cent in Q3).
There was also a change in leadership in the most researched fund groups with Schroders moving up from fourth place in Q3 and accounting for 4.9 per cent.
‘Costs’ also saw an increase as a research theme, moving from the least accessed pillar in Q3 to third place in Q4 with a 14.7 per cent share.
Additionally, ‘performance’, the most used pillar in the last quarter, dropped down to second place with 28 per cent.
Dakers said: “It is also interesting to note that advisers are putting greater emphasis on the ‘opinion’ element of our analysts’ research, over and above ‘performance’.
“This could be indicative of the fact that strategies that have performed well over the last year or so, may face some headwinds given an uncertain economic backdrop leading fund selectors to value qualitative assessments of how a fund is likely to hold up in differing market backdrops more highly.”
