Multi Manager: Fund Management

Multi-manager is about spreading your money across multiple fund managers, rather than entrusting one individual or fund management company to look after your money.

In broad terms, the professionals (fund managers) pool clients’ money together so they can access products and asset classes that in the past have been restricted to wealthy or institutional investors.

They are designed to be held for the medium to long term (usually five to ten years), have no fixed maturity date and are ISA-ready for tax-efficient investing.

• The funds are actively managed on a day-to-day basis.
• Fund managers focus on getting the right asset allocation, rather than simply picking individual funds.
• Fund managers can adjust the asset allocation at any time to suit the changing economic outlook.
• You can choose an overall level of risk for the portfolio.
• Reduced administration compared with managing a large number of individual investments.
• Diversification through access to non-traditional asset classes such as hedge funds and emerging markets.
• Straightforward tax reporting, including fewer Capital Gains Tax calculations, and the underlying funds can be changed (by the multi-manager provider) without creating a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) liability at that time

• The value of your fund and any income it produces can fall as well as rise and you may not get back your original investment in full.
• These investments are generally designed to be held for the medium to long term, usually five to ten years, although you could get back less than you invested even after this time.
• The underlying investments will include funds that invest in fixed interest securities, which can fall in value if interest rates rise.
• For income-generating funds, the annual management charges are deducted from capital, not from income. This will result in the investment not growing as quickly and may result in capital erosion.

• Multi-manager investing is a bit like shopping for groceries. You could buy your milk from the farmer, your eggs from a neighbour who keeps a couple of chickens and your oranges from a friend who lives in Brazil. But you would never do that because it's too expensive, troublesome and risky.
• So you make one payment (reduced administration) to the supermarkets, and the shopkeepers (your fund managers) use their expertise to ensure you always have a supply of milk, eggs and oranges. They do this by buying produce from many different suppliers (diversification) and if there’s been a poor crop in Brazil, they might get their oranges from Florida instead (adjusting the asset allocation).
• Occasionally, they won’t get you a good deal on eggs but if you buy from them every week over a number of years, you hope that this will flatten out any unexpected highs and lows.
• The same principles apply to multi-manager funds – it’s investing made easy.

Use our guides:

1. Find out more about fund managers
2. Types of investments
3. Guide to funds
4. View all investment options

How to apply:

• If you know what risk you're happy to take and are comfortable making your own investment decisions without the help of a financial adviser, view our Investment products and read our brochures before applying online from just £3,000.
• If you would like assistance or are an existing Barclays customer and would like to make an application by telephone, please call 0800 445443 ¹.
• Remember: if you are unsure if an investment is right for you, please seek independent financial advice.