CAPITAL Studie

Study on the activity of fund managers

Together with "CAPITAL" magazine, we have published a study on fund manager activity since 2012. This study has the goal of filtering out funds from the large spectrum available that are actively managed and successful at the same time. Because of the consistently growing number of index funds and the fact that even funds that are meant to be actively managed in reality deviate from their benchmark only slightly, it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify truly successful active managers. It is particularly important for investors to know how a fund behaves in different market positions to be able to evaluate risk properly. Precisely because actively managed funds frequently involve higher costs, it must be ensured that a better risk-adjusted performance is also delivered. This study shows which funds fulfil these requirements, tracking error codes (activity!) and information ratios (success!).

As the activity of managers also changes considerably in different market cycles, it is important to carry out an observation over different periods to achieve meaningful results. The best performers in the analysis of this study are therefore funds/fund managers that are truly active against their benchmark over every period examined, and have therefore achieved added value when measured by this very benchmark.

The goal of this study is not to find the best performances in various periods and comparison groups but rather to look for managers that have justified their deviation (activity) against the benchmark with a greater return. As this study extends over examination periods of three, five and ten years, the consistency of this added value also receives recognition, as only those which have produced top results over three periods come out on top in the analysis.

Der Fonds Analyst

DER FONDS ANALYST is a fortnightly investment newsletter. Greiff Research Institut GmbH is responsible for the editorial content and distribution of the newsletter. DER FONDS ANALYST is financed entirely by subscriptions and enables us to deliver neutral reports independently of company groups.

Our commitment to readers is as follows: DER FONDS ANALYST provides a transparent, detailed analysis of the German market for public funds; the editorial team is deliberately subjective. The ideas resulting from the analyses are reflected in the model securities portfolio which has been operated since 2001.