Female-only funds from ASI

ONE of the UK’s biggest asset managers is offering clients the chance to invest solely in hedge funds run by women.

Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has launched a platform allowing investors to track different selections of hedge funds. One of these will focus entirely on the performance of women-run hedge funds.

The feature will appeal to the growing number of investors who want to encourage diversity in the industry, as well as those who believe greater diversity leads to better returns on their money. Female hedge fund managers such as Catherine Nicholas at Nicholas Investment Partners, Lan Wang Simond at Pictet, and Massi Khadjenouri at Kite Lake Capital have all produced stellar returns this year.

More broadly in the investment industry, research by Goldman Sachs earlier this year found that female stock-pickers were far outperforming their male peers during the pandemic. Russell Barlow at ASI said the new platform was ‘genuinely innovative’.