HEAD-TO-HEAD: Aberdeen Standard versus BNY Mellon

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Manager review

“There are fantastic people responsible for the funds,” said Poole.

The ASI product is managed by nine “highly experienced and effective professionals”, including Jamie Cumming, Bruce Stout and Victoria MacLean, who have access to the firm’s vast, worldwide research capability, he said.

The team underwent some disruption earlier this year, when long-term head of global equities Stephen Docherty left for personal reasons, and was replaced by Dominic Byrne, who came from the Standard Life unit of the merged firm.

Morningstar, in a note released in March, was reassured that because Byrne would not be assuming portfolio management duties for the strategy, concerns were alleviated that Aberdeen’s “long-term quality” investment approach would not undergo further near-term changes.

In contrast, there is no need to be concerned at all about continuity of approach at the BNY Mellon fund.

“It is run by a core of three managers at Walter Scott & Partners who have run the portfolio for many years,” and have managed a similar strategy for other products over three decades, according to Poole.

Co-heads of research Alan Edington and Alex Torrens lead a well-resourced research team based in Edinburgh, with around 40 analysts divided into regional sub-teams to focus on a particular geography.

“It is a collaborative effort, as members of the research team must agree unanimously on a stock selection before it can be included in the portfolio and recommended to the fund executive committee for inclusion,” said Poole.

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