HSBC Global Investment Centre

Aegis

Spotted this new offering while logging into my current account earlier today, and did some research. Then I thought I'd post my findings here in case anyone else spotted it. I should note that this is purely as a consumer, not in any way as an adviser.

Basically it's a really simple OEIC/unit trust investment platform, by the looks of it. It offers slightly more funds than they used to, but it's still a very small proportion of the market. Worse yet, it seems there's an initial charge on a lot of the investments (admittedly only up to 1%, but given that execution only brokers have been offering zero initial charge for many years now, this is not competitive). On top of that, I can't find anywhere that states the applied AMC of the investments they use, so I imagine they don't rebate any of the trail commission either.

There are some good funds from some of the top fund managers out there, but a few really good ones are missing altogether: no First State or JPMorgan investments, for a start, which is a little odd. Predictably, far more HSBC funds than any other, including their multi-asset range and their tracker range (which might actually make the platform worthwhile if the charges for holding those are reasonable). However, the fund range is only a very small sample of those available in the UK, so this is clearly designed to appeal to someone who is interested in more of a custom portfolio than a standard bank offering but doesn't want to get overwhelmed by a true fund supermarket. I'm not sure how large this market segment is, but I suspect not the size HSBC is hoping for with this release!

As such, it's better than their previous offering, but Hargreaves Lansdown will be cheaper and have a wider selection for starting portfolios, while Cavendish Online offers full initial and trail commission rebates on the Fidelity and Cofunds platforms in exchange for a one-off fee, so I don't see much reason to use HSBC's new platform unless you're pretty much addicted to having everything in one place.

I strongly suspect this is the fund range HSBC's advisers are going to start utilising when RDR comes into force in January 2013, which might be interesting to watch.

As always, do your own research and be aware of other providers before making a decision one way or another.

Funds available at present (taken from http://www.hsbc.co.uk/content_static/en/pdfs/en/kf_funds_portfolio_and_isa_funds_portfolio.pdf)

Aberdeen Unit Trust Managers Limited
Aberdeen Asia Pacific Fund
Aberdeen Emerging Markets Fund
Aberdeen Ethical World Fund
Allianz Global Investors (UK) Limited
Allianz PIMCO Gilt Yield Fund
Allianz RCM BRIC Stars Fund
Aviva Investors UK Fund Services Limited
Aviva Investors Sustainable Future Corporate Bond Fund
Aviva Investors Sustainable Future Global Growth Fund
BlackRock Fund Managers Limited
BlackRock European Dynamic Fund
BlackRock Global Equity Fund
BlackRock Gold & General Fund
BlackRock UK Income Fund
BlackRock UK Special Situations Fund
BlackRock US Dynamic Fund
Cazenove Investment Fund Management Limited
Cazenove Multi-Manager Diversity Fund
Cazenove UK Corporate Bond Fund
Fidelity Investment Services Limited
Fidelity American Fund
Fidelity European Fund
Fidelity European Opportunities Fund
Fidelity Global Property Fund
Fidelity MoneyBuilder Dividend Fund
Fidelity Multi Asset Strategic Fund
Fidelity Strategic Bond Fund
Henderson Investment Funds Limited
Henderson Extra Monthly Income Bond Fund
Henderson Multi-Manager Income & Growth Fund
Henderson UK Gilt Fund
HSBC Global Asset Management (UK) Limited
HSBC American Index Fund
HSBC European Index Fund
HSBC FTSE 100 Index Fund
HSBC FTSE 250 Index Fund
HSBC FTSE All Share Index Fund
HSBC Japan Index Fund
HSBC Open Global Distribution Fund
HSBC Open Global Property Fund
HSBC Pacific Index Fund
HSBC UK Growth & Income Fund
HSBC World Index Balanced Portfolio
HSBC World Index Cautious Portfolio
HSBC World Index Dynamic Portfolio
HSBC World Selection Balanced Portfolio
HSBC World Selection Cautious Portfolio
HSBC World Selection Dynamic Portfolio
HSBC World Selection Income Portfolio
Invesco Fund Managers Limited
Invesco Perpetual Asian Fund
Invesco Perpetual Corporate Bond Fund
Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund
Invesco Perpetual Income Fund
Invesco Perpetual Japan Fund
Invesco Perpetual Latin American Fund
Invesco Perpetual Monthly Income Plus Fund
Investec Fund Managers Limited
Investec American Fund
Investec Emerging Markets Local Currency Debt Fund
Investec Global Energy Fund
Investec UK Special Situations Fund
Jupiter Unit Trust Managers Limited
Jupiter Ecology Fund
Jupiter Financial Opportunities Fund
Jupiter Japan Income Fund
Jupiter Merlin Balanced Portfolio
Jupiter Merlin Income Portfolio
Jupiter Merlin Worldwide Portfolio
Jupiter UK Special Situations Fund
Legal & General (Unit Trust Managers) Limited
Legal & General Dynamic Bond Trust
Legal & General High Income Trust
Legal & General UK Alpha Trust
M&G Securities Limited
M&G Corporate Bond Fund
M&G Global Basics Fund
M&G Optimal Income Fund
M&G Recovery Fund
Schroder Unit Trusts Limited
Schroder European Alpha Plus Fund
Schroder Global Emerging Markets Fund
Schroder Global Property Securities Fund
Schroder Income Maximiser Fund
Schroder UK Mid 250 Fund