Aegon SIPP -- Can't see any defence related funds

spoovy

I have a SIPP with Aegon, and I'm looking to move some money into a defence related fund (Invesco Defence Innovation UCITS ET, VanEck Defense UCITS ETF A, etc).  There seems to be plenty of them in the wild, but the Aegon fund research tool doesn't list any at all.

Speaking to their customer support to find out why is an exercise in frustration, after what seemed like forever trying to politely explain the question over and over again the answers I got were along the lines of "there is no reason", "If you can't see them we don't offer them, but there is no reason why", etc.

So having given up on Aegon customer support maybe someone here can help.  Why can't I see any defence related funds to invest in?  Is it an "ethnical" choice they've made to not offer these?  Is it that their fund research website is broken?  Do I need to move to the next level of SIPP management granularity (I think there is seven(?)? Has anyone here with an Aegon SIPP ever been through this?

Thanks in advance

DRS1

When I looked at my Scottish Widows UK Equity Tracker the other day I noticed that it weeded out certain undesirable stocks such as Tobacco and Arms Manufacturers.  Perhaps Aegon have the same sort of filter?

Marcon

spoovy said:

I have a SIPP with Aegon, and I'm looking to move some money into a defence related fund (Invesco Defence Innovation UCITS ET, VanEck Defense UCITS ETF A, etc).  There seems to be plenty of them in the wild, but the Aegon fund research tool doesn't list any at all.

Speaking to their customer support to find out why is an exercise in frustration, after what seemed like forever trying to politely explain the question over and over again the answers I got were along the lines of "there is no reason", "If you can't see them we don't offer them, but there is no reason why", etc.

So having given up on Aegon customer support maybe someone here can help.  Why can't I see any defence related funds to invest in?  Is it an "ethnical" choice they've made to not offer these?  Is it that their fund research website is broken?  Do I need to move to the next level of SIPP management granularity (I think there is seven(?)? Has anyone here with an Aegon SIPP ever been through this?

Thanks in advance

If you go to a shop and they don't sell the item you want, then you shop elsewhere. The shopkeeper doesn't have to justify why they don't stock your preferred choice of purchase, or explain the rationale for their decision.

Why do you think fund management is any different?

dunstonh

I have a SIPP with Aegon, and I'm looking to move some money into a defence related fund (Invesco Defence Innovation UCITS ET, VanEck Defense UCITS ETF A, etc).  There seems to be plenty of them in the wild, but the Aegon fund research tool doesn't list any at all.

Are you sure you have the Aegon SIPP and not their personal pensions or master trust scheme?

Albermarle

Invesco Defence Innovation UCITS ETF

When I google this, none of the usual investment platforms we see in the UK come up. I also searched for it on HL's website but nothing there.
So I suspect it is seen as too specialised /not suitable for the average retail investor, or some other restriction.

DRS1

HL have the Van Eck one though

VanEck UCITS ETFs Plc Share Price (DFNG) VanEck Defense UCITS ETF A USD Acc | DFNG

squirrelpie

It appears on the AJ Bell site, but says only "This share can be held in a Dealing account" not any other account types including a SIPP. The VanEck follows a different index, though I have no idea how different the indexes are. Maybe the Invesco one is just too new.

Shimrod

These all seem to be available via ii and allows a holding in a SIPP. I have not gone through the full order process to test that though! 

I've done a search on fund name rather than trying to screen by sector.

spoovy

dunstonh said:

I have a SIPP with Aegon, and I'm looking to move some money into a defence related fund (Invesco Defence Innovation UCITS ET, VanEck Defense UCITS ETF A, etc).  There seems to be plenty of them in the wild, but the Aegon fund research tool doesn't list any at all.

Are you sure you have the Aegon SIPP and not their personal pensions or master trust scheme?

Yes it's definitely a SIPP, though there are several levels available, which each offering more granularity in investment choices, from very broad choice of "High risk", "medium risk" at the top level, to picking funds a level or two down, to picking individual company equities at the bottom level. They call it gating.  I'm wondering if I would have access to more funds (more risky perhaps) if I moved down a level.  I think there are seven gating levels IIRC but I'd need to look into this more.

The problem is that you can only move through the gating system in one direction, so once you're committed to picking individual stocks say, you can't go back to picking funds afterwards. 
I'm still learning about this though so my understanding is not great atm.

spoovy

Marcon said:

spoovy said:

I have a SIPP with Aegon, and I'm looking to move some money into a defence related fund (Invesco Defence Innovation UCITS ET, VanEck Defense UCITS ETF A, etc).  There seems to be plenty of them in the wild, but the Aegon fund research tool doesn't list any at all.

Speaking to their customer support to find out why is an exercise in frustration, after what seemed like forever trying to politely explain the question over and over again the answers I got were along the lines of "there is no reason", "If you can't see them we don't offer them, but there is no reason why", etc.

So having given up on Aegon customer support maybe someone here can help.  Why can't I see any defence related funds to invest in?  Is it an "ethnical" choice they've made to not offer these?  Is it that their fund research website is broken?  Do I need to move to the next level of SIPP management granularity (I think there is seven(?)? Has anyone here with an Aegon SIPP ever been through this?

Thanks in advance

If you go to a shop and they don't sell the item you want, then you shop elsewhere. The shopkeeper doesn't have to justify why they don't stock your preferred choice of purchase, or explain the rationale for their decision.

Why do you think fund management is any different?

Why introduce compulsion into this?  Have you never heard of customer service? 
If you write to Sainsbury's asking them why they don't stock an entire category of product, they will likely answer you, particularly if it's for some ethical reason.
All Aegon needed to say was "I don't know, I'll raise it internally and we'll get back to you".

The reason might alternatively be that I need to traverse another gating level, opening up access to more funds, which is absolutely something they should be able to answer.

dunstonh

spoovy said:

dunstonh said:

I have a SIPP with Aegon, and I'm looking to move some money into a defence related fund (Invesco Defence Innovation UCITS ET, VanEck Defense UCITS ETF A, etc).  There seems to be plenty of them in the wild, but the Aegon fund research tool doesn't list any at all.

Are you sure you have the Aegon SIPP and not their personal pensions or master trust scheme?

Yes it's definitely a SIPP, though there are several levels available, which each offering more granularity in investment choices, from very broad choice of "High risk", "medium risk" at the top level, to picking funds a level or two down, to picking individual company equities at the bottom level. They call it gating.  I'm wondering if I would have access to more funds (more risky perhaps) if I moved down a level.  I think there are seven gating levels IIRC but I'd need to look into this more.

The problem is that you can only move through the gating system in one direction, so once you're committed to picking individual stocks say, you can't go back to picking funds afterwards. 
I'm still learning about this though so my understanding is not great atm.

Interesting. I don't recognise the two Aegon SIPPs I have experience with (Aegon Cofunds and Aegon Retirement Choices).  I didn't realise that they had other versions.