The asset management arm of insurance behemoth Aviva, Aviva Investors, has launched its MAF (Multi Asset Fund) Core range. The new range complements the existing actively-managed Aviva Investors Multi Asset Fund range, which has been rebranded to MAF Plus. The range has a 10-year track record and over £3 billion in assets under management.

The MAF Core range invests globally in a selection of asset classes, including equities and bonds. It utilises more index investments than Aviva Investors’ existing Multi Asset Funds, but still has a degree of active asset allocation and security selection.

There are five funds in the range, which reflect different risk profiles across a broad investment spectrum from defensive to adventurous. MAF Core will have a longer-term strategic management style, which will include annual and quarterly asset allocation reviews. MAF Plus will have a tactical focus with day-to-day active asset allocation. Both fund ranges will benefit from robust risk analysis.

The new fund range will be managed by Multi-Asset Portfolio Managers Guillaume Paillat and Sotirios Nakos, who report to Sunil Krishnan, Head of Multi-Asset Funds. The team benefits from the support and analysis of Aviva Investors’ wider multi-asset team of 55 investment professionals.

According to the firm ESG considerations are built into the investment process and philosophy for both fund ranges. MAF Core will use passive ESG-optimised strategies, which utilise Aviva Investors’ proprietary ESG scoring system, while MAF Plus has access to active ESG-integrated funds and thematic impact funds that look to address climate change. Both fund ranges benefit from active ownership - voting and engagement. In 2019, Aviva Investors was named as one of only five global investment managers in a field of 75 to receive an “A” rating by ShareAction for its approach to ESG investing.

Both the MAF Core and MAF Plus ranges will use a performance benchmark and performance target to make it easier for clients to assess value for money according to the firm. The performance benchmark will be a combination of global equities and bonds, weighted to the match the risk profile of each fund. For MAF Plus, the performance target will be 1.30 percent per annum on average versus the performance benchmark, while MAF Core will target 0.30 percent versus benchmark. The difference in performance targets is reflective of MAF Plus having more active capability.

Sunil Krishnan, Head of Multi Asset Funds at Aviva Investors, said: “Investors today are clearer than ever that they want to invest with ESG principles in mind, but it has not always been possible to invest sustainably while keeping costs down. We set ourselves the challenge of creating a multi-asset proposition that allows investors to do both and we believe that the new MAF Core range achieves just that.

“In addition, by adding both a performance benchmark and performance target, for both MAF Core and Plus, we can show investors exactly what they’re getting for their money.”