Friends Provident expands the fund options available on its investment platform

Friends Provident, the FTSE 100 life and pensions company, has extended its investment offering by adding 19 new funds to its life platform.

These changes also include for the first time an ethical corporate bond on the Friends Provident investment platform.

Due to customer demand the number of ethical funds available has risen from five to nine. These additions also increase the special situation funds offered to five and exclusive access to the F&C Global Real Estate Property Fund.

The new funds available are:

Friends Provident UK Special Situations
F&C Global Real Estate Property
Aegon Sterling Corporate Bond
Aegon Ethical Corporate Bond
Aegon Ethical Equity
Credit Suisse Multi Manager Ethical
Credit Suisse Multi Manager Constellation
Credit Suisse Multi Manager Cautious Managed
Fidelity Multi Manager Special Situations
Merrill Lynch Special Situations
M&G Recovery
Artemis Global Growth
Invesco Perpetual Monthly Income Plus
JPM Cautious Total Return
JPM Natural Resources
Morley Sustainable Future European Growth
Morley Property Trust
New Star Tri Star
Schroder S&P Cautious Managed Distribution

Christine Foyster, head of wealth management at Friends Provident, said: “With an increasing number of people investing in line with their principles the time is right for us to expand the number of ethical funds on our platform. Advisers have been asking us for a greater selection of cautious managed funds so we have added Schroder’s S&P Cautious Managed Distribution and JPM Cautious Total Return Fund to our range. We believe that our investment platform now gives advisers and investors access to a wide range of high quality fund managers to meet their investment needs.”

All of these funds can be accessed via the Friends Provident Investment Portfolio Bond, the Discounted Gift Bond and the FRIENDS âISA. The new additions bring the total funds available on the Friends Provident investment platform to 100. F&C manages 26 of these funds and 74 are run by 19 external fund managers.