Wealth manager Quilter has written to clients who held an Abrdn fund on its platform as it was made available to retail investors by mistake.
The Aberdeen Emerging Markets Sustainable Development Equity (Share Class K) fund was added to the Quilter platform in February 2021, and the wealth manager was advised by Abrdn it could be made fully available to retail investors.
This meant that financial advisers included it in some of their clients’ model portfolios.
But Quilter said that Abrdn has recently contacted the firm, saying that the availability of the fund was an “oversight on their part” as it should have been restricted to institutional investors only.
This means that only approved advisers and institutional investors should have accessed the fund.
Quilter said that Abrdn has asked the wealth manager to apologise to clients on its behalf.
Resolution
As a result, retail clients who are invested in the fund will need to exit it.
Quilter said that any phased investment or rebalancing instructions using the fund have automatically continued.
These will either buy units in clients’ other assets proportionally, or go into cash, depending on how their adviser set up the model portfolio.
If clients were paying into the fund by direct debit, future payments will have either bought units in their clients’ other assets proportionally, or gone into cash, depending on how their adviser set up the model portfolio.
Quilter said it will update instructions when financial advisers provide a revised asset choice.
A Quilter spokesperson told International Adviser that there are currently seven clients who do not have an approved adviser for the fund, and they will be transferred to cash if no action is taken, as the company doesn’t hold any other share classes of the fund on its platform.
Abrdn has declined to comment on the matter.
