AJ Bell Investcentre has launched a new service for financial advisers called Fundamentals which will provide investment research and due diligence on funds and ETFs.

The company says Fundamentals provides free access to AJ Bell’s investment research and analysis of funds and ETFs, both active and passive.

The service currently covers 77 funds and ETFs (57 active, 20 passive) selected by AJ Bell’s investment team using the same research process that is used for the AJ Bell Funds and Managed Portfolio Service.

The selections have been scrutinised by AJ Bell’s Investment Committee.

A filtering tool enables advisers to search for funds that meet client needs. Filter options include sector, active v passive, fund size and Ongoing Charges Figure (OCF).

Each fund has a short summary of why the AJ Bell investment team rates the fund as well as an AJ Bell report, alongside the fund’s factsheet and Key Investor Information Document.  The two page document explains how the fund operates, its investment style, performance, split of assets and portfolio holdings as well as a snapshot view of key metrics such as its ISIN, sector, Morningstar rating, dividend yield and history, number of holdings and size.

It also includes a summary of the latest meeting and discussion AJ Bell has had with the fund manager.

The Fundamentals list is monitored and updated at least quarterly.

Billy Mackay, marketing director at AJ Bell Investcentre, said: “Investment research is a core activity for many financial advisers and they will all have their own process and methodology ingrained within their businesses.

“But we know that they are always on the lookout for simple tools to help enhance their own approach or to reduce the time spent trawling through investment material. We’ve developed the Fundamentals tool to provide access to the investment research expertise we have within our business, so that advisers can benefit from the knowledge and information gathered from the many hours of meetings that the AJ Bell investment team hold with fund managers.”