An annual league of shame, naming the biggest underperforming funds, has been revealed.

Aberdeen had the most number of ‘dog funds’ with four.

Schroders had the largest level of assets, but this was due to the inclusion of one large fund, authors of the report explained.

The list was compiled by Bestinvest for its Spot the Dog study.

The report stated: “Fund companies like to push their ‘star’ fund managers and funds that are doing well at the time. The reality is however that many of them will have skeletons in the closet that aren’t mentioned in advertising campaigns – the financial services industry has an unfortunate habit of overpromising and under delivering.”

It said: “At the group level, the biggest story is who no longer features in Spot the Dog. In the last edition, funds managed by Prudential-owned M&G accounted for 60% of total dog assets. Encouragingly, not a single M&G fund features in this edition.”

Aberdeen topped the league table with 4 dog funds, followed by BNY Mellon and Neptune with 3, while Fidelity, Columbia Threadneedle, Invetec, Jupiter and Henderson had 2.

Bestinvest said: “Spot the Dog is our landmark report that names and shames funds that have consistently underperformed. We have been raising awareness of dismal fund performance for more than 20 years and the term ‘dog fund’ has now entered the lexicon of the UK financial services industry.

“The report doesn’t win us any popularity awards with fund management companies, who loathe it and howl out excuses when their funds appear. However, we believe it puts pressure on them to address problems.

“Notable groups who are absent from Spot the Dog and deserve a treat and a tummy rub include Aviva Investors, AXA, Artemis, Baillie Gifford, Baring, BlackRock, BMO Global, First State, Invesco Perpetual, JO Hambro, JP Morgan, Kames Capital, Liontrust, Man GLG, M&G, Old Mutual and Royal London.”

Global equities remained the area with the largest number of dog funds, with 16 funds across the combined IA Global and IA Global Equity Income sectors.

Dog funds are still a rare breed in certain sectors, the report said, with not a single UK Smaller Companies fund in this edition and only one Europe ex-UK fund was identified.

For the second edition running, the European sector contains just one dog fund – Aberdeen European Smaller Companies Equity.

The report stated: “When all is going well, funds are promoted heavily and managers are feted like rock stars of the City. Yet it’s hard to ignore the fact that some of these stars simply crash out of orbit. Many funds fail to beat their benchmarks over the long run, after all the fees have been taken, and investors need to consider their fund managers carefully.

“Surprisingly many investors continue to put up with weak or pedestrian performance and it’s the fund management companies that benefit.”