Forvis Mazars has announced changes to its model portfolios as part of its quarterly rebalance, including reducing or exiting holdings in funds that are going through manager changes or it felt were struggling in challenging markets.

The firm said while it believed its portfolios were generally well positioned, it has made a few changes to its fund holdings as it looks to focus on its core exposures on active stock pickers where it has the highest conviction.

However, there were some areas where Forvis Mazars felt the prevailing economic backdrop created a headwind and a passive solution was preferred.

As part of its rebalance, the firm has reduced its exposure to the M&G Global Macro Bond fund following the retirement of long-term manager, Jim Leaviss, and spread the proceeds across other, primarily passive, funds.

Forvis Mazars has exited the PineBridge Asia ex Japan Small Cap fund as the fund has “struggled in recent times” and is in part of the market that appears “especially vulnerable to trade wars”, and put the proceeds into a global equity tracker.

The firm also exited the FTF Martin Currie UK Mid Cap fund, as it believed the outlook for the UK economy remained “challenging” in the short term, negatively affecting the case for UK mid-caps, redeploying the proceeds into a UK equity tracker fund.

"In our most recent rebalance we have adjusted some of our fund positions,” stated Forvis Mazars chief investment officer, Ben Seager-Scott.

“This has involved reducing or exiting our holdings in funds that are either going through a manager change or have continued to struggle in parts of the market that look susceptible to a more challenging investment outlook.

“We have replaced these with low-cost market-tracking funds, which helps us to focus our portfolios on stock pickers where we have the highest conviction whilst also reducing underlying costs for you, our clients."

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