The Investment Management Association, the trade body for the UK’s asset management industry, is reviewing the structure of the sectors classification system it uses to categorise funds.

As part of the process the organisation is contacting its member firms to seek their views, as well as information on the make-up of their current range of funds and recent launches. This information will form the basis of the agenda for the upcoming members meeting in September.

"We think now is a good time to review IMA sectors. Fund managers have gained wider investment powers through changes in legislation and we are seeing the launch of new funds, which are characterised by their investment strategy, such as absolute return, rather than the assets they hold. The IMA sectors are at present mostly defined by the make-up of assets within them, such as the proportion of equities they invest in,” said Jane Lowe, director of markets at the IMA.

The review will be extensive, and is expected to continue well into next year if not beyond, said Lowe.

In other recent news, in July the IMA announced it had admitted 175 offshore funds into its sectors, having opened its sectors to these funds in April this year. The admissions were from a total of 314 fund submissions, with 106 funds still awaiting finalisation of their data, the IMA said at the time.