Classifying Industry and Thematic Funds to Build Candidate Pools

Summary

This research summary presents a framework for classifying industry and thematic funds and using the resulting categories to form candidate investment pools. Fund contracts’ investment requirements serve as a core eligibility basis. The framework begins with passive products and extends the structure to active funds; it combines top-down category definitions with bottom-up review of individual products. Industry classifications draw on established Chinese index taxonomies, while thematic classifications use each fund’s stated theme and investment direction. Cross-checks against other industry research are used to assess coverage and consistency.

The framework is applied to map industry and thematic funds by category and management style, then illustrated with consumer-focused funds. Passive products are selected from the relevant category, while active products also face a holdings-based screen. Small funds and those still building positions are excluded. The summary reports the resulting candidate-pool counts, but supplies no performance comparison or evidence that the classification improves returns. The pool is an initial research universe, not a recommendation or a tested allocation strategy.

Key ideas

• Fund contract investment requirements anchor the eligibility definition.
• The classification combines top-down categories with bottom-up product review.
• Industry and thematic funds are classified separately and distinguished by management style.
• Active consumer funds receive an additional screen based on actual holdings.
• The resulting pools are screening universes, with no investment performance evidence provided.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.