The IA says funds must hold at least 80 per cent of their assets in Asia-Pacific equities. Japanese securities are excluded from this, but portfolios can hold 5 per cent of total assets in the country to allow for flexibility in the event of company takeovers and similar.

5. Has the average fund beaten the benchmark?

In a word, no. Over five years the average open-ended fund is 1.5 percentage points behind the FTSE Asia-Pacific ex Japan index’s 59 per cent increase. Over 10 years the gap widens to 11 percentage points.