HSBC FTSE All-World Index: August 2026 fund update

• HSBC has been running tracker funds for more than 35 years

• This fund offers exposure to a broad range of countries all over the world

• It has tracked the FTSE All-World Index closely over the long term

• This fund doesn’t feature on our Wealth Shortlist of funds chosen by our analysts for their long-term performance potential

How it fits in a portfolio

The HSBC FTSE All-World Index fund invests in a range of large and medium-sized companies across the globe from both developed and emerging markets. Emerging markets offer investors greater potential for growth, but they can be subject to more price volatility and are higher risk than their more developed counterparts.

An index tracker fund is one of the simplest and lowest-cost ways to invest. This fund could be used as a starting point for diversified passive exposure to global markets. It doesn’t feature on our Wealth Shortlist because there are cheaper ways to track the global stock market.

Manager

HSBC has been a provider of index trackers for more than 35 years and is home to an experienced management team. Each fund has a primary, secondary, and deputy fund manager, who tend to specialise in a particular region, though in practice the team as a whole helps to manage each fund.

Patricia Keogh is the primary manager for this fund. Keogh is Head of the Index Equity Portfolio Management team and has been working in the financial industry since 2001. Prior to joining HSBC in 2013, she was a fund manager at BlackRock.

Many fund managers at HSBC also have wider responsibilities across the business, such as working on projects to understand their clients’ needs in more detail. This helps them drive change and innovation, which we think complements their role.

Process

The fund aims to track the performance of the FTSE All-World Index. It does this by investing in most of the companies in the index but not every single one. The fund was made up of 3,428 companies at the end of June 2026 versus 4,265 in the index. The team tends to exclude some of the smaller companies in the index as they can be difficult or more costly to buy and sell, which can negatively affect performance. This is known as partial replication and helps keep performance close to the index while keeping costs as low as possible.

The fund currently invests 34.1% in the technology sector (as of 30 June 2026). This is partly from the large amount (60.4%) invested in the US market, which has household names like Apple and Microsoft. The next largest sectors are financials and industrials, which made up 14.3% and 12.3% of the fund. The fund also invests in countries like Japan, Taiwan, the UK and South Korea.

The team aims to track the index as tightly as possible by reducing trading costs, which is a key part of their strategy.

The fund participates in securities lending whereby some of its investments are lent to other providers in exchange for a fee. This offsets some of the costs of running the fund but adds risk.

Culture

The index investment team at HSBC isn’t as large as some of the bigger index providers, though it's still experienced and committed to improving ways of tracking the index closely. The team is open when it comes to sharing ideas and information. We believe that this adds good challenge on how to run the fund effectively.

Employees are also encouraged to participate in HSBC’s sharesave scheme, which should encourage them to be more engaged with the growth of the company. This means that fund managers’ interests are better aligned with investors.

ESG Integration

HSBC’s active and index funds exclude shares or bonds issued by companies involved in the development, production, use, maintenance, sale, import or export, storage or transportation of controversial weapons which are banned by international convention. The firm has also committed to phase out active holdings in issuers exposed to thermal coal by 2030 in the OECD and EU, and by 2040 in the rest of the world.

Fund managers meet regularly with companies and challenge them on corporate strategy, financial and non-financial performance and risk, allocation of capital and management of environmental, social and governance issues.

HSBC receives proxy voting advice from Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). However, if an Investment or Stewardship team identifies a proposal where a different approach may be warranted, the matter is referred to the Voting Advisory Group – a dedicated committee of specialists that includes relevant investment team members. The Group reviews the proposal and reaches a decision with reference to HSBC’s comprehensive voting guidelines. Voting activity is disclosed on a company-by-company basis on HSBC’s website.

HSBC FTSE All-World Index tracks a benchmark that doesn’t specifically integrate ESG analysis or exclude companies in certain industries, like tobacco or alcohol, though, like all HSBC funds, it excludes companies involved in banned weapons.

Cost

The fund has an ongoing annual fund charge of 0.13%. Our platform charge of up to 0.35% per annum also applies, except in the HL Junior ISA, where no platform fee applies. Both a buy and sell instruction will be subject to HL dealing charges. Find out more about our charges

Performance

The fund has tracked the FTSE All-World Index closely during the last 10 years, gaining 216.01%*. The tools used by the managers have helped to keep performance tight to the index in the long term. Remember, past performance isn’t a guide to the future.

In the past 12 months, the fund has returned 19.50% Although most global stock markets performed well, it has been a volatile year with tariff uncertainty, trade tensions, and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The US stock market was a significant contributor to returns, reflecting how much of the global market it makes up. Performance was driven by strong gains in technology companies, supported by continued investment in artificial intelligence (AI).

Semiconductor companies that make computer chips and the equipment needed to produce them also performed strongly, benefiting from continued investment in AI infrastructure and demand for advanced chips. This helped support gains in markets such as Taiwan and South Korea, which are home to some of the world's leading chip manufacturers.

Although the AI theme remains an important driver of earnings growth, investors have become more cautious following strong share price gains, leading to periods of increased volatility.

Given HSBC’s experience and expertise running index tracker funds, we expect the fund to continue to track the index well in the future, though there are no guarantees.