JPMorgan Emerging Markets: October 2026 fund update

• Leon Eidelman has a wealth of experience investing across emerging markets

• JPMorgan has a highly resourced team to support the managers

• Recent performance has improved after the fund went through a challenging period

• This fund features on our Wealth Shortlist of funds chosen by our analysts for their long-term performance potential

How it fits in a portfolio

The JPMorgan Emerging Markets fund aims to grow your investment over the long term by investing in growing businesses from a range of emerging economies, spanning Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. While emerging markets can offer plenty of opportunities for investors, they're higher risk and typically more volatile than developed markets.

Given its focus on growth, the fund could work well alongside more value-orientated Asia and emerging market funds. It could also be blended with other funds that focus on developed markets as part of a globally diversified investment portfolio.

Manager

Leon Eidelman joined JPMorgan in 2002 and became co-manager of this fund in 2013. He was appointed lead manager in 2016 and has final responsibility over which companies are in the fund. He also makes use of the input and challenge provided by his co-managers, Austin Forey and John Citron.

Forey is an emerging markets veteran and has invested in emerging markets for over 30 years. His career at JPMorgan began in 1988 and he served as deputy head of UK research before joining the emerging markets team in 1994.

Citron was appointed co-manager of the fund in March 2025. He has been at JPMorgan since 2009, starting as a European equities analyst before joining the emerging markets team in 2017. Since 2021 Citron has been deputy manager of the JPMorgan Emerging Markets investment trust, working closely with Forey. We view the addition of Citron as co-manager positively, reflecting his stature and tenure within the team.

The trio also manage or contribute to other emerging markets funds at JPMorgan, using the same core process throughout. Given the large degree of overlap, we think they can comfortably manage these responsibilities.

The managers benefit from a well-resourced team of over 100 investment professionals across nine countries, giving them eyes in most corners of the market. We think this is invaluable given the vast range of countries, cultures, and companies within their investable universe.

Process

The managers aim to perform better than their emerging market benchmark by investing in high-quality companies that can sustain earnings growth over the long term. They believe most investors underestimate the potential of companies that can grow their earnings at a steady pace over a long period of time. This could help them buy company shares at a reasonable price and hold on to them as they grow their profits, and hopefully their share prices, over the long run.

As lead manager, Eidelman oversees how the fund invests. He also leans on his co-managers, as well as the wider team of analysts, who carry out extensive research and provide new ideas. They travel across the world to visit companies and gain insight into what's happening in different markets.

The team looks for quality companies where they can estimate earnings growth over the next five years. They consider the financial strength of a business, the quality of the management team, and the strength of corporate governance. Other factors, such as the dividends a company pays and how changes in a country's currency might impact a business, are also considered.

The fund invests in 60-80 companies out of the thousands in emerging markets. Geographically, most is invested in South Korea, with another meaningful investment in Taiwan, albeit less than the benchmark. In contrast, the fund has a greater amount invested in Brazil. On a sector level, the fund has large investments in technology, financials, and industrials companies.

Investments are made for the long term, so changes to the fund tend to be minimal from year to year. Recent additions to the fund include Credicorp, a financial services company based in Peru, and China’s Zijin Mining Group. A new investment was also made in Taiwan’s King Slide Works, which manufactures fixtures for data centres.

The managers sold investments in Chinese entertainment companies Tencent Music and Montage Technology. They also sold their investment in Indian online travel agent MakeMyTrip.

The fund mainly invests in large, established firms, but can invest in smaller companies. These can have greater growth prospects but are higher risk. The managers have tended not to venture into this area of the market.

Culture

JPMorgan is one of the world's largest asset managers. It has investment professionals based all over the world, and the team behind this fund can tap into this experience and local knowledge. There has recently been some change in the analyst team in China in order to better embed JPMorgan’s culture, but at a senior level the team has remained stable.

Eidelman, Forey, and Citron have spent their entire careers at JPMorgan, and we think they’re dedicated to the emerging markets franchise. We view it positively that the managers are incentivised to focus on long-term performance.

ESG Integration

JPMorgan committed to integrate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors into its investment processes for active funds in 2016 and ESG is now a foundation for investment decisions across the firm. JPMorgan funds take a variety of different approaches, from quantitively scoring companies on various ESG measures to help with portfolio construction, to more qualitative analysis achieved through fundamental research and company meetings. All fund managers have access to the central Investment Stewardship team, as well as thematic research and analytics, which focus on climate change and carbon transition.

The firm has detailed voting policies which are specific to each region they invest in and account for local customs. Investment teams and investment stewardship specialists in the relevant region are responsible for implementing those policies, based on their deep knowledge and experience of the country, sector and company. A detailed fund-by-fund and company-by-company voting record is available on the JPMorgan website, although voting rationale is not provided. Fund managers also regularly engage with the companies they invest in, and there are a number of case studies on the company’s website and in its annual Investment Stewardship report.

While ESG is integrated across the firm, this fund doesn’t have a responsible mandate. Investors should note that, of the funds under our research coverage, this is one of the most carbon intensive. Companies within the fund may face increased scrutiny from investors and regulators, as well as higher costs associated with carbon emissions management.

Cost

This fund is available at an annual ongoing fund charge of 0.83%, but with a 0.25% saving it’s available to HL clients for 0.58%. The fund discount is achieved through a loyalty bonus, which could be subject to tax if held outside of an ISA or SIPP.

Our platform charge of up to 0.35% per year also applies, except in the HL Junior ISA where no platform charge applies. Both a buy and sell instruction will be subject to HL dealing charges.

Performance

The fund has performed well for investors since Eidelman became lead manager in 2016. Returns of 191.9% are ahead of both the MSCI Emerging Markets benchmark and average fund in the IA Global Emerging Markets peer group, which returned 173.0% and 143.9% respectively. Past performance isn’t a guide to the future.

More recently the fund has performed well in strong market conditions, returning 35.1% over the 12 months to September 2026. This beat the 31.4% growth of the benchmark as well as the wider sector, where the average fund gained 29.1%. It’s pleasing to see the fund performed well after a period of lagging both peers and broader market, which was partly driven by poor stock selection in China.

Performance over the past 12 months has largely been driven by investments in technology companies, many of which have benefited from roles in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Companies like Elite Material and MPI, both in Taiwan, as well as SK Hynix in Korea made significant contributions to fund performance. Investments in energy companies also performed well, despite the fund not investing much in this sector.

Investments that detracted from performance include e-commerce businesses MercadoLibre in Brazil and Singapore’s Sea. Tencent, China’s largest technology platform, also detracted. Investors have been concerned about the amount of money the company is spending on AI-related investments and whether this will help the company to grow in future.