UBS S&P 500 Index: September 2026 fund update

• UBS has more than 40 years of indexing experience

• This fund provides exposure to some of the largest companies in the US

• It’s tracked the S&P 500 Index closely since launch

• This fund doesn’t feature on our Wealth Shortlist of funds

How it fits in a portfolio

The UBS S&P 500 Index fund offers a way to track the performance of the US stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index. This index is widely regarded as one of the best measures of the performance of large US companies and includes household names like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

An index tracker fund is one of the simplest and lowest-cost ways to invest. This fund could be used as part of a diversified long-term investment portfolio alongside investments in other regions or smaller companies.

Manager

UBS has been managing index funds for more than four decades and the index fund managers have over 15 years of industry experience on average. The team is led by Ian Ashment, who has been Head of Indexing since 2006 and has been part of the team for much longer.

Each equity index fund has a lead and back-up fund manager, although in practice it’s a team based approach.

The fund managers are supported by the Research & Analytics team who analyse index events. They also work closely with the firm’s traders who are located all over the world.

Process

The fund aims to track its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index, by investing in all the companies in the index, and in the same proportion. This is known as full replication and helps the fund track the index closely.

Technology companies make up a large part of the fund and accounted for 36.6% as of the end of July 2026. The next biggest sectors were financials and communication services which made up 12.5% and 9.9% of the fund respectively. The 10 largest holdings represented around 39% of the fund, meaning their performance can have a big impact on overall returns.

In any index tracker fund, factors like taxes, dealing commissions and spreads, and the cost of running the fund all drag on performance. The team try to keep turnover, the frequency at which shares are bought and sold, as low as they can to minimise some of these costs. They also trade as efficiently as possible when there is an index change, leveraging the expertise of their global trading teams.

They look to add value when there’s a corporate action, which is any event that materially impacts a company and its shareholders, such as a tender offer or merger. The team analyse each event and work out the best way to trade. This can help to reduce the difference in performance between the fund and the benchmark.

The fund managers monitor the fund’s tracking error daily, which measures how tightly and consistently the fund is tracking its benchmark. They work closely with their risk team to ensure the fund’s tracking error remains low.

UBS don’t lend any of the investments in their index funds, a process known as securities lending that some other index fund providers use.

Culture

UBS Asset Management, a division of UBS, benefits from the scale and strength of being part of a large global financial services group. Index-tracking investments are a core part of UBS Asset Management, representing over half of its total assets. It offers a wide range of index strategies tracking a variety of indices and has strong relationships with major index providers like S&P.

As the index team has grown, there’s been opportunities for fund managers to get involved in different areas of the business and broaden their work. Junior team members are encouraged to challenge processes and create a culture of continuous improvement.

ESG Integration

UBS believes that ESG risks and opportunities can affect investment performance, and by considering these factors they can make better informed investment decisions. Investment teams across UBS are supported to consider material issues by the Sustainable Investing team. Investment teams also have access to a proprietary Sustainable Investing Dashboard, which combines UBS analysis with controversy research and third-party data, to provide a holistic view of sustainability risks and management quality. Leveraging these resources, analysts are required to include a forward-looking ESG assessment in their research. Controversial weapons and companies with significant revenues from thermal coal are excluded company wide.

The firm aims to reduce ESG risks where possible through stewardship. Voting is considered an important part of the firm’s fiduciary duty, and all votes are exercised where possible. Voting activity is publicised via a voting tool which allows company-by-company search functionality, and rationales are provided for votes against management recommendations and abstentions. Engagement is primarily led by the Sustainable Investing team. All proxy voting and engagement activities are overseen by the UBS Stewardship Committee.

The firm produces regular thought leadership articles on various sustainability-related themes which are available via its website. The annual Stewardship Update report also provides a summary of the firm’s voting activity, as well as engagement case studies.

UBS S&P 500 Index is a passive fund designed to track an index that doesn’t specifically integrate ESG analysis or exclude companies in industries like tobacco or alcohol.

Cost

The fund has an ongoing annual charge of 0.09%. It’s not on the Wealth Shortlist as there are cheaper US tracker funds available that are run by teams that we rate highly.

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

Since launch in November 2014, the fund has tracked the S&P 500 Index closely, rising 419.5%* versus 423.9% for the index. As expected from an index tracker fund, it’s fallen behind the benchmark over the long term because of the costs involved in running the fund. However, the tools used by the managers have helped to keep performance close to the index.

This strong performance is partially down to the inclusion of technology companies in the index whose share prices have seen a rally in recent years. But remember, past performance isn’t a guide to the future.

Over the past 12 months, the fund gained 19.9%. The technology sector made the largest contribution to returns, supported by continued investment in artificial intelligence (AI). Semiconductor companies that make computer chips, and the equipment needed to produce them, performed strongly as demand remained high for AI infrastructure and advanced chips.

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.

The S&P 500 is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and has been licensed for use by Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management.