Fresh calls for IA to abandon 'archaic' yield criteria for equity income sector

Number of funds not meeting yield criteria

The Investment Association (IA) is facing renewed criticism of its 'counter-productive' yield criteria for funds in the UK equity income sector, following news the £8.3bn CF Woodford Equity Income fund and other vehicles are at risk of being removed from the peer group.

In statistics updated by the IA last week, Neil Woodford's (pictured) Equity Income fund, Jupiter's £1.8bn Income Trust, SWIP's £1.4bn Multi-Manager UK Equity Income fund and the £57m F&C UK Equity Income fund were all flagged as having a yield lower than the sector requirement - 110% of the FTSE All Share - on a one-year rolling basis. If the managers fail to boost income payments from these levels over a three-year rolling period, they face being removed from the sector, as has been the case for several high profile funds over the years: Invesco Perpetual's £11.8bn High Income and £6bn...