The Pacific Index Fund, a passive equity fund in the Asia Pacific Ex Japan sector, returned 67% in sterling over one year, ahead of every one of its peers on that measure, while carrying an ongoing charge of 0.32%. Returns, charges and sizes are as at 30 September 2026. A tracker that sits first in its peer group on one year return and charges less than most of that group is an unusual pairing, so the sections below set out what the figures measure, how they change with the window, and what they leave unanswered.
What the figures show against peers
Over one year to 30 September 2026 the fund returned 67% against a peer median of 21.1%. Its ongoing charge (OCF, the annual cost of running the fund, taken from the fund’s assets) is 0.32% against a peer median of 0.83%, and 63% of its peers charge more. The peer group here is the set of funds that FE fundinfo files under the Equity Asia Pacific Ex Japan sector. Where a share class is priced in a different currency, returns are converted to sterling; this class is already in sterling.
The percent of peers beaten counts the share of peer funds that returned less than this one over the same window. Over one year the fund is ahead of every one of its peers. Over three years it beat 98% of them, with a cumulative return of 129% against a peer median of 72.1%. Over six months it beat 96%, returning 38.8% against a peer median of 6.6%. Over three months it beat 80%, returning -0.5% against a peer median of -2.9%.
Set against the peer medians, the fund sits 2.4 percentage points above over three months, 32.2 over six months, 45.9 over one year and 56.9 over three years. The three year window is the widest of these gaps. Whether the difference came from sector weights, cost or something else cannot be told from these figures.
Why the time window changes the picture
A single return figure hides how much depends on where the window starts and ends. The one year figure of 67% and the six month figure of 38.8% are cumulative returns, meaning the total change in value over the whole period, not an annual rate. They overlap: most of the six month return sits inside the one year return, so they are not independent pieces of evidence.
The most recent window is the quietest. Over three months the fund returned -0.5%, a fall in absolute terms, even though that was still above a peer median of -2.9% and ahead of 80% of peers. A reader looking only at the one year headline would not see that the latest quarter was negative. Looking across all four windows, three months, six months, one year and three years, shows the full pattern rather than one slice.
Volatility, the annualised standard deviation of returns, was 14% over three years as at 25 June 2026. That is a measure of how widely monthly returns have varied around their average, and it describes the past only.
Share classes, cost and size
A share class is a version of the same fund with its own charges and, sometimes, its own currency or income treatment. This note covers the Retail Income class, with an OCF of 0.32%. Across the share classes of the fund the lowest OCF is 0.06% and the highest is 0.33%, so the class chosen changes the cost shown. The returns above belong to this class, and other classes differ in charges and distributions.
The fund launched in November 1998 and held £1.2bn at 30 September 2026. Its regulatory risk rating (SRRI) is 6 on a scale of 1 to 7. The SRRI is a standardised ranking of how much a fund’s price has moved historically; it is a number on a scale, not a description of any individual outcome.
What the fund holds compared with its peers
Sector weights are as at 7 October 2026. The fund held 40.7% in Technology against a peer average of 30.7%, which is 10 percentage points above the peer average. It held 17.7% in Financials against 16.2%, 1.5 points above. In Telecommunications it held 11.9% against 6.3%, 5.6 points above. In Consumer Discretionary it held 3.8% against 7.4%, 3.6 points below. By country, 98.1% of the fund sat in Asia Pacific ex Japan.
Concentration at the top is a separate measure. The fund’s ten largest positions made up 48.3% of the fund as at 30 September 2026, and the peer average for the same measure is also 48.3%. On that measure the fund is as concentrated as the typical fund in its sector.
The Technology weight is the clearest difference in the sector split. Of its peers, 34% held more than the fund in Technology. Those peers returned a median 26.5% over one year; peers that held less than the fund in Technology returned a median 13.8%. Both groups returned less than the fund’s 67%. The weights and returns are reported side by side, and the figures do not show how much any one sector weight contributed to the difference.
Peers that held more Technology than the fund and peers that held less both returned well under the fund’s 67%.
What to check on the fund page and in the Fund Finder
The fund page shows the full set of share classes, so a reader can confirm which OCF applies to the class in front of them. The Fund Finder lets the same peer group be filtered and sorted by cost, by one year return or by three year return, which shows whether a charge of 0.32% alongside a one year return of 67% is repeated elsewhere in the sector or is particular to this fund.
Other pages give the context around the fund: the manager page for HSBC, and the sector pages for Technology and Financials, the two largest sector weights of the fund. Checking the same windows and dates on each page keeps the comparison like for like.
What kind of fund this is and what it cannot tell
The Pacific Index Fund is a passive equity fund, designed to track an index, so its holdings and returns follow that index before costs. Regional index funds of this kind are often used for broad market exposure in one region rather than for stock selection. Its ongoing charge is 0.32% against a peer median of 0.83%, and the Retail Income class pays out distributions rather than reinvesting them.
The limits are set by the figures. The SRRI is 6 on the scale of 1 to 7. A fund holding one region depends on the markets and currencies of that region: 98.1% of this fund sat in Asia Pacific ex Japan. A passive fund follows its index down as well as up, and the three month return of -0.5% shows the fund does fall. The volatility figure of 14% describes the three years to 25 June 2026 and nothing more. This note covers the Retail Income class; other classes differ in currency, charges and distributions. These figures also cannot show why the fund finished ahead of its peers over one year, or whether a charge of 0.32% and a return above the peer median will appear together again.
Past performance is not a reliable guide to future returns. Capital is at risk.
This note describes how the fund is built and how it has performed; it is general information, not a recommendation or personal advice, and does not take account of any reader’s circumstances.
Source: FE fundinfo. Returns and charges as at 30 September 2026; other figures dated where shown.
Past performance is not a reliable guide to future returns. Capital is at risk.
Funds Benchmark provides research and tooling for institutional and private investors. Nothing in this note is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any specific fund.
