Investors have been forfeiting performance for at least a decade as the average pooled equity fund has trailed its benchmark once fees have been collected from clients.

The figures, from BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, were gathered from pooled fund equity managers across the UK, and showed that once fees had been paid by investors, the returns made by the vast majority of funds underperformed their relevant index on a one, three, five and ten year basis.