British investors are holding a record level of assets in funds which show poor performance, according to the most recent “Spot the Dog” survey by Bestinvest, of 30 June, 2018. According to the guide, “which asset management firms would love to ban,” GBP33.6bn are invested in these “bad” funds, a level which has risen to five times where it stood in January. This represents 58 funds, compared with 26 previously.To fall into the bad category, a fund must fail to beat its benchmark in all of the past three years, and must be 5% or more below the index over 36 months.The explosion in assets in this most recent edition is due to the increase in number of underperforming funds, and also to the arrival of large funds in this category, including the High Income and Income funds from Invesco Perpetual (GBP9.4bn and GBP4.5bn in assets, respectively). Bad funds also include the JPM US Equity Income (GBP3.5bn) and the Janus Henderson European Selected Opportunities (GBP2.2bn). In total, seven funds with over GBP1bn are on the list.In terms of companies, Invesco Perpetual has risen to the top of the rankings, becoming the firm with the most assets (GBP15.1bn) and the most funds (5) which have underperformed the Bestinvest criteria. The previous and dethroned leader, Aberdeen Standard Investments, falls to fourth place. In second place is JP Morgan (due to one fund alone, the aforementioned US equity fund), and in third place is Henderson (2 funds). After Aberdeen come Fidelity, St. James’s Place, HSBC Investments, Jupiter, Artemis and Columbia Threadneedle.Global equities remain the category in which there are the most bad funds, with 19 products. Europe is another area in which the rate of failure has increased sharply, with 10 funds, compared with two in the previous edition released at the start of this year. However, global emerging market funds have no representatives in the list of funds to avoid – for now, at least.Bestinvest also gives a list of firms which gain the distinction of being completely absent from the list. These are: Aviva Investors, Baillie Gifford, Baring, BlackRock, BNY Mellon, First State, Fundsmith, JO Hambro, Kames Capital, Legal & General, Man GLG, M&G, Old Mutual Global Investors, Royal London and Stewart Investors.