S&P new long term designation for fund management ratings

Standard & Poor's Fund Services, one of the leading providers of qualitative fund management ratings, today announced that it has launched a new long term fund management designation in order to acknowledge those funds which have retained a fund rating for a minimum of five consecutive years.

This new designation can be assigned to funds that have been rated A, AA, or AAA for five consecutive years or more and continue to hold a rating. Initially, over 260 funds across 64 fund companies will qualify for this designation, of which 30 have been rated AAA for the full five consecutive years.

On a monthly basis, funds will be reviewed and new funds that qualify will be awarded the long-term rating. If an existing fund's rating is changed to under review (UR) / tenure review (TR) / or not rated (NR), then it will fall out of this long-term fund management rating band.

Linda Jane Coffin, Chief Quality Officer at Standard & Poor's Fund Services, said: "Our aim is to provide greater clarity and transparency to the market around the long-term consistency in a funds' management.

"S&P Fund Services' long-term track record in the market allows us to go back five years, and more, to determine consistency of approach amongst funds over time. We believe there is a strong demand from both asset managers and IFAs for this type of qualitative fund management information, especially when considering longer-term investment. Our history and experience makes us unique in this regard."