Standard & Poor's responds to Alan Steel

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Standard & Poor's has responded to criticism levelled last week by IFA Alan Steel Asset Management by stating there has been a misunderstanding between its "ratings" and "rankings".

So-called “Fund Stars” are mathematically calculated statistics based on three-year fund return information relative to peers, adjusted for volatility of that relative performance, S&P says. Fund “Ratings” on the other hand are “entirely qualitative assessment of the management of the rated funds, involving face-to-face interviews and year-round monitoring of the processes, practices and actions of the fund manager/management team”, S&P adds. ”We assume Steel’s Communication [published by IFAonline last week] is aimed at Standard & Poor’s Fund Stars. But, Steel confuses (a) absolute f...

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