Assirt takes a punt on the stars

ASSIRT has made an aggressive play in the research market with the introduction of star ratings for managed funds.

ASSIRT has made an aggressive play in the research market with the introduction of star ratings for managed funds.

From the middle of next month, ASSIRT will provide star ratings on 530 Austra-lian managed funds for advisers through their subscription service and to investors through a number of newspapers and web sites. Funds will be assessed on quanti-tative and qualitative research and assigned a rating from one star through to five stars.

ASSIRT’s move parallels the highly influential star system used by Morningstar in the US and introduced by the rivals FPG research into Australia about a year ago, before FPG merged with the Morningstar group.

ASSIRT managing director Brett Sanders says ASSIRT decided to follow the star rating path to quench the thirst of consumers for investment research.

“Fuelled by the internet, there has been a huge demand for quality information as people become more active in their investing,” he says.

“We have been rating fund managers for nearly six years. That process will not change. But now instead of rating a fund A, B or C, it will be rated from one to five stars.”

However, Sanders acknowledges pressures in the marketplace were also a contrib-uting factor in the decision to adopt the star system.

“It is also not a bad defensive play. There has been pressure from some parts of the marketplace to use other sources of investment research,” he says.

Sanders says advisers will also benefit from the new system.

“While it may offer self-directed investors with better information on which to base their investment decisions, it will also allow advisers to work through the in-vestment process with their clients while both using the same information,” he says.

ASSIRT will continue to provide its detailed qualitative research reports exclu-sively to subscribing financial planners so the advisers may understand the process behind the rating and make more informed judgements for their clients.