BlackRock closes multi-sector sister funds
Standard & Poor's Fund Services (S&P) has withdrawn ratings from three BlackRock multi-sector funds at the request of the manager.
BlackRock’s High Growth Fund Class D, Conservative Fund Class D and Moderate Balanced Fund Class D were launched off the back of the manager’s popular and highly rated multi-sector balanced fund, according to Scott Phillips, director and head of retail global client group at BlackRock.
Even though the funds had been highly rated, with each earning a five-star ranking from S&P, they were unable to generate significant interest, Phillips said.
“We thought there might be demand [for these funds] after the strong performance of the [multi sector] balanced fund but that wasn’t the case,” he said.
S&P analyst Tom Mills said the withdrawal of the three multi sector funds was unrelated to S&P’s recent decision to place seven other BlackRock funds on hold following the departure of two team heads.
S&P last month placed seven BlackRock funds ‘on hold’ after Australian head of scientific active equity investments, Andrew Jackson, and head of portfolio management active equity, Davis Walsh, announced they would be leaving the company.
Recommended for you
The FSCP has announced its latest verdict, suspending an adviser’s registration for failing to comply with his obligations when providing advice to three clients.
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.
