van Eyk changes rating process

Van Eyk Research has overhauled its ratings systems, adding some new fund manager ratings and tightening the definitions of the others.

The overhaul has been motivated primarily by van Eyk’s formal screening process, introduced earlier this year, which has raised the calibre of managers the researcher now analyses.

Van Eyk has introduced three new ratings: ‘BB’, ‘Screened’ and ‘Information Only’, with the latter two replacing the previous ‘NR’ or ‘Not Rated’ rating.

The ‘BB’ rating falls after iRate’s existing ‘AA’ and ‘A’ recommended manager ratings on iRate and before its existing ‘B’ (non-recommended) rating.

These new ratings will be gradually introduced over the next year, with hedge fund-of-fund managers the first to be assessed under the new criteria.

Definitions around the remaining existing ratings — ‘AA’, ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘Hold’ and ‘FundWatch’ — have all been tightened.

Suzanne Tavill, head of research and ratings at van Eyk, said the launch of the new ‘BB’ rating, in particular, was the result of the screening process introducing a “greater need to differentiate between managers”.

“The overall effect of the changes we have introduced is to provide our iRate subscribers with clearer signals for selecting competitive managers from the reviewed peer group,” Tavill said.

She said that under the new ratings system a manager that does not make it through the van Eyk screening process, for any of a variety of reasons, will now be flagged as ‘Screened’.

“Alternatively, a manager may choose not to submit for screening, for example if their product is not ready for market, in which case it will be displayed as ‘Information Only’,” she said.