Fitch Ratings today updated its asset manager rating criteria following a six-week consultation period in which the agency sought comments from investors, managers, and other interested parties.

The rating agency has also updated its criteria in consideration of a separate, recently conducted survey of investors on their needs and expectations of manager assessments and ratings.

“In view of recent developments in the investment management industry and based on our collective experience in rating asset managers, we concluded there was a clear opportunity to enhance the value of our asset manager ratings by taking a fresh look at our rating process and rating criteria,” says Charles Prescott, group managing director at Fitch. “The majority of the responses we received through the consultation period were broadly supportive of our proposals and we were offered constructive suggestions, which we have incorporated into our updated criteria.”

Fitch’s updated criteria for rating asset managers include a reorganization of the rating factors in the asset manager rating scorecard into different categories that more clearly express rating considerations and conclusions. The criteria also contain refreshed weightings at both the category and factor level, with greater focus on staffing, portfolio management, and risk management and controls.

In addition, the latest criteria have seen a rationalization of all factors within the scorecard to achieve greater focus on the key drivers of category scoring. Fitch has also implemented a new rating scale, M1 – M5, to reflect the re-scaling and re-calibration of all currently outstanding public and private asset manager ratings. The criteria incorporate category score definitions.

In conjunction with the publication of its updated criteria, Fitch has converted the ratings and scores of all outstanding public and private asset manager ratings to reflect the new rating scale and the underlying category scores.