Jupiter in talks over risk-rating Merlin range

Fund Strategy - 16 Jul 2012 | By Joanne Ellul

Jupiter Asset Management is in talks with Distribution Technology to risk-rate the £7bn Merlin fund range.

The four funds in the range are the £3.5m Merlin Income Portfolio, £1.2m Merlin Balanced Portfolio, £1.6m Merlin Growth Portfolio and the £740m Merlin Worldwide Portfolio.

Distribution Technology’s rating system rates funds from one to 10 on the volatility scale, with 10 being the most volatile.

A Jupiter spokesperson says: “We are considering whether risk-rating our Merlin funds will benefit our clients and end investors, however, no decisions have been made. There would be no change to the way the Merlin funds are managed if we did decide to adopt risk rating.”

Last month, it was revealed M&G Investments has used Distribution Technology to risk-rate three of its multi-asset funds, including the £112m Income Multi-Asset, £313m Cautious Multi-Asset and £880m Managed Multi-Asset funds.

Last month, L&G said it is considering risk-rating its multi-manager range and Schroders said it may risk-rate some of its managed funds.

In April, Investec launched its managed solutions range, which consists of four risk-rated funds.

AWD Chase de Vere head of communications Patrick Connolly says: “There is a growing trend among investment companies to try to explain the risk they are taking with their funds. This is driven by advisers but also the FSA’s desire for investors to have a clear idea about the level of risk they are taking.”

To receive more relevant articles like this one, why not sign up to our briefings and breaking alerts by clicking here and Follow @fundweb