InvestorWeb considers legal action against BT

Research house InvestorWeb is considering taking legal action against BT Funds Management (BTFM) over allegations by BT’s chief investment officer Gary Symons that the ratings agency acted unprofessionally in its recent review of the fund manager’s international capabilities.

The matter is believed to be in the hands of InvestorWeb’s legal counsel after the group’s senior investment analyst David Smythe dubbed the allegations, made by Symons in comments toMoney Management, as inaccurate and highly defamatory.

Symons labelled the research house’s ratings process as contemptuous and unprofessional after the release earlier this month of a scathing InvestorWeb review of the manager’s international capabilities that resulted in the downgrade of all of BTFM’s international funds.

Symons was incensed at not having been personally consulted as part of the review, with InvestorWeb basing its assessment around meetings with BTFM’s head of international equities Paul Durham, head of retail sales Peter McPhee and senior portfolio manager David Mills.

But InvestorWeb has refuted all claims that it acted improperly, maintaining BTFM had ample opportunity to involve Symons in the review if it wished to and arguing the “episode further highlights communication concerns within the BT organisation”.

“At no time during the review did BT express a view that Gary Symons should become involved in the review. Furthermore, it chose not to involve Gary, despite having received a draft copy of the report some two weeks prior to it being published,” Smythe says.

Smythe says InvestorWeb will continue to stand by its rating of all BT funds and its own due diligence process in assessing fund managers.

“InvestorWeb emphatically denies Gary Symons’ suggestion that it acted unprofessionally in any way shape or form and is confident that the robustness and rigour of [its] review process can withstand the closest of scrutiny,” Smythe says.