Standard & Poor’s Fund Services (S&P) has suffered its first major ratings withdrawal after the announcement that S&P Capital IQ would no longer conduct its services in Australia.
Russell Investment Management (Russell) has asked S&P to withdraw the ratings on 22 funds managed by Russell, the researcher has confirmed.
This is the first ratings withdrawal request made by a major client after S&P Capital IQ – a division of Standard & Poor’s that provides web-based analytics and information services – announced it would no longer be conducting local funds research and local wealth management services in Australia as of 1 October 2012.
In January, Macquarie Investment Management asked the researcher to withdraw ratings on its Australian Microcap Fund, while ANZ Group’s conduit Aurora Securitisation had S&P ratings pulled on its ABCP programs in mid-February.
