Continuing its expansion into the mutual funds information arena, Standard & Poor's is unifying all of its mutual fund information services into a single, new unit called Standard & Poor's Fund Services, the company announced today.

Standard & Poor's Fund Services will consist of the following business units: Standard & Poor's Micropal, Standard & Poor's Fund Research, and Standard & Poor's Managed Funds Ratings.

Sanford Bragg, managing director, will assume direct responsibility for the unit, reporting to Hendrik Kranenburg , executive vice president of Standard & Poor's. Kranenburg heads Standard & Poor's financial information businesses.

Speaking to the MFWire.com., Bragg said that in many ways, although S&P has global respect for its indices, equities and debt rating, S&P has "perhaps not been getting credit in the marketplace for the quality of its fund analysis and information. In the past year or so, the company has made significant investments in the U.S. and globally in mutual funds information services."

Reporting to Bragg are Mark Adorian, managing director of Standard & Poor's Micropal, and Peter Jeffreys, managing director of Standard & Poor's Fund Research. Adorian will oversee sales, marketing, and operations for the new unit while Jeffreys will oversee research activities. Both are based in London.

"This move exhibits Standard & Poor's role as the world's leading provider of fund information and analysis," said Leo C. O'Neill, president of Standard & Poor's, in a prepared statement. "Given the enormous global growth of the mutual fund marketplace, the need for independent, thorough, and objective fund information has never been greater."

In March, Standard & Poor's launched its Select Fund Evaluation Service which offers investors equity fund evaluations that combine thorough analysis of both a fund's performance and its management, a unique process that gives investors a more in-depth perspective than can be gleaned purely from a mechanically-derived score based on past performance.

 

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