To qualify for an Elite Rating a fund must pass FundCalibre’s rigorous research process. It starts with AlphaQuest, a unique quantitative screening tool, which strips out market movements and then analyses the volatility of the fund manager’s skill – basically to see if it is indeed skill or just luck.

To qualify for an Elite Rating a fund manager must have been running the same mandate for at least three years. Only those managers who display consistent skill over a minimum of three years, and have a high probability of generating alpha (performance over and above the benchmark return) over the next 12 months, make it to the next stage of the process.

Once a fund has passed AlphaQuest, a meeting with the fund manager will then take place to undertake a qualitative assessment. A fund will never qualify for an Elite Rating without a face-to-face meeting.

The analysts who have had the meeting will then present their findings in a quarterly investment committee. Only the funds deemed by all to be the very best will be awarded an Elite Rating.

But it doesn’t end there. In 2018, FundCalibre has extended its rating services by launching the ‘Elite Radar‘ accolade for a range of funds that are on the research team’s watchlist.

The Elite Radar is a special badge for funds that may or may not not have the minimum three-year track record to pass FundCalibre’s AlphaQuest quantitative screen, but which are on the team’s watchlist and are potential candidates for a full rating in the future.

Some funds with a three-year track record may also be awarded the Elite Radar badge if the AlphaQuest score is only slightly above the pass rate and the investment committee would like more data on which to make a judgement.

A fund can stay on the Elite Radar until its six-year track record is completed. At that time it must either be Rated or lose its Radar badge.