S&P awards AAA rating to HSBC trackers

Standard & Poor's has awarded four HSBC Global Asset Management tracker funds an AAA rating, including the recently merged American Index portfolio.

HSBC's FTSE 100, All Share Index, European Index and the American Index fund are all run by HSBC's quantitative arm Sinopia - led by Jean Francois Schmitt, with day-to-day management by Harvey Sidhu. "Deviations at stock, sector and market cap decile are tightly controlled," S&P Fund Services lead analyst Guy Boden says. "Unlike some other index tracking groups, the team is willing to undertake fully collateralised stock lending, scrip dividends and placings, and to trade in advance or arrears of index changes." HSBC wholesale managing director Andy Clark adds: "HSBC continues to b...