Chelsea Financial and Albemarle join forces for fund ratings service

Chelsea Financial Services and Albemarle Street Partners are to launch a fund rating service early next year, targeting consumers as well as advisers and rivalling a number of existing agencies.

The 50/50 joint venture - called FundCalibre - will be based on Albemarle's fund screening tool AlphaQuest, the results of which will be combined with Chelsea's qualitative analysis to create a list of rated funds. FundCalibre will issue a single 'Elite Fund' rating to portfolios that pass the screening process, with the list reviewed annually, although all funds will be monitored on a monthly basis. Headed up by five directors - Albemarle's three founding partners Dan Kemp, Clive Hale and Sam Liddle, as well as Chelsea's managing director Darius McDermott (pictured) and research dire...