PlexCrown fund-rating methodology

The PlexCrown Ratings are done in line with guidelines set by ASISA and other criteria set by PlexCrown:

Unclassified and varied specialist funds are not rated.
Gold and precious metals funds are also excluded due to the specialist qualities.
A subcategory will be rated only if it consists of at least five funds of five years or older.
Only funds with an official track record of at least five years qualify for a rating.
Pure index-tracking funds that require no skill are excluded from the ratings.
Funds in the Interest-bearing Money Market subcategory and other money market-related funds are not rated.
Only retail funds that have published their performance figures in the public domain are considered in the ratings.
Only retail funds that are open to all retail investors are considered in the ratings.
FSCA-approved funds in the Global - Asset Allocation - Prudential and Global - Asset Allocation - Flexible subcategories are rated in the broader Global - Asset Allocation category.
Only one class of a fund will be considered when calculating the fund's subcategory return averages.
For funds with multiple classes, we will use the most expensive retail class that meets the full historical period requirement. We make use of the Total Expense Ratio (TER) to select the most expensive retail class. This class must also be directly accessible to the public through the management company at the end of the quarter being calculated. This could include a class that is closed to new investment but remains open for its existing investors.
In cases where both an accumulation class and a normal class are listed, the normal class will take precedence.

Funds in Non-multi Asset subcategories and Interest Bearing Variable Term subcategories are ranked on a percentile basis over five- and three-year periods according to the Sharpe Ratio, Alpha, Treynor Ratio, Sortino Ratio and Omega. Funds in the Multi Asset subcategories (excluding Multi Asset Income) are ranked over five- and three-year periods according to the Sharpe Ratio, Alpha, Sortino Ratio and Omega. Funds in the Multi Asset Income subcategory are ranked over five- and three-year periods according to the Sharpe Ratio, Alpha and Sortino Ratio. Funds in the Interest Bearing Short Term subcategory are ranked over five- and three-year periods according to the Sharpe Ratio, Alpha, Sortino Ratio and Treynor Ratio.

The funds’ percentile rankings per measure over three and five years are time-weighted by applying weights of 40% and 60%. The total percentile ranking of funds in Nonmulti Asset subcategories and Interest Bearing Variable Term subcategories are then calculated by applying a weight of 20% to each fund’s applicable percentile rankings per measure.

In the Multi Asset subcategories (excluding Multi Asset Income), a weighting of 25% is applied to four performance measures: the Sharpe Ratio, the Sortino Ratio, Alpha and Omega, excluding the Treynor Ratio. In the Multi Asset Income subcategory a weighting of 33.33% is applied to three performance measures: the Sharpe Ratio, the Sortino Ratio and Alpha, excluding the Treynor Ratio and Omega. In the Interest Bearing Short Term subcategories a weighting of 25.00% is applied to four performance measures: the Sharpe Ratio, the Sortino Ratio, Alpha and the Treynor Ratio.

The funds are classed in their subcategory according to the normal distribution curve and awarded PlexCrown Ratings as follows:

Top 10% = 5 PlexCrowns
Next 22.5% = 4 PlexCrowns
Next 35% = 3 PlexCrowns
Next 22.5% = 2 PlexCrowns
Bottom 10% = 1 PlexCrown