Morningstar recently published an innovative report which graded mutual fund companies based on the concept of “stewardship”. The Morningstar Stewardship Grade for Funds assigned a letter grade based on a fund’s score in 5 key areas: regulatory issues, Board quality, manager incentives, expenses, and corporate culture.
The Financial Post’s Jonathan Chevreau reported on an attempt by IFIC to block publication of the Morningstar report on mutual fund “stewardship” grades for the Canadian mutual fund industry (“IFIC tried to block Morningstar report on Fund Stewardship”). Chevreau points out that the concept of stewardship is tied to the idea of being a fiduciary: always doing what is best for the investor. The Toronto Star’s James Daw did an analysis of the report, “Morningstar fund manager ratings ‘rough at best.’”
