Financial data and ratings house FE fundinfo quietly removed a leading “five crowns” rating from a First Guardian investment option in July at least five months after the Federal Court froze assets in the now-collapsed scheme.
UK-based financial services data provider FE fundinfo, which operates in the Australian market, presents historical performance data using a “crown rating” system to rank investment products on alpha generation, volatility and returns over the past three years.
Professional Planner analysis of internet archives showed FE fundinfo data – published on the Money Management Investment Centre website – granted the First Guardian Defensive Strategies a “five crowns” rating as recently as July, placing it in the top 10 per cent of funds rated.
The data had been used on a Statement of Advice seen by Professional Planner, which cited the Money Management Investment Centre as a reference. It showed the fund as a high-performer, and was used to justify Best Interest Duty to the client.
The First Guardian growth strategy had four crowns and its diversified strategy had three. Meanwhile, several investment options in the Shield master fund were awarded two crowns or less at the time.
A spokesperson for FE fundinfo confirmed the ratings to Professional Planner and said the Shield and First Guardian products were removed on 22 July 2025.
ASIC commenced stop orders on Shield in February 2024, while First Guardian responsible entity Falcon Capital stopped processing applications and withdrawals from the fund in May 2024 with the Federal Court granting freezing orders in February 2025.
The collapse of the funds has become one of the corporate watchdog’s highest priorities with $1.2 billion of retirement savings across 11,000 investors at risk.
The FE fundinfo spokesperson said this was an internal decision by the company and confirmed this change was not disclosed to any subscribers.
“As per our process methodology, changes to Crown Ratings are not flagged to subscribers but changes to ratings are visible on FE fundinfo systems and feeds once updated,” the FE fundinfo spokesperson says.
Investment professionals can pay to subscribe to the data and software tools, but the data is also publicly available on the Investment Centre website hosted by Money Management.
FE fundinfo once owned Money Management, acquiring it in 2017 before selling it to Momentum Media in 2022. FE fundinfo had also acquired Melbourne-based research Zenith Investment Partners in late 2021.
Zenith group head of research Grant Kennaway said the researcher hadn’t judged the funds.
“There was no formal request from the fund manager for Zenith to rate either the Shield or First Guardian funds,” Kennaway told Professional Planner in a statement.
“Zenith proactively filters the fund universe for research coverage ideas. This deep, qualitative research process concluded that and neither the Shield or First Guardian funds qualified for inclusion.”
Asked what due diligence is taken when rating funds on the FE Analytics/Investment Centre platform, FE fundinfo says public publishing of the data was the responsibility of Momentum Media, the owner of the website.
This is despite FE fundinfo being the proprietor of the data.
“The Investment Centre website is owned by Money Management. The FE fundinfo Group divested Money Management in September 2022,” the FE fundinfo spokesperson said.
“Accordingly, any queries relating to information on that website should be directed to Momentum Media, which is the correct owner.
“FE fundinfo Crown Ratings are purely quantitative and backward-looking data. We provide extensive guidance and transparency in terms of the purpose and methodology of Crown Ratings, and their quantitative nature as a data source.”
Momentum Media declined to comment, but it is understood the media company sees itself as a neutral publisher of third-party data.
Regarding potential brand damage and harm, the spokesperson says the group has a clear and transparent usage guidelines provided to customers, and a detailed methodology.
“FE fundinfo Crown Ratings are purely quantitative and backward-looking data, sourced from publicly reported financial performance of funds,” the spokesperson said.
“We provide extensive guidance and transparency in terms of the purpose and methodology of Crown Ratings, and their quantitative nature as a data source.”
ASIC commenced enforcement action against First Guardian and Shield due to concerns about conflicts of interest with directors in the fund, misuse of investor money and mislabelling the risk profile of the products.
The regulator has alleged that clients were pressured to rollover their existing super balances into Shield or First Guardian by financial advisers who relied on lead generators working at an “industrial scale”.
The collapses of the two master funds have led to the loss of around $1.2 billion in retirement savings of 11,000 investors.
ASIC has commenced action against other parts of the advice chain, including recently suing Equity Trustees who was the trustee for NQ Super and DASH’s Super Simplifier, and has banned several licensees involved.
Disclosure: Author of the article worked for Money Management between March 2019 to December 2021 when it was owned by FE fundinfo.
