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LONDON (Standard & Poor's) Dec. 5, 2008--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
said today that it had adjusted its fund volatility rating to 'S1' from 'S1+'
on ING International Currency Management Fund Euro Short-Term Investments (ING
Intl CMF ESTI), a Luxembourg-based, euro-denominated, enhanced cash fund
managed by ING Investment Management in Brussels. At the same time, the 'AAf'
fund credit quality rating on the fund was affirmed.
The adjustment in the fund volatility rating is primarily driven by the
increased market price volatility of financial securities held within the
fund. The change in the fund volatility rating reflects our view of the
volatility the fund has experienced, which has led to a monthly return
distribution that is outside the volatility rating band of its respective
rating category. Our fund volatility ratings are designed to rank fixed-income
funds according to the degree to which they are exposed to factors that
ultimately lead to share price or return volatility. Our analysis also
includes portfolio risk assessment, historical return analysis, and management
evaluation. This rating adjustment is the fourth in a series of volatility
adjustments made by Standard & Poor's on its rated fixed-income funds during
2008.
ING Intl CMF ESTI is primarily invested in a portfolio of
euro-denominated, short-term, high-rated bond and money-market instruments,
with initial or residual maturities of up to one year. All instruments are
euro-denominated and of investment-grade category at the time of purchase. In
addition, to enhance return, the fund may invest in floating-rate instruments
with a maturity of up to seven years, as well as in asset-backed securities
with a weighted average life of up to five years, exposing the fund's asset
value to potential market price fluctuations.
The fund's investment advisor, ING Investment Management is a global
asset manager with assets of more than €387 billion under management and a
subsidiary of ING Bank N.V., rated AA/Stable/A-1+. ING Investment Management's
Brussels-based money-market team, which manages €10 billion in money-market
assets, is responsible for the fund. Standard & Poor's reviews the fund's
portfolio composition report and volatility profile on a monthly basis.
Standard & Poor's fund credit quality ratings, identified by the 'f'
subscript, are current assessments of the overall credit quality of a fund's
portfolio. The ratings reflect our views on the level of protection the fund
provides against losses from credit defaults. The credit quality ratings scale
ranges from 'AAAf' (extremely strong protection against losses from credit
defaults) to 'CCCf' (extremely vulnerable to losses from credit defaults). The
ratings from 'AAf' to 'CCCf' may be modified by the addition of a plus (+) or
minus (-) sign to show relative standing within the major rating categories.
Standard & Poor's volatility ratings scale ranges from 'S1' (lowest
sensitivity) to 'S6' (highest sensitivity) and expresses our current opinion
of a fixed-income fund's sensitivity to changing market conditions. Fund
volatility profiles of the first four categories ('S1' through 'S4') are
measured and expressed on a relative basis to established government indices
with different maturity bands to provide investors with market benchmarks for
risk and return comparisons. For example, 'S1' rated funds possess low
sensitivity to changing market conditions and an aggregate level of risk that
is less than, or equal to, that of a portfolio comprised of government
securities maturing within one to three years. Some funds within this category
are assigned 'S1+' volatility ratings, the '+' indicating extremely low
sensitivity to changes in interest rates.
FUND VOLATILITY RATING CHANGE
ING International Currency Management Fund Euro Short Term Investments (ING
Investment Management Belgium S.A., advisor to 'AAf/S1' from 'AAf/S1+'.
Ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, the
real-time Web-based source for Standard & Poor's credit ratings, research, and
risk analysis, at www.ratingsdirect.com. It can also be found on Standard &
Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; select your preferred
country or region, then Ratings in the left navigation bar, followed by Credit
Ratings Search. Alternatively, call one of the following Standard & Poor's
numbers: Client Support Europe (44) 20-7176-7176; London Press Office (44)
20-7176-3605; Paris (33) 1-4420-6708; Frankfurt (49) 69-33-999-225; Stockholm
(46) 8-440-5914; or Moscow (7) 495-783-4017.
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