Morningstar UK, the investment research provider, has launched qualitative research and ratings for passive funds due to growing interest in these types of funds.
The data provider has assigned a Morningstar Analyst Rating for 25 of the most popular index funds in the UK.
Among the rated funds, 23 funds are Morningstar Medalists, which are funds that receive a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze. Of these, nine received a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver and 14 were Bronze; none received a Gold rating. Two funds were rated Neutral.
Ben Johnson, director of global passive funds research for Morningstar, said: "The popularity of index funds and exchange-traded products is on the rise, and we are putting them on a level pitch with their actively managed counterparts to help investors make better decisions.
"Our analysts have weighed the merits of the first 25 index funds to receive a Morningstar Analyst Rating against their actively managed peers in their Morningstar Categories and also relative to comparable index funds and exchange-traded funds. It should come as no surprise that the top-rated funds we have analysed are among the lowest-cost investment options."
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Morningstar's Analyst Rating for passive funds draws from the company's global fund research methodology used by Morningstar fund analysts worldwide. The methodology considers five key pillars—people (the manager and supporting research team), the investment process, the parent group, performance, and fees. In addition, passive funds are scrutinised for their benchmark tracking accuracy.
The rating scale mirrors that used by Morningstar analysts for their research and ratings of open-end and closed-end funds:

• Gold: Best-of-breed fund that distinguishes itself across the five pillars and has garnered the analysts' highest level of conviction;
• Silver: Fund with notable advantages across several, but perhaps not all, of the five pillars—strengths that give the analysts a high level of conviction;
• Bronze: Fund with advantages that outweigh any disadvantages across the five pillars, and sufficient level of analyst conviction to warrant a positive rating;
• Neutral: Fund that isn't likely to deliver standout returns, but also isn't likely to significantly underperform; and
• Negative: Fund that has at least one flaw likely to significantly hamper future performance, and is considered an inferior offering to its peers.
• Initial gold rated funds include:

Initial silver-rated Morningstar Analyst Ratings for index funds in the UK are: HSBC American Index Retail Acc, L&G Pacific Index I Inc and Vanguard FTSE U.K. Equity Index Acc. No funds are gold-rated so far.