The new scale will use gold, silver, bronze, neutral and negative instead of AAA, AA, A and so forth.
In a statement released by OBSR it said it had initially intended to stick with the AAA scale but had decided to harmonise with its parent company instead.
OBSR acknowledged the potential confusion with credit ratings was not a primary concern in the UK, but in the interests of creating a global standard would adopt the new scale and icons.
Richard Romer-Lee, joint managing director of the consultancy said: "We will continue to base our fund ratings and reports on our analyst team’s conviction about a fund’s ability to outperform its peer group and/or relevant benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term."
He added that while Morningstar would be launching the new ratings globally in the fourth quarter of 2011, it would transition to the new scale in the first half of 2012.
This is intended to allow users of the ratings service to adjust their marketing collateral and processes.
