Researcher Morningstar has signalled a change in its strategy to infiltrate the advice market, and will engage with front-line advisers more directly as well as using licensees as a touch point according to the provider’s head of product and client solutions for Australia, Graham Dixon.
“Historically Morningstar is probably perceived [as being] at the premium end… and didn’t engage with advisers, only licensee groups,” Dixon tells Professional Planner. “Part of the rationale now is to build a strong offering to the IFA market and orient the business to service the end client more directly.”
After 20 years in the market, primarily servicing advisers in the research community, Dixon says Morningstar is changing tack and promoting these services to the advisers themselves.
“Everything we’re doing over 18 months to two years is orienting the business model to serve the end clients,” he adds.
The Morningstar offering has evolved in line with the strategy reset, with the global group making several key advicetech and content acquisitions to bolster its advice footprint.
In March this year the provider extended its push into financial advice technology with the purchase of Canadian financial planning software firm PlanPlus Global, which owns and operates the ubiquitous Finametrica risk profiling tool around the world.
Domestically, the research firm purchased Australian financial planning software firm AdviserLogic in December 2019, which offers a core financial planning software platform, a revenue management software and what Morningstar calls a “data aggregation engine”.
Morningstar also purchased investment publishing platform firstlinks.com.au, formerly known as “Cuffelinks”, in October 2019.
*Updated 14/08/2020
