Morningstar is digging deeper into product development, as evidenced in a consulting partnership with MetLife. The alliance taps Morningstar into the product pipeline, beginning at the initial building of the investment vehicle and continuing through to its monitoring.
The Chicago-based securities data company confirmed that talks are continuing with a number of other firms about it providing similar services, although Morningstar officials declined to specify names.
The firm already counts Lincoln, Nebraska-based
Emeritas and
American Skandia as clients for this service along with MetLife. Morningstar has dedicated approximately 20 consultants and analysts to the unit, and will market its service through its institutional sales force.
"We helped [MetLife Investors] structure the underlying fund lineup from an asset class perspective and helped them select subadvisors,"
Patrick Reinkemeyer, head of the institutional investment consulting group told MFWire.com. "We'll play a role in ongoing monitoring and asset allocation sources."
Although Morningstar first moved on this advice space approximately two years ago, the extent of MetLife's partnership makes the deep consulting role a first for Morningstar, according to Reinkemeyer.
Related stories:
MetLife Screens for VA Managers, 04/17/2001
Morningstar Revisited. 02/26/2001
Who Will Fill Rekenthaler's Shoes?, 02/06/2001
Morningstar's Future is Clearer, 01/05/2001
The Grinch Visits Morningstar, 12/22/2000
 
Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE