Morningstar sacks research head
MorningstarAustralia has dismissed its head of research Daisy Chee, a year after it removed its previous managing director Graham Rich.
Due to legal constraints, Chee was unable to comment on the reasons for her departure but has confirmed the termination of her employment with Morningstar was made effective last Friday morning.
Chee’s termination rounds out a string of other departures from Morningstar over the past 12 months after the ousting of Rich, with the head of publishing Deidre Keown, head of technology Gabriel Robledo, Brisbane-based researcher Stelios Pavlakis and analyst Brooke Sweeney all having left the group.
The group has retained its chief financial officer Craig Ellis, who was convicted of negligence in his duty of care in the District Court of NSW in 1997, regarding a matter between Clifford Corporation, with which he was associated, and Kudos Nominees.
Since the departure of Rich, Morningstar has indicated it would continue supplying both qualitative and quantitative data to the market, but for some months now has not released a full research report on a fund manager in the local market.
Rather, the group has released a large number of business and management strength ratings, which make up half of the groups qualitative ratings or 25 per cent of a full report as previously released by Morningstar.
At the time of going to press, Morningstar head of sales and marketing Christine Winter said it was actively seeking a new leader and it would continue to build its team.
Chee’s departure comes only days before the arrival of Don Phillips, the managing director of Morningstar’s US parent. Phillips will present a session at theFinancial Planning Association’s (FPA) convention on the group’s process, with a number of industry sources tipping it to be a precursor to a move to offer only quantitative research in Australia.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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