Former Lonsec CEO joins Morningstar

Former Lonsec chief executive, Matt Olsen, has joined Morningstar as director of manager research ratings.

Olsen was the chief executive of Lonsec for almost three years until April 2018 and then joined Insignia Financial as head of research and retirement income.

At the time of his departure, he was replaced at Lonsec by Charlie Haynes who held the role until 2021, when current chief executive, Michael Wright, was appointed.

In his new role at Morningstar, Olsen will lead the global firm’s Australasian manager research team and its research coverage on Australian and New Zealand fund managers, working with advisers, investors and superannuation funds. 

Head of manager research for Asia-Pacific, Wing Chan, said: “We are excited to have Matt join Morningstar and lead our manager research team in Australia. Working with Morningstar’s regional and wider global manager research teams, Matt and his team will support advisers, investors and superannuation funds in providing them with independent research and investment insights.”

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The firm said he will also lead Morningstar’s strategy to provide superannuation fund ratings for the first time that will cover superannuation funds’ fees, features and performance.

Speaking with Money Management earlier this year, chief executive Kunal Kapoor said the firm had taken the decision to introduce superannuation fund ratings as they were growing in importance to clients’ investment portfolios.

“We’re building a super funds database; we do research on them. Advisers have been asking us in Australia for them for a long time. When advisers think about helping individuals with their financial life, you can’t do that in Australia without considering and fully advising on their super fund.

“We had different priorities until now and the ecosystem didn’t really lead to engagement between advisers and super funds and post-royal commission whereas there is that engagement now.”

Last October, Morningstar hired experienced financial services professional and former Adviser Ratings chief executive, Mark Hoven, as senior vice president for enterprise sales.

At the time, Morningstar described the appointment of Hoven as a way for the firm to drive an expansion into the superannuation and retirement space, in light of the Retirement Income Covenant and the intergenerational wealth transfer.

“Mark will be crucial in building our success in the sector with a new perspective on helping both retail and profit to member super funds succeed in a fast-moving investing and regulatory environment,” said Peter Bryant, Morningstar managing director of enterprise.