Morningstar Investment Management, a subsidiary of independent research provider Morningstar, has selected SMArtX Advisory Solutions to power its turnkey asset management platform.
SMArtX will provide its cloud-native account technology to support Morningstar Investment Management’s integrated advisor solution.
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This solution will enhance day-to-day tasks for opening, managing, and monitoring client accounts.
Morningstar Investment Management president Daniel Needham said: “Putting investors first permeates everything we do, including the technology choices we make to help advisors put their clients’ needs front and centre.
“Leveraging SMArtX’s flexible and scalable API for unified managed accounts technology for enterprises helps us create a seamless experience for advisors that drives successful investor outcomes.”
The strategic and commercial partnership between the companies follows Morningstar’s direct investment in SMArtX earlier this year.
The investment, structured as a convertible note, was intended to support the continued growth of SMArtX.
The firm’s assets under management grew approximately 785% to top $18.84 bn over the last 13 months.
Commenting on the development, SMArtX Advisory Solutions CEO Evan Rapoport said: “When SMArtX made the decision to consider new strategic prospects we knew there were opportunities to team with many firms, but we decided to focus on a handful of firms that would help us grow both strategically and commercially.
“We have previously been supported by private equity firms and we believe now is the right time to develop deeper relationships with some of the industry’s largest companies. We couldn’t be happier to work with Morningstar and its investment management group.”
Last year, Morningstar snapped up ESG ratings and research firm Sustainalytics following its acquisition of 40% interest in the firm in 2017.
