APAC investments chief for Morningstar IM resigns

Morningstar Investment Management's chief investment officer for Asia Pacific will shortly leave the post to pursue other opportunities.

Matt Wacher was appointed to the role in 2019 and will finish up in late May. Wacher is also the chair of Morningstar's global investment committee.

Morningstar president of wealth and research Daniel Needham will assume oversight and management of all APAC portfolios and will be supported by the Australian and global investment teams.

"Daniel will continue to work closely with senior investment leaders, including Bianca Rose, Bryce Anderson and Michael Malseed, to ensure investment objectives, processes and client commitments remain firmly on track," Morningstar said.

"The team will continue to operate as usual during this transition, with no disruption to our investment approach or day-to-day portfolio management. The process to hiring a suitable successor to Matt has begun."

Wacher was previously the investments chief at Cambooya, the family office for the Vincent Fairfax family.

He also held several senior investment roles for firms such as Russell Investments, Qantas Superannuation, CMC Markets and Ord Minnett.

At Russell Investments, Wacher was the regional director of indexes or Australia and New Zealand. At CMC Markets based in Tokyo, he was the head of institutional sales and product.

"Matt has been with Morningstar for around seven years and has made a significant contribution to our investment group. He has played a key role in driving our investment process, while also being a passionate leader and mentor to many across our teams. We are grateful for the impact he has had on our business and our people," Needham said.

"I would like to sincerely thank Matt for his many contributions to Morningstar and wish him every success in the next stage of his career."

Early this year, Morningstar made two hires to its managed portfolios team - a national sales lead and an investment specialist.

Vijay Srinivasan is the national sales lead and Clint Abraham is the national director, investment specialist.

Srinivasan oversees the distribution strategy for its managed portfolios across licensees, platforms, advice practices and financial advisers.

Abraham works alongside the account managers and business development team to support advisers and investors.