Morningstar's Tim Murphy lands at Insight

Former Morningstar executive Tim Murphy has resurfaced as head of research at a specialist investment consulting firm that plans to launch a rival ratings business.

Murphy - who was Morningstar's director of manager research for Asia Pacific for many years - has joined Insight Investment Consultants.

Founded by Chris Lioutas, Insight aims to become a full-service research house.

Accordingly, it will launch a fund research ratings business run by Murphy.

Lioutas said they will start rating funds late this year.

"The growth in managed accounts and the resulting concentration of funds flows means there's never been a greater need for quality over quantity of research," he said.

"The strong growth of Insight's business has created the perfect opportunity to target this gap in the research market and expand our service offering to our existing clients while creating capacity for additional clients and further growth."

"I'm excited to have Tim join our new research ratings business as he's been one of the leading researchers in Australia for some time."

During his time at Morningstar, Murphy led research teams in multiple jurisdictions, oversaw ratings on managed funds, ETFs and LICs, and played a leading role helping Morningstar become the leading research house by market share in Australia.

He left the business after 17 years, following an internal restructuring which saw his role disappear.

For his part, Murphy said he was keen to build "an innovative" research ratings business and had often talked about doing a better job with Lioutas.

"Now we have the chance to act on that belief and put it into practice for both our existing and prospective clients," he added.

"The way advisers use to fund research has evolved over the years, and we think there's an opportunity for a more contemporary approach to research that puts local clients at the forefront of our thinking and enables better adviser decision-making for their clients' portfolios".

Meantime, Insight has also added to its consulting team, with Leo Mauceri joining as a senior investment consultant.

Mauceri has held senior roles with MLC Asset Management, NAB Wealth, ANZ Wealth and BT Financial Group.