Chicago's
Morningstar continues to build out its international operations and has now announced plans to open a European operation in the next two to three weeks.
The new service will include Web sites with customized editorial content for each country's mutual fund and stock markets, written in the native tongue and will also offer Morningstar's investment-screening and portfolio tools.
"The goal is to have the users of the sites feel that the site in France, for example, is a French site, with information about French funds and stocks, while retaining the look and feel of Morningstar.com," said
Kevin McDevitt, business manager, Morningstar International. "It's a balancing act, to a certain extent -- there are slightly different wrinkles for each country, as the tools have to be adjusted for the different country's regulations."
The new operation will be based in London, and will have offices in each country that the new sites cover, starting with the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Morningstar Europe will be headed by
Hans Fjarem, former president and CEO of Sweden-based
Stadsporten Citygate AB, which provided fund information to the Swedish press and has had a licensing agreement with Morningstar for the past year. Fjarem also serves as chairman of the Electronic Publishing Committee of the Swedish Newspaper Association. 
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