Fundsters selling global or international equity mutual funds, there's a new set of benchmarks you and your PMs may have to take into account.

Morningstar is about to unveil the Morningstar Global Equity Index family. The new family, Morningstar Indexes chief Sanjay Arya confirms, includes 45 country indexes and 21 regional combinations. Arya describes the 66 new indexes as "part and parcel of pretty much everything else" that his team does.

The family encompasses the top 97 percent of stocks by market capitalization, and covers both developed and emerging markets.

Arya notes that the new indexes, like Morningstar's existing ones, integrate into the mutual fund ratings giant's whole suite of products and services to give investors "one holistic view." And he confirms that Morningstar is "in conversations with several prospects" about using the new indexes to power passive investment products. (About 40 ETFs are powered by existing Morningstar indexes.)

Looking ahead, Arya tells MFWire, the "next phase" is applying the new indexes to create more of Morningstar's strategic beta products. 

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