The company confirms it is "making some changes to our business in New Zealand."

"We’re moving our New Zealand sales and client relationship management to Sydney, as well as our coverage of New Zealand stocks."

Stuart Auld, who has been the face of the company in New Zealand ends up with Morningstar next month.

Morningstar head of communications, Phillip Gray, says: :We're doing this because we've been assessing ways we can continue growing our business in New Zealand, achieve our goals as an Australasian business, and service our clients' needs most effectively."

He says Morningstar have "sustained our commitment to the New Zealand market over the past three years when other research providers have come and gone." In this time van Eyk. and Lonsec have left the market and FundSource have cut back its operations.

The changes have been made after a "review of our growth prospects and our existing and potential sales activity levels in New Zealand."

It appears the growth is seen to be with the institutions rather than advisers, and these institutions are "headquartered in Australia."

"In our discussions, key decision-makers have indicated the need to manage business development and sales for both countries as one. Our sales and client relationship management now draw heavily on specialist knowledge from our dedicated Client Solutions and Products teams, which are based locally in Sydney. To take advantage of these growth prospects most effectively, we need to draw on these expert resources."

"On the stock research side, we believe that having New Zealand companies covered out of our specialist teams in Sydney will lead to deeper sector-focused analysis. Our local stock analysts operate as part of a wider Asia-Pacific organisational structure, and we want to further strengthen collaboration within this team."

"We have a track record of supporting our clients and we remain committed to delivering world-class research and solutions to help our clients serve their own investor clients. We believe the changes we’re making will put us in a strong position to achieve this," Gray says.