Agreement delivers Morningstar fund data and tools to Banca di Caraglio del Cuneese e della Riviera dei Fiori

Oct. 15, 2009-Morningstar Italy, a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced that it now supplies its Licensed Tools and Content to Banche di credito cooperativo (BCC), providing the bank’s employees with fund data and customized tools in order to advise their clients.

The agreement is with the Bank of Caraglio Cuneo and the Riviera dei Fiori, which has approximately 30 branches in the south of Piedmont and Liguria. With the Morningstar service, bank operators will be able to compare and analyze the funds that make up the range of products available to their customers and support them in making informed investment decisions.

The BCC now has access to Morningstar tools including Fund Quickrank and Fund Selector, along with the Morningstar Rating™ for funds and data on the Italian fund universe. Operators can work with the same standard and use the same selection criteria. They can print reports on funds or comparisons between competing offers. The design is simple and easy to understand in order to increase the transparency of information to customers.

`Morningstar makes available to the BCC its skills, methodology, and technology developed in 25 years of working in the service of investors,` said Davide Pelusi, managing director of Morningstar Italy.

Morningstar Italy

Morningstar Italy is an Italian subsidiary of Chicago-based Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of Internet, software, and print-based products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on nearly 325,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. The company has operations in 19 countries and minority ownership positions in companies based in three other countries.

Morningstar has nearly 200 analysts around the world and provides independent research on more than 2,000 funds and ETFs, in addition to more than 1,800 stocks.