Effective March 2, 2026, Morningstar will become the exclusive index provider for PIMFA’s Private Investor Index Series and Equity Risk Index Series. These benchmarks—widely used across the UK wealth management sector—span five composite profiles (Conservative, Income, Balanced, Growth and Global Growth) and cover equities, fixed income, real estate, cash and alternatives. Under the agreement, each series will be rebranded as the Morningstar PIMFA Investor Index Series and the Morningstar PIMFA Equity Risk Index Series, with ten years of historical data available from launch. Index weights will continue to be determined quarterly by PIMFA’s member survey process and overseen by the PIMFA Indices Committee, while Morningstar assumes responsibility for construction, maintenance and ongoing enhancements.

The Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies has introduced its 2026 Managed Accounts Research Series alongside the Defined Contribution Outcomes Model (DCOM), a simulation tool built on millions of participant records across thousands of defined contribution plans. Key findings reveal that adopting managed accounts would boost the median wealth-to-salary ratio at retirement by 5.9% for target-date fund investors, 11.4% for self-directed participants and 7.7% on average. Younger cohorts (ages 20–24) stand to gain up to 22% improvement, while participants earning under £100,000 per year benefit most proportionally. The study also finds that 92% of plans featuring auto-enrollment and auto-escalation show improved projected retirement wealth when integrating managed accounts. Spencer Look, Associate Director of Retirement Studies, emphasized that the combination of behavioral data and plan design inputs offers plan sponsors and policymakers robust, actionable insights to enhance participant outcomes.