Morningstar will rank all separate accounts in the same category by their risk-adjusted return scores.
The top 10 per cent will receive five stars, the next 22.5 per cent will receive four stars, the next 35 per cent will score three stars, the next 22.5 per cent two stars and the bottom 10 per cent will receive one star.
"The Morningstar rating for separate accounts, often referred to as the star rating, looks at historical data for two fundamental traits, risk and return, and compares them against other separate accounts in the same Morningstar category to help investors and advisers conduct meaningful peer analysis," Morningstar licensed data product manager John Shelbourne said.
The firm's ratings for SMAs will be recalculated and published monthly.
Morningstar's SMA database includes 172 retail and wholesale products offered by 70 providers, including Aberdeen, AllianceBernstein, AMP Capital, BlackRock, Dalton Nicol Reid, Macquarie, Perpetual and State Street.
