Violet Diamant Joins Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC as Managing Director, Asset-Backed Securities

NEW YORK, April 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC today announced that Violet Diamant has joined the company as managing director of asset-backed securities (ABS) ratings and research. Diamant will lead Morningstar's expansion into ABS ratings services and is responsible for analytical strategy, establishing an analyst team, and developing ABS rating criteria. She is based in New York City and reports to Vickie Tillman, president of Morningstar Credit Ratings.

"To better serve investors across all areas of structured finance, we plan to expand our ratings services into non-real estate asset-backed securities this year, and Violet will lead this effort," Tillman said. "She has 20 years of in-depth experience in financing traditional and esoteric assets in asset-backed, private placement, and commercial paper, and is an important addition to our team."

Diamant most recently was director of credit risk management for Credit Agricole. She also worked for CIFG Holding as director of U.S. structured finance and for WestLB AG as vice president of global securitization, Americas. From 1992 to 1999, Diamant was a residential mortgage-backed securities and ABS ratings analyst for Standard & Poor's.

Diamant holds a bachelor's degree in economics from St. John's University, a master's of business administration in finance from New York University's Stern School of Business, and a juris doctor degree from Duke University School of Law.

About Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC and Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC is a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) that specializes in structured credit research and ratings, and offers a wide array of services including new-issue ratings and analysis, operational risk assessments, surveillance services, data, and technology solutions.

Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC is a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Morningstar, Inc. offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides data on approximately 446,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 10 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its registered investment advisor subsidiaries and had approximately $159 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Dec. 31, 2013. The company has operations in 27 countries.

Morningstar, Inc. is not an NRSRO and its credit ratings on corporate and municipal issuers are not NRSRO credit ratings.

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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.