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Merrill Lynch to market alternative research through Merrill Open Minds

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Merrill Lynch has launched Merrill Open Minds, a service that makes available alternative research products and services as a complement to the firm’s fundamental research and analysis, an

Merrill Lynch has launched Merrill Open Minds, a service that makes available alternative research products and services as a complement to the firm’s fundamental research and analysis, and addresses increasing demand from hedge funds, mutual funds and other investors for a broader array of specialised research resources to help them make decisions.

Merrill Open Minds has reached agreement initially with seven alternative research providers with expertise in extra-financial information, corporate integrity risk, federal policy, healthcare, media, energy and consumer surveys: Asset 4, Audit Integrity, Cypress Group, Decision Resources, Global Media Intelligence, HPDI and Primary Source.

Merrill, which says it specifically chose alliances that complement the firm’s own research products, will market these research providers to institutional trading clients its global institutional and sector specialist sales teams.

‘Our research, sales and trading professionals are uniquely positioned to identify alternative research providers with specialised expertise relevant to our clients’ investment processes,’ says Michael Stewart, the firm’s head of global cash equities. ‘Merrill Open Minds provides an efficient way for our clients to access these specialised third-party providers.’

President of global research Candace Browning says: ‘Making third-party research available will enrich our interaction with our clients as they engage in the dynamic process of evaluating investments. Merrill Open Minds will marry our in-house fundamental investment research with a broader set of different kinds of services, providing our institutional clients with complementary content offerings.’

Merrill says that offering access to these research providers will not only enable the firm to participate in the fast-growing third-party research market but adds value to its execution platform.

‘The third-party research market is currently worth USD1.5bn and is experiencing double-digit growth every year,’ Stewart says. ‘Moreover, trading volumes are correlated with quality research content, and by complementing our proprietary research with third-party content, we expect to attract incremental trading volumes.’

Meanwhile, the firm says, third-party providers aligning with Merrill Open Minds will benefit from the breadth and expertise of its sales platform. ‘We chose Merrill Open Minds because Merrill Lynch has the whole package – highly-regarded fundamental research, high-touch generalist and sector specialist sales teams, and a world-class trading platform,’ says Peter Hoenigsberg, chief executive of Decision Resources. ‘They help us understand how to present and tailor our research offering specifically to the needs of asset managers.’

Asset 4 provides objective extra-financial information, comprising economic, environmental, social and governance information designed to help users improve investment performance, reduce risk, develop innovative products and drive down research costs.

Audit Integrity offers ratings and analysis of more than 8,000 public corporations for corporate integrity risk, used by investors, insurers, auditors and corporate finance professionals to identify and avoid high-risk companies. The firm also forecasts risks involving equity performance, class action litigation and material financial restatement.

Cypress Group provides insight to investment managers on Washington policy regarding financial services, health care and other sectors as well as M&A activity and other events. The firm uses its research methodology and a network of Washington sources to forecast the probable outcome of policy changes.

Decision Resources provides research on trends, emerging developments and market potential in various health care sectors, as well as advisory and consulting services, to large pharmaceutical companies, emerging biotechnology concerns, financial services, managed care organisations, and medical device manufacturers.

Global Media Intelligence provides data, analyses and forecasts on the global media industry, with more than 40 analysts providing detailed models and industry reports covering TV, films, video games, mobile media, home entertainment and broadband media, to clients including cable, media and entertainment companies.

HPDI collates historic data on oil and gas production, drilling permits, transportation, gas plants, refineries and pricing and provides clients including oil and gas producers and pipeline operators with customised applications that format the data for GIS maps, charts, reports and exports for secondary applications.

Primary Source is a Merrill Lynch product offering customised consumer market studies about products or services from the perspective of the end-user. It seeks to provide clients with statistically reliable and properly interpreted channel information.

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