Smartkarma has added Premium Services, a suite of value-added services designed to allow asset managers to deepen engagement with research providers, to its independent investment research platform. The services advance the platform beyond content and include analyst calls, corporate access, financial modelling and bespoke research.
The Singapore-based company brought its research solution to market in Asia in 2016, offering a cloud-based platform that curates research from independent providers – or Insight Providers as Smartkarma calls them – and allows users to consume the research on a subscription basis. The platform operates dynamically to make all research available to all users in real time, but does not include investment bank research, thus meeting the unbundling requirements of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II). The company has since expanded its market reach to Europe and the US.
Premium Services gives buy-side firms flexibility to engage with Insight Providers when and how they need, with simple and transparent pricing and a tiered subscription model priced from $2,000 per month.
Clients can access Insight Providers whose work they appreciate and value to get more in-depth knowledge on a specific topic, or to sense check a newly formulated trading idea. The addition of bespoke work allows investors and portfolio managers to request specific financial models or other research that is not visible to others on the platform. For Insight Providers, Premium Services enables monetisation of services that complement their written insight available on the Smartkarma platform.
Jon Foster, co-founder of Smartkarma, says: “Traditional bank-led models for research coverage and analyst interaction are no longer enough. The market wants more access to independent research that is compliant and actionable. Premium Services delivers this in an innovative way, allowing asset managers to dive deeper into the written ideas on Smartkarma.”
