Substantive Research |

At Substantive our tagline is “Source Quality, Save Money” – we ensure that portfolio managers don’t miss the best research, and provide data-driven insight into how research providers compare. We don’t broke research or charge providers.

Asset managers can subscribe to two main products:

Thematic Research Monitoring. We keep the investment function aware of everything outside their core research provider list with a weekly monitoring service matched to individual portfolio managers’ investment processes. Understanding consensus in specific trades and themes will be difficult in 2019, whilst the most contrarian publication may not even be accessible for a PM.
Value/Price Benchmarking. We keep the procurement function aware of the best matched analysts and providers for their firm’s specific needs. With greater scrutiny on the research budget understanding more suitable or cheaper alternatives is the only way to get value for money.

Research flow from 350+ bank and independent research providers, plus an experienced editorial team and proprietary custom-built A.I. allow us to provide clients with a unique perspective on quality, suitability, value and coverage.

Media Coverage:

Institutional Asset Manager: Foresight invests in Substantive Research

Bloomberg: Analyst Jobs Vanish as a Perfect Storm Crashes Into Research

Integrity Research Associates: Research Unbundling Conference a Resounding Success

Bloomberg: Analysts Make Research Cooler, Wonkier and Bespoke to Lure Cash

Fundfire: SEC MiFID Stance Could Bring Implementation Challenges for Managers

Integrity Research Associates: Assessing MiFID II’s Impact in the US

Financial News: Fund managers preparing to get pickier about the market insights they acquire under Mifid II

Investment Week: Asset Manager Code of Conduct Unveiled

Integrity Research Associates: Substantive Research Develops Methodology for Ranking Research

Euromoney Magazine: Counting the Cost of Research

Finextra: RSRCHXchange connects with Substantive Research Daily Briefings

Industry Matters

June 2020 – how will Covid-19 affect the already disrupted investment research market, and how much will the EU soften MiFID II in response?

Asset managers have had over 2 years to assess their responses to MiFID II and research unbundling rules. At the end of 2019 asset managers negotiated research prices for the first time with some understanding of what they used and valued most and least. Last year the savings came from cutting the tail of the provider list, this year there have been adversarial conversations with core providers in order to save money where possible.

Now we have to assess how these trends will have accelerated or been changed by the current crisis. Differentiated research will be more important than ever, but the focus on costs internally will mean that every research dollar spent will be under intense scrutiny. Will independent research reassert itself from a market share perspective, or will this push more budget to the top end of their list with their bulge bracket providers?

How the EU responds will be key – many expect that they will take some action to relax some research rules, but to what extent? Whilst many would welcome relaxation in a number of areas (trials, treatment of independent research etc.), most asset managers do not currently have the appetite to drastically change processes once again in response to a significant roll back of the regulations.

How this all plays out later this year will decide the direction of travel for price, supply and demand in 2021 – the turbulence we’ve seen since MiFID II could only be the beginning..

Who we are

Mike Carrodus

Founder & CEO

Mike founded Substantive Research in early 2015 with two goals in mind. To match analysts and portfolio managers using a bespoke, data-driven process, and help asset management firms ensure they were consuming the highest quality research at the cheapest price.

Mike’s time as Global Head of Institutional Sales at NDR, one of the leading independent investment research providers gave him unique insight into how fund managers were changing the way they were consuming and paying for research. Mike oversaw a global team based in Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta and London, covering a client base of over 1200 hedge funds, asset managers, pension funds and SWFs. Prior to 2011 Mike was Publisher of Euromoney Magazine.

Hamish Risk

Editor

Hamish oversees the day to day content creation of Substantive Research, and is the main point of contact with the macro community. Hamish joined Substantive from Deutsche Bank where he was Head of Content Management for the investment bank’s Institutional Client Group. Hamish was responsible for the effective monetization of the bank’s content as well as delivering daily curated content notes to its client base.

Previous to Deutsche, Hamish held positions as the markets editor of Euromoney Magazine and editor of Euromoney‘s FX coverage. He began his career as an FX trader working for Lloyds Bank, Citigroup and Bankers Trust, before joining Bloomberg News in 2000, where he worked as a senior print and broadcast journalist covering global financial markets.

Jon Furse

CTO

Jon began his career as a technical consultant before moving to the Financial Times, where during his long tenure as a product and technology leader, he played a critical role in establishing the FT as a highly progressive digital technology company. In his role of technical director, he lead a global team across Asia and Europe, recently establishing a large in-house product and technology capability in Eastern Europe. He was responsible for the FT’s technology platforms, which power FT’s digital and print products across subscription management, content publishing and the FT’s data warehouse.

Krystal Somaza

Senior Data Analyst

Krystal joined from the University of Edinburgh Business School, where she achieved her Masters in Finance focusing on Investment Research Valuation, previously having attained a 1st in Finance and Economics.

Matthew Zegleman

Sales Associate

Matthew joined from NDR, one of the leading independent investment research providers, where he most recently covered new sales for Continental Europe and Asia, having previously run account management for Asia and CEE.

Substantive Research

Source Quality, Save Money

About Us

Industry Matters

June 2020 – how will Covid-19 affect the already disrupted investment research market, and how much will the EU soften MiFID II in response?

Join us at Unbundling Uncovered Online on June 24th!

Foresight invests £800,000 into Substantive Research Limited

Unbundling Uncovered London 2019: Key Takeaways

Join us at Unbundling Uncovered 2019 on November 12th in London!