On Tuesday, November 13th, Substantive Research will be holding its fourth annual Unbundling Uncovered conference in London to foster an industry-wide discussion of how the financial services industry is adapting to the EU’s new MiFID II requirements regarding research unbundling.
2018 Conference Details
On the 13th November over 300 industry leaders will gather to discuss how their approaches to research budgeting, valuation and compliance worked out in practice. What were the biggest surprises and how have they adapted their initial plans? Many changes have been good for the research market, though asset managers also point to negative consequences for the end investor and the industry
Unbundling Uncovered 2018 will allow asset managers to benchmark their research procurement processes with peers and allow providers and consumers of research to navigate the next phase in the market’s development. Panels will cover the CIO perspective, the changes in provider business models, research valuation and budgeting, and technology and platform solutions. The key presentations and panels included in this year’s conference include:
Opening Address: Adam Wreglesworth, Wholesale Market Conduct, FCA
Panel I: Regulatory Arbitrage?
What are the crucial differences between national regulators within Europe, and between Europe and other regions? How will this affect the research and asset management industries? How will the US react?
Panel II: Managing the Investment Function under New Research Regulations
Whilst a rigorous and transparent research procurement process looks attractive from a cost perspective, risks to performance and investment process must exist if efforts go too far in this direction. Where is the correct balance and what role should external research play for fund managers in future?
Panel III: The Research Product – how will it change and what are the consequences?
As the buy-side becomes more aware of the research that truly adds value, how will bank and independent providers adapt? Managing and identifying costs; how do numbers compare to valuation calculations? Price takers vs price makers – which approach is best for providers and clients? What does the buy-side need bank and independent providers to do to help them comply?
Panel IV: Valuation and Budgeting
What’s the “right” size for a research budget? How do you value research when beauty is in the eye of the beholder? How is corporate access affected and how will this crucial part of the market work in future? Is a structured valuation process compatible with identifying external research that delivers alpha?
Panel V: Technology/Platforms – Delivery, Payments, Tracking and Permissioning
What is the required market infrastructure in order for providers and consumers to operate in a compliant and efficient manner? Do new platforms and technologies provide potential competitive advantages? Do they require a revolution or do they fit alongside existing operational processes?
Panel VI: Defining Best Practice in Research Procurement
What new processes have proved essential to provide transparency and accountability regardless of the research budget funding strategy? How have processes that were implemented in late 2017 had to adapt once we were in “real time” MiFID II? What does a robust budgeting and payment process look like from an operational perspective?
This year’s speakers include:
Robert Alster, Head of Research, Close Brothers Asset Management
Mark Artherton, Head of Research Content, Smartkarma
Travis Barker, Business Manager, HSBC GAM
Ross Barret, Capital Markets Specialist, The Investment Association
Chris Brown, CIO, IPS Capital
Tom Caddick, CIO, Santander Asset Management UK
Kevin Coleman, CEO, Coleman Research
Chris Deavin, Chairman, Euro IRP
Paul Durno, Executive Director, Institutional Equities, Morgan Stanley
Simon Edwards, Head of Business Development, BlueMatrix
Peter Elwin, Head of Research, Universities Superannuation Scheme Investment Management
Amrish Ganatra, CEO, Commcise
Roberta Howett, Research Manager, Man GLG
Howell Jackson, James S. Reid, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard University
Nicholas Mather, CEO, TS Lombard
Michael Mayhew, Chairman, Integrity Research Associates
John McGough, MD U.S. Institutional Equities, INTL FCStone
Robert Miller, Head of Research, Redburn
Oliver Pratley, Operations Manager, Invesco Perpetual
Henry Price, CEO, Red Deer
Cath Rawcliffe, VP, Singletrack
Daren Riley, Head of Business Development, ERIC (Electronic Research Interchange)
Scott Rosen, CEO, Visible Alpha
Vicky Sanders, Co-Founder, RSRCHX
Indy Sarker, CEO, ANALEC
Joe Sluys, CEO, SquareBook
Alex Stewart, Head of Global Sales and Product Strategy, CorpAxe
Christopher Tiscornia, CEO, Westminster Research
Lucas Wurfbain, Founder, Feedstock
Adam Wreglesworth, Markets Policy Department, FCA
Karen Zachary, COO, CRUX Asset Management
Richard Ziegler, CEO, CLSA (UK)
Tickets for this year’s event may be purchased by clicking here. The venue for the 2018 Substantive Research Unbundling Uncovered conference will be Institute of Directors: 116 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5ED.