Bank of America Merrill Lynch added EidoSearch Predictive Analytics and Mary Epner Retail Analysis (MERA) to its BofA Merrill Open Minds alternative research platform. The move signals a revitalization of the platform, which is the only one still maintained by a major investment bank.
EidoSearch, a sophisticated search engine focused on financial data, projects likely outcomes based on similar historic trends. The service analyzes equities and other asset classes on the scale of a billion pattern comparisons daily, calculating probabilities based on the frequency of historical instances.
Mary Epner Retail Analysis LLC reviews retail and wholesale brands’ presence in the U.S., their e-commerce and digital footprint, and the brands’ reach in emerging markets, particularly China. The firm is headed by a former analyst from Merchant Forecast who has an extensive management experience in the retail industry.
Launched in 2007, BofA Merrill Open Minds distributed seven firms and added two subsequently. Besides MERA and Eidosearch, Open Minds also currently promotes the Cypress Group, a policy research firm.
Goldman Sachs also launched a distribution platform in 2007, Hudson Street, which was subsequently shut down in 2012. UBS also briefly had a research distribution platform.
Robert Nowicki, vice president in the Execution Services group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said that the platform is working to add additional providers to its platform.
“Both EidoSearch and MERA have team members who had worked at third-party providers that were on our platform in the past. Their experience working with us before, coupled with strong endorsements from our clients, meant they were excited to reap the benefits of marketing their research insights via our platform again,” he said.
The full release can be found at: http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/press-releases/corporate-and-investment-banking-sales-and-trading-treasury-services/bank-america–10