SAVE THE DATE
Independents Day 2009
The Fifth Annual Independents’ Day Research Conference sponsored by
Bloomberg Tradebook and co-sponsored by Knight, will be held Wednesday
April 8, 2009 at the Bloomberg Headquarters and conference complex in New York City. According to Richard Leggett,
Investorside® Chairman, “There has never been a more important time and a
greater need for unbiased and non conflicted independent research. We are fortunate to be the sole
organization representing certified independent research providers who
continue to innovate the way research is gathered and disseminated.”
This year’s conference will feature four panels, ten
case study presentations and guest speakers including Charles Gasparino,
CNBC on air editor and noted author. Panel discussions will cover topics
including the future of credit research, expert networks and research
management, in addition to a panel focusing on regulatory changes
anticipated in the wake of unprecedented market conditions this past
year. The conference will feature
contributions from over forty content providers representing a variety of
investment management, independent research providers and professional
organizations including Bloomberg, Knight, Integrity Research Associates, Argus
Research, Majestic Research, RiskMetrics, Business Intelligence Advisors
(BIA), OTR Global, New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA), and the
SEC Division of Trading and Markets.
A highlight of the conference will be a presentation by
Suzanne Duncan, representing The IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV),
previewing the final research study focusing on the future of the financial
service industry globally. The IBM
IBV invested over eighteen months of preparation, employed over 60
researchers globally and conducted thousands of interviews to complete this
massive project. The final study
provides fascinating insights into how the global financial service
industry will change over the coming years and what firms must do to
prosper in the new environment.
“Independents’ Day” provides a forum for research
providers to showcase cutting edge research techniques and present case
studies demonstrating the effectiveness of their proprietary research
methodology. Several of the case studies are likely to be nominated for
awards later this year at the Annual Investorside Members’ Day
conference. Last years award winners
included two firms that uncovered the pending subprime debacle well before
it was discovered, in one case, as early at 2005.
Other highlights will include a panel on the future of
“Credit Research” in light of credit agency conflicts which contributed to
the “credit crunch”. “This past year
has challenged our members like no other” said Patrick Shea, Executive
Director of the Investorside Research Association, “and we have met the
task again by identifying the major issues affecting investors and
providing the insight necessary to survive the storm”. Many of our case study presentations will
document the continuing value our members provide investors”.
To
register please visit
http://www.investorside.org/EventRegister?type=2009iday
This year’s venue, the Bloomberg Building
has capacity constraints and will limit the number of attendees to
270. Additionally, we are limited to
10 Exhibit spaces and 6 table sponsorships, which have all been
reserved. Please register as soon as
possible as seating is limited and members will not be able to register
once the 270 limit is reached.
Regulatory Update 2009
Board Members Visit
the SEC in December
During the week of December 15, 2008, Rich
Leggett, John Eade, Jim Gingrich, John Meserve and Pat Shea,
participated in a series of meetings with SEC Commissioner Troy Parades and
several high-ranking members of the SEC Staff to discuss a variety of
issues of interest to the independent research community. The meetings were designed to raise Investorside’s
profile with the SEC and to provide Investorside’s viewpoint on issues
actively being considered by the Commission which may impact the
independent research industry.
December
15th Meeting with Commissioner Troy Paredes
The meeting with Commissioner Paredes was attended on
behalf of Investorside by Rich Leggett, Pat Shea, John Eade, Jim Gingrich
and Will Edick. Rich Leggett began
by describing Investorside and its mission and giving a brief history of
the organization. Investorside
attendees emphasized the goal of achieving a level playing field between
independent and bulge bracket research.
Rich Leggett also offered Investorside and its members as a resource
to the Commission in addressing regulatory issues. Commissioner Parades actively
participated in the meeting, asking many questions and showing interest in
the continued development of the independent research industry.
December
15th Meeting with the SEC Staff
On the afternoon of December 15th, Rich
Leggett, Pat Shea, John Eade, Jim Gingrich and Will Edick met with several
SEC staff members, including Alexander Koch of the Division of Enforcement, staff of
the Division of Trading and Markets, including JoAnne Swindler, Assistant
Director of the Division, and staff of the Division of Investment
Management. Rich Leggett again
started out the meeting by describing Investorside and its mission and
giving a brief history of the organization.
Although a number of topics were discussed, the majority of the
meeting was dedicated to discussing the efficacy of the SEC’s Global Research
Settlement, the effect of the Global Settlement on the independent research
industry, and whether the participants in the Global Settlement would
continue to provide independent research to clients when the settlement
expires in 2009.
December
18th Meeting with Buddy Donohue, Director of the SEC Division of
Investment Management, and Staff
On December 18th, Rich Leggett, Pat Shea,
John Meserve and Will Edick met with Buddy Donohue, Director of the
Division of Investment Management and several senior members of his staff
including Doug Scheidt, Associate Director and Chief Counsel, Tom Smith,
Senior Adviser to the Director, Jennifer McHugh, Senior Adviser to the
Director, and Karen Rosotto, Adviser to the Director. The focus of the meeting was on the SEC’s
recent proposal to provide guidance to mutual fund directors on their
oversight responsibilities with respect to fund trading activities.
Conclusion
The meetings with Commissioner Paredes and the SEC
staff were successful in raising Investorside’s profile with SEC policy
makers and promoting the notion of a level playing field for independent
and proprietary research arrangements.
Investorside
Website Enhancements
Through the dedicated
work of James Chen and Paul Henneman at ValuEngine, along with guidance and
oversight from David Hill at Factset, we continue to make major
improvements on the Investorside Website.
Recent enhancements:
Member Login and self administration
Members now have the
capability to login to the Investorside website and make changes to various
features such as their profile description, address, phone numbers,
passwords and contact information.
Members have the choice of appointing either one or several persons
within their firm as administrators for the information listed for their
specific company.
Payment Functionality
Investorside has also
created functionality allowing members to make secure payments via the
website including for, membership renewal, sponsorships, exhibiting and any
other reason that may necessitate conveyance of funds to the organization.
In the near future
Sometime in the 2nd
quarter, Investorside plans to feature two new sections on the home page,
Member News and Industry News.
Member News
The Investorside homepage
will soon have a new section entitled “Member News” featuring press
releases relating recent developments at member firms. Investorside members, via their member
login functionality, will have the capability to upload press releases for general
viewing to all visitors to our website.
Prior to viewing, all press releases will have to be reviewed and
approved for quality control and general liability purposes.
Industry News
Another new section of
the Investorside home page will feature a section entitled “Industry News”
which will be primarily dedicated to news regarding the Independent
Investment Research Industry. We are
in the final stages of arranging RSS feeds and agreements with various
providers to affect this functionality.
NewsWire
Distribution
Leveling the playing field
Recently, thanks to a suggestion
from Janet Therrien of OTR, one of our Founding Members, Investorside researched
and contracted with Newswire, gaining access to a database which includes
thousands of financial industry, trade publication and general news
reporters, analysts and personnel.
This important new capability will allow Members to collaborate with
Investorside in generating and distributing press releases under the
Investorside banner.
We believe this new
capability, which is currently in the testing phase, will be an important
new benefit for Investorside members who are in need of public relations
assistance to deliver important information to targeted audiences. “This new capability will allow our
members to play like the big boys and reach critical media outlets” said
Pat Shea, Executive Director of Investorside. One of the major themes our Chairman,
Rich Leggett, articulated at the beginning of his tenure was “Level the
Playing Field” and this new capability is one facet of that effort.
Since the NewsWire
service involves an annual fixed cost to Investorside and may involve
variable costs for certain press releases requiring a nominal charge for
members who use the service. Cost
factors involved may include: size of distribution list, need for editing,
HTML emails versus text and several other factors.
Based on our pricing
agreement with Newswire, we expect most Investorside press releases
featuring individual member developments will cost members between $50 and
$200 depending on the factors previously discussed.
Another potential benefit
of the NewsWire agreement is the ability for Investorside members to become
a NewsWire individual user at a savings of $2,100 per year, using our
general membership.
Please expect a conference
call in the very near future outlining the specific features and
capabilities of this new Investorside member benefit.
New Members
Investorside
is proud to welcome four new members during the last quarter.
New
Members
• • Business Intelligence Advisors
(BIA)- BIA is the leading provider of innovative and
independent research, analysis and training solutions to enhance the
performance of information driven businesses. Founded on the principle that
intelligence-based techniques could be powerfully applied to the private
sector, BIA developed a groundbreaking suite of products and services to
provide our clients with an edge in collecting and evaluating information
critical to their success --- whether that means making a sound investment
decision, asking the right question of your client or vendor, or
recognizing a problem not yet apparent to others.
Richard Leggett,
Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer
www.biadvisors.com
• • Creative Global -
CGI is an IRP with focus on offering our select global institutional
clients alpha return strategies ahead and beyond our competitors. Our
differentiation from our competition lies in the high percentages of
successful alpha enhancing investment ideas that we have delivered over the
years to our clients. Our research objective is to be more efficient in the
selection of our recommendations, and target "winning strategies"
rather than maintenance research.
Carlo
Besenius
Chief
Operating Officer
www.cg-inv.com
• • dataexplorers -
Data Explorers Limited provides its global client base with quantitative
measurement of securities lending, performance and risk. The company is
based in New York and London and collects data from market
participants to create the world’s most comprehensive and up-to-date
database of information and research on stock lending and short interest.
Will
Duff Gordon
www.dataexplorers.com
• • Insiderscore -
InsiderScore is a leading insider and institutional trading data and
monitoring service. Utilizing proprietary algorithms, InsiderScore scores
and filters every insider trading disclosure in real-time, providing
investors with the most actionable information available. The company
serves more than 325 of the world's largest institutional investors.
Based
in Princeton, New Jersey, InsiderScore was founded in
2004 by Bill Martin and Rusty Szurek, the founders of RagingBull.com, one
of the world's first online financial communities. The InsiderScore team
includes over 20 individuals across the technology, product and
sales/marketing disciplines.
William
Martin
Principal
www.insiderscore.com
INVESTORSIDE
2009 Calendar
of Events
To insure members are
fully aware of all Investorside planned activities and events are published
and available on the website. The
website calendar will be updated as events are scheduled. Please click here for a link to this
year’s calendar.
- APRIL 8, 2008
INDEPENDENTS DAY 2009
- May 14, 2009
Community Event
Knight (Jersey City)
- June 12, 2009
Investorside Board Meeting
- September (TBA)
Community Event
- October (TBA)
Members Day 2009
- December (TBA)
Community Event
Contact Information
The
new address & telephone number for Investorside is:
Investorside
Research Association
c/o
Argus Research
61
Broadway - Suite
1700
New York, NY 10006
Phone –
877-834-4777
The change of address and phone number is effective
immediately.
|
