Built in consultation with asset management institutions and research providers, RSRCHX radically modernises the way in which users interact with research and enables the buy side to comply with the MiFID II research unbundling requirements.

The traditional research procurement model is cumbersome, complex and costly. Finding the best research providers and accessing their content is time consuming and low tech. Compliance, oversight, due diligence and record keeping are all essential but mostly manual and fragmented.

Set against fast approaching MiFID II regulation, which aims to bring greater transparency and fairness throughout the investment decision-making and transaction process, buy-side firms are feeling the regulatory pressure and time is fast running out. The MiFID II technical standards, which will be clarified by ESMA in early autumn 2015 and enforced as regulation, effective January 2017, will require all research to be unbundled, transparently valued and fully auditable.

RSRCHX has been designed with a keen focus on helping asset managers stay ahead of the upcoming regulatory changes and buy research in a more efficient, discerning and transparent way. Buy side firms benefit from an innovative, free-to-access marketplace model designed to open up access and offering a vast improvement on the legacy practices of research distribution and procurement. Research providers can utilise a smarter, more advanced distribution tool which not only improves their client reach but also eases their administrative burden and speeds up payment terms.

In an age of social media tools, mobile access and search-driven functionality, buy-side firms can now search, access and purchase a wide range of multi-asset, non-broker research on a single, sophisticated platform, that easily fits into existing workflow processes.

For the first time, asset managers can search within the aggregated content from multiple sources and buy the research they need in real time. The RSRCHXchange platform enables them to measure and manage their research consumption effectively, with absolute confidence in the due diligence and compliance checks of every provider. Furthermore, it allows asset managers to buy what they need, from any source, when they need it and use a variety of hard or soft dollar payment mechanisms.

Jeremy Davies, Co-Founder, RSRCHXchange said: “The world of research provision and procurement is undergoing far-reaching, radical change. Not only is this an opportunity for the buy-side to re-evaluate existing research arrangements, as each piece of research will now need to be valued and paid for in an unbundled way; regulatory change also brings with it new opportunities for asset managers to access a wider range of truly independent research, irrespective of asset class, as and when they need it.

Vicky Sanders, Co-Founder, RSRCHXchange added: “We launched RSRCHX with the needs of the asset manager of the unbundled era in mind. We have been delighted with the uptake to date and are proud to have more than 50 research providers and a number of prominent buy-side clients on board even before launch, bringing valuable research content to the platform. Our early success is very encouraging and testament to our belief that our model brings superior choice and availability of research for our institutional asset management clients. We believe that by delivering a smarter, better marketplace, this will drive greater innovation in research and an improvement in quality that ultimately benefits all.”