Research Publishing Services

End-to-end research publishing solutions for global financial institutions

Research Publishing Solutions

Research Publishing services, including supervisory analyst (SA ; series-16) approval, editing, formatting & publishing, and design, have become a bottleneck for timely publication of reports and an area where costs have increased, since skilled SAs, editors, and formatting & publishing and design specialists are difficult to hire, train, and retain. Many of our clients are, therefore, outsourcing the process to reduce costs, increase efficiency, cut down on management oversight, and tap into a large pool of skilled resources with domain expertise.

Acuity Knowledge Partners’ Research Publishing team – SAs, editors, and formatting & publishing and graphic design specialists – has over 20 years’ experience serving global financial services firms. They review, approve and publish research, meeting tough deadlines in a fast-paced work environment and amid a heavy flow of content. Working with our teams across the globe, clients can take advantage of the ‘follow-the-sun’ engagement model, ensuring greater efficiency and productivity.

Who we serve

Research Publishing Services - Support We Offer

Supervisory Analyst services

  • We offer review/approval support by Series-16-certified Supervisory Analysts (SA). In addition to relevant experience, our SAs have prior experience as equity research analysts or editors from well- known global financial services firms. Most SAs we hire have at least 10 years of total work experience and need minimal handholding. The client is required to share firm-specific documents and carry out basic training before the SA commences work. We offer senior editors that the client can sponsor for the S-16 exam. These editors already carry out pre-SA work and can sit for the exam within three months of joining the client.

  • Our SAs perform the following tasks:

    • Edit research reports for clarity, commerciality, style and flow
    • Ensure compliance with firm's guidelines, policies and procedures
    • Ensure that research complies with SEC and FINRA rules and regulations
    • Ensure that research is fair and clear
    • Assess the accuracy of data
    • Interact with management, research analysts, legal, compliance and colleagues to ensure reports meet the firm’s policies and standards

  • Please also see our dedicated web page for Supervisory Analyst services for further details.

Editing Services

  • Our editors have 15 years’ editing experience, on average; most of them hold a postgraduate degree in English or Finance and have worked as journalists at reputed international news organizations or as editors at bulge-bracket global financial services firms.

  • They have experience in working on varied content – from equity, fixed income, economic, and strategy research to fund newsletters and marketing material, including blogs and whitepapers.

  • Our editing services include the following:

    • Proofreading/substantive editing:
      • Editing reports for grammar, structure, logic and arguments, balance and commerciality
    • Regulatory review:
      • Pre-empting and resolving regulatory/compliance-related issues within a document, including for issues, such as promissory and exaggerated language, negative management commentary, assertions without a sound basis, M&A-related discussions without adequate sourcing, touting, front-running and circulation of rumours
      • Verifying data for accuracy and integrity
      • Ensuring adherence to firm policies, such as rules related to internal approvals prior to publishing

Content Development services

  • Our content developers have over 10 years’ experience, on average; they possess advanced degrees in finance or journalism.

  • They have extensive experience working with subject matter experts to develop educational content for client engagement, including materials for websites and social media. Their expertise also covers creating scripts for podcasts and videos, creating blogs from panel discussions and repackaging content for marketing collateral such as brochures, flyers, and emails.

  • Please also see our dedicated web page for Research Content services for further details.

Formatting and Publishing services

  • Our Formatting and Publishing Specialists have 12 years of experience, on average, in formatting and publishing services, having also worked with bulge-bracket global financial services firms earlier. They are well versed in the use of MS Office and the Adobe Creative suite of products.

  • We offer the following services:

    • Formatting support:
      • Format research reports, proposals and marketing material, including PowerPoint presentations, as per the client’s template and branding guidelines

      • Coordinate, compile and format conference books, newsletters and special research reports

      • Collate data and create and format presentations, fund factsheets and pitchbooks

      • Create templates and manage rebranding/template migration processes

      • Convert data/hand-written notes into slides

    • Publishing support:
      • Manage Research Publishing platforms (including FactSet Partners, Blue Curve, BlueMatrix) – update and manage the database, coordinate database changes (in case of transfer/termination/suspension of coverage) with Bloomberg/Reuters

      • Prepare dailies/newsletters from various sector/country teams

      • Troubleshoot distribution-related issues for analysts and clients

      • Manage workflow for morning calls

Design Services

  • Our design specialists/graphic designers have 12 years’ experience, on average, in delivering design solutions that have high visual impact and stand out in the internal and external markets. They lay out content and design material to make them ‘intuitively obvious’ and easy on the eye. They also edit digital content such as 2D animation videos and podcasts as part of our research marketing services support

  • Our design specialists:

  • Work on a range of products, including research reports and newsletters, presentations/factsheets, brochures, flyers and posters, product-related literature, and investor updates/communication

  • Develop high-end marketing material out of basic conceptual themes using MS Office and Adobe Creative suite of products

  • Provide high-quality visualisation support by creating infographics and a suite of PowerPoint slides

  • Design layouts, retouch photographs, create animations and convert documents into interactive PDFs

  • Convert PDF files and handwritten documents to MS Word PowerPoint and Excel files, as per branding specifications

  • Use MapInfo for plotting locations and other geographical aspects on maps

  • Edit corporate video content (e.g., explainer videos and 2D animation videos) and convert simple information into visually appealing motion graphics

  • Include animated infographics, sound and visual effects to increase the video’s organic reach

  • Edit and mix podcasts, ensuring fluidity and consistency

  • Create storyboards and podcast scripts as per the client’s brief/request

  • Well versed in the use of MS Office solutions and Adobe Creative suite of products

Translation services

  • Our translators have 10 years’ experience, on average, in translating complex financial content. The teams are based out of our Beijing and Costa Rica offices and are knowledgeable in financial terminology and accounting

  • Our translators:

  • Translate English to Chinese and vice versa (supported by our China office)

  • Translate English to Spanish and vice versa (supported by our Costa Rica office)

  • Translate in other languages such as Japanese, Korean and Arabic

  • Work on a range of publications such as market commentaries, annual financial reports, fund factsheets/pitchbooks and marketing collateral

  • Work on highly technical materials such as equity research publications and capital market updates

What we have delivered to Research Publishing function

25+

Client engagements and publishing teams supported, contributing to our best practices

30-40%

Cost savings achieved

20+

Years of deep domain knowledge

24x5

Support round- the-clock editing, formatting and publishing support

Customer Testimonials

“A big thank you for your great work and collaboration and delivery on time – it was indeed a case I was barely involved, which for me means, it worked well. Thanks a lot!”

An independent, partner owned investmen t firm based in Europe

“Amazing job on your end, and I really appreciate it. Cannot believe how (relatively) stress free it has been from our side, and this would not have been the case without everybody at Acuity being so flexible and going the extra mile. Take care and thanks again.”

A UK- headquartere d bank

“A very big THANK YOU from our team to all of you! Your help has been monumental to us during this crucial period, and we could not have done it without your support. We are most appreciative!”

Asia- focused wealth manager

“Acuity has outstanding editing skills and a sharp eye for catching potential issues in content. Vendor resource has contributed several ideas to improve the way we do things and on managing specific projects. Vendor resource has quickly become a valued member of our team.”

A global Wealth and Asset Manager

How we are different

RESEARCH PEDIGREE
RESEARCH PEDIGREE
Over 20 years’ experience in providing Research Publishing services to global financial services firms
PROCESS OPTIMISATION
PROCESS OPTIMISATION
End-to-end support across the Research Publishing lifecycle: design templates, and edit, format, SA approve, and publish/disseminate research; lay out and design marketing material
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
Experience with various third-party/in-house Research Publishing platforms – FactSet Partners, Blue Matrix, and BlueCurve
SCALABILITY
SCALABILITY
Ability to hit the ground running. Successfully transitioned and currently execute multiple engagement models of research publishing solutions : (1) lift-and-shift of in-house Publishing teams; (2) supplement onshore Publishing teams, and (3) support clients that do not have onshore teams

Platform Expertise

We are adept at using various research production/publishing platforms, compliance and content management platforms and software to enhance our Research Publishing support

FactSet Partners

BlueMatrix

EidosMedia

Seismic

Qvidian

Red Oak

MS Office

Track

Bluecurve

Salesforce CRM

Microsoft PowerBI

Adobe Creative Suite

What we have done

Support for Consulting and Corporate Firms
Research Publishing solutions for an EMEA-based global bank
What we are proud of

30+

global client analysts supported

30%–40%

cost savings achieved

Support for Consulting and Corporate Firms
Research Publishing support for a bank’s Asia-Pacific equity research team
What we are proud of

40+

client analysts supported

10

Exclusive member team

Support for Consulting and Corporate Firms
Research Publishing with supervisory analyst support for an EMEA-based bank
What we are proud of

25+

client analysts supported

SA, editing, formatting and publishing, and platform administration

Support for Consulting and Corporate Firms
Research Publishing Solutions for a UK-headquartered global bank
What we are proud of

30+

client analysts supported

Editing, formatting & design, and translation

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