Our Approach
Research Publishing services, including supervisory analyst (SA) 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 15 years of 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.
Research Publishing Support we offer
- Our Editors have 10 years of 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:
- - Proofreading: Weeding out attention-to-detail-related errors in grammar, style, and spelling
- - Substantive editing: Editing reports for grammar, punctuation, structure, commerciality, arguments, and balance
- - 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 rumors
- - Verifying data for accuracy and integrity
- - Ensuring adherence to firm policies, such as rules related to internal approvals prior to publishing
- 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.
- Within formatting services, we:
- Format research reports, proposals, and marketing material, including PowerPoint presentations, as per the client’s template and branding guidelines
- Ensure all exhibits/visuals are in line with client specifications and branding guidelines
- Coordinate, compile, and format conference books, newsletters, and special research reports
- Collate data and create and format presentations and fund factsheets and pitchbooks
- Manage the rebranding/template migration process
- Convert data/hand-written notes into slides
- Our Formatting Specialists also provide publishing and research-publishing-platform-related support services.
- Check report tagging and publish reports on the portal
- Maintain mailing lists and coordinate hard copy delivery with printers
- Prepare dailies/newsletters from various sector/country teams
- Update and manage the research and publication database
- Coordinate database changes (in case of transfer/termination/suspension of coverage) with Bloomberg/Reuters
- Troubleshoot distribution-related issues for analysts and clients
- Manage workflow for morning calls
- Make conference call bookings with the vendor and publish the invites on behalf of the analyst
- Our Design Specialists/Graphic Designers have 12 years of experience, on average, in delivering design solutions that have a 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.
- Create icons, templates, brochures, flyers, posters, and other collaterals for marketing teams
- They work on a wide range of products, including research reports and newsletters, fund marketing presentations/factsheets, brochures, flyers and posters, product-related literature, and investor updates/communication.
- Design layouts, retouch photographs, create high-end animations, and convert documents into interactive PDFs
- They are well versed in the use of MS Office solutions and the Adobe Creative suite of products.
- Create a suite of PowerPoint slides for analysts to use; redesign existing slides in line with branding guidelines
- Within design services, we:
- Create pitchbooks and screen shows
- Develop high-end marketing material out of basic conceptual themes using MS Office and the Adobe Creative suite of products
- Convert PDF files and handwritten documents to MS Word PowerPoint and Excel files, as per branding specifications
- Provide high-quality visualization support by creating infographics using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign
- Use MapInfo for plotting locations and other geographical aspects on maps
How we are different
Over 15 years’ experience in providing Research Publishing support to global financial services firms
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
Experience with various third-party/in-house Research Publishing platforms – FactSet Partners, Blue Matrix, and BlueCurve
Ability to hit the ground running. Successfully transitioned and currently execute multiple engagement models: (1) lift-and-shift of in-house Publishing teams; (2) supplement onshore Publishing teams, and (3) support clients that do not have onshore teams
What we have done
Research Publishing solutions for an EMEA-based global bank
What we are proud of
30+
global client analysts supported
30%–40%
cost savings achieved
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
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
Research Publishing Solutions for a South Africa-Based Investment Bank
What we are proud of
30+
client analysts supported
Editing, formatting & design, and translation
Our perspective on Research Publishing
February 5, 2021
March 17, 2020
AI in investment management , client-specified topics , Research Publishing
April 18, 2018
Meet our experts
Shikha Singh
Shikha Singh, Global Head of Research Publishing
Shikha heads Acuity Knowledge Partners' (Acuity) editing, formatting & publishing and design services, managing all client accounts in this vertical. She has 16 years of experience in working with financial research content. Before joining Acuity, she worked with Goldman Sachs as a Series 16-qualified Supervisory Analyst and Editor. She also set up and managed its 10-member content management team in Bangalore. Her previous work at JPMorgan included reviewing equity research reports, and she focused on credit and industry and company research reports during her stint at Crisil Research (an S&P company). Shikha holds an MBA in Finance.
Shikha Singh
Shikha Singh, Global Head of Research Publishing
Balaji Ramakrishnan
EMEA Head – Banking & Asset Management
Balaji Ramakrishnan leads Europe and Middle East business development for Acuity. Having spent his formative years in core banking technology operations, he brings a deep understanding of credit processes and the ability to make analytics-driven decisions. He works closely with senior client stakeholders as a trusted partner, shaping the business case for scaled efficiencies through centralisation, standardisation and intelligent automation within Commercial Lending and Asset Management verticals.
Balaji has established long-term partnerships with banks, asset managers and insurance firms across a number of front and middle office transformation initiatives over the past 20 years. Prior to Acuity, he worked at Accenture and Oracle, serving European financial services clients. He holds an MBA from the London Business School.
Balaji Ramakrishnan
EMEA Head – Banking & Asset Management
Marie Filotti
Head, APAC Business Development
Marie Filotti heads APAC Business Development at Acuity Knowledge Partners and is based in Hong Kong. She joined the firm in 2018 after 13 years in Investment Banking and Capital Markets, mainly at Nomura (previously Lehman Brothers), and also worked on the corporate side, having run Investor Relations at a China-based ASX-listed gas company. She uses her experience in the industry to advise our clients on best practices in implementation of engagements across all sectors. Marie holds a BA from Yale University and a Masters in Finance from Sciences-Po Paris.
Marie Filotti
Head, APAC Business Development
Shikha Singh
Shikha Singh, Global Head of Research Publishing
Shikha heads Acuity Knowledge Partners' (Acuity) editing, formatting & publishing and design services, managing all client accounts in this vertical. She has 16 years of experience in working with financial research content. Before joining Acuity, she worked with Goldman Sachs as a Series 16-qualified Supervisory Analyst and Editor. She also set up and managed its 10-member content management team in Bangalore. Her previous work at JPMorgan included reviewing equity research reports, and she focused on credit and industry and company research reports during her stint at Crisil Research (an S&P company). Shikha holds an MBA in Finance.
Balaji Ramakrishnan
EMEA Head – Banking & Asset Management
Balaji Ramakrishnan leads Europe and Middle East business development for Acuity. Having spent his formative years in core banking technology operations, he brings a deep understanding of credit processes and the ability to make analytics-driven decisions. He works closely with senior client stakeholders as a trusted partner, shaping the business case for scaled efficiencies through centralisation, standardisation and intelligent automation within Commercial Lending and Asset Management verticals.
Balaji has established long-term partnerships with banks, asset managers and insurance firms across a number of front and middle office transformation initiatives over the past 20 years. Prior to Acuity, he worked at Accenture and Oracle, serving European financial services clients. He holds an MBA from the London Business School.
Marie Filotti
Head, APAC Business Development
Marie Filotti heads APAC Business Development at Acuity Knowledge Partners and is based in Hong Kong. She joined the firm in 2018 after 13 years in Investment Banking and Capital Markets, mainly at Nomura (previously Lehman Brothers), and also worked on the corporate side, having run Investor Relations at a China-based ASX-listed gas company. She uses her experience in the industry to advise our clients on best practices in implementation of engagements across all sectors. Marie holds a BA from Yale University and a Masters in Finance from Sciences-Po Paris.
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