New European-wide regulation requires all research to be separately priced and unbundled from execution
| Elements | MiFID II Delegated Acts Text | RSRCHX key features |
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Budgets |
"Set and regularly assess a research budget" |
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Payments |
Payment methods include "direct payments by the investment firm out of its own resources" or "payments from a separate research payment account" funded by a "specific research charge to the client." Payments must be made "without any undue delay" |
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Audit Trails |
"...the investment firm shall also be required, upon request by their clients or by competent authorities, to provide a summary of the providers paid from this account, the total amount they were paid over a defined period, the benefits and services received by the investment firm, and how the total amount spent from the account compares to the budget set by the firm for that period..." |
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Controls |
"The allocation of the research budget to purchase third party research should be subject to appropriate controls and senior management oversight" |
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Research Quality |
"The investment firm regularly assesses the quality of the research purchased based on robust quality criteria..." "A clear audit trail of payments made to research providers and how the amounts paid were determined with reference to the quality criteria..." |
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