JPMorgan Investor Services Extends Research Suite

The alliance with Investars, an independent supplier of performance measurement services for equity research, will result in the production of an integrated research and benchmarking tool.   Investars was launched in 1999 to provide online services on a subscription basis to both money managers and individual investors.  

Tool Kit

Investars employs its “Rate of Success System”, a proprietary methodology, to rank research firms.   “ROSS” identifies the most accurate research based on the performance of hypothetical portfolios for every stock and sector, according to the firm.   Additionally, the Investars “RatingPlotter” charts are the basis for NASD regulations requiring brokerage firms to plot the historical ratings of a company against the price movements of the security.

These tools will allow investors to track research analyst performance.   Investars also markets solutions to research firms to allow them to monitor their performance against their peers and to meet regulatory requirements.

Suite Spots

The deal is JPMorgan Investor Services’ latest extension of a developing suite of services to help institutional clients maximize returns through better analysis of their supplier networks and their relative contribution to performance, according to the firm.  

A month ago JPMorgan acquired Plexus Group, a premier provider of transaction cost analysis (TCA) and consulting services used by investment managers, pension plan sponsors and brokerage firms.   On the same day JPMorgan also announced an alliance with Inalytics, a London-based firm that offers TCA and best execution products in the UK, which will provide distribution and servicing support for JPMorgan Plexus products across Europe.  

JPMorgan has created and launched two other benchmarking products that will become part of its suite to provide an end-to-end review of costs: Performance Measurement, which measures the returns of managers; and Trade Settlement Tracking and Relative Ranking System (TradeSTARRsm), which allows institutional investors to analyze and mitigate the risks and costs associated with failed trades.

JPMorgan Investor Services is a division of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.   JPMorgan Investor Services has more than $6.7 trillion in assets under custody, including $2 trillion in global custody assets.