Chair of Investment Research Review Calls for Evidence

Buy-side and sell-side firms, listed and unlisted companies, investors, independent research firms, trading venues, and legal and academic professionals, are all encouraged to provide their views, with input solicited from all market sectors, including the technology and life sciences sectors.

The Investment Research Review (IRR) was announced by the Chancellor on 9 December 2022 as part of the Edinburgh Reforms to drive growth and competitiveness in the financial services sector, which currently contributes more than £194 billion in value to the UK economy. It forms part of the government’s broader work to increase the attractiveness of the UK as the location for large and small companies to raise capital. Prosperous capital markets enable UK and international businesses to raise funds and manage risks, allow institutional and private investors to access financial instruments, and provide a direct source of employment and tax revenue. 

Hogan Lovells financial services regulation partner Rachel Kent was appointed on 9 March 2023 to Chair the review, which will focus on two key objectives:

• To assess the link between levels of research and the attractiveness of the UK as a destination to list.
• To evaluate options to improve the UK market for investment research and provide recommendations to this effect.

The review's recommendations may be addressed to the government, the regulators and to industry and will not be limited to proposals for legislative or regulatory change.

Commenting, Rachel Kent, Chair of the Investment Research Review, said: "I have been heartened by the very high level of positive engagement with the review to date and I am keen to hear from even more people. The review presents a fantastic opportunity to think about and debate how best investment research can help contribute to the Government’s goal to strengthen the UK’s capital markets and make us a more attractive location for companies looking to list and access capital. I want the review to be as wide-ranging and innovative as possible. I want it to consider what others may do better, and to learn from them. And I want the recommendations of the review to be alive to the ways in which the provision and consumption of information is changing. This Call for Evidence is a crucial step in the review."

To this end, views are welcomed in particular on, among others:

• The benefits that investment research provides.
• How best to promote (and who should pay for) high quality investment research.
• How to make sure that research reaches the right audience.  
• How companies and analysts interact, and how those interactions might be improved. 
• Potential alternatives to the current predominantly broker-led models of research provision.
• Whether greater availability of research will encourage wider participation in the UK equity markets.  
• How expertise could be nurtured and grown to ensure that the UK has the right capabilities to promote better investor understanding and appreciation of technology and life science companies.

For more detail on the range of views sought see here.

Responses should be submitted to: [email protected] by closing date of 24 April 2023.

Thanks are extended to The City of London Corporation for its support as secretariat for the review.