Best site for equity research
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter started putting an online research archive together in 1994, and it was initially intended for the firm’s own salesmen, research analysts and investment bankers. It consisted of headlines and basic research documents that could be found by ticker or by the name of an analyst. Six years on, and Research Link 4.0 has become the most comprehensive online research tool available.
MSDW is aware that clients have access to an array of sites and that clients’ inboxes are becoming overloaded with research material, so differentiating its offering has been a priority. “Our site is unique to the client, rather than the more general approach of other banks,” says Joseph Gagliardi, director of e-commerce for equity research.
MSDW has implemented a one-time-only log-in function. For the fund manager submerged beneath Post-it notes recording different passwords and site addresses, it’s an obvious, simple, but useful addition. So the site is easy to use from the start.
Once inside, the site features include a full-text search capability. This encompasses a search engine using Verity, enabling users to look for exact phrases concerning a field of interest which, when matched, will be pulled out with the phrase highlighted.