Smartkarma, an Asian provider of independent research, and ULLINK, a global provider of electronic trading and connectivity solutions to the financial community, announced the immediate availability of the Smartkarma research platform via the NYFIX Portal. Targeting the growing need for transparent pricing and unconflicted research for the buy-side, driven by regulatory focus on unbundling research from current commission structures, the partnership gives NYFIX buy-side members access to quality, independent research on Asian markets.

Smartkarma’s cloud based platform provides access to a wide range of independent research from 135 investment insight firms, comprised of over 400 contributing analysts who have written on more than 1700 companies across 15 Asian markets. It offers unconflicted, on-the-ground coverage in areas that are typically less well covered by traditional research providers, including frontier markets, small and mid-caps and in-depth, event driven IPO analysis. Smartkarma notably provides investors with direct access to research contributors, creating a strong correlation between research demand and supply. Access via the NYFIX Portal makes this research immediately accessible to the NYFIX community of more than 800 buy-side participants.

Smartkarma co-founder, Jon Foster, notes, “ULLINK’s NYFIX community is one of the largest trading communities in the world, and we are excited to offer access to our research services for its members, helping them to develop more effective trading strategies and understand market movements in real time.”

ULLINK’s NYFIX Portal is a service delivery platform providing NYFIX members with access to a range of trading and investment services, provided directly by ULLINK and by a growing range of third-party vendors. Smartkarma is the first independent research platform to offer their service though the NYFIX Portal under the auspices of ULLINK’s Global Alliance Program (GAP), providing the NYFIX buy-side community with access to quality, independent research on Asian markets to improve their trading strategy formulation.

ULLINK’s Global Head of Business Development, Philippe Carré, commented, “We are delighted to partner with Smartkarma, our first partnership with such an innovative research platform. Smartkarma targets the macro trend for unbundling payment for research and execution services, and provides an innovative approach based on collaborative contributions from its community. We believe our NYFIX buy-side community will benefit hugely from access to this service, and integration with our NYFIX Portal makes such access seamless.”