Societe Generale and Singapore fintech firm partner for third-party Asian equity research

Societe Generale will partner with Smartkarma, a Singapore-based fintech company to offer third-party Asian equity research, Reuters reported.

Stephane Loiseau, the French bank's head of cash equities and global execution services for Asia Pacific, told Reuters that with the collaboration, the bank that does not offer equity research in Asia, will be providing access to a pool of independent research that are curated by Smartkarma.

“The landscape for investment insight is changing. The situation is especially challenging in Asia which is a fragmented region with a vast scope of stocks, and in some markets new regulation is making the picture even more complex,” Loiseau added.

The partnership is the first of its kind in Asia, where a bank has successfully outsourced equity research provision to independent third parties. Smartkarma is an online fintech firm that allows users to search for specific content and consume it on-demand. It offers investors research pooled from more than a hundred independent analysts.