MiFID Means $20 Billion Fund Manager Gets Analysts on the Cheap

Far from being an existential threat, the big shakeup in the money management industry has emerged as an opportunity for the investment arm of Swiss bank EFG International AG to snap up analysts on the cheap.

The company has taken advantage of cutbacks at brokers to almost double its equity-research team to about 18 before new European regulations known as MiFID II take hold in January. The rise of exchange-traded funds, which track indexes rather than involve people selecting stocks, also has increased the supply of analysts in the job market.