It was all going fine until the US economy was hit by the financial crisis, which began in July 2007. At that point, brokerage houses and investment institutions started to cut down their expanses by right sizing. It was the time when BPO firms got the opportunity to render their services. Outsourcing of equity research and analysis gave a significant support to financial institution across the USA and Europe.

Main beneficiaries of that opportunity were China and India. They are expected to grow further in the year 2009 and afterwards. We can clearly spot the continuation of bearish trend in the USA economy, which is expected to trigger issues such as rising operational cost and decreasing quality. This will be advantageous for the BPO industry. Some of the reasons for outsourcing of research and analysis are:

1. Low wage arbitrage
2. Access to large pool of qualified professionals
3. Decreasing responsibility related to HR management
4. Reduced risk due to small investment in infrastructure
5. Increased efficiency due to standardized operation
6. More time to focus on business plans

According to a study, hundred of the industry’s leading financial institutions are planning to outsource more than $200 billion worth of business to cut their operating cost. This all indicates a promising future for young as well as mature outsourcing companies who are able to offer the much needed equity research services to the firms in the recession-struck Western world.