Abstract:
Methods of pricing non-execution services provided by a firm comprising an execution service provider and a non-execution service provider. The methods may comprise the steps of accruing a payment for execution and non-execution services from an external client and allocating a first portion of the payment to an execution service provider and a second portion of the payment to a non-execution service provider. The methods may also comprise the steps of calculating a cost of providing the non-execution services, and calculating a profit of the non-execution service provider considering the cost of providing the non-execution services and the second portion of the payment.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     In the financial services industry, sell-side firms have traditionally priced the non-execution services that they provide to their clients (e.g., equity research) by bundling the non-execution services with execution services, such as the buying and selling of securities, etc. According to typical bundling arrangements, clients (e.g., buy-side firms) pay the sell-side firm suitable compensation, for example, in the form of a fee and/or commission. In exchange for the compensation, the clients receive execution services as well as certain non-execution services, such as access to equity and other financial research. 
     For various reasons, these traditional bundling arrangements have begun to fall into disfavor. The Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) of the United Kingdom has implemented regulations that will soon require many buy-side firms to disclose the amount of money that they spend on execution services and the amount of money that they spend on non-execution services, such as research and sales coverage. Accordingly, buy-side firms subject to the U.K. regulations must be able to break out their expenses related to execution and non-execution services respectively. Also, under typical bundling arrangements, research and other non-execution services are a cost center to the sell-side firm, and not a profit center. Accordingly, there is a need for improved pricing and resource allocation systems for non-execution services. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one general aspect, the invention is directed to methods of determining the profitability of a unit of a division of a firm. The firm may have an execution service provider division and a non-execution service provider division. In various embodiments, the methods may comprise the steps of accruing a payment for execution and non-execution services from an external client, and allocating a first portion of the payment to the execution service provider division and a second portion of the payment to the non-execution service provider division. The methods may further comprise the steps of allocating a portion of the second portion of the payment to a unit of the non-execution service provider division, and calculating a cost of providing the non-execution services of the unit to the client. The methods may further comprise the step of calculating a profit of the non-execution service provider unit to service the client considering the cost of providing the non-execution services to the client and the portion of the second portion of the payment allocated to the unit. 
     Also, payment allocations from an internal client of the firm can be allocated to units of non-execution service provider division, and the cost to the units of providing service to the internal clients can be determined. Based on that information, the profit of the units to service the internal clients of the firm can be determined. In various embodiments, the resources of the various units of the non-execution service provider division may be allocated to different clients, internal and external, based on the profit of the units in serving particular clients. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       Embodiments of the present invention are described herein, by way of example, in conjunction with the following figures, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  shows a flow chart illustrating a process flow according to various embodiments of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 2-6  show tables according to various embodiments of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  shows a chart illustrating a workflow according to various embodiments of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 8-13  show tables according to various embodiments of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 14  shows a block diagram of a computer system according to various embodiments of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Sell-side financial services firms typically include, among other components, an execution service division and a non-execution service division. The non-execution service division may contain one or more non-execution service provider units (e.g., research and/or sales groups, teams, analysts, etc.). Embodiments of the present invention are directed in general to techniques for determining the profits and losses (or revenue and expenses) for non-execution service provider units (e.g., research analysts and sales professionals of sell-side firms and groupings thereof) and creating a market for the resources of non-execution service provider units. The service provider units may use this information in a number of ways. For example, the service provider units may consider profits and losses as economic signals to allocate their resources to service the needs of their clients. Profits and losses may also be used to determine a value provided by various non-execution service provider units, which may, in turn, affect how much the firm invests in particular non-execution service provider units as well as compensation issues for individuals therein. 
     Revenue for the non-execution service provider division and units thereof may come from various sources including, for example, diverted fees paid for execution services, diverted revenue from internal clients, fixed fees for services, etc. The revenue may be compared to costs and the resulting profit margins broken down by client and provided to the service provider units. The service provider units may then be given the flexibility to allocate their discretionary resources accordingly. For example, clients who give the service provider units a relatively high amount of revenue and/or profit may receive a correspondingly high portion of the service provider units&#39; discretionary resources. 
     For embodiments where the service provider is a sell-side firm that performs equity research and trade execution, the non-execution service provider units may be equity research groups, teams, and/or single analysts within the financial services firm. For example, a research team may include a primary analyst and several research associates. The service provider units&#39; revenue may originate from external clients of the firm (e.g., through fee diversions, commission sharing, hard money, etc.) and/or from internal clients, (e.g., through reward pools, transfers, etc.). In this way, the various internal and external clients may compete with each other for the discretionary resources of the research group (e.g., visits, phone calls, and access to financial analysts). 
       FIG. 1  shows a flow chart illustrating a process flow  100  according to various embodiments. At step  102  the service client revenue to non-execution service provider units of the firm is calculated. Service client revenue may include, for example, revenue diverted to the non-execution service provider division of the firm from the fees paid by external clients for execution services. This revenue may then be allocated to individual units of the non-execution service provider division, for example, based on feedback from external clients about the value provided by the respective units.  FIG. 2  shows a chart  200  illustrating an example of the total fees paid by various clients for execution services in various products over a given time period. Each row of the chart  200  shows the revenue (column  208 ) generated from a client (column  202 ) for transactions involving a particular product or product type (column  204 ) in a particular region (column  206 ) over a given time period (column  210 ). It will be appreciated that the total revenue from a client may be broken into more or fewer categories having more or less detail than those shown by the chart  200 . 
     A portion of the revenue shown above in column  208  may be diverted from the relevant execution service units (e.g., prime brokerage, secondary sales, swaps, convertibles, structured products, etc.), with the diverted portion forming the service client revenue to the non-execution service provider division and its constituent units. The diverted portion may be a percentage of the total revenue or a fixed amount. For example,  FIG. 3  shows a chart  300  with a percentage (column  314 ) of the revenue from a given client (column  302 ) and product (column  304 ) allocated to a non-execution services group (column  312 ). It will be appreciated that the diverted percentage of the revenue from any product group (column  304 ) and region (column  306 ) may not exceed 100%. In various embodiments, the diverted amount or percentage of revenue from a product group and region may be divided among multiple teams, or units, of a non-execution services division. For example,  FIG. 4  shows a chart  400  showing the percentages of the total diverted revenue assigned to a research team (column  418 ) and region (column  420 ) of a group (column  412 ) for a given client (column  402 ), product (column  404 ), region (column  406 ) and time period (column  410 ). 
     In various embodiments, the amount of revenue diverted to any particular non-execution service provider unit may be determined by the firm, or by the client. For example, if the client does not designate the portions of their fees to be diverted to the non-execution service provider division and specific units thereof, the firm may estimate the amounts to divert to the division and units based on acceptable criteria (e.g., surveys of similarly situated clients, information specific to the field of the client, percentage of market cap traded, popularity of particular non-execution service provider units, etc.). It will be appreciated, however, that clients may have incentive to select accurate diversion portions. For example, if not enough of the client&#39;s fees are diverted to non-execution service provider division in general, or to particular non-execution service provider units that the client depends on, the respective non-execution service provider units may devote less of their discretionary resources to the client, resulting in an undesirable drop in service (from the standpoint of the client). On the other hand, if the client diverts too much of its fees to the non-execution service provider division, then the execution service provider units, from whom the fees are diverted, may reduce their level of service to the client. In this way, incentive is created for the client to specify an optimal split of their fees between execution and non-execution units. 
     Referring back to the process flow  100 , internal reward pool revenue to the various non-execution service provider units may be calculated at step  104 . It will be appreciated that many non-execution service provider units, such as research groups and teams at financial service firms, serve internal as well as external clients. Internal clients may include various trading desks and other resources within the firm that rely on the non-execution service provider units for support, such as research and analysis. Also, various trading desks and other execution service provider units may rely on research sales to cross-sell external clients. In one example, an external client may decide (e.g., based on research) that it would like to be exposed to a certain discrete risk (e.g., one, but not all, of the business lines of a particular corporation). In this case, a research sales team may refer the client to an execution service provider unit, such as a derivatives or structured products team, who may design a security that exposes the external client to the desired risk. 
     It will be appreciated that the execution service provider division and units thereof may want to create incentives for the non-execution service provider division and units who provide them with research, refer external clients to them, or otherwise add value. Accordingly, each internal client may set up a reward pool out of its own revenues to provide income to selected non-execution service provider units, and accordingly give the non-execution service provider units incentive to devote discretionary resources to the internal client. The reward pools allocated to the provider units preferably count as expenses to the internal clients. In various embodiments, the reward pools may be established periodically. For example, an internal client may designate a portion of its quarterly revenue to a reward pool. The size of the reward pool provided by a particular internal client may fluctuate based on the non-execution service provider unit&#39;s ability to provide value, as well as the amount set by competing bids for the time of the non-execution service provider. In this way, internal clients of the non-execution service provider units may be placed in competition with external clients for the resources of the non-execution service provider units. 
       FIG. 5  shows a chart  500  illustrating exemplary reward pools (column  508 ) established by various internal clients, who are designated in chart  500  by region (column  502 ), desk (column  504 ) and division (column  506 ), over a given time period (column  510 ). In various embodiments, the internal clients may direct portions of their respective reward pools (column  508 ) to particular non-execution service provider units. For example,  FIG. 6  shows a chart  600  illustrating exemplary allocations by internal clients of reward pools (column  618 ) to non-execution service provider units, designated in chart  600  by group (column  612 ), team (column  614 ) and team region (column  616 ). It will be appreciated that the allocations to a particular non-execution service provider unit may be determined by any entity including, for example, the internal client itself, firm management, etc. It will also be appreciated that any portion of a reward pool that is not allocated to a particular non-execution service provider unit may carry over to the next quarter, year, etc., or revert back to the originating internal client. 
     Referring back to the process flow  100 , the total revenue for each non-execution service provider unit may be found at step  106 . The total revenue may include various revenue sources such as the service client revenue and internal reward pool revenue calculated at steps  102  and  104  respectively. The total revenue may also include other forms of revenue (e.g., flat fee revenue, output-based revenue, etc.). For example, financial research groups and teams often perform flat fee work for vetting potential transactions, performing due diligence reviews of investment banking transactions, conducting sales force and investor education, and providing other services. The amount of the flat fees may vary across non-execution service units and may be based on the popularity and cost of the unit, competing demands on the unit&#39;s time, etc. The flat fees from these other revenues may be included in the total revenue found at step  106 . As another example, some clients (internal and/or external) of non-execution service provider units may not be interested in discretionary resources of the units and instead may only be interested in concrete products produced by the units. For example, some clients of financial research groups and/or teams may only be interested in generated reports, and not as interested the analysts explanations of the reports or other support. These clients may therefore pay the non-execution service provider a unit price per product used (e.g., research reports), or a single subscription fee that allows them to access an entire library or repository of reports. The revenue from the price-per-product or subscription fee may be pushed down to individual non-execution service provider units based on the contribution of the units to the products used. For example, in subscription fee setting, if the reports of a first research team are more commonly accessed than those of a second, then the first team may receive a higher proportion of a subscription fee. 
     In various embodiments, firm management may collect a portion of the total revenue of a non-execution service provider unit for redistribution to other units. This portion may be a fixed amount or a percentage of each non-execution service provider unit&#39;s total revenue. The sell-side firm management may distribute the total collected amount according to desired management objectives. For example, sell-side firm management may distribute portions of the total collected amount to non-execution service provider units that the firm management wants to grow (e.g., in anticipation of unrealized future demand). 
     Referring back to the process flow  100 , according to various embodiments, transfers between non-execution service provider units may determined at step  108 . It will be appreciated that the clients of any given non-execution service provider unit may include other non-execution service provider units. For example, research groups, teams and/or analysts at financial services firms may rely on the results of other research groups and/or teams in preparing their own analyses. Therefore, it may be desirable for non-execution service provider units to direct a portion of their own revenue to other units to give the other units incentive to devote discretionary resources to the directing unit. 
       FIG. 7  shows a workflow  700  for determining transfers between non-execution service provider units according to various embodiments. Non-execution service provider units may first earmark a portion of their revenue to be transferred, and then allocate that portion to particular non-execution service provider units. In various embodiments, any of the earmarked amount that is not allocated may carry over to the next quarter, year, etc., or revert back to the original non-execution service provider unit. It will be appreciated that non-execution service provider units may prefer to earmark a set amount or a percentage of their own revenue. Each unit may determine whether it prefers to transfer an amount, or a percentage of total revenues at decision block  704 . The results of the decision for each non-execution service provider unit may be recorded at a Transfer Preference table  702 , for example, shown in  FIG. 8 . The table  702  shows whether the individual non-execution service provider units, designated by group (column  802 ), region (column  804 ) and team (column  806 ), prefer to transfer a percentage of their total revenue or an amount (column  808 ) over a given time period (column  810 ). 
     Non-execution service provider units that choose to transfer a percentage of their total revenue may select the percentage, or have it selected for them. The chosen percentage may be recorded at a Transfer Percentage table  706 , for example, as shown in  FIG. 9 . In the table  706  each non-execution service provider unit, designated by group (column  902 ), region (column  904 ) and team (column  906 ), may be associated with a selected revenue percentage (column  908 ) over a given time period (column  910 ). The non-execution service provider units may also select, or have selected for them (e.g., by sell-side firm management), the amounts of the transferred portion that are directed to specific other non-execution service provider units. For example,  FIG. 10  shows an exemplary Unit-To-Unit Transfer Percentage table  708 . The table  708  designates the percentage of a sending non-execution service provider unit&#39;s total transferred portion (column  1014 ) that is transferred to by the sending unit, designated by group (column  1002 ), region (column  1004 ) and team (column  1006 ), to a receiving unit, designated by group (column  1008 ), region (column  1010 ) and team (column  1012 ). 
     Non-execution service provider units may also choose to transfer a lump sum to other units, rather than a percentage of their revenue.  FIG. 11  shows an exemplary Transfer Amount table  710  listing non-execution service provider units, designated by group (column  1102 ), region (column  1104 ) and team (column  1106 ), and the amount (column  1108 ) that they will transfer to other units over a given time period (column  1110 ).  FIG. 12  shows an exemplary Unit-To-Unit Transfer Amount table  712  showing the amounts (column  1216 ) of non-execution service provider units&#39; total transferred portion that the units, designated by group (column  1204 ), region (column  1206 ) and team (column  1208 ), transfer to other units, designated by group (column  1210 ), region (column  1212 ), and team (column  1204 ). 
     It will be appreciated that the various methods for calculating a portion of the revenue of each non-execution service provider unit that will be transferred to other units, and the amount of the portion directed to each individual non-execution service provider unit may be determined according to any suitable method. For example, each non-execution service provider unit may designate a percentage of its total revenue for transfer, and then designate an amount of the percentage to particular units. Also, for example, each non-execution service provider unit may designate an amount for transfer, and then designate a percentage of the amount to particular units. It will also be appreciated that the sum of all of a non-execution service provider unit&#39;s revenue, minus outgoing transfers, plus incoming transfers, will be the net revenue of the non-execution service provider unit. 
     Referring back to the process flow  100 , the expenses of the non-execution service provider unit may be calculated at step  110 . The expenses may be broken down by client and service provider unit, allowing a non-execution service provider unit to know its costs for servicing each of its internal and external clients. The expenses of the non-execution service provider unit may be found according to any suitable methods, for example, one or more of the methods disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/857,526, filed on May 28, 2004 and entitled, “Systems and Method For Determining The Cost Of A Securities Research Department To Service A Client Of The Department,” which is incorporated herein by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/856,442, filed on May 28, 2004 and entitled, “Pricing Unbundled Equity Research” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/939,087, filed on Sep. 10, 2004 and entitled, “Systems and Methods For Auctioning Access To Securities Research Resources,” are also incorporated herein by reference. 
     The net revenues and expenses of each non-execution service provider unit may be aggregated to determine profits before tax (PBT) at step  112 .  FIG. 13  shows an exemplary Profit and Loss (P&amp;L) table  1300  breaking down the PBT for a particular non-execution service provider unit. Clients and other revenue sources of the unit are shown at column  1302 . The revenues associated with a client or revenue source are shown at column  1304 , and expenses at column  1306 . The total PBT for a client or revenue source is shown at column  1308  and the PBT per hour expended on a client or revenue source is shown at column  1310 . Column  1312  includes a rank of each client and revenue source in PBT/hour. Referring to the clients/revenue sources, the rows indicated by  1314  show external clients; the rows indicated by  1315  show internal clients, and the rows indicated by  1316  show fixed fee or other fee-based revenue. In various embodiments, the PBT data for a client may be broken down by individuals associated with the client. For example, individuals  1  and  2  are associated with client A in chart  1300 . A PBT and PBT/hour may be provided not only for the client as a whole, but for each individual associated therewith. It will be appreciated that a P&amp;L table may be created describing non-execution service provider units at various levels of the division. For example, a manager-level report may describe the P&amp;L of each of the analysts and associates under the manager&#39;s direct control; a regional report may describe the P&amp;L of all manager&#39;s in a given region; and a global report may show the P&amp;L of the entire non-execution service provider division. Also, a client-level report may show P&amp;L for the client based on the non-execution service provider groups that the client uses. 
     It will be appreciated that some of the steps shown in the process flow  100  may be omitted, or performed in an alternative order. For example, for non-execution service provider units who serve only external clients, it may not be necessary to calculate internal reward pool data at step  104  or determine team transfers at step  108 . Also, various categorizations of non-execution service provider units (e.g., teams and groups) are used herein. It will be appreciated, however, that non-execution service provider units may be categorized or grouped in any way to include any desired number of nested or un-nested components. 
       FIG. 14  shows a computer system  1400  according to various embodiments. The computer system  1400  may be used to calculate, track and/or monitor the revenues, expenses, and/or profits of the various non-execution service provider units and/or the non-execution service provider division as a whole. The computer system  1400  may include a server  1402 , user machines  1410  and databases  1406 . The various components  1402 ,  1410 ,  1406  may communicate with one another by utilizing a wired or wireless network  1408  that may be, for example, a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). 
     The server  1402  may execute one or more software modules  1404 . Each of the software modules  1404  may perform a calculation or task for monitoring the revenues, expenses and/or profits of the various non-execution service provider units. For example, one module  1404  may track the service client revenue of each non-execution service provider unit. Total fees received from each client may be divided between the execution service provider unit and the non-execution service provider unit according to the description above. Another of the modules  1404  may track the transfer payments between non-execution service provider units, including the total portion of the revenue of each unit that is to be transferred, and the amount of the total portion that is to be transferred to each other non-execution service provider unit. Data necessary to perform the calculations, such as, for example, the data included in tables may be included in one or more of databases  1406 . 
     In various embodiments, the server  1402  may execute a software module  1404  for performing data mining and predictive modeling of non-execution service provider income. For example, the cost of service from particular non-execution service provider units may be estimated based on the average prices and price ranges for the unit and/or similar in previous years, quarters, etc. Also, the amount that a particular client of a non-execution service provider will have to pay to receive an adequate level of service may be estimated by analyzing similar clients with similar accounts. In this way, suggested prices for non-execution service provider units may be given to prospective clients. 
     A user (e.g., an individual associated with a non-execution service provider unit, a member of firm management, etc.) may access the results of calculations performed at the server  1402  from a user machine  1410  via network  1408 . For example, the user machine  1410  may provide one or more user interfaces to the user. It will be appreciated that the user interfaces may be provided in any acceptable format including, for example, an e-mail message, a web page, a dedicated application, etc. The user interfaces may correspond to one or more of tables  200 ,  300 ,  400 ,  500 ,  600 ,  702 ,  704 ,  706 ,  708 ,  710 ,  712 , and  1300  described above. It will be appreciated that, in various embodiments, the user machines  1410  may also have some or all of the functionality of the server  1402  and modules  1404 , as well as access to databases  1406 . In this way, the user machines  1410  may operate independent of the server  1402 . 
     It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating, for purposes of clarity, other elements, such as, for example, some specific tasks of the non-execution service provider units described above, etc. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that these and other elements may be desirable. However, because such elements are well known in the art and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention, a discussion of such elements is not provided herein. 
     As used herein, a “computer” or “computer system” may be, for example and without limitation, either alone or in combination, a personal computer (PC), server-based computer, main frame, server, microcomputer, minicomputer, laptop, personal data assistant (PDA), cellular phone, pager, processor, including wireless and/or wireline varieties thereof, and/or any other computerized device capable of configuration for processing data for standalone application and/or over a networked medium or media. Computers and computer systems disclosed herein may include operatively associated memory for storing certain software applications used in obtaining, processing, storing and/or communicating data. It can be appreciated that such memory can be internal, external, remote or local with respect to its operatively associated computer or computer system. Memory may also include any means for storing software or other instructions including, for example and without limitation, a hard disk, an optical disk, floppy disk, ROM (read only memory), RAM (random access memory), PROM (programmable ROM), EEPROM (extended erasable PROM), and/or other like computer-readable media. 
     The various modules  1404  of the system  1400  may be implemented as software code to be executed by a processor(s) of the system  1400  or any other computer system using any type of suitable computer instruction type. The software code may be stored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer readable medium. The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein may include, for example, magnetic and optical memory devices such as diskettes, compact discs of both read-only and writeable varieties, optical disk drives, and hard disk drives. A computer-readable medium may also include memory storage that can be physical, virtual, permanent, temporary, semi-permanent and/or semi-temporary. A computer-readable medium may further include one or more data signals transmitted on one or more carrier waves. 
     While several embodiments of the invention have been described, it should be apparent that various modifications, alterations and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to persons skilled in the art with the attainment of some or all of the advantages of the present invention. It is therefore intended to cover all such modifications, alterations and adaptations without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.