Bell still tolling for equity analysts

Equity analysts put on a brave face last night at the Thomson Extel Survey awards, but a head of equity research says the axe is still swinging.

Merrill Lynch's Antoine Colonna, winner of the leading pan-European analyst award, appealed to investment banks to nurture and support their equity analysts, and said there was considerable uncertainty over the direction in which the industry was heading, the Financial Times reports.

Indeed, a quarter of the fund managers polled in this year's Extel survey said they expected to spend less on research now that its true cost was becoming transparent under the FSA's stockbroking reforms introduced this year. Average rates of pay have fallen, as have the number of analysts.

A head of equity research told the Financial Times he was at the awards only to find out if any rival firms had started hiring again, but said "I get the impression most big firms are still cutting."