Abstract:

Financial market research covers two main types of work: (a) Survey research tor financial institutions among audiences of relevance to them. This includes surveys among customers, both personal and corporate, and potential customers of banks, building societies, insurance companies, credit card organizations and finance houses. (b) Survey research among the financial community, on behalf of any organisations. Frequently abbreviated to ‘City" research, this part incorporates studies among stockbrokers, merchant banks, pension funds, insurance companies, investment trusts and others responsible for investing large sums of money, and surveys of the financial media and among private shareholders. Market research came relatively late to the financial sector. The following decade has seen increasing use made of research by the financial sector, particularly by the major banks. Insurance companies and building societies were slower off the mark and will probably develop rapidly over the next decade.