Financial Times – Attracta Mooney

Mark Lewis, the highly-regarded Barclays analyst, has been named as the new head of research of a climate change think-tank, becoming the latest high-profile departure from investment banking research as regulation overhauls the industry in Europe.

The head of European utilities equity research at Barclays will join Carbon Tracker, a not-for-profit group that focuses on energy markets and climate change, on Monday. Mr Lewis’s departure comes with his previous industry in the midst of a radical shake-up. The introduction of sweeping new European rules known as Mifid II in January have forced asset managers to “unbundle” the cost of investment research from that of executing trades with banks and brokers.

This has prompted fears among many investment banks that their research will steadily be dumped — resulting in the slow death of sellside analysts.

Mr Lewis said think-tanks such as Carbon Tracker had an important role to play in providing information and insight that was once offered by banks. “Carbon Tracker is able to be more effective at informing investors about climate risk and influencing their actions than traditional investment banks,” he said. “New EU Mifid regulations require banks to charge for research, which means that investors are more discriminating in what they read and are seeking differentiated views.”

Read the full story on the FT here.