What Autonomous Research does

Autonomous Research is an independent global financial-sector research firm founded in London in 2009 by Andrew Crean and Jacob Kruse, with a stated mission to be the leading research provider on financial companies globally. In 2019 it combined with Sanford C. Bernstein, broadening its coverage depth and services, and now operates under the Bernstein Autonomous brand within Sanford C. Bernstein Holdings Limited, with offices in London (headquarters), New York, and Hong Kong. The firm employs 51-100 staff, including 35+ publishing analysts, and covers 280+ companies across banks, insurers, diversified financials, and fintech stocks. Coverage spans European, US, Global Emerging Markets, and Asian financials, including macrofinancial analysis of China and India, payments and fintech, high yield credit, reinsurance, and asset managers.

The core product is integrated equity-and-credit research delivered without silos, combining top-down macro and thematic analysis with bottom-up stock and credit recommendations. Research is distributed to institutional investors, asset managers, hedge funds, and other financial institutions through specialist sales teams organized by geography (US, Europe, GEM) and function (equity, credit, investor access), through a published Global Research Pricing Matrix subscription, and through Corporate Access / Investor Access programs that facilitate direct meetings between covered companies and institutional investors. The revenue model is subscription-based recurring revenue on research products.

The business is private, structured as a partnership, with no venture capital, private equity, or public ownership identified. Key leadership includes Geoffrey Elliott (Director of Research), Corinne Cunningham (Head of Credit, founding member), Alex Weissman (COO), Andreas Vollmer (Head of European Sales & Access, founding member), Ken Usdin (Co-Head of Autonomous US), and senior analysts drawn from JPMorgan, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, the Federal Reserve, and Bank of England.

Name

Autonomous Research

Legal name

Sanford C. Bernstein Holdings Limited

Website

https://autonomous.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Autonomous Research is an independent global financial-sector research firm, combined with Bernstein since 2019, employing 35+ analysts covering 280+ banks, insurers, diversified financials, and fintech companies for institutional investors and asset managers through subscription and corporate access services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Research Services

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities (523)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Equity Research (FSACAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Credit Research (FSACAGAB), Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

Keywords

• Financial sector research
• Equity research services
• Credit research coverage
• Institutional investor research
• Asset manager research

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Research Subscriptions: Subscription-based research services sold to institutional investors, asset managers, and financial institutions. Clients pay for access to analyst research, ratings, and market intelligence on banks, insurers, diversified financials, and fintech companies.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Autonomous Research is an independent global financial sector research firm providing integrated equity and credit research on banks, insurers, diversified financials, and fintech stocks. The firm has 35+ publishing analysts covering 280+ companies and combines macro/thematic analysis with bottom-up stock picking. It also operates corporate and investor access programs facilitating direct engagement between covered companies and institutional investors.

Product overview

Autonomous Research (now combined with Bernstein) is a financial research provider offering integrated equity and credit research services. The company has more than 35 publishing analysts covering over 280 companies across banks, insurers, diversified financials, and fintech stocks. The research product integrates both equity and credit analysis without silos, combining macro and thematic trends with bottom-up stock picking. Access to research is facilitated through the Autonomous Research Portal, with the Global Research Pricing Matrix documenting the fee structure for various service tiers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Global Financials Research Subscription
• Corporate Access / Investor Access Programs

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Bernstein (Sanford C. Bernstein)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerIn 2019, Autonomous Research combined with Bernstein to broaden depth of coverage and services. The merger created a leading research provider covering global financials with integrated equity and credit research capabilities. The combined entity operates under the Bernstein Autonomous brand.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• CreditSights: Independent credit research firm specializing in credit analysis across corporate issuers and financial institutions. Directly comparable as a subscription-based independent research provider competing for similar institutional wallet, with senior Autonomous credit analyst Jesse Rosenthal previously leading CreditSights' U.S. Financials team.
• Reorg Research: Specialist research and data provider focused on leveraged finance, distressed debt, and credit. A direct competitor in subscription-based financial-sector research, with Autonomous' Head of European Credit Sales (David Kubale) having previously worked at Reorg.
• Keefe, Bruyette and Woods (KBW): Specialist investment bank and research firm dedicated to financial services companies. Direct comparable in coverage focus (financials) and subscription research model, with Autonomous Asset Managers analyst Isobel Hettrick previously at KBW covering UK and European Asset Managers.
• Wolfe Research: Independent equity research boutique with strong sector specialization including financials, healthcare, and tech. Comparable as a subscription-based independent research platform serving institutional investors with deep sector expertise.
• Evercore ISI: Independent equity and policy research provider operating within Evercore. Directly comparable as a non-bank institutional research franchise targeting similar buy-side clients with sector-focused coverage and corporate/investor access programs.

Broad incumbents

• Bloomberg Intelligence (BI): Large-scale institutional research arm of Bloomberg LP covering global sectors including financials with both subscription research and data analytics. A broader incumbent with overlapping coverage of financials at scale, distributed alongside the Bloomberg Terminal ecosystem.
• S&P Global Market Intelligence: Large provider of research, data, and analytics on financial institutions and corporates. Broad incumbent in financial-sector research and benchmarking; comparable on subscription-based institutional research distribution though with significantly wider scope than Autonomous' financials-only focus.
• Fitch Ratings: Global credit rating agency and research provider producing analysis on financial institutions and corporate issuers. Broad incumbent with overlapping credit research on financials; multiple Autonomous analysts (Charlene Chu, Yundi Zhang) previously held senior roles in Fitch's Financial Institutions Group.
• Jefferies Financial Group (Equity Research): Global investment bank with a sizable equity research franchise including sector specialist coverage of financial services. Multiple Autonomous senior analysts (Ken Usdin, Casey Haire) held prior analyst roles at Jefferies, indicating direct competitive overlap in financial-sector equity research distribution.

Others

• Fox-Pitt, Kelton (now part of Cohen & Steers): Former specialist financials research and M&A boutique whose alumni (Geoffrey Elliott, Farquhar Murray, Britta Schmidt) founded or staffed Autonomous. Comparable historical predecessor firm in financials-only specialist research now adjacent following acquisition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/autonomous-research-llp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Autonomous Research