Thought-leading research, analytics
and intelligence for Financial services
Our Values
Excellence
We strive to be the best in every aspect of our chosen field.
Client focus
Our clients' interests must always come first. Only this fosters long-term relationships.
Originality
We aim to be innovative and value-added for our clients, which will involve standing out from the crowd.
Integrity
We hold ourselves to ethics which we can be proud of.
Our People
Geoffrey Elliott
Director of ResearchChristopher Cant
Head of Banks StrategyAlastair Warr
Asian Banks & Insurance, Senior AnalystAndrew Crean
Insurance, Senior AnalystBritta Schmidt
Spanish & Italian Banks, Senior AnalystCorinne Cunningham
Head of CreditDaniel David
Banks Credit AnalystFarquhar Murray
Insurance & Banks, Senior AnalystGabor Kemeny
CEEMEA Financials, Senior AnalystIan White
Diversified Financials, Senior AnalystIsobel Hettrick
Asset Managers AnalystJacob Kruse
Scandinavian Banks, Senior AnalystJoseph Theuns
Insurance AssociateJosh Levin
European Payments & Paytech, Senior AnalystLeona Li
Banks Strategy AnalystStefan Stalmann
Swiss, French & German Banks, Senior AnalystYoudish Chicooree
Insurance, Senior AnalystBrian Foran
US Regional Banks, Senior AnalystChristian Bolu
US Capital Markets, Senior AnalystDavid Smith
US Banks AnalystJohn McDonald
US Large-Cap Banks, Senior AnalystKelsey Zhu
Financial Information Technology AnalystKen Suchoski
US Payments & FinTech AnalystMatt Coad
US Payments & FinTech AnalystPatrick Davitt
US Asset Managers, Senior AnalystRahul Jindal
Global FinTech StrategistRichard Fellinger
US Capital Markets AnalystRobert Wildhack
US Consumer Finance & Fintech AnalystRyan Tunis
Property & Casualty Insurance, Senior AnalystWes Carmichael
US Life Insurance, Senior AnalystAndreas Vollmer
Head of European Sales & AccessEd Allchin
European Banks Specialist SalesAmy Davies
Financials Subscription SalesChris Hartwell
European Insurance Specialist SalesJames Lloyd
European Banks Specialist SalesJan Thomson
GEM Financials Specialist SalesDavid Kubale
Credit SalesDwight Collins
Head of US Sales & AccessBrian Finneran
US Financials Specialist SalesGreg Regan
US Financials Specialist SalesAlex Weissman
Chief Operating OfficerRory Segura
Business Intelligence AssociateGeoffrey Elliott
Director of ResearchAlastair Warr
Asian Banks & Insurance, Senior AnalystCharlene Chu
China & India Macrofinancial, Senior AnalystChintan Joshi
Indian Banks, Senior AnalystFan Zhang
China & India Macrofinancial AnalystRenato Meloni
LatAm Financials AnalystRyan Foo
Senior Analyst, ASEAN BanksYundi Zhang
China Macrofinancial AnalystNetwork
We are highly respected by the financial services community. We have a unique network across the companies we cover and non-listed institutions while maintaining a broad range of relationships with regulators and key policy makers.
The quality of our network informs and enriches our research product and ideas. Furthermore our commitment to access and absence of conflicts supports an unrivalled offering for our clients.
Research
Our ambition is to offer best in class coverage of global financials. Autonomous has more than 30 publishing analysts covering more than 240 stocks across banks, insurers, diversified financials and fintech stocks. We seek to marry the big picture macro and thematic trends with bottom up stock picking – we are not a think tank.
We offer in depth research and analysis, consistently leading the debate on key themes for stocks and markets. We are unique in offering integrated research, with no silos between equity and credit research.
Execution
Autonomous offers a credit execution service on a matched principal basis. We do not take positions to ensure full independence of our research offering and use our distribution networks globally. We are mainly buy side to buy side to ensure any unfilled orders are returned in the same shape in which they were given. Autonomous uses BNP Paribas Security Service as our clearing partner.
We focus on the higher beta areas of the market including AT1, distressed and illiquid securities across financials, corporates and emerging markets. Autonomous is considered to be the “go-to” credit desk for news and views on the Financials sector in particular with highly experienced and knowledgeable traders who know the sector and its drivers. We are excited by the new partnership with Bernstein and expect our distribution network and product expertise to continue to grow in the coming years.
Equity Execution Services offered by Bernstein – [click here] for more information
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Jacob Kruse
Scandinavian Banks, Senior Analyst
Jacob joined Autonomous at the launch in 2009. Prior to this, he spent seven years in the JPMorgan Equity Research team. Jacob is a graduate in Finance from the Stockholm School of Economics.
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Britta Schmidt
Spanish & Italian Banks, Senior Analyst
Prior to joining Autonomous at its launch in 2009, Britta was an analyst in the equity research team at Merrill Lynch covering German and Benelux banks. She previously spent two years as at Fox-Pitt, Kelton, where she also covered Central and Eastern European banks. Britta started her career in investment banking / M&A in 2001, working in Citigroup's Financial Institutions Group covering primarily insurance. She received a BA (Hons) in European Business from Portsmouth Business School and a Diplom-Betriebswirt (FH) degree from the Fachhochschule Münster in Germany.
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Stefan Stalmann
Swiss, French & German Banks, Senior Analyst
Stefan joined Autonomous in July 2012 and covers Swiss, French and German banks. Prior to joining Autonomous, Stefan covered the same geographies, as well as Austria, for twelve years at Dresdner Kleinwort, UniCredit and RBS. Before moving to a sell-side analyst role in 2000, Stefan spent another nine years at Dresdner Bank in Germany and Canada, working in different roles in retail and corporate banking, credit risk and executive management. Stefan holds an MBA from Nuernberg University, an MA from Wayne State University (Detroit), and he has been a CFA charterholder since 1998.
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Ronan Clarke
Head of High Yield Research
Ronan joined Bernstein Autonomous in 2021 and covers companies in the consumer retail sectors. He has over 20 years of experience in sell-side high yield research, most recently for 12 years at Deutsche Bank. Ronan studied economics at Trinity College Dublin and is a CFA charterholder.
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Christopher Cant
Head of Banks Strategy
Chris joined Autonomous in 2011 and covers UK and Irish banks. Prior to joining Autonomous he worked at KPMG in Financial Services audit, focusing on large banks. Chris is a Chartered Accountant and holds a degree in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University.
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Andrew Crean
Insurance, Senior Analyst
Andrew Crean has been analysing UK and European insurers since 1982. Prior to founding Autonomous in 2009, Andrew was the head of European insurance equity research at Citigroup. He held this post for five years, leading a team of five analysts. Before joining Citigroup in 2000, Andrew worked as an insurance analyst in Schroder Securities, as a partner in GVGI (a start-up institutional stockbroker) in the 1990s and at Laing & Cruickshank and Capel-Cure Myers in the 1980s. Andrew holds a BA in modern history from Oxford University.
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Farquhar Murray
Insurance & Banks, Senior Analyst
Before joining Autonomous in 2009, Farquhar covered the Benelux, Swiss and Nordic insurers at Fox-Pitt, Kelton for two years. Prior to this, Farquhar worked at Morgan Stanley for six years. Farquhar holds a MA Honours degree in Economics from Cambridge University.
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Corinne Cunningham
Head of Credit
Prior to joining Autonomous at its launch in 2009, Corinne headed the financials fixed income research team at RBS. Before joining RBS in 2001, Corinne led a team of insurance analysts at the rating agency Standard & Poor's where she worked for 6 years. Corinne started her career in branch banking at NatWest on a graduate programme which soon specialised on credit and the financial sector. Corinne has a first class honours degree in Business Studies from the London Metropolitan University and holds the ACIB banking qualification.
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Daniel David
Banks Credit Analyst
Dan joined Autonomous in 2019 and covers banks credit. Before joining Autonomous, Dan spent seven years with Barclays, in their Treasury department working in finance and capital markets execution. Dan is a Chartered Accountant and holds a first class master’s degree in Chemistry from Southampton University.
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Gabor Kemeny
CEEMEA Financials, Senior Analyst
Gabor joined Autonomous in 2013 and covers CEEMEA and Austrian financials. Before joining Autonomous, he spent six years at Concorde Securities in Budapest, where he covered CEE stocks. Gabor holds a Finance degree from the Corvinus University of Budapest and he is a CFA charterholder.
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Joseph Theuns
Insurance Associate
Joseph joined Autonomous in 2022, to help cover the European Insurance sector. Prior to this, he spent four years at Cambridge Associates, where he advised institutional clients on asset allocation and investment strategy. Joseph holds an MSc in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics as well as a BSc in Investment and Financial Risk Management from Bayes (formerly Cass) Business School. He is a CFA charterholder.
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Josh Levin
European Payments & Paytech, Senior Analyst
Josh joined Autonomous in 2019 after 13 years at Citi Research. He previously covered European Payments & Fintech, Frontier Market Banks and US Regional Banks. He earned a BA in History from the University of Chicago and an MBA from NYU. He is also a CFA Charterholder.
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Leona Li
Banks Strategy Analyst
Leona joined Autonomous in 2012 and works on European banks strategy. Before joining Autonomous, Leona worked in Credit Risk Management in Deutsche Bank. Leona is a CFA charter holder and holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and a master’s degree in Finance from Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge.
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Youdish Chicooree
Insurance, Senior Analyst
Youdish joined Autonomous in 2011 and covers Nordic P&C, CEE and UK Motor Insurers. Prior to that he spent five years with KPMG in London, initially in their audit division covering investment banks and subsequently moving to KPMG's corporate finance practice. Youdish is a Chartered Accountant and holds a degree in International Business, Finance and Economics from Manchester University.
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Ian White
Diversified Financials, Senior Analyst
Ian joined Autonomous in 2016 to cover UK banks and speciality financials. Prior to joining Autonomous he worked in the Financial Stability Directorate at the Bank of England, focusing on the design of the stress-testing and capital frameworks for banks. He previously worked for RBS and the Financial Services Authority. Ian has a first class degree in Politics and Economics from the University of Sheffield.
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Oliver Troop
Insurance Analyst
Oliver joined Autonomous in 2019, having previously worked on the European Insurance team at Bernstein since 2015. He started his career at Towers Watson, where he qualified as an actuary. Oliver is a CFA charterholder and holds an MA in Physics from Oxford University.
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Christian Aust
High Yield, Senior Analyst
Christian joined Bernstein Autonomous in 2021 with a focus on high yield bond issuers from various industrial sectors. Prior to joining Bernstein Autonomous, Christian was head of corporate credit research at UniCredit where he worked for 13 years in senior equity and credit research roles in Munich and London. He started his career covering German automotive suppliers at LBBW in 2006. Christian is a CFA charterholder and holds a double degree (BBA) from DHBW Karlsruhe and the UK’s Open University.
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Isobel Hettrick
Asset Managers Analyst
Isobel joined Autonomous in 2022. Prior to this she worked at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, where she covered the large-cap UK and European Asset Managers, and completed her graduate training scheme at the Financial Conduct Authority, working in a variety of wholesale based roles. Isobel read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Somerville College, the University of Oxford, where she was awarded a full academic scholarship by the Margaret Thatcher Scholarship Trust. She is a CFA charterholder.
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Brian Foran
US Regional Banks, Senior Analyst
Brian co-founded the Autonomous Research US business in 2012 and has since covered all aspects of the banking sector, currently leading coverage of US Regional Banks. Prior to joining Autonomous Brian spent over a decade as banks analyst at Goldman Sachs and Nomura, with a broad range of coverage spanning over 30 stocks across Regional, Large-Cap & Trust Banks as well as Consumer Finance. Brian started his career as a consultant at Oliver Wyman, and holds a BSE in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University.
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Matt Coad
US Payments & FinTech Analyst
Matt rejoined Autonomous in 2021 and has been working in equity research since 2015. Matt previously worked at firms on both the buy-side (Millennium) and sell-side (Citi) and has experience covering a variety of financials sub-sectors (Capital Markets, Insurance, Payments/FinTech). He received his BA in Accounting/Finance from Canisius College and is a CFA charterholder.
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Caroline Conway
Financial Information Sector Analyst
Before joining Autonomous in 2021, Caroline spent several years at AllianceBernstein covering US Broadlines & Hardlines Retail and brings a unique background in consumer research, business analytics, and multinational operations to her current coverage. She has 15+ years of experience in strategy and analytics, including as Sr. Director of Strategy & Analytics at Walmart where she built a 50-member internal consulting team based in India and Costa Rica. She previously held a variety of ESG and operational roles at Walmart and other companies including Alcoa, Steelcase, Deere and Cummins. Caroline has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon University, an MBA and MS from the University of Michigan, and is a Level III CFA candidate.
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Craig Maurer
US Payments & FinTech, Senior Analyst
Craig Maurer joined Autonomous in September 2014 following nearly 8 years at CLSA Americas. Craig currently covers the Speciality Finance and Payments sector, and has been on Wall Street since 1997. He began his career at Neuberger Berman as a portfolio analyst before moving to the sell-side in 1999. Craig’s coverage of the payment processing and speciality finance industries began in 2003, prior to which he covered mid-cap banks. In 2006 and 2008, Craig was named to the Wall Street Journal’s “Best on the Street” ranking, and the Financial Times ranking in 2008 and 2013. He earned a BS from Syracuse University.
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Patrick Davitt
US Asset Managers, Senior Analyst
Patrick joined Autonomous in 2012 from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he spent nine years covering broker-dealers and alternative asset managers. Prior to that, he spent two years in Merrill Lynch's Investment Banking analyst program. Patrick holds a BBA in Finance & Accounting from Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business.
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Geoffrey Elliott
Director of Research
Geoffrey Elliott is Director of Research for Autonomous, in addition to covering Latin American fintech companies. Geoff joined the firm at its inception in 2009. Over his time at Autonomous, he has covered financial stocks as part of our European, US and Global Emerging Markets teams. Geoff is based in our London office, to which he returned in 2022, following a stint in New York. Prior to joining the firm, Geoff worked at Fox-Pitt, Kelton and Citigroup. He holds an MA in Natural Sciences and Economics from the University of Cambridge and is a CFA charterholder.
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Ryan Tunis
Property & Casualty Insurance, Senior Analyst
Ryan Tunis is a Senior Analyst on the US Property & Casualty Insurance team. Ryan joined Autonomous in 2018 and has been covering the US Insurance sector since 2012. Prior to joining Autonomous, Ryan was the US Property & Casualty Insurance analyst at Credit Suisse. Institutional Investor recognized him as a Rising Star for US Insurance/Nonlife in 2015 and 2017. He previously worked on the US Life Insurance team. Ryan is a CFA charterholder and has a BS in Mathematical Economics from Wake Forest University graduating Summa Cum Laude.
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John McDonald
US Large-Cap Banks, Senior Analyst
Prior to transferring to Autonomous Research, John covered large-cap banks for the past decade at Bernstein, where he has been ranked among the top U.S. analysts in various industry polls, including the #1 ranking in Institutional Investor for 2018. Prior to joining Bernstein in 2008, John spent four years as a senior research analyst at Bank of America Securities and six years at UBS, where he covered bank and credit card stocks. John began his career as a regulatory attorney with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BS in Industrial & Labor Relations from Cornell University.
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Christian Bolu
US Capital Markets, Senior Analyst
Prior to transferring to Autonomous Research, Christian covered US capital markets at Bernstein since 2017. He previously worked in Credit Suisse's Investment Bank strategy department and as a senior analyst in Credit Suisse Equity Research division.
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David Smith
US Banks Analyst
David Smith is the Analyst at Autonomous covering Trust Banks and niche Regional Banks. David joined Autonomous in 2019 as a Senior Research Associate covering US Large-Cap Banks, Regional Banks, and Credit Cards. Prior to joining Autonomous David was a Senior Associate at Lexington Partners, a private equity secondaries firm. Prior to Lexington Partners, David was an Investment Banking Associate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the Financial Institutions Group, where he primarily worked with clients in the banks, specialty finance, and financial technology sectors. Earlier in his career, he was a consultant with Orion Consultants, advising the capital markets arms of investment banks. David holds a BA in Economics from Yale with distinction and a MBA from Columbia Business School.
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Robert Wildhack
US Consumer Finance & Fintech Analyst
Rob joined Autonomous Research in 2015 and is currently covering the consumer finance and fintech sectors. He has experience covering many different subsectors within financials, including banks, specialty finance, and payments. Prior to joining Autonomous, Rob spent four years at RBC Capital Markets with the Alternative Assets Group. He graduated from Syracuse University with degrees in Finance and Economics and is a CFA charterholder.
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Ken Suchoski
US Payments & FinTech Analyst
Ken is an Analyst on the Payments Team at Autonomous. He joined the firm in 2016 as a research associate and has been covering payments and processing companies for almost a decade. Prior to joining Autonomous, Ken was an equity research associate at Janney Montgomery Scott covering REITs and an equity research analyst at First Eagle Investment Management's family office. Ken started his career in portfolio analytics at First Eagle Investment Management, servicing institutional clients invested in the Global Value strategy. He received his Bachelor of Arts with a major in Economics from Middlebury College and is a CFA charterholder.
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Kelsey Zhu
Financial Information Technology Analyst
Kelsey Zhu is the lead Analyst covering Financial Information Technology companies. Kelsey joined Autonomous in 2022 with 8 years of research experience spanning across IT Hardware supply chain companies that specialized in flat panel display, display glass, PCs and industrial robotics; Asian equity strategy, and Asian and US gaming companies. Before Autonomous, Kelsey led the expansion of Bernstein’s Global Gaming team. Prior to Bernstein, Kelsey worked at Deutsche Bank covering China cement and oilfield services. Kelsey holds a BA in Business Administration from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where she graduated in the top 1% of her class.
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Rahul Jindal
Global FinTech Strategist
Rahul joined Autonomous in 2022, and covers the FinTech sector. Prior to Autonomous, he spent three years at Capital One Financial in the Corporate Development team, leading M&A transactions and strategic partnerships. Before Capital One, Rahul served technology and advanced industry clients at McKinsey & Company, and started his career at Rolls-Royce plc. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Georgetown University.
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Richard Fellinger
US Capital Markets Analyst
Richard Fellinger joined Autonomous in 2019, covering the US Capital Markets sector. Richard has extensive experience on the sell-side having worked at Bernstein, Credit Suisse, and BMO Capital Markets where he covered various sectors including brokers, asset managers, exchanges, consumer finance, machinery and diversified manufacturing stocks. He received his BA in Finance from College of Charleston.
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Wes Carmichael
US Life Insurance, Senior Analyst
Wes joined Autonomous in 2023 and has worked in the US Insurance sector since 2014, both on the corporate and sell side. Prior to Autonomous, Wes’ sell side career includes experience at Wells Fargo, UBS, Credit Suisse, Piper Jaffray, and Sterne Agee. He also previously worked at Fidelity & Guaranty Life with broad responsibilities in investor relations, capital management, and M&A. Wes has a BBA in Finance from Texas Christian University and is a CFA charterholder.
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Andreas Vollmer
Head of European Sales & Access
Andreas joined Autonomous at its launch in 2009. Prior to this, Andreas worked in the banks team Merrill Lynch, which he joined as a graduate in early 2008. Before joining Merrill Lynch, Andreas graduated from the University of Mannheim in Germany with a top class degree in Business Administration, majoring in Finance.
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Ed Allchin
European Banks Specialist Sales
Prior to founding Autonomous in 2009, Ed worked at Merrill Lynch for the top ranked banks team alongside Autonomous co-founders Stuart Graham and Manus Costello. Ed graduated from Nottingham University in 1998 with a degree in History, joining the graduate training program at HSBC / James Capel the same year. Before Merrill Lynch, Ed also worked for successful banks teams at Credit Suisse and JP Morgan.
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Chris Hartwell
European Insurance Specialist Sales
Chris joined Autonomous in 2022 and has spent over 20 years focused on the insurance sector across M&A, Equity Research and Equity Sales functions. Chris joined from Barclays where he was ranked #1 in Extel, and previously worked at Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers/Nomura and RBC. He has a BA in Economics from London Guildhall and is a CFA charterholder.
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Dwight Collins
Head of US Sales & Access
Prior to joining Autonomous, Dwight was a buy-side analyst at Millennium Partners covering global financials. Dwight has previous equity sales experience working at UBS and FBR & Co. Dwight began his career working in the Treasury group at M&T Bank. He holds a BA in History from Brown University and a post-graduate degree in Philosophy/Religious Studies from Oxford University.
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Maeshal Abid
US Financials Specialist Sales
Prior to joining Autonomous in 2017, Maeshal was on the corporate development team at JPMorgan, where he worked with C-suite management on capital & balance sheet strategy. He previously worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. Maeshal graduated with honors from Emory University, and his senior thesis focused on potential implications of post-GFC capital regulations for the global banking system. He is a CFA charterholder.
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Amy Davies
Financials Subscription Sales
Amy joined Autonomous in Nov 2016 having previously been a Specialist Salesperson in the Technology Sectors for three Investment Banks. Amy looks after Research Product Sales Globally in both the Asset Manager (long-only, hedge fund, wealth management) and Non-Asset Management (Consultants, Corporates) client categories and is a relationship manager.
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Brian Finneran
US Financials Specialist Sales
Prior to joining Autonomous in 2016, Brian worked in equity research at Barclays covering emerging technologies across the US and Europe. Brian started his career at KBW as an equity research analyst covering universal and large cap banks. He holds a BA in Finance and Management from Georgetown University.
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Greg Regan
US Financials Specialist Sales
Prior to joining Autonomous, Greg was the global financials long/short equity PM at Highbridge Capital. Greg has extensive buy-side experience including stints as sector head/senior analyst at Millennium (Tribe Capital), Cedar Hill Capital, and Avenue Capital on the Events Driven equity team. Greg’s wall street career started in equity research at Goldman Sachs covering financials and telecom services. Greg graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in finance and he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.
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Jan Thomson
GEM Financials Specialist Sales
Jan joined Autonomous in 2019 to become the company’s Global Emerging Markets Financials Specialist Salesperson. Previously, he spent five years as a generalist equity salesperson at top-ranked Emerging EMEA investment bank, WOOD & Co. Jan draws upon his vast experience living and working in emerging markets along with first-hand knowledge of the GEM corporate universe to generate ideas. He has an MA from Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals and a BA from Arizona State University.
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Stephen Barret
Financials Specialist Sales
Stephen joined Autonomous in September 2019. He has been analysing and investing in Global Financials for close to 20 years, with his experience split equally both between the buy and the sell-side and also between developed and emerging markets. He started his career as an Equity Analyst at Merrill Lynch, covering EMEA Banks, before moving to Nevsky Capital, where he spent over a decade, a period during which he ran a long only book in Latin America, as well as generating long/short ideas for the hedge fund. After Nevsky, Stephen returned to the sell-side, working initially for a research start-up based out of the Fintech community in Level 39, before joining the Specialist Sales desk at UBS. He holds a BSc in Economics from the LSE and a Masters in Finance from LBS.
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David Kubale
Credit Sales
David joined Autonomous in 2019 to lead Credit Sales. David joined from Reorg Research and prior to that spent ten years at CreditSights latterly the last five as Head of Sales - EMEA & APAC working with clients globally from both the sell-side and buy-side. David’s experience is across the credit spectrum from deeply distressed/stressed up through High Yield and Investment Grade.
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Alex Weissman
Chief Operating Officer
Alex joined AB Bernstein in 2014 after having spent 4 years in an IR Advisory role at Ipreo. Alex has been a member of the Autonomous Team since 2019. He is a CFA® charterholder and graduated from the University of Michigan, with a degree in Economics.
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Michelle Chin
Business Intelligence Associate
Michelle joined Autonomous in 2014 as the Hong Kong office manager and has been a member of the Data Administration Team since January 2021. Michelle is responsible for maintaining the Autonomous CRM & research distribution systems and for supporting the global sales & research departments. Prior to joining Autonomous, Michelle worked for more than 7 years as the HK office manager & investment administrator at a global asset management firm.
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Rory Segura
Business Intelligence Associate
Rory joined Autonomous from Bernstein after the merger in 2019. She has served as manager on a variety of operations-related projects. She has created new processes for streamlining the client experience, managing customer data and tracking product performance. Rory is well versed in many aspects of the equity research business, having spent several years at Bernstein working first in research marketing and then as a sales assistant on the hedge fund desk.
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James Lloyd
European Banks Specialist Sales
James joined Autonomous in 2024, and has spent 25 years in financial services, of which the past 16 have been focused on the banking sector. James joined from Societe Generale, where he ran the specialist sales team. Prior to SG, James worked for highly ranked banks teams at both UBS and JPMorgan.
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Nicholas Holt
Senior Credit Trading
Nick joined Autonomous in Dec 2019, having started his career at UBS in 2003. There, he spent the last 12 years in credit sales covering Northern European across the UK, Netherlands and Nordic region.
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David Kubale
Credit Sales
David joined Autonomous in 2019 to lead Credit Sales. David joined from Reorg Research and prior to that spent ten years at CreditSights latterly the last five as Head of Sales - EMEA & APAC working with clients globally from both the sell-side and buy-side. David’s experience is across the credit spectrum from deeply distressed/stressed up through High Yield and Investment Grade.
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Corinne Cunningham
Head of Credit
Prior to joining Autonomous at its launch in 2009, Corinne headed the financials fixed income research team at RBS. Before joining RBS in 2001, Corinne led a team of insurance analysts at the rating agency Standard & Poor's where she worked for 6 years. Corinne started her career in branch banking at NatWest on a graduate programme which soon specialised on credit and the financial sector. Corinne has a first class honours degree in Business Studies from the London Metropolitan University and holds the ACIB banking qualification.
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Ronan Clarke
Head of High Yield Research
Ronan joined Bernstein Autonomous in 2021 and covers companies in the consumer retail sectors. He has over 20 years of experience in sell-side high yield research, most recently for 12 years at Deutsche Bank. Ronan studied economics at Trinity College Dublin and is a CFA charterholder.
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Daniel David
Banks Credit Analyst
Dan joined Autonomous in 2019 and covers banks credit. Before joining Autonomous, Dan spent seven years with Barclays, in their Treasury department working in finance and capital markets execution. Dan is a Chartered Accountant and holds a first class master’s degree in Chemistry from Southampton University.
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Christian Aust
High Yield, Senior Analyst
Christian joined Bernstein Autonomous in 2021 with a focus on high yield bond issuers from various industrial sectors. Prior to joining Bernstein Autonomous, Christian was head of corporate credit research at UniCredit where he worked for 13 years in senior equity and credit research roles in Munich and London. He started his career covering German automotive suppliers at LBBW in 2006. Christian is a CFA charterholder and holds a double degree (BBA) from DHBW Karlsruhe and the UK’s Open University.
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Pooma Kimis
Head of European Investor Access & Global Thematics
Pooma joined Autonomous in 2019, after almost a decade of building and leading a global macro think tank focused on central banks, sovereign funds and public pension plans. Pooma started her career in private equity focused on investments along the Silk Road, before going into investment banking focused on real estate finance. She is an UCL alumna and holds a postgraduate diploma in Law.
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Rachel Griffin
European Investor Access
Rachel has been with Autonomous since the company’s beginnings in 2009, initially as office manager before moving to corporate access full time. Prior to joining Autonomous, Rachel spent 10 years at Citi as a research assistant working with the insurance team which would go on to co-found Autonomous. Rachel started her career in 1994 at a small stock brokers in New York, followed by three years at Tate & Lyle supporting the FD.
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Annie Burke
US Investor Access
Annie Burke joined Autonomous in 2022 after seven years in the investment bank at UBS, working in Marketing, Corporate Access and Institutional Sales. Prior to UBS she held similar positions at Deutsche Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and The Royal Bank of Scotland. She received a Bachelor of Science from Clemson University and holds a certificate in Marketing Strategy from Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management.
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Andrew Sofia
US Investor Access
Andrew joined Autonomous in 2022 as part of the Corporate Access team. Prior to Autonomous, he worked in corporate event planning as well as live event streaming. He has a BS degree in Hospitality Management from Widener University.
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Hayley Houghton
European Investor Access
Hayley joined Autonomous in 2016, prior to this she worked at CPPIB in the Fundamental Equities team. Before Joining CPPIB, Hayley worked at Nomura for 5 years in the Fixed Income FX Business Management Team. Hayley graduated with honors from the University of Chester with a degree in Biological Sciences. She is CIPD qualified and has also graduated from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
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Charlene Chu
China & India Macrofinancial, Senior Analyst
Charlene is considered one of the leading experts on shadow finance in China and on the interlinkages between China’s monetary and fiscal policy and the country’s sprawling financial system. Prior to joining Autonomous in 2014, Charlene worked for eight years as a Senior Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Fitch Ratings in Beijing, where she oversaw the credit ratings of Chinese financial institutions. Before joining Fitch Ratings, Charlene served as a Senior Analyst in the Emerging Markets & International Affairs group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she focused on financial sector reform and monetary policy development in China and other Asian countries. Charlene holds both an MBA and an MA in International Relations from Yale University. She is an elected member of the US Conference of Business Economists.
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Chen Huang
China Macrofinancial Analyst
Chen joined Autonomous in September 2014. Prior to that, she worked at CLSA for 6.5 years, mainly covering China banks/non-bank financials. Before her equity research career, Chen worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Beijing as an auditor for 3 years and briefly spent time in Caijing Magazine as a reporter. She received her Bachelor degree in Economics from University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in China and Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Maxwell School of Syracuse University in the US.
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Alastair Warr
Asian Banks & Insurance, Senior Analyst
Alastair joined Autonomous in late 2014 for its Asia launch, as financials specialist sales. Prior to that he had been in Asian regional equity sales for four years, and before that he was an analyst at Cazenove Asia for ten years. He covered banks for seven of those and China consumer stocks for three, finishing up as Deputy Head of Research. He moved back into research with Autonomous in 2020, to support our China macro output and build bottom-up Asia stock coverage. In 2023, he also assumed coverage of HSBC and Standard Chartered. Alastair holds a first class degree in Chinese from Oxford University.
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Fan Zhang
China & India Macrofinancial Analyst
Prior to joining Autonomous in 2017, Fan served as a senior China economist at both RHB and CIMB, where he covered economics, fixed income, and local rates in Greater China from 2014 to 2017. Before that, he worked at UOB Kay Hian from 2009 to 2014, serving as the head of China economic research. He also held a position as a lecturer and macroeconomist at Newcastle University (UK) from 2004 to 2009. He was recognized as a ranked China Economist in the Asiamoney Brokers Poll. Fan holds a Master's degree in Financial Economics from Nottingham University (UK) and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Economics at Newcastle University (UK).
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Renato Meloni
LatAm Financials Analyst
Renato Meloni covers Latin American Financials from our New York office. Renato started his career in 2004 at Constellation Asset Management in Brazil. Prior to joining the firm in 2021, Renato worked at Explora Investments covering multiple sectors in LatAm, and at the Conscious Endeavors family office in NY. Renato holds a Bachelor’s degree in Robotics Engineering from the University of Sao Paulo (USP), an MS in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business and is also a Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) certified Financial Sustainability Analyst.
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Ryan Foo
Senior Analyst, ASEAN Banks
Ryan brings over a decade of experience covering Southeast Asian financials across credit and equity markets. His career began in credit risk at Goldman Sachs, with a broad coverage of APAC financials. He then transitioned to Fitch Ratings as a credit ratings analyst. Prior to joining Autonomous, Ryan was an equity analyst covering Southeast Asian financials at Bank of America. Ryan holds a double degree in Accountancy and Economics from Singapore Management University.
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Yundi Zhang
China Macrofinancial Analyst
Yundi joined Autonomous in 2014 and has been analysing China macro-financial developments since then. Prior to joining Autonomous, Yundi was an Associate Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Fitch Ratings in Beijing, where he has been analysing Chinese financial institutions. Yundi has an MS in Finance from Goldey-Beacom College and an MPA from University of Baltimore. He is a CFA charterholder and holds an FRM certification.
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Chintan Joshi
Indian Banks, Senior Analyst
Chintan covers Indian Financials at Autonomous Research. He has over 20 years of experience covering Research, Portfolio Management, Trading, Capital Markets and IT. Prior to joining Autonomous, he was a Portfolio Manager at Abaco AM, a specialist financials focused hedge fund, running a market neutral strategy. Before moving to the buyside, Chintan covered European Banks at Nomura/Lehman Brothers, where he was the co-head of the European Banks Equity Research team. Chintan holds an MSc from London School of Economics in Finance & Accounting, is a qualified Chartered Accountant from ICAI - India, and recently completed a postgrad program in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning from University of Texas at Austin.