These are nervous times for equity research analysts. New EU rules on payment for research are widely expected to trigger a steep drop in the revenue brokers generate from this. That in turn is predicted to lead to further deep cuts in research teams, on top of the reductions in headcount and salaries seen in recent years.

But are analysts really such an endangered species? In truth, nobody knows what is going to happen when the new rules come into force next year. There is a good chance that the impact on analysts employed by brokers will be less severe than generally assumed. And the prospects for analysts in other parts of the jungle have rarely looked brighter.