Brokers Pairing Fund Managers, Industry Experts

Responding to the even playing field that Regulation Fair Disclosure has largely made of investing since it was put into place in 2000, brokers are now matching mutual fund portfolio managers and other institutional investors with industry experts, The Wall Street Journal reports.

One such firm, Gerson Lehrman Group, for instance, has assembled a network of 180,000 who can answer general industry questions for investors looking to get an edge, including client Fidelity Investments. The firm tells these experts, however, not to share material nonpublic information or information about their own firms, or to violate their company’s own policies.

Still, many investors find the information helpful, such as Chip Morris, a partner with Integral Capital Partners who says: “What’s in the public domain is worthless in terms of making money.”