Most of the studies undertaken under this heading have been for the private sector in key strategic / financial decisions, and are therefore highly confidential, a principle on which TAC is very strict. Our most important customers for such industry or corporate research include some of the largest European banks, and a couple of very large European multinational companies. A look at our list of customers can provide some clues on who are our patrons in such assignments, but we are not willing to relate specific research contracts with specific customers, except for the following studies, which were either for a pool of companies, or for which we have a ‘disclosure clearance’ from our customer, or for public institutions.

• Study on India banking and life insurance industry
  
  In the context of the EC-funded EU-India Joint Initiative to Enhance Trade and Investment(an initiative launched at the political summit between the EC and the Indian Government in Lisbon in June 2000 in order to investigate the reasons behind the limited trade flows and FDI between Europe and India), TAC was in charge of looking into the details of the Indian banking and life insurance industries. This included a thorough review of the regulatory aspects and current changes, a look at the major Indian participants in these financial activities, the type of competition and the role and place of foreign participants (see details on the dedicated website www.trade-invest.org). The report was completed by a list of concrete operational recommendations designed to improve the operating conditions for foreign banks and enhance India’s attractiveness for European institutions (2001-2002).

• Classify a portfolio of credit risks within countries hit by a crisis
  
  In the midst of the Asian crisis of 1997-1998, one large European bank was looking at an efficient way to classify its portfolio of credit risks within the Asian countries hit by the crisis, at a moment when the “global panic” was maximum and the temptation of retrenchment very high. TAC designed a proper method to assess the probability of survival / development / long-term difficulties for the bank’s counterparts, constructed a large database on 5-year financial accounts for more than 1,500 individual companies and banks from the region, and produced the results in terms of easy-to-use ratings as well as a computer programme enabling future updating and re-calibration.

• Research into the future of the saving / asset management industry in France
  
  Back in the mid-90s, TAC teamed up with a large French think tank (BIPE, Bureau d’Informations et de Prévisions Economiques, www.bipe.fr) to conduct an in-depth research into the future of the saving / asset management industry in France for a pool of more than 15 large financial institutions, from commercial banks to life insurance companies. The study was unique in its combination of very different approaches, from standard econometric modelling on savings and household allocation of funds, to sociologic analysis of generational changes in saving patterns and a complete suplly side approach (including insights into economies of scale and scope in the asset management industry).