As financial service firms are increasingly opting for outsourcing services abroad, there is one area they may want to reconsider – research prepared by foreigners. Economics Times reports that while the talent pool in India for financial research and analysis (FRA) is comparable to that in the U.S. with huge growth potential, U.S. firms that hire overseas analysis to perform FRA may discover it is a wasted effort unless the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rethinks its rules. Currently, says the Times, the SEC has restrictions on stock recommendations from foreign analysts – though no such limitations are placed on "fundamental and industrial research" or selling such research to hedge funds, for example. Indian analysts are allowed to do research involving only secondary data for U.S. companies, but any reports that involved recommendations would require a visit to the company being studied.