Individual investors show only a limited level of awareness that independent stock research is available under the Global Research Settlement Agreement between government regulators and 12 investment banks, according to a survey released today by Standard & Poor’s.

The S&P-commissioned poll was conducted by Greenfield Online in April 2005. It finds that individual investors have a growing sense of personal accountability and a desire to be informed about their investments.

“The data suggest that, in general, investors are more aware of the risks associated with stock investing today than they were two years ago and use a variety of tools to understand investment opportunities,” S&P says.

Yet it also found that 40% of investors surveyed are unaware of the analyst settlement. Among customers of firms that were part of the settlement, just six in 10 say they get stock research from their brokerage firm and of those who get such research, 62% say the research comes from an independent source despite the fact that all settlement firms make this research widely available to retail clients.

In addition, of those surveyed who receive independent research from the settlement firms, only 40% are aware that they can get this research at any time.

S&P says that the survey suggests that investors may not have the tools they need to genuinely understand multiple providers’ stock reports and thereby assess conflicting views. “Underscoring this point, respondents’ preferences for stock research reports tend to be guided by a firm’s reputation, trustworthiness and overall quality of a report rather than the stock selection performance record of the research provider,” it says.

“The Global Research Settlement Agreement broke new ground in many ways but there is much more to be done to address investor needs for high quality research and tools,” said Edward Emmer, newly-appointed head of Equity Research Services at Standard & Poor’s. “With the increased availability of independent research, research providers, investment firms and regulatory agencies have an historic opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to retail investors by ensuring that they benefit from this information. In addition, these parties should be looking for ways to help clients understand research reports and contrast them with research from other providers. The end result is a more informed investor, better able to meet the investing challenges of global financial markets.”

The survey was completed by 1032 respondents from all age groups over 18 years old who have at least $50,000 invested in stocks.