Investment - ​Firms on Both the Buy and Sell Sides

Many companies in the investment sector are categorized by practitioners as either sell-side or buy-side organizations.

Typical examples of sell-side firms are investment banks, brokers, and dealers, all of which mainly offer investment products and services. 

Portfolio management firms that work for either their clients or themselves are known as buy-side firms. A buy-side participant is someone who works with a buy-side firm to acquire investing products and services. On the other hand, the "buy side" consists of institutional investors including insurance firms, pension funds, endowment funds, foundations, and sovereign wealth funds. Consultants whose exclusive clientele are buy-side firms are sometimes referred to as "buy-side" by practitioners. For instance, a large number of consultants work with buy-side institutional investors to assess the performance of investments. 

Companies in the investing sector are not uniformly divided along buy-side or sell-side lines. Companies that offer investment information services, including credit rating organizations, data vendors, or investment research providers, do not find them relevant. 

It is difficult to apply the classifications to many large, integrated organizations since they are rather arbitrary. Despite being sell-side organizations, investment banks sometimes have divisions or totally owned subsidiaries that offer investment management.