Research has been in retreat of late in the U.S. and Europe, as brokerage firms seek to cut costs in the face of regulatory change. But in Asia it's a whole different world, as global banks push aggressively into the region to satisfy investors' demands for more analysis of its red-hot equity markets.

"To support our expanding footprint in Asia, we've added 23 analysts since the beginning of last year," says Stephen Adams, head of pan-Asian research for Goldman Sachs (Asia). That hiring binge brings the firm's total number of analysts covering Asian equities to 58.

The Asian expansion of Citi Investment Research is just as striking. "We now field a team of 75 equity analysts in the region, 45 of whom I hired since July 2005," says Adrian Faure, who heads Citi's Asia-Pacific equity research. The firm expanded its equity research team by a net five analysts over...