Frequently Asked Questions

Our standard contractual arrangements provide clients with either a dedicated, full time analyst resource (bench-marked at 150 hours per month); a fixed block of hours that can be utilised over time; or a team to deliver a defined project scope. Our standard contractual agreement is with our UK parent company and governed by UK law.

Our team is based in Cape Town, South Africa, which benefits from close time-zone alignment with the UK (1 hour ahead of the UK during BST; 2 hours ahead of the UK during GMT). Our team’s contractual working hours run to 6pm South African time. However, we understand that when deadlines need to be met longer hours will be required.

We take confidentiality extremely seriously. We understand that if our clients can’t trust us with their information, then we won’t have a business. Our own employees are bound by individual confidentiality agreements in their employment contracts with Oceanrock. Our standard contractual terms with clients include both market-standard confidentiality wording and responsibility for managing conflicts of interest. Our IT infrastructure reflects industry best-practice – both in terms of cyber-security and access restrictions so that only your client team at Oceanrock will have access to your confidential information.

Your primary working relationship will be with one member of the Oceanrock team. This enables the on-boarding process to be as smooth as possible, and consistency and efficiency to be established early in our relationship. In addition, our intention is that you also interact with a small Oceanrock team who can provide cover during vacation or sick leave, and is well-placed to provide additional support if you need to increase your capacity with our team at short notice. Critically, you will be dealing with the analysts in our team who are actually doing the work – rather than a relationship manager who sits between you and our analyst team.

Given the nature of our business, remote working has always been at the heart of what we do. Our aim is to become a natural extension of your team, which works best when there is regular and real-time communication. This can be through email, Microsoft Teams, phone calls or other forms of communication that work best for you and your team.

Yes. At any point in time, we are utilising our own subscriptions to a number of market-leading information sources.

We recruit talented people who will all have completed an undergraduate degree in finance. We also recruit qualified chartered accountants from the local offices of the big-4 global professional services firms. We support all of our team with an extensive in-house training programme, and also support those who chose to undertake professional qualifications, including the CFA. Our team of analysts is organised into smaller teams of 8-10, with internal review and quality control of work managed within those team structures.

No, we do not take on work at risk or on a success-fee basis.

Yes. Every one of our team is a permanent employee of Oceanrock. We do not source freelance staff to meet client demand. We invest a significant amount of time and resources in the technical skills development of our team, as well as their all-round professional development. We also believe that the culture within which our team works at Oceanrock is a key part of the development of our team and the quality of the service that we provide to our clients.

No. We do not provide financial or investment advice, or any other services that fall under the regulation of either the UK FCA or South African FSCA.

Our client delivery team are based in South Africa. However, we do visit the UK on a regular basis to meet with existing and potential new clients. We always welcome the opportunity to meet our clients face-to-face, to build relationships and understand how we can be serving you better.