Research firm Standard & Poor's (S&P) has hired three people with plans to recruit more staff as fast as possible.

Simone Arblaster and James Gunn will join S&P's equities team while Renee Tannous has been appointed as operations manager.

Arblaster worked previously with asset consultant Frontier Investment Consulting as an investment analyst.

Gunn recently worked with financial services company Aviva where he reviewed managed funds and ratings for financial advisers. Tannous worked for Morningstar where she managed the company's data team.

The firm has plans to hire more people, particularly in direct property, alternative investments and operations.

"We are looking to hire four or five more people as fast as possible to support the growth of the business," S&P director of fund ratings Mark Hoven said.

In the last two months S&P signed a number of agreements with research firms and financial planning businesses.

In September S&P entered into an exclusive contract with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) to provide the bulk of its financial planning research to its dealer groups.

This month, Aegis and SuperRatings agreed to provide their content on S&P's website.

"Our market share is certainly expanding because of our distribution agreements. New fund mangers are also entering the market and looking for their products to be rated. This has increased the demand for our ratings services," Hoven said.