Technology provider SmartStream has reached agreements with a number of major data providers to support an industry-led reference data utility.
The SmartStream Reference Data Utility (RDU) has been backed by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley and provides services for instrument reference data normalisation, validation, cross-referencing and cleansing across multiple asset classes.
SmartStream has reached agreements to use data provided by Euromoney TRADEDATA, Exchange Data International, Interactive Data Corp, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Dow Jones Indices, SIX Financial and Thomson Reuters. It is also in discussions with Markit to develop a partnership to integrate its credit default swap reference data into the RDU.
These agreements will enable more efficient on-boarding of data and jointly managed support arrangements, giving clients a higher service level, SmartStream said.
SmartStream’s CEO, Philippe Chambadal, said that firms are looking to spend more money with their data vendors to meet regulatory obligations, but also to add value to their business, and said the RDU will make it easier for clients to access the information they need.
“The RDU’s mission is to lower the cost of processing reference data. Delivering on that mission creates opportunities for data vendors as we open up space for additional spend and as we lower data integration costs – one of the biggest barriers to purchasing more vendor data.”