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Reference data: a buyer's guide

What we list in this category, how the field splits between long-established products and newer ones, and the questions worth pressing on before you commit.

Every entry below was recorded from a page we opened, and each carries the source we read. Where we could not establish something it is left blank rather than guessed. Read how this site works if you want the detail.

Long-established products

Recorded as established: in production for many years, usually with a deep reference base and broad coverage. Those are real advantages, and so is the fact that a fifteen-year horizon is easier to argue for a supplier that has already lasted one.

• ALERT — Global database where investment managers, brokers and custodians maintain and share account and standing settlement instruction data. source
• Bloomberg Terminal — Software system giving financial professionals real-time market data, news, analytics and trade execution; it debuted in December 1982. source
• EDI Reference Data — Independent supplier of global corporate actions, pricing and security reference data drawn from around 700 sources. source
• Evaluated Pricing Service — Evaluated prices across 36 currencies for investment grade, high yield, ABS, MBS and CLO instruments, refreshed six times daily. source
• FE fundinfo Factsheets — Fund factsheets and automated PRIIPs, UCITS, SFDR and TCFD document production, with dissemination to platforms and distributors. source
• FIS Corporate Actions Suite — SWIFT-accredited SaaS suite covering the full event lifecycle, with separate Corporate Actions Manager, Data Services and Election Portal components. source
• FactSet — Integrated workstation for real-time news, quotes, company analysis and portfolio analysis, formed in 2009 by merging the earlier DIRECTIONS, Marquee and IBCentral platforms. source
• GoldenSource EDM — Golden-copy enterprise data management built from Security Master, Entity Master, Product Master and a packaged cloud edition called EDM Now. source

Newer products

Recorded as modern or emerging. Newer suppliers often offer capability and pricing the incumbents do not, and they carry risks the incumbents do not: fewer references at your size, less operating history, and concentration if they are small. Both belong in the same comparison, on the same fields.

• Aquata — Cloud data and analytics platform used by hedge funds and asset managers for security master, data modelling, governance and quality control; sits beside the Opterra operational platform. source
• CuriumEDM — Smaller-footprint enterprise data management and data quality platform for buy-side operations, available as CuriumSaaS hosted on Microsoft Azure; founded as Sun Street Limited and renamed in 2015. source
• Databento — Usage-priced APIs for real-time and historical tick data with full order book depth across futures, options and equities, plus raw PCAPs and reference data; the site announces a $97M Series B and more than 3,000 customer firms, and its own timeline dates the founding to February 2019. source
• Fencore Data Management Platform — Newer data management platform for financial institutions, listed as a direct competitor to GoldenSource and NeoXam; its own website returned no readable content, so the product name could not be confirmed from the vendor. source
• LUSID — API-first investment data management platform that builds a single trusted record of instruments, positions and transactions across public and private assets. source
• NeoXam DataHub — Master data management platform that consolidates securities, entities, corporate actions, funds, ESG and benchmark data into one golden copy for buy-side and asset-servicing firms. source
• SSI Automate — Turns manual, non-ALERT standing settlement instructions into an automated extract, validate and enrich process; sister products SSI Validate and SSI Comply feed validated SSIs into DTCC ALERT. source
• Twelve Data — API, WebSocket and SDK access to real-time and historical data for stocks, forex, crypto and fundamentals across 250-plus exchanges; the company describes itself as a distributed team with no single headquarters. source

What to ask

These come from the same question bank our request-for-proposal process uses, so a guide and an RFP never drift apart. The four sections below carry the most weight in that bank.

Functional fit

Whether the system does the job for YOUR instruments, markets and volumes — not for the demonstration portfolio. The questions separate what runs in production today from what is on the roadmap, because that distinction disappears in a sales meeting and reappears during implementation. It also asks what still has to be typed in by hand, which every system has and few volunteer.

• Which asset classes does the product support in production today?
• Is there a full audit trail of who changed what and when, and can it be exported?
• Does the system enforce segregation of duties between front and back office?
• Is maker-checker approval supported on material actions, and is it configurable by action type?
• Can a valuation be sourced and approved independently of the people who trade?

Security and resilience

Whether the vendor's security is independently attested or merely asserted. The questions ask for certifications you can read, penetration tests you can see the summary of, and recovery objectives that are written down. Incident history is asked directly, because a vendor that has handled a breach well is often a safer choice than one that has never been tested.

• Which independent attestations do you hold currently?
• Will you provide the most recent report under a non-disclosure agreement?
• Is data encrypted in transit and at rest?
• Is single sign-on supported, and is multi-factor authentication enforced?
• Can your own staff see our data, and is that access logged and reviewable by us?

Commercial terms

Total cost across the whole term, and what happens if you leave. Year one is asked separately from years two to five because year one hides where the money goes. The section asks explicitly what is NOT included, since the gap between the quote and the invoice lives there, and it asks about exit terms while you still have the leverage to negotiate them.

• How is the product priced?
• What is the total first-year cost for our stated requirement, including implementation?
• What is the total annual cost in years two through five?
• What is NOT included in that figure?
• Is there a contractual cap on annual price increases?

Artificial intelligence

If a model touches your data, on what terms. This section exists because the answers differ enormously between vendors and are rarely offered unprompted. It asks whether your data trains models serving other clients, whether you can opt out and keep full function, whether a human reviews output before it affects a book or a client report, and who is liable when a model is wrong. Skip it only if you genuinely do not care.

• Does the product use machine learning or generative AI anywhere in its normal operation?
• Is client data ever used to train models that serve other clients?
• Can we opt out of AI features entirely and keep full product function?
• Does our data leave your infrastructure to reach those providers?
• Is a human review step required before an AI output affects a book, a trade or a client report?

See all 55 products in Reference data · Glossary