EOSE, a specialist services firm set up a year ago to help financial institutions commercialise their market data, has clocked up its fifth client, the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), the largest derivatives exchange in the Middle East. EOSE will support the exchange in enhancing the market data segment of its business, while the exchange concentrates on core business.
EOSE is a small and growing team of market data sales and product development specialists with experience in building and growing market data businesses within vendors and data producers. The team is led by EOSE founder Suzanne Lock, who has worked in market data for 25 years, most recently selling data for Tradition. She notes that while consultants traditionally work on cost savings and other issues around inbound data, there is a niche for services that help data producers set up and manage outbound market data businesses – EOSE fills that niche.
The company’s customers include The London Energy Brokers’ Association, a trade association for which EOSE is outsourcing sales of energy data to firms like Bloomberg and Refinitiv. It has also set up market data businesses for brokers in Europe and Latin America.
Working with DGCX, EOSE identified the potential value in the exchange’s data and is now in the process of delivering its ‘toolbox’ of services, including data licenses, policies, and disclaimers. Once the initial work has been completed, DGCX will be able to offer its data customers increased sources of data, clearly defined usage policies and flexible commercial options. It also has access to a global data team that works regionally with vendors and data clients on its behalf.
The rationale behind establishing EOSE reflects growing interest among financial institutions in monetising their data and increasing consumer interest in acquiring more data. Lock explains: “There are plenty of discussions on the table at banks, brokers and exchanges about how to make money out of data, but most of these organisations don’t know where to start. We can help them, they don’t need to add headcount, they can make a short-term contract with us to set up a data business and we make the arrangements. They own the business and we can sell for them, work in-house or both. Once a business hits $10 million we would encourage the firm to take it in-house and hire a sales team.”
The EOSE outsource offer covers everything needed to set up a data business, from required skills, to support with legal documentation, pricing structures for data sets and product sales. It is designed to help firms reduce cost and risk, and improve time to market while building the business.
Looking forward, Lock plans to continue expansion of the firm’s work with clients on commercialising market data, and is also considering how to help clients build alternative data businesses. She says: “Some firms have alternative data and other data assets that they don’t realise are valuable. We can help them commercialise this data, although with alternative data this has never been done before, so we need to have a conversation with consumers and vendors on pricing.” While it is not yet selling alternative data on a client’s behalf, EOSE is working with an initial client in this space.
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