GFI Group and Thomson Reuters have extended their existing data agreement, which has been in place since 2003, to incorporate Reuters Datascope Real-Time (RDRT). This means that Thomson Reuters customers may now subscribe to GFI market data via RDRT for use in algorithmic trading, risk management, portfolio pricing and valuations.
The agreement covers GFI credit derivatives, FX options and energy market data and GFI plans to extend this to equity derivatives and interest rate options early in 2009. Both vendors have had an agreement for the distribution of GFI credit since 2003 and the agreement was extended in 2005 to include FX options and again in 2007, to include a suite of energy data products from GFI.
Philip Winstone, GFI’s global head of data sales, says: “The previous agreements have licensed Reuters to distribute of GFI market data as an integral part of the desktop products such as their flagship 3000 Xtra product and to Reuters internal systems for the creation of derived data. This new agreement enables Reuters clients to subscribe to the data for use in non-desktop application environments.”
Winstone explains the background behind the recent deal: “GFI and Thomson Reuters have been discussing the extension of the existing agreement for some months. The timing of the extension signature is a factor of the contract negotiation and execution, rather than any other factors. Having said that, GFI has seen increasing demand over this year for its market data from a range of institutions, including bank mid and back office functions and companies offering reval and pricing services.”
GFI’s data consists of real market executable prices and actual trade data, which has become increasingly in demand over consensus or aggregated data sources, says Winstone. “From the GFI perspective we believe that making this data available via RDRT enables Reuters clients to have seamless access to GFI market data off the desktop,” he adds.
Mike Powell, global head, Enterprise Information at Thomson Reuters, says: “Our customers require high quality data to fuel not only their desktops but also the business critical applications that support their trading, risk and back office operations.”
The administration work required to make the data available via RDRT has been undertaken in parallel with the contract negotiation process, says Winstone: “So upon contract signature, the datasets as mentioned are available for RDRT clients.”
