About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Open Source Symbology and Data are Gaining Traction Based on Real Benefits

Subscribe to our newsletter

Open source identifiers are becoming more mainstream, with many financial institutions adopting them to reduce the complexity of managing multiple identifiers, decrease costs and increase efficiency.

The challenges and opportunities of open source symbology and data were discussed during a recent A-Team Group webinar hosted by A-Team editor Sarah Underwood and joined by Richard Robinson, head of industry strategy and initiatives for open symbology at Bloomberg; and John Eliseo, global head of content modelling at Thomson Reuters.

The speakers started with a brief explanation of the meaning of open source symbology and data, noting that open source symbology essentially provides an identifier schema and that open source data is free to use, store and extend, and can be used to code programs without restriction.

Considering the problem solving capabilities of open source solutions, a quick poll of the webinar audience resulted in 68% of respondents saying open source identifiers could help their firms resolve the complexity of identifier management, 51% saying that open source identifiers could help the sourcing of identifiers, and 32% saying open source identifiers could reduce the cost of identifier management.

Picking up on the poll results, the speakers noted that open source identifiers will not entirely replace other identifiers, but said they would resolve the problems highlighted in the poll and give more importance to data rather than the identifiers themselves. Looking at the drivers behind open source solutions, they suggested industry organisations, commercial firms and regulators will all have a place in pushing forward open source technology and adoption.

While the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is perhaps the best known open source identifier in the industry at the moment, Robinson and Eliseo noted increasing acceptance of the concept of open source solutions and described their own firms’ work with open source identifiers – the FIGI, which is issued by Bloomberg, and the PermID which was developed by Thomson Reuters to support the merger of Thomson and Reuters internally and is now widely available in the market.

Looking at take-up of open source identifiers, a second poll questioned how interested firms are in adopting them. The results were positive, with 40% of respondents being very interested in, and working with, open source identifiers, and 23% being very interested in, and planning to implement, open source identifiers.

The speakers went on to provide guidance on how to implement open identifiers, noting data governance as key to the process, and identified significant operational gains that can be made from implementation. Forecasting the development of open source symbology and data over the next few years, they expect adoption of open source solutions to accelerate and suggest there will be multiple providers, each with it own area of expertise.

Listen to the webinar to find out more about:

  • Open source symbology and data
  • Open source identifiers
  • Approaches to adopting open identifiers
  • Potential implementation challenges
  • Benefits of open source identifiers
Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: Unlocking value: Harnessing modern data platforms for data integration, advanced investment analytics, visualisation and reporting

4 September 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes Modern data platforms are bringing efficiencies, scalability and powerful new capabilities to institutions and their data pipelines. They are enabling the use of new automation and analytical technologies that are also helping firms to derive more value from their data and...

BLOG

Bloomberg Debuts Real-Time Events Data Feed

Bloomberg has broken new ground with the release of its Real-time Events Data solution, which it says will help financial institutions make better decisions faster, based on the most accurate and timely information. The US financial data and technology behemoth has leveraged its real-time streaming API connectivity to provide subscribing clients with data from earnings...

EVENT

AI in Capital Markets Summit New York

The AI in Capital Markets Summit will explore current and emerging trends in AI, the potential of Generative AI and LLMs and how AI can be applied for efficiencies and business value across a number of use cases, in the front and back office of financial institutions. The agenda will explore the risks and challenges of adopting AI and the foundational technologies and data management capabilities that underpin successful deployment.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...