The combined entity - named Global Information Services - will be led by John Jacobs, who previously oversaw the index unit. It will represent around 20% of Nasdaq OMX's total annual revenues and be treated as a separate reporting segment from 1 January 2013.

Bob Greifeld, president and CEO, Nasdaq OMX, says: "Combining these business areas allows us to better take advantage of the sweet spot they inherently both share: distribution of data and the delivery of innovative products that provide market insight and transparency."

The exchange operator argues that the combination will enable greater customer focus and make the most of its scalable technology, product innovation and robust distribution channels.

Currently, the data business delivers historical and real-time market data to 2.5 million financial professionals and individual investors in 83 countries worldwide. Meanwhile, there are over 7000 products based on Nasdaq OMX indexes, spanning different geographies and asset classes with nearly $1 trillion in notional value.

Jacobs says that the "combined business unit will enable us to leverage the recent technology investments and improvements we have made in these areas to deliver more data and indexes faster, across more asset classes, and at lower cost than ever before."

Earlier this month Nasdaq OMX combined its market technology and corporate solutions businesses - rebadging them as Global Technology Solutions - promising to build "one of the top technology organisations in the world".