Merrill Lynch is preparing to outsource its entire data and transactions system for private client stockbroking in a deal estimated to be worth at least $1 billion over five years, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The FT report names Bloomberg of the US, Reuters of the UK and Thomson-ILX of Canada as bidders for Merrill's private client data system. The US investment firm is expected to name the winning bid in the next few weeks.
According to the paper, the contract is believed to involve more than 27,000 computer terminals along with data supply, system maintenance and software systems.
A spokesman for Merrill Lynch told the FT: "This would be a single system for the bank globally, which would be expected to deliver significant cost savings."