Reuters and FOW Tradedata in futures reference data alliance
Reuters (LSE:RTR), the global information company, has entered into a strategic alliance with FOW TRADEdata, the leading supplier of fundamental reference data for exchange traded futures and options. The alliance will combine around 20,000 of Reuters instrument codes (RICs), the industry standard for accessing futures and options information, with FOW TRADEdata's premium futures and options data service, to enable complete front- to back-office communication and integration.
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FOW TRADEdata's reference data will be tagged with universally recognised RICs, part of Reuters DataScope, the total solution for pricing, historical and reference data needs. The enhanced data set, due to be live in July 2004, will help reduce the cost of settlements executed in a Reuters environment by superior data matching.
Kevin Bradshaw, Global head of Reuters DataScope comments: "In futures and options there is an absence of any other market standard, and linking all 20,000 instruments in FOW TRADEdata's database can be a huge amount of work for back-office staff. Using RIC codes will help the front-office to better communicate with the back-office, helping to prevent failed trades."
Mark Woolfenden, Managing Director of FOW TRADEdata, said: "This powerful data combination will enhance and sustain trade processing efficiencies at a time when organisations are battling to reduce costs and transaction volumes are rising exponentially.
"We have seen a lot of interest from companies that are dealing with the fallout from failed trades. RICs will help them to provide enhanced matching, saving the back-office a huge amount of work. Our joint solution with Reuters plays a key part in customers' strategic STP goal."
FOW TRADEdata takes in data from all of the major derivatives exchanges and complements this information by cleansing and validating it. The two-part Reuters and FOW TRADEdata service will comprise an enabling agreement for Reuters RIC codes and a distribution agreement with FOW TRADEdata for delivery and maintenance of the physical data sets. The combined FOW TRADEdata and RICs solution will be rolled out in July 2004.