Buy-Side Technology Awards 2015: Best Buy-Side Pricing/Valuation Service—Interactive Data

Interactive Data has a hand—sometimes quietly, sometimes not—in almost everything the industry does.

Its mainstay evaluated pricing provisions are well established among investment managers, insurers and institutions of all sizes. But this year has seen myriad engagements that show just how wide and deep the company’s influence goes. From a look-through solution delivered with Morningstar for Solvency II support, to powering niche trading intelligence tools like a mortgage prepayment model from BondEdge and options strategy optimization from Tradelegs, to backing pre-trade price discovery for fellow Buy-Side Technology award winner Algomi, Interactive Data is seemingly everywhere … and yes, all of these engagements are just from the last six months of 2015.

The vendor is also involved with the recent push around data utilities. Interactive Data was one of the earliest to join SmartStream’s Spred reference data hub, for example. Meanwhile, throughout this year, it has managed to avoid the service continuity breaches that now regularly afflict major data providers, as well—no small feat, given the size and dispersal of its global technology estate.

Of course, all of this is a prologue in the narrative of Interactive Data’s 2015. The main event finally arrived in late October, when IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) agreed to buy the provider for a massive $5.2 billion, immediately making Interactive Data the crown jewel of the exchange operator’s portfolio. In a year when we’ve seen several billion-dollar acquisitions, this one is truly singular in its scope.

Whether that will spell significant changes for buy-side clients going forward remains to be seen; no doubt, more eyes will be watching, given the firm’s new ownership.

For now, though, this much is clear: Interactive Data has firmly ascended to the industry’s highest data stratum, and its award is fully deserved.