Best Corporate Actions Data Provider: SIX Financial Information

The Zurich-headquartered data vendor has a long-standing history of quality reference data services, including a corporate actions feed with global coverage, delivered in multiple formats to meet client demands. “Corporate actions is a core focus for us,” says Phil Lynch, head markets, products and strategy at SIX Financial Information, who explains that the impact of corporate actions is now changing. Firstly, the effect of corporate actions is amplified in the current market because of the increased use of exchange-traded and index funds, which means corporate actions impact a larger investor base. Secondly, new regulations relating to tax and sanctions require more corporate actions data. 

The market changes have led to SIX Financial Information building out its corporate actions offering by launching new compliance services, backed by its quality corporate actions feed. The award this year celebrates SIX Financial Information’s work on amplifying corporate actions with intelligent cross-referencing for regulatory compliance issues where corporate actions are critical, such as for IRS 871(m), where firms need to be able to identify when a dividend payment triggers obligations; the Common Reporting Standard rules, which require firms to report on income, including dividend payments, to a national tax authority; and global sanctions.

The focus for SIX Financial Information has not only been on offering the content firms need to meet the new regulatory requirements, but on creating value-adding services to ease the problem for clients. “Instead of the customers having to buy a bulk feed and do their own rule sets, we can take care of it for them. We’re moving our services up the value chain,” says Lynch.

For SIX Financial Information, the move away from a traditional model of only selling data towards an enriched regulatory content approach is a key strategy going forward. “We started out with corporate actions and we built it out from there,” says Lynch, who concludes that “our profile is being raised because we’re adding value—we’re coming up with valuable propositions, such as automatic flagging or connecting players in a financial market.”