IMD & IRD Awards 2022: Best reference data provider—S&P Global Market Intelligence

OVERVIEW

Integrating reference data related to companies and securities is a key challenge for financial institutions. Manually assimilating such diverse datasets is inefficient and costly, not to mention the operational risks this approach can bring. To help financial institutions overcome this challenge, S&P Global Market Intelligence has developed Cross Reference Services and Kensho Link. 

THE SOLUTION

Cross Reference Services encompasses Business Entity Cross Reference Service (BECRS), available via Xpressfeed and Snowflake, along with Global Instruments Cross-Reference Service (GICRS) and Industry Sector Cross Reference Service (ISCRS). Kensho Link, for its part, provides a linking solution. 

BECRS provides clients with cross-reference capabilities to over 21 million public and private entities using standardized and proprietary identifiers such as Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs), Rating Agency Identifiers, D&B Duns ID and Tax ID. Prior to using BECRS, most S&P Global Market Intelligence clients manually maintained entity/security master files for mapping entities to issuers, which was time-consuming and costly. With BECRS, they can now use the firm’s data mapping to manage complex databases and to systematically update and maintain the multiple relationships within a corporate hierarchy.

GICRS resolves various securities identifier problems in global trading and processing. Clients have access to a database of security identifiers cross-referencing more than 65 million instruments from across the globe. This enables middle and back offices to streamline operations and create customized data mapping systems for securities and trading items. ISCRS provides a range of industry sector classifications linked at the company level, enabling clients to streamline the data collection process and manage the rising costs of data linking. It helps clients to use multiple identifiers for creating industry peer groups, regulatory reporting or attaining a better understanding of their current holdings.

To further enhance these mapping capabilities, especially when there are no globally recognized identifiers, S&P Global Market Intelligence created Kensho Link, which allows clients to link their data to more than 21 million entities using machine learning models. Kensho Link connects non-standardized company data—incomplete company names, aliases, abbreviations, spelling errors, etc.—to S&P Global Capital IQ IDs. 

WHAT’S TO COME

S&P Global Market Intelligence has made a number of enhancements over the last year to its offering, including making Cross Reference Services available on the cloud using Snowflake’s cloud data platform. It has also added new employees to support its “white glove” solution for cleansing clients’ data. Looking to the next 12 months, a key development will be the addition of Asia-Pacific identifiers, including Korean and Chinese tax IDs, to the existing BECRS package.

WHY THEY WON

S&P Global Market Intelligence wins this category thanks to a combination of its Cross Reference Services and Kensho Link offering. The firm’s Cross Reference Services features a range of reference data resources, including Business Entity Cross Reference Service, Global Instruments Cross-Reference Service (GICRS) and Industry Sector Cross Reference Service (ISCRS), which, when added to AI-driven Kensho Link, makes for an outstanding offering in what has become a highly competitive marketplace dominated by a number of the industry’s largest names.