Best reference data integration vendor—Gresham

Overview—Gresham EDM Suite

Gresham’s artificial intelligence-native Enterprise Data Management (EDM) Suite is designed to integrate reference, position, transaction and regulatory data for financial institutions, aggregating, validating, cleansing and securing data from any number of sources and across asset classes. With native integration into Snowflake, Databricks and upstream and downstream systems―including order management systems, portfolio management systems, risk, compliance, Investment Book of Record and client reporting―the platform provides clients with a single point of integration across the full data life cycle.

Secret sauce 

Gresham’s AI does not simply connect data sources―it aggregates, validates, cleanses and secures data using configurable matching, mastering and enrichment rules, with a human in the loop to oversee every action. Unlike pure-software integration vendors, Gresham works with over 100 data vendors across more than 7,500 sources, averaging 400 integrations per client (11 system deeds each), with 11.5 billion mastered records across 240+ clients and 14+ use-cases, backed by an operations team exceeding 300.

Recent milestones 

• Integrated the former S&P Global EDM business into Gresham’s EDM Suite, bringing reconciliation, data management and regulatory reporting together under a single Gresham banner (April 2026).
• Partnered with Finologee to deliver depositary reconciliation and reference data integration in Luxembourg (April 2026).
• Integrated FundGuard’s investment accounting platform with the EDM Suite’s reference data layer (May 2026).
• Increased its EDM-as-a-Service footprint in the marketplace, integrating reconciliation and Pulse Data.

Future objectives

Gresham plans to:

• Use AI to extend integration into new regulatory and market data standards.
• Deepen reference data coverage for private markets and alternative asset classes.
• Grow managed data integration services for clients migrating off legacy infrastructure.
• Launch additional services under Gresham EDM-as-a-Service.
• Enhance its data intelligence to span beyond data management into the wider datasets clients hold.

Why Gresham won

There are acquisitions across the financial services vendor landscape, and then there are headline acquisitions that come about once a decade. Gresham’s acquisition of S&P Global EDM is an example of the latter. S&P Global EDM, previously known as Cadis and then Markit EDM, has won more than any other product across WatersTechnology’s awards programs over the past two decades. And now that it has been bedded down in the Gresham stable, we are likely to hear a lot more from a platform that was at the vanguard of the EDM push some 20 years ago.

Gresham wins this category on the back of an AI-native EDM Suite that combines reference, position, transaction and regulatory data from disparate sources and systems across the business. Designed to aggregate, validate, cleanse and secure data across asset classes, the platform provides user firms with a single point of integration across the data life cycle, with native connections into Snowflake, Databricks and a range of upstream and downstream systems.

The scale of Gresham’s proposition is a significant differentiator in what is a mature and highly competitive market; it works with more than 100 data vendors across 7,500+ sources, averaging 400 integrations per client, while its platform has mastered 11.5 billion records across more than 240 clients and 14+ use-cases. Its AI-driven matching, mastering and enrichment capabilities are complemented by an all-important human-in-the-loop approach, with the firm’s 300+ ops team providing oversight.

Gresham has also been particularly active on the alliance front through partnerships with Finologee and FundGuard, extending its reach into depositary reconciliation and investment accounting. Further expansion of private markets coverage, AI-driven integration and managed services for firms moving away from legacy infrastructure will no doubt further strengthen the platform.