Thomson Reuters, FactSet and BST European Summit 2017: A Week in Review

• Thomson Reuters Completes Redi Acquisition

Usually the completion of an acquisition that has been known to the market for months is not that noteworthy. What separates Thomson Reuters' acquisition of Redi, to my mind at least, and what does this mean for two entities going forward?

For Thomson Reuters, it's a clear indication that the data giant is ready to step up to its buy-side competitors with a newly optimized solutions portfolio, enhanced through the integration of Redi's technologies into the Eikon dashboard, Thomson Reuters' desktop, and its Elektron data and trading infrastructure.

For Redi, it will be interesting to see how the company fares now that it is once again under the stewardship of a much larger organization. Will it thrive and help its new parent to dominate in the execution management system (EMS) space for years to come? Or, will it become just another acquisition that is slowly assimilated into its new owner until nothing is left?

• FactSet Adds Axioma's Linear Fixed-Income, Multi-Asset Class Models

Data and analytics provider FactSet spoke to WatersTechnology about the expansion of its partnership with risk and portfolio management vendor, Axioma. FactSet will add two of Axioma's risk modelling factors to its risk platform.

Speaking to Dan DeFrancesco about the integration between the two firms, Robert Robie, senior vice president of fixed-income analytics at FactSet, was not shy in citing growing dissatisfaction from the marketplace with the Bloomberg-Barclays Point fallout as a primary driver.

It's yet another slap in the face for Bloomberg on this issue. While Robie only says that some FactSet clients are reviewing their options, there is a clear sense that once those thoughts begin to emerge, it is more than likely only a matter of time before Point users begin to transition to other systems.

• BST European Summit 2017

The Buy-Side Technology Summit returns for the seventh year on May 18, at the Waldorf Hilton, London.

Building on last year's main discussion topics of collaboration, better risk management and the ever-present issue of liquidity sourcing, this year's conference will drill down into the topics most important to the buy side in 2017.

Regulation, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and analytics are all on the agenda for this year with panel discussions and roundtables throughout the day.
Click here to register and take a look at this year's agenda.