Fixed income data continues to challenge capital markets firms

This rapid read focuses on a range of challenges facing fixed income market participants, ranging from sourcing, ingesting and managing ever-increasing volumes and varieties of fixed income data to dealing with market fragmentation, inconsistent data quality, and the general lack of transparency around the pricing of thinly traded securities such as municipal and high-yield bonds.

The findings presented in this paper cover four key themes: data quality, accuracy (including transparency and traceability), breadth and depth of coverage, and ease of integration with existing tech and data stacks. As with all data types, data accuracy and quality trump all other considerations, given the quality of downstream business processes is directly determined by the data driving them. The breadth and depth of instrument and market coverage are similarly crucial to capital markets firms on both sides of the industry, especially when it comes to evaluating and ultimately partnering with a fixed income data provider, and the ease with which the provider’s data can be consumed and disseminated across the business with the minimum of fuss.