Sell-Side Technology Awards 2022: Best data provider to the sell side—FactSet

OVERVIEW

More than half of Norwalk, Conn.-based FactSet’s employees are dedicated to data integrity and concordance. The firm integrates and offers more than 30 FactSet-owned datasets and over 1,000 from third-party data providers. FactSet’s technology allows its clients to consume data in a variety of ways, including via data feeds, a configurable mobile and desktop platform, digital portals and APIs. Its unique data symbology links and aggregates a variety of content sources to ensure consistency, transparency, and data integrity.

THE SOLUTION

Examples of datasets sourced by FactSet include:

• Estimates: Thousands of global companies, segment data, guidance and actuals, commodities, and sector-specific estimates
• Fundamentals: Annual/interim/quarterly data, including financial statement data, per-share data, ratios, and business and geographic segment information
• Geographic revenue exposure: Structured and normalized display of companies’ revenues by geography
• Ownership: Institutional, mutual fund, insider/stakeholders, and float-related share ownership information
• Corporate activism and governance: Data items related to “poison pills,” significant activism reported in filings and news, and key takeover defenses from articles of incorporation and bylaws
• Supply chain shipping transactions: Normalized view of more than 30 million shipments to detect supply chain risks and identify trends
• Global sanctions: Entities on economic sanctions lists to support enhanced due diligence, client onboarding, KYC, and AML
• StreetAccount News: News and commentary in bulleted format that highlight key information concisely
• Deep industry-specific fundamentals, estimates, and news metrics for sectors including banks, insurance, airlines, financials, hotels, metals/mining, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and retail

Recently added FactSet-owned datasets include: 

• FactSet recently acquired BTU Analytics, a provider of data and analytics in the North American renewables, power, oil and natural gas sectors
• FactSet recently launched its Technology, Media, and Telecoms (TMT) content offering, which includes content from Insider Intelligence, Nash Information Services, Nielsen, and Variety Business Intelligence 

Recently added third-party datasets include: 

• News and filings sources: AM Best Global Filings and Solvency II filings, Crunchbase News, Newsfile news, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) filings, CNInfo filings and company announcements, Polish Press Agency filings, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Ad-hoc Publizitat mbH announcements, Modular Finance news 
• ISS ESG Corporate Ratings and Sustainability (SDG) Solutions Assessment data
• Ozmosi Beam biotech and pharmaceutical company R&D data 
• OneConnect China ESG score, sentiment, and indicators 
• Equilar equity and compensation, people business intelligence, and executive director relationships data

WHAT’S TO COME

Current technology trends are leading to greater demand to deliver a fully digital and integrated client experience. FactSet has focused its innovation and strategic investments in cloud computing, data lakes, APIs, and its analytics platform to provide real-time, predictive business intelligence for a seamless client experience. It will continue to expand its financial content to support its clients’ most sophisticated investment strategies, including enhanced data in private markets, industry-specific deep-sector metrics, and ESG intelligence.

WHY THEY WON

FactSet continues to rack up the data-related wins across the WatersTechnology awards program. It’s not hard to see why: It provides an ever-increasing array of reliable, high-quality datasets to its clients, backed up by the breadth and depth of the business, which when added to the company name, its track record and its data pedigree, makes for a compelling proposition. Clearly, FactSet has its finger on the pulse of the industry in terms of what types of data firms want, and how, when and where they choose to receive it.