Merrill Lynch Chooses FactSet, Parts Ways With Thomson Reuters

Editorial Staff

7 August 2018

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has chosen FactSet, a global provider of integrated financial information, analytical applications, and services, to be the primary market data provider for the firm. The Financial Times, meanwhile, reported that the US wealth management house had previously used Thomson Reuters' systems.

Starting later this year, FactSet will deploy its Market Data solution to more than 15,000 wealth management professionals across Merrill Lynch.

The multi-year agreement also includes FactSet’s data feeds, which will be integrated into Merrill Lynch’s internal applications and client facing portals. The web-based platform provides complete multi-asset class content, analytics and global market data.

The FT story said Thomson Reuters' loss of the Merrill Lynch business is a blow to a firm in which Blackstone bought a controlling stake for $17.3 billion in early January this year.

“It’s a significant deal for the company,” Philip Snow, the chief executive of Factset, was quoted by the FT as saying. “Wealth management is a relatively new area for Factset, but it’s an area we’re focused on and excited about.” As the publication noted, the change highlights a fierce fight between technology and information vendors for wealth managers' business. It said Bloomberg has a 33.2 per cent market share in the $28 billion global data business, with Thomson Reuters at 22.5 per cent and Factset representing 4.5 per cent, .