Financial Data Providers Compared: Decision Aid for Banks, Broker, FinTechs, Exchanges, Wealth Management Providers and Financial Media

Many companies choose their financial data provider according to the wrong criteria. They first compare price, number of securities, stock exchanges or countries. However, our experience from projects shows that not the size of a provider decides later on the success of a financial application, but the question whether data quality, data depth, interfaces and support fit the specific application.

The best financial data provider is therefore not the largest. It is the one that meets the requirements of a project today and in the long term.

The biggest misdecision happens before the start of the project

In many tenders, the wrong criteria are first compared: How many instruments does a provider cover? How many stock exchanges are included? How large is the international reach? These key figures act objectively, but do little to say whether the data really work in a specific application.

A Wealth Management System sets other requirements than a broker. A financial portal needs data other than a trading platform. And structured products require significantly greater technical depth than classic stock prices.

If you choose a provider mainly by acquaintance or quantity of data, you will often need to supplement, relict or add additional sources. The better starting question is: what information, processes and integration does our application actually need?

Financial data providers compared: Financial data is not a single product

The term financial data summarizes very different types of data. These include real-time and end-of-day courses, master data, fundamental data, historical time series, regulatory documents, key figures, indications as well as news and corporate events.

A course feed can deliver the current price. This is rarely enough for a professional application. Products must be clearly identified, correctly classified, comparable and kept up-to-date. Only the interaction of this information creates a resilient basis for digital financial applications.

Why banks and brokers often use multiple providers

A widespread error is: A large global provider automatically covers all requirements. In practice, banks, brokers, stock exchanges and financial platforms often combine several specialized sources. Therefore, there are financial data providers in comparison.

The reason is simple: suppliers place different priorities.BloombergandLSEGare strong in global market coverage and institutional applications. Morningstar is closely linked to fund and research data. SIX has great competence in European market and master data. Specialized providers often go significantly deeper in individual asset classes or product groups.

The actual task then begins behind the scenes: formats, identifiers, updating cycles and quality standards must be standardized. This is precisely where the difference between the reference of individual data sets and a financial data infrastructure is shown, which permanently works in productive operation.

The number of securities is an overestimated number

A high number of instruments sounds convincing. However, it is only relevant if the records are complete, up-to-date and technically correct. A single incorrectly maintained field can falsify search results, product comparisons and downstream calculations.

Other questions are therefore more important for selecting a provider:

• How complete and consistent are the master data?
• How quickly will new instruments and changes be processed?
• What indicators are calculated and how frequently updated?
• Are there historical depths and comprehensible time series?
• How stable, documented and scalable are APIs and data feeds?
• Who supports technical and technical questions?
• How are errors detected, prioritized and fixed?

Not the amount of data decides on its quality, but its usability in the concrete process. For this reason, this blog about financial data providers is compared.

Especially for certificates, width separates from technical depth

Structured products are among the most demanding data areas in the financial market. Millions of certificates, warrants and knock-out products differ in transit times, barriers, base values, reference ratios and other features. New emissions must be processed correctly from the first day. Already a faulty parameter can lead to incorrect calculation of key numbers or to incorrect comparison of products.

Right here is a special strength of ARIVA. For more than 25 years, the company has been one of the leading providers of certificate master data and certificate key figures in German-speaking countries. The database includes millions of structured products that are continuously maintained, validated and supplemented by calculated key figures.

Depending on the product type, the available key figures include omega or effective leverage, delta, plush, sideward yield and other product-related values. This information allows banks, brokers, stock exchanges and financial platforms to professionally present, filter, analyze and compare structured products.

Three Loading Proof Points

• Since 2007, ARIVA has provided certificate master data and further financial data to the Deutsche Börse.
• Millions of structured products are continuously processed and complemented by key figures.
• Numerous banks, brokers, stock exchanges and financial platforms use ARIVA data productively in their applications.

What data are indispensable for which target group?

The following matrix helps with the first classification. It does not replace any technical requirement analysis, but shows which data types are regularly among the must-haves in typical projects. Financial data provider compared: Which one fits the project?

What do you recognize the right financial data provider?

Our experience from projects shows: The best decision does not result from a long function list, but from a clear comparison between application, data requirements and operating model.

1. Data coverage

Are all required asset classes, stock exchanges and product groups included? Not only today’s coverage is crucial, but also how new requirements can be added.

Two. Data quality and technical depth

How complete are master files? How are changes processed? Are calculations comprehensible? Particularly in structured products, technical depth is more important than pure width.

3. Integration

Are REST APIs, data feeds or individual deployment paths available? Good documentation, stable versioning and personal support reduce integration efforts.

4. Operation and scalability

How does the data supply react at high load? What processes are involved in failures or incorrect data? Professional application requires not only data, but reliable operation.

Five. Career

Personal support is not a secondary topic in complex data projects. Solid contact persons:inside, short decision-making and professional accessibility can be decisive in the course of the project.

Why a change of provider is so rare

Financial data are deeply embedded in applications, data models and business processes. A change therefore concerns not only a contract, but often interfaces, mapping logics, quality assurance, history and front-end representations.

Therefore, companies should not only choose the most favourable entry. Long-term costs are mainly caused by integration, operation, post-care and possible data gaps. A provider that adapts technically and technically to the project is often more economical than an initially cheaper but incomplete solution.

ARIVA: Financial data infrastructure since 1998

ARIVA has been developing and operating financial data infrastructure for banks, brokers, stock exchanges, financial platforms, media houses and FinTechs since 1998. The focus is not on individual data sets, but solutions with which financial data are reliably used.

The portfolio includes real-time, delayed and end-of-day course data, historical stock exchange data, master and fundamental data, indications, data feeds, widgets, tools and white-label solutions. A special focus is on certificate master data and certificate metrics.

Since 2007, ARIVA has been working with the Deutsche Börse in this area. Banks, brokers and financial portals have also been using ARIVA data for many years. ARIVA combines reliable data, efficient technology, sound expertise and personal care.

The best provider is the one to the project fits!

Global suppliers convince with range and international coverage. Specialized providers create added value where technical depth, data quality and concrete integration requirements are crucial.

The best financial data provider is therefore not automatically the best known or largest. It is the one that reliably meets the requirements of a project, can be technically cleanly integrated and supports the application in the long term.

Common questions

Which financial data provider is the best?

There is no generally best provider. The right choice depends on asset classes, data types, integration paths, quality requirements and the specific application case.

What is the alternative to Bloomberg?

Depending on the project, SIX, Morningstar, LSEG, FactSet or specialized providers such as ARIVA are eligible. Global provider points with width; Specialists often with greater depth in individual data areas.

Why do banks use multiple financial data providers?

No provider is equally strong in all asset classes and data types. Banks therefore often combine several sources to improve coverage, quality and professional depth.

What financial data does a trading platform need?

Typically, real-time courses, trading location information, master data, historical data and APIs are required. For certificates, comprehensive product data and calculated key figures are added.

What should a financial data API look for?

Data quality, coverage, documentation, stable versioning, performance, scalability and reliable technical support are important.

Why are certificate master files particularly demanding?

The product universe comprises millions of instruments with many features. New emissions and changes must be processed quickly, completely and with little error.

What key figures are important for certificates?

Depending on the product, these include omega, delta, plush, side-end yield, distances to barriers and other risk or comparative indicators.

Why is ARIVA a specialist in certificate data?

ARIVA has been one of the leading providers of certificate master data and certificate key figures in the German-speaking region for over 25 years. Millions of structured products are continuously maintained, validated and supplemented with key figures.

Warum wechseln Banken ihren Finanzdaten-Anbieter so selten?

Weil Finanzdaten tief in Anwendungen und Prozessen integriert sind. Ein Wechsel betrifft Schnittstellen, Datenmodelle, Historien, Mapping-Logiken und Qualitätssicherung und ist deshalb aufwendig.

Was versteht ARIVA unter Finanzdaten-Infrastruktur?

Finanzdaten-Infrastruktur umfasst die fachlichen und technischen Prozesse, mit denen Daten beschafft, geprüft, standardisiert, berechnet, historisiert, verteilt und dauerhaft verfügbar gemacht werden.

Du planst eine neue Finanzanwendung?

Welche Daten dein Projekt tatsächlich benötigt, hängt vom Anwendungsfall ab. Wir unterstützen dich bei der Auswahl der passenden Datenversorgung und der technischen Integration. Melde dich einfach bei uns!

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