As part of the agreement, SmartStream will have access to Thomson Reuters PermID, the machine-readable identifier developed to create a unique reference for any data item. SPReD will provide services for instrument reference data normalization and validation across all asset classes to many of the industry’s leading banks.

“We see tremendous benefits to the financial industry embracing a centralized Reference Data Utility, and we are delighted to be working with firms such as Thomson Reuters to help deliver the critical reference data needed to make this a reality for our clients,” said Philippe Chambadal, CEO of SmartStream. “Trusted and reliable reference data will continue to drive our business and that of our growing clients. Our Utility is designed to ensure that our clients have full access to the most comprehensive reference data available.”

SPReD will provide clients with a multi-tenanted, auditable environment for data collection, cleansing, and change management based on customized integration standards to generate a flexible, bespoke security master database. Leveraging common market processes, incorporating best practices and individual controls, consumers of instrument data across capital markets will potentially benefit from savings and operations improvements as clients of the Utility.

“While it will be no simple task to establish a Utility for reference data, one of the tenets of such an effort is ensuring that the data that feeds the Utility is of high quality,” said Virginie O’Shea, senior analyst at Aite Group. “Establishing key industry partnerships sets the Utility on a good foot forward to gain wider traction further down the road. Widespread adoption is the ultimate aim of the Utility, after all.”

“Working with our global clients and other providers to deliver solutions designed to simplify and enable them to conduct global business is at the core of our mission,” said Debra Walton, chief content & product officer at Thomson Reuters. “The opportunity to collaborate with SmartStream to deliver our reference data services through this new Utility is consistent with our commitment to data quality and delivering our content into whatever data governance, software infrastructure or operational model our clients select.”

“We are particularly pleased that SmartStream has chosen to adopt Thomson Reuters PermID; this is an important step for the industry in solving the increasingly complex challenge of data integration and data linking,” added Walton.