Bloomberg's second-largest client, JPMorgan, is reportedly preparing to pull the plug on the market data firm's expensive proprietary terminals in a move that would save the bank up to $36 million per year in charges.
The New York Post reports that JPMorrgan chief Jamie Dimon is preparing to rip out thousands of its $21,000-a-year Bloomberg terminals over the coming two or three years, in favour of cheaper contracts with Thomson Reuters.
Citing unidentified sources 'familiar with the firm's plans', the Post says that the New York-based bank is in the midst of negotiating contracts with Thomson Reuters to replace at least 1000 to 2000 terminals worldwide during the next two years,
JPMorgan is Bloomberg’s second-biggest client, with more than 10,000 subscriptions, sources told the company. The shift to Reuters is projected to save the company between $18 million and $36 million a year.
"JPMorgan wouldn’t force anyone to give up their terminal if it was absolutely needed, and the changes wouldn’t affect most people working in investment banking or asset management," the paper reported one source saying.
JPMorgan has been seeking alternatives to Bloomberg ever since it emerged in 2013 that the vendor's news reporting team had been using the terminal estate to snoop on bankers' whereabouts. The scandal resulted in JPMorgan's lawyers demanding that Bloomberg hand over five years of internal staff logs to verify exactly what information reporters had access to and confirmation of their controls to prevent future breaches.