S4 Market Data: Architects of Market Data Management

With a deep focus on cost optimization, the S4 Market Data team identifies and reviews their customer’s universal vendors, their services, subscriptions, and contract terms, and ascertains the end consumers that consume the data. The data is collated and presented in a way that gives decision makers a clear view of what their spend is and places them in a better position to make a decision on cancellation, transfer, or renewal of contracts. The company’s services extend to introducing their customers to alternate and lesser known vendors who offer niche services at a lower cost. Furthermore, the team also works with legal department on contractual language with respect to intended product usage and coverage. “Throughout our practice, we have helped our clients improve their bottomline just by cost optimization and cost avoidance,” says Santiago.

Santiago’s and Armando’s more than two decades of collective market data management experience working for various buy-side and sell-side firms, investment banks, and hedge funds has immensely benefited their clients. Quoting an example, Santiago mentions a client that was having a hard time trying to identify the services of a user who left the company in order to cancel them. When S4 Market Data’s team did a more in-depth analysis, they noticed a couple of services that had been unnecessarily renewed with the contract stipulating non cancellation clause until the next year. The duo’s well-established relationship with vendors played a crucial role. The vendor obliged to their request to release the client from the contract, which otherwise would have resulted in a huge cost.

Gaining traction in the hedge fund space, today, S4 Market Data is the go-to boutique consulting firm for the financial information services industry. For the road ahead, the company is eyeing on the Latin American market to help organizations quickly identify cost-saving opportunities and optimize their market data spend.