IPUG: Open Letter to Bloomberg to Support Inclusion of Identifiers in Xymbology

The Information Provider User Group (IPUG) has written an open letter for members to send to Bloomberg to encourage the data vendor to work with futures and options symbology feed provider FOW TRADEdata to help users map Bloomberg symbols for derivatives.

The letter, obtained by Inside Reference Data, highlights the fact that Bloomberg plans to phase out the Bloomberg ticker codes, BUID codes, in favour of the new Bloomberg Global Identifiers (BBGID), and that FOW TRADEdata's Xymbology, a symbol mapping service, could help firms with this migration process.

A spokesperson at Bloomberg says the company is not in a position to comment on the letter as they have not seen it.

Xymbology carries 15 different symbologies, including root-level Bloomberg tickers, but users also want the vendor to incorporate BUID codes and BBGID codes, particularly to help the upcoming symbol migration process.

In a response to customer feedback, FOW TRADEdata has reached out to Bloomberg, and the open letter refers to the current dialogue between the vendors.

New York-based Peter Warms, who heads the BSYM initiative at Bloomberg, says he cannot comment on this specific dialogue, but that Bloomberg has not so far released anything that allows mapping.

In November 2009, Bloomberg made BSYM identifiers, the codes used in the Bloomberg Professional service, freely available via a website as part of the Bloomberg Open Symbology Initiative. The data items available via the website include name, unique ID, security type, market sector, ticker, pricing source, BSID, BBGID and BBGID composite.

Warms highlights that openness is the primary component of BSYM. "Our goal is to create transparency throughout the financial markets by providing custodians, third parties and exchanges the use of Bloomberg's symbology for free, with no restrictions on usage," he says.

Migration to BBGID
Market participants suggest including the symbologies in the Xymbology service will help reduce the risk and cost of the migration from BUID to BBGID, which is due by December 31, 2010. "We don't want to do the mapping internally. Xymbology would help us save time and effort," says an IPUG executive.

If Bloomberg works with Xymbology, the IPUG executive also says the data licensing issue would be solved. "We now need to have the right to map the BUID with the BSYM," says the executive, adding that this would not be a problem if Xymbology carried the two symbologies.

Essex, UK-based Mark Woolfenden, managing director, FOW TRADEdata, says the company is ready to move quickly, and has the tools needed to incorporate the Bloomberg symbologies. "It's about removing a client overhead and making a market process more efficient," he says.

Xymbology was introduced in 2004, when FOW TRADEdata started developing the product in collaboration with a client, and the service is now used by 12 banks, independent software vendors, transaction service providers and regulatory bodies.