People let go of their Bloomberg terminals even as financial data spending rises to record $27bn

The 3.5 per cent annual rise in spending came despite subscriptions for Bloomberg’s famous terminals declining for only the second time, according to research by Burton-Taylor International Consulting.

However, Bloomberg remained the biggest player in financial market data, news and analysis thanks to its non-terminal offerings with a 33.4 per cent market share.

Thomson Reuters saw its market share decline by a percentage point to 23.14 per cent, but it managed to keep revenue flat.

Meanwhile S&P Global Market Intelligence bought strong revenue growth of more than 20 per cent after an acquisition boosted its sales. Its forebear S&P Capital IQ bought SNL.

The industry showed steady overall growth in 2016 and, in spite of rather pessimistic forecasts from market participants surveyed last year, performed surprisingly well in the Americas and Asia.

A large part of the overall rise in spending was driven by the rise in compliance since the financial crisis. Risk and compliance users were the fastest-growing group of consumers this year and have seen the biggest growth in the last five years.

This is set to continue as regulations addressing the failures before the financial crisis continue to be introduced.

Although Europe, the Middle East and Africa held the market back last year, MiFID II requirements and the tight regulatory environment should drive spend in all regions in 2017.

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