Is market and market-related data a crucial driver of success in the wealth management industry? Well, it could be in a couple of ways.

Obviously, if a wealth management firm (wealth management news) could craft a truly unique and high value-added data feed for customers, it would prove a marketable benefit, though I think that route is unlikely. It could also drive business as an advisor tool that can aid in the retention and recruiting of top producers. If a firm could offer a truly unique service that would compel high-producing brokers to join its team, that would be great thing.

According to Celent, we're seeing some innovation, as more firms opt for customizable services that offer advanced features beyond mere data look-up. Charting and other analytical tools--that can generate client-facing information perhaps--are becoming more standard; dedicated terminals are less popular. Web-based widgets and dashboards and the like seem to be more prevalent. A one-stop service that can provide all relevant information via a single interface seems to be the trend. Actionable advice also seems to be the focus of several vendors.

All of this is happening at a time when financial institutions are under pressure to reduce their market data spending. The report concludes, however, that spending will rise 5 percent in 2010, which may be ahead of total IT spending by financial firms. 

For more:
- here's a release
- here's an article in Securities Industry News

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