FactSet

Understanding FactSet

FactSet Research Systems is a firm that supplies investing professionals with software and financial data solutions. The company provides a range of financial services, including portfolio data management, market analytics, data consolidation, business consulting, and customer support and education. Hedge funds, investment bankers, and portfolio managers are just a few examples of the sell-side and buy-side capital market professionals for whom the services are intended.

FactSet today has over 48 sites across 22 nations and is headquartered in the United States. Its services are utilized by over 4,700 businesses, with at least 130,000 users globally as of 2020. The annual client retention rate for the firm is roughly 95%.

The Mission of FactSet

FactSet strives to aggregate financial data from diverse financial resources into a single platform. The company leverages the data it has collected to provide investment professionals with analytical insight to help them become better investors. Financial data consolidation may then assist firms with financial analysis and reporting. Specifically, FactSet provides computer data that may be customized to better fit the financial requirements of the firm and analytical programmes that support data analysis and financial content.

FactSet purchased Deal Maven in 2007, a company that delivers solutions to increase workflow efficiency for investment bankers that use Microsoft Office. Deal Maven, in particular, provides innovative add-ins for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that help investment bankers aggregate and analyze data more efficiently.

By acquiring Deal Maven, FactSet is now able to assist enterprises with increasing the productivity of their financial modelling through improved formatting, personalized macro shortcuts, and automation of procedures for creating pitchbook presentations.

Use of FactSet by Professionals

For financial professionals, FactSet offers access to more than 30 datasets and 850 independent data vendors. The platform also offers a wide range of solutions for various corporate needs, including research, data, and ESG investing solutions.

The financial products of the corporation are also useful in other commercial sectors, including risk management, buy-side trading, data science, and information technology. A data marketplace, online portals, and an application programming interface (API) are just a few of the technological tools the platform makes use of to improve the investment experience.

The solutions from FactSet are also adaptable. It may either be implemented as a complete system throughout the whole corporation or as a separate component in each department.

FactSet's Process

The FactSet platform provides a customized workspace and an intuitive user experience. Users may open their workspace from the main menu with all of its tabs and components. Additionally, they may access data on the stock market, the economy, the day's top news, earnings reports, and other topics.

Market Watch, one of the most popular platform's features, enables users to create their own list of real-time quotations for bonds, shares, indices, currencies, and commodities. Users may also access detailed data for stock, including charts, volume, and bid and ask prices. The data may then be transferred to Excel using the FactSet Excel add-in function.

Evaluation of Other Platforms

In addition to FactSet, there are a number of other significant platforms in the financial data sector, including Eikon, Bloomberg, and Capital IQ. Although all platforms are often utilized, FactSet may be preferred by some investing professionals due to its user-friendly design.

Additionally, as this platform provides real-time market data, distinctive data sets, and Excel plugins, it is helpful for investment bankers who need to develop pitchbooks and carry out financial modelling. Financial experts also use Factset since it can be customized and offer subscriptions to many financial products.

Organizational Structure

Three business divisions make up FactSet: one for the US, one for Europe, and one for Asia-Pacific. Domestic financial experts and domestic financial institutions can get financial solutions from business units based in the US. However, financial professionals are suggested to seek help from the respective business units, especially those that fall under the regions operated by the European and Asia-Pacific business units.

As of October 2015, Philip Snow, the company's CEO, took over the top position and is still in charge currently (as of 2023). Snow initially joined FactSet in 1996 as a consultant and held numerous domestic and international business positions. Snow holds degrees in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.

FactSet has a well-established corporate governance framework with audit board committees made up of independent directors to help with financial and corporate compliance. The corporation also has an employee hotline that enables reporting of ethical or accounting problems, as well as serves as a requirement that enables shareholders to obtain supremacy to modify certain corporate terms.