72% of North American Quant Fund Managers Struggle to Access High Quality Data

New research with fund managers in North America who collectively manage around $600 billion, reveals they are placing a growing emphasis on both the quality of the data used in their investment processes and on having access to the technological capabilities to efficiently process data (please see the attached press release). Six out of ten (60%) believe this is crucial to achieving above-average returns in the future.

The study, which was commissioned by quant technologies provider SigTech, found that 94% of fund managers find the process of evaluating data, ensuring it meets quality standards and negotiating with data vendors challenging. 72% say it is difficult to source data that is cleaned, validated and ready to use from vendors.

When it comes to onboarding new data sets, nearly six out of ten North American fund managers say they encounter problems, with 56% saying it takes between 1 and 6 months to have new data fully operational internally.

As a result of the many challenges North American fund managers encounter when sourcing and managing data, 64% expect to increase their budget in this area over the next few years.

When asked to pick the two asset classes where they encounter the greatest difficulty in accessing high quality data, 62% of North American fund managers cited fixed income, followed by 54% who selected commodities. In terms of the two financial instruments where they have the greatest difficulty in securing high quality data, 66% cited forwards, followed by cash/spot (58%) and then futures (40%)

In terms of outsourcing of data services, the study found that 64% of fund managers have increased their level of outsourcing over the last two years. Going forward, 77% plan to outsource more between now and 2024, with none seeing a decrease. When asked which factors are fuelling the growing trend towards data services outsourcing, a shortage of qualified in-house subject matter experts and resources was cited as the biggest driver.

Half of those surveyed (50%) found negotiating with data vendors the most frustrating part of the data onboarding process, and 60% say that evaluating the different vendors is challenging.