TNS Releases Market Data Usage Optimisation Portal to Cut Costs for Financial Firms

Transaction Network Services (TNS), the global infrastructure and connectivity provider for financial markets, has launched a market data usage optimisation portal — delivering a new solution designed to help buy-side and sell-side firms monitor, analyse and reduce their market data expenditures. Called the Data Usage Optimizer (DUO), the platform provides detailed reports that compare market data entitlements against actual usage, enabling institutions to pinpoint unused or under-used data feeds and licences that are still being paid for. By integrating this service with TNS’ existing Market Data as a Service (MDaaS) offering, TNS aims to give firms greater transparency and control over their market data cost base, which is often one of the largest expense categories for trading operations. The portal also includes vendor-agnostic monitoring, proactive alerting and performance intelligence, helping firms streamline infrastructure spend and improve productivity across trading and analytics workflows.

Key Highlights

• New optimisation portal: TNS has launched the Data Usage Optimizer (DUO) to help firms analyse and reduce unnecessary market data costs.
• Detailed usage reports: The system generates actionable reports comparing data feed entitlements with real usage, allowing unused subscriptions to be identified.
• Vendor-agnostic service integration: DUO is integrated into TNS Market Data as a Service, offering comprehensive support for global market data infrastructure.
• Cost-saving opportunities: Firms can reduce unnecessary spending by removing access for users with little or no usage.
• 24/7 monitoring and intelligence: The portal is backed by TNS’s proactive monitoring and alerting capabilities across its network.
• Global reach: TNS supports over 5,000 financial community endpoints with its market data and connectivity services.

What the Optimisation Portal Does

Real-Time Insight into Market Data Usage

Market data costs — from exchange feeds, consolidated data services and analytics platforms — represent a significant spend for trading firms, often accounting for millions of dollars annually. However, many firms only have broad subscription licences that do not reflect actual usage patterns. DUO fixes this by analysing:

• Who actually uses specific data feeds
• Which feeds are rarely or never accessed
• Where fees can be eliminated or consolidated

By reconciling entitlements with actual data consumption, firms gain a clearer view of where they are overspending.

Actionable Reporting and Alerts

The portal generates concise, customisable reports that show unused entitlements and highlight cost-saving opportunities. Data managers can filter and prioritise reports, and the system can deliver alerts when usage patterns change or when unused feeds should be reviewed. This intelligence enables firms to act strategically rather than reactively when managing market data licences.

Why This Matters for Financial Institutions

1. Significant Cost Savings Potential

Market data expenses continue to rise as firms subscribe to more feeds, analytics tools and vendor products. Studies show that many accessed feeds are significantly underutilised — yet still billed at full cost. Optimisation tools like DUO help address this “dead weight cost” by revealing where expenditures can be cut without impacting workflow.

A TNS case study highlights that reconciling usage and entitlements has helped a major global bank identify tens of thousands of dollars in monthly savings through entitlement rationalisation alone.

2. Improved Operational Efficiency

Beyond direct cost savings, having a central portal to analyse usage across multiple vendors and feeds helps market data teams streamline their workflows. Instead of juggling spreadsheets and vendor reports manually, firms can rely on automated, transparent insights — freeing up staff time for higher-value analytical work.

3. Better Licence Governance and Compliance

Accurate tracking of actual data consumption also supports licence compliance, helping firms avoid overbilling disputes with data vendors and ensuring they are not breaching agreement terms by under-or over-provisioning. Proactive alerting and detailed usage histories make it easier to manage licencing audits and vendor negotiations.

Industry Context: Market Data Cost Pressures

As financial markets become more data-driven — with traders, quants and analysts pulling feeds from a multitude of sources — firms’ market data bills have ballooned. Industry observers note that simple entitlement figures often do not reflect actual usage, leading to inefficiencies and unnecessary spending. Tools that offer deeper usage visibility are increasingly seen as essential for effective market data governance.

TNS’ portal joins a broader set of solutions intended to help firms modernise their infrastructure and move away from legacy manual tracking of data feeds — something that has historically caused headaches for market data teams.

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