Thomson Financial Services (TFS) has expanded its offerings of financial and investor information on the Web. It has introduced new data services on Thomson Financial Publishing's bankinfo.com and First Call Corporation's Research Direct services and augmented current data collections in Thomson Investors Network.Financial Institutions Online
Thomson Financial Publishing (TFP), a subsidiary of TFS, has introduced Thomson Financial Institutions Online, a Web-based database covering head offices and branch locations for banks, savings associations, credit unions, trust companies, and holding companies. When complete, the file will cover financial institutions in 212 countries. The database integrates with TFP's existing Web site, bankinfo.com. Users can reach the site on http://www.bankinfo.com and click to "Financial Institutions Online."
The database supports searching by location, bank name, keyword, officer name, and various financial parameters. Listings include routing numbers, contact names, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, financial data, institution hours, etc. The file updates continuously. Thomson plans to expand international coverage soon by adding BankWatch Credit Ratings and Banking System Reports, which include rankings, funds processing guides, bank holidays, etc.
Both individual and corporate subscriptions are available in modular formats that enable users to subscribe only to the information they need. For example, individuals pay $65 for specific states or $695 for the entire U.S. International material will go online by August. No price has been set for that access as yet. Thomson will also offer transactional pricing soon.
Corporate Direct
First Call Corporation, a division of Thomson Financial Services, has entered a partnership with General Solutions, Inc., a Japanese investor relations specialist firm, to develop a new service called Corporate Direct (CD). Targeted toward Japanese corporations, the new service will supply direct information exchanges of financial news and information on and from Japanese companies. Most of the information will be in English. It will include annual reports, brief earnings announcements, press releases, and corporate profiles.
Corporate Direct will be available over Research Direct, a Web-based service from First Call (http://www.firstcall.com), which also has a Japanese language version called RD-J (http://www.firstcall.co.jp). General Solutions has an established Web site of its own offering information on Japanese companies in English (http://www.gcis.com).
Thomson Investors Network
Thomson Investors Network (http://www.thomsoninvest.net) has reorganized its Web offerings around information centers that let users bookmark straight into their favorite areas. Each of the centers has expanded its data offerings:
- The Stock Center now carries a full set of indexed EDGAR SEC filings and company profiles from Partes FreeEDGAR. It has also added more coverage to the Company Reports.
- The Mutual Fund Center now features a mutual fund guide to explain fund structure, fees and expenses, category definitions, and regulatory issues, as well as augmented Fund Reports.
- The News Center has added daily top story and three video market reports from CNBC/Dow Jones Business Video.