Media. News and press releases from across Man Group.

27 February 2023

• Agreement includes joint commitment to further develop ArcticDB as an open source project
• New Man Group product simplifies working with dynamic data structures at terabyte scale
• ArcticDB will add key functionality to Bloomberg’s BQuant platform

Man Group, the global, technology-empowered active investment management firm, and Bloomberg, a global leader in business and financial information, have signed a multi-year open source technology development and product integration agreement for a new DataFrame database product, ArcticDB. This is the first transaction of its kind for Man Group and the resulting product will be implemented as part of Bloomberg’s BQuant offering.

ArcticDB, a high-performance Python-native database, was built in response to the ever-increasing amount of data and complexity of front-office research at Man Group, a challenge faced by many large buy-side and sell-side institutions.

Bloomberg will integrate ArcticDB into BQuant, Bloomberg’s analytics platform for quantitative analysts and data scientists in the financial markets to quickly build, test, and deploy models for alpha generation, risk, and trading. These models often rely on high volume timeseries data that include Bloomberg’s comprehensive range of high-quality, market leading, multi-asset-class financial and alternative linked datasets, as well as a firm’s own internal data. The BQuant environment, which combines Bloomberg data, services, and tools with the best of open source technology such as Python and Jupyter notebooks, is fully integrated with the Bloomberg Terminal.

Man Group trades trillions of dollars of buy and sell orders each year; this demands fast, flexible, and familiar data science tools which have the ability to store and process complex data at an industrial scale. ArcticDB deals with individual data elements spanning hundreds of millions of rows, or hundreds of thousands of columns, powering use cases such as deep tick history analysis or modelling of large corporate bond universes. Using ArcticDB, Man Group’s investment professionals and technologists can better power robust, near-real-time automated trading. It also enables point-in-time analysis of research datasets and provides functionality for signal backtesting.

The first iteration of ArcticDB was made available on an open source basis via GitHub and has seen over one million downloads since 2015. The latest version continues an open source approach and adds a commercial proposition through an enterprise version for production use.

This latest version of ArcticDB retains the same Python-friendly API backed by a new C++ engine. It is designed to leverage modern cloud object storage, complement any existing data science tech stack, and can be installed with a single command.

Gary Collier, CTO of Man Group Alpha Technology, commented:

“Today’s tools are simply not built to address the challenges of real-world data science. Datasets are massive, complex and time-varying. However, regardless of their original form, DataFrames quickly emerge as the unit of analysis in modern data science workflows and ArcticDB makes this a first-class concern. By streamlining how we work, ArcticDB enhances our ability to generate new trading strategies, optimise portfolios, and manage investment risk. These are all features that we expect Bloomberg users will appreciate too."

Mark Jones, Deputy CEO at Man Group, added:

“Technology is part of our DNA; we’re using our 35 years of quant investing and technology experience to improve performance and efficiency across alpha generation, trading and execution, and risk management. ArcticDB has transformed the way we handle data, and we’re confident it will do the same for others.”

Shawn Edwards, CTO of Bloomberg, added:

“We’re excited to collaborate with Man Group to further develop the open source ArcticDB project and to enhance our customers’ experience using the BQuant platform by integrating its capabilities. This will give Bloomberg’s quantitative clients the ability to process, analyze, and backtest using billions of rows of timeseries data in seconds as they seek new ways to generate alpha. In addition, this effort further reinforces Bloomberg’s ‘open source first’ philosophy, in which our engineers both use and contribute to the broader open source ecosystem.”

About Man Group

Man Group is a global, technology-empowered active investment management firm focused on delivering alpha and portfolio solutions for clients. Headquartered in London, we manage $138.4 billion^* and operate across multiple offices globally.

We invest across a diverse range of strategies and asset classes, with a mix of long only and alternative strategies run on a discretionary and quantitative basis, across liquid and private markets. Our investment teams work within Man Group’s single operating platform, enabling them to invest with a high degree of empowerment while benefiting from the collaboration, strength and resources of the entire firm. Our platform is underpinned by advanced technology, supporting our investment teams at every stage of their process, including alpha generation, portfolio management, trade execution and risk management.

Man Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker EMG.LN and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Further information can be found at www.man.com.

*As at 30 September 2022. All investment management and advisory services are offered through the investment “engines” of Man AHL, Man Numeric, Man GLG, Man Solutions / FRM and Man GPM.

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration.

For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.