Microsoft recently announced that it had purchased some stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). This move signals an unexpected twist on digital transformation deals as Microsoft continues to expand its foothold in the global technology market.

The investment in LSEG is part of Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to grow its presence in the financial services industry, and provide software, cloud computing, and AI solutions for customers.

With the purchase of a stake in LSEG, Microsoft is now able to leverage the platform’s capabilities to provide insights and analytics to customers in the financial services industry.

In addition to acquiring a 4% stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), Microsoft has announced a 10-year strategic partnership with the provider of the financial market to put its infrastructure and data analytics on the Microsoft cloud.

The tech giant was impressed with LSEG's data offerings and remarked that with their latest purchase of a data service provider Refinitiv, completed at the beginning of 2021, LSEG had the technological edge with a solution that spanned the trading, execution, data, and analytics spectrums.

According to Microsoft, “in light of increasing challenges in the marketplace and disruption, firms must equip themselves with a technological infrastructure based on the cloud and artificial intelligence to create the best user experience and stay competitive.”

“LSEG has already started to address these issues for their customers, and through this strategic partnership, we will accelerate that transformation,” Microsoft added.

Regarding the finer details, LSEG will integrate into a wide part of the Microsoft enterprise collaboration suite. LSEG's technology infrastructure and data and analytics platforms – including Refinitiv platforms – will be migrated onto the Microsoft cloud.

This open financial data platform will let organizations access the wealth of information available. Businesses are so invested that Microsoft is incorporating special software like an LSEG Workspace on Microsoft Teams and Excel integration.

David Schwimmer, CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group said, “Bringing together our leading data sets, analytics, and global customer base with Microsoft’s comprehensive and trusted cloud services and global reach creates attractive revenue growth opportunities for both companies.”

One other big customer and partner win that Microsoft noted in the latest quarter is Informatica. Along with Informatica, they cited Our Future Health as the largest-ever health research program in the UK.

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