CME to offer start-ups access to six months free access via Sandbox program
The CME has reached an agreement with Sandbox to offer start-ups free access to historical futures and options trading data. Non-profit organisation, Sandbox offers fintech start-ups free access to data and other resources via a six month program.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) and Fintech Fintech Financial Technology (fintech) is defined as ay technology that is geared towards automating and enhancing the delivery and application of financial services. The origin of the term fintechs can be traced back to the 1990s where it was primarily used as a back-end system technology for renowned financial institutions. However, it has since grown outside the business sector with an increased focus upon consumer services.What Purpose Do Fintechs Serve?The main purpose of fintechs would be to suppl Financial Technology (fintech) is defined as ay technology that is geared towards automating and enhancing the delivery and application of financial services. The origin of the term fintechs can be traced back to the 1990s where it was primarily used as a back-end system technology for renowned financial institutions. However, it has since grown outside the business sector with an increased focus upon consumer services.What Purpose Do Fintechs Serve?The main purpose of fintechs would be to suppl Read this Term Sandbox have closed an agreement for providing access to historical futures and options trading data to fintech startups in a bid to promote innovation in the industry, CME Group said in a press release.

The companies that will have free access to these data are the members of FinTech Sandbox, a non-profit organization (NPO) dedicated to promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. The access program will run for six months and will include data feeds and APIs from a host of FinTech Sandbox’ partners around the globe, plus cloud services from infrastructure companies that have also partnered with the NPO. FinTech Sandbox counts among its partners Amazon Web Services, Fidelity Investments, Intel, Goodwin Procter, and Thomson Reuters.

FinTech Sandbox is currently the only organization of its kind that helps startup companies from the financial technology industry focus on innovation by providing them with free access to data and other resources.

CME “excited to help startups make advancements in areas that will positively impact our customers."

CME’s Group Managing Director of Market Technology and Data Services, Craig Mohan, said: "We formed this agreement with FinTech Sandbox because we strongly believe in supporting entrepreneurs in the global FinTech community... The futures industry was built on innovation and we are excited to help startups make advancements in areas that will positively impact our customers."

Fin Tech Sandbox’s Managing Director, Jean Donnelly, pointed out the importance of access to specialized data in the current fintech ecosystem: "Access to the kind of deep, quality data that CME Group is making available gives startups in our program a tremendous leg-up in identifying problems to solve and in building products to the robust standards of large financial institutions.”

A couple of months ago the fintech NPO announced its latest partnership with Estimize, a data provider that acts as an alternative to Wall Street analysts, crowdsourcing forecast information about US stocks. Earlier in the year, FinTech Sandbox added among its data partners another crowdsourcing firm, StockTwits.