Industry groups, such as the American Bankers Association, contended that, though FIGI is a free open-source tool and owned by a nonprofit organization, its full utility is locked behind Bloomberg Terminal, proprietary software that requires an annual subscription fee of roughly $30,000 paid to Bloomberg LP to access. Bloomberg LP defended itself by pointing out that billions of transactions have been tracked and accessed by interested parties for free since FIGI went open source and that other subscription services can be used to access that same data. Bloomberg Terminal has a 33.4% market share, making it a dominant player in the business information space.

While the 2024 rule represents FIGI’s biggest victory to date, it was not its first, as Bloomberg has long sought to establish the system as a standard tool. For instance, in 2021, Bloomberg LP succeeded in a campaign to win U.S. accreditation for FIGI through the Accredited Standards Committee X9, which sets standards for the U.S. financial services industry.

Though Bloomberg stepped away from the company bearing his name in 2023, he retains an 88% stake in the enterprise, according to Forbes. While it remains unclear how profitable the SEC rule could be for Bloomberg, his financial services and media firm nonetheless got what they wanted out of the regulatory process — the prospect of a full government endorsement.

“The Bloomberg terminal is a black box to the public and the source of the wealth that has enabled Michael Bloomberg to fund some of the worst groups on the left,” Tom Jones, president of the American Accountability Foundation, a conservative oversight group, told the Washington Examiner. “The idea that the federal government would lock in his products after a massive infusion of campaign cash is a huge ethical violation. This is the type of pay-to-play politics Americans hate.”

Bloomberg LP’s representatives wrote three letters to the SEC and met with SEC staffers three times to advocate for FIGI and address the complaints raised by groups such as the ABA. 

“If a Bloomberg Terminal were necessary to utilize a FIGI, how does one explain the massive number of OpenFIGI.com instrument requests, OpenFIGI.com API connections, and the fact that a minimum of 135 data vendors and third-party service providers advertise that they offer FIGI as a security identifier option as part of their service?” Bloomberg LP Global Head of Regulatory Affairs Gregory Babyak asked in a Feb. 20 letter to the SEC. “Clearly, a subscription for the Bloomberg Terminal is neither needed nor required.”

However, organizations such as the ABA, the Science Applications International Corporation, the Investment Company Institute, Intercontinental Exchange, the Association of Global Custodians, the Association of National Numbering Agencies, the Bank Policy Institute, the London Stock Exchange Group, and SIFMA all argued in comments submitted to the SEC that a subscription to a service such as Bloomberg Terminal was required to access the whole body of information from FIGI.

“The Proposal notes, correctly, that entities may obtain a FIGI at no cost,” the Investment Company Institute said of the proposed rule in October 2024. “However, we understand that FIGI only offers users access to a limited set of data at no cost. In order to access several key attributes of the security under FIGI, users would need to use a Bloomberg Terminal or third-party provider platform that is only available through subscription.”

The ABA, for its part, should not be viewed as an entirely neutral party, as it owns CUSIP, a rival subscription-based financial mapping tool currently serving as an industry standard. 

Bloomberg has pushed back on claims that the SEC regulation would make other tracking systems obsolete.

BERNIE SANDERS USES CAMPAIGN DOLLARS TO BANKROLL FAMILY CHARITY

Bloomberg’s $19 million donation to a pro-Biden super PAC was hardly a break from tradition for the billionaire. Since 2016, the billionaire has made over $350 million in political contributions, almost all of which went to left-of-center political committees, according to Federal Election Commission records. Progressive groups in 2020 accused Bloomberg of buying influence when the Democratic National Committee changed its debate qualifying rules in his favor following a $300,000 donation from the billionaire. The DNC also gave him a box to stand on during the debate, a detail President Donald Trump was quick to poke fun at.

“Mini Mike is a 5’4″ mass of dead energy who does not want to be on the debate stage with these professional politicians,” the president said of Bloomberg on Feb. 13, 2020. “No boxes, please. He hates Crazy Bernie and will, with enough money, possibly stop him. Bernie’s people will go nuts!”