Well-known recognised statistical and financial info services

Can anyone confirm what services qualify as recognised statistical/financial data services that do not have to be credited in a report? Schweser seems to indicate that S&P, supranational/government agencies such as central banks are included in this category. But does this only apply to certain types of info, such as stock price performance and historical GDP growth, etc.?

Say I found a paper published 5 years ago by my nation’s central bank addressing the housing market at the time. I must reference the authors, correct?

If S&P is included, what about Moody’s, Fitch, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, etc?

Case in point, this question from the CFAI Qbank:

Jean-Luc Schlumberger, CFA, is an independent research analyst providing equity research on companies listed on exchanges in emerging markets. He often incorporates statistical data he obtains from the web sites of the World Bank and the central banks of various countries into the body of his research reports. While not indicated within the reports, whenever his clients ask where he gets his information he informs them the information is in the public domain but he doesn’t keep his own records. When the clients ask for the specific web site addresses he provides the information. Which Standard has Schlumberger least likely violated?

  1. Record Retention
  2. Misrepresentation
  3. Performance Presentation

B is incorrect because Schlumberger has plagiarized the information he obtained from the websites of the World Bank and the various central banks by not quoting the sources within his research reports. This is a violation of Standard I©–Misrepresentation.

A bank is not in the business of publishing statistical and financial data; a bank is in the business of lending money and charging interest.

These companies are in the business of publishing statistical and financial data.

Hmm I’m not sure how to think about this. Central banks’ data are arguably easier to find than those of subscription-based services such as Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters. They also have different levels of services and some research are only available to a certain set of customers, so assuming their data is common knowledge doesn’t seem right imo.

I told you how to think about it: you may use data without attribution from companies whose business is generating data for public use, and you may not use data without attribution from companies whose business in not generating data for public use.

Banks are not in the business of generating data for public use. It’s that simple.

Just does not seem to make sense in practice to me but I digress. Thanks for the help.

My pleasure.