Google Finance Service is bringing even more value to their retail investors by giving them access to real-time London stock exchange prices. This is a service and value that has only been afforded to subscribing customers of expensive specialized services such as those offered by Bloomberg LP and Thomas Reuters. Google already offers this service on exchanges in the US, India, and China and bears the burden of expense by filling the space with advertisers.

Media analyst Thomas Singlehurst of Citigroup comments on the particulars of the services provided by Google:

“It shows that alternative aggregators can replicate some of the basic services of a Thomson Reuters or a Bloomberg, but… what Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg provide in terms of the whole package is not replicated by what Google Finance provides,”

“Equally, it shows that any of these businesses that are built up on the aggregation of quasi-public data are going to see that competitive position eroded as other companies come along and try to do it better, whether it’s Bloomberg Law or Google Finance.”

The London Stock exchange has been actively growing its data business and they have experienced almost 25% growth in the area just last quarter. This recent deal with Google is the first of its kind at the exchange, but it is not exclusive and there is nothing to bar them from creating similar promotions with others.