Standard & Poor's distributes Markit's credit default swap pricing via CDS Xpress
London, 4th August 2005 - Standard & Poor's, the leading independent provider of investment research, indices and ratings, today announced an agreement with Markit Group Limited ("Markit"), the leading industry source for independent mark-to-market pricing and asset valuations, to distribute Markit's benchmark credit default swap (CDS) prices via Standard & Poor's CDS Xpress data-feed.
Composite daily closing prices for five-year CDS will now be available on Standard & Poor's CDS Accelerator product, which facilitates and streamlines synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) analysis. When used in conjunction with CDS Xpress, CDS Accelerator provides even greater functionality by providing daily updates of key information such as Standard & Poor's credit ratings, industry codes, country and CLIP entity codes on underlying reference credits. Markit RED (Reference Entity Database) was integrated into CDS Xpress and CDS Accelerator last year.
CDS Xpress and CDS Accelerator provide accurate data that is specifically tailored to the synthetic CDO market. The prices can be updated daily or monthly, delivered via FTP in XML format as part of the CDS Xpress feed.
Markit provides daily, independent mark-to-market pricing and reference entity data, drawn from over 50 contributing financial institutions, that is used by organizations globally within their trading, risk management and operations areas.
"We are delighted to be partnering with Markit on this new and exciting project. This new alliance with Markit will enable us to provide our clients with an integrated data solution which has been widely requested", commented Krishna Biltoo, Managing Director of Standard & Poor's Securities Services, Europe.
"The combination of Standard & Poor's analytics and Markit's pricing provides credit portfolio managers with a valuable tool with which to monitor their investments. This partnership will undoubtedly enhance our clients' risk management capabilities in the context of increasingly sophisticated credit products", said Mark Hunt, Director of Product Development at Markit.
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About Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP), is the leading independent provider of investment research, Indices and ratings.
With approximately 6,500 employees located in 22 countries, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit www.standardandpoors.com .
About Markit
Markit is the leading industry source for asset valuation data and services supporting independent price verification and risk management in global financial and energy markets. Founded in 2001, the company is an independent enterprise with which the world's leading financial institutions and energy traders work strategically to create price transparency. Today, Markit enjoys the sponsorship of 13 financial institutions who manage assets in excess of $10 trillion, and data contribution relationships with over 50 dealing firms. Markit has designed, launched and acquired over 20 financial data services which are now used by over 300 institutions globally. Areas of product expertise and service include an independent valuation perspective on OTC derivatives (credit, equity, FX, rates, energy, power, metals and structured products), corporate bonds, syndicated loans, dividend forecasting, and index and ETF management. For more information about Markit, see www.markit.com
For further information, please contact:
Standard & Poor's
George McFerran
Tel: +44 (0)20 7176 7433
Email: george_mcferran@standardandpoors.com
Penrose Financial
Mani Pillai/Sinead Scott-Lennon
Tel: +44 (0)20 7786 4814/4862
Email: manip@penrose.co.uk
Markit
Teresa Chick
Marketing and Communications Manager
Tel: +44 (0)20 7890 5094
Email: teresa.chick@markit.com