CDO Software Integrates Markit's Benchmark Credit Pricing and Reference Data into CDO Tools™ for Enhanced Management of Structured Portfolios
London, 29th June 2006 - CDO Software announced today that it has integrated Markit Group Limited's bond and credit default swap (CDS) pricing, credit derivative index pricing and Markit RED (Reference Entity Database) for reference entities and obligations within its CDO Tools™ suite of products.
"The market has been calling for an integrated and user-friendly platform that uses independent and reliable data to price and risk manage structured portfolios", said Sunay Shah, CEO of CDO Software. Mutual clients can now seamlessly load Markit's independent prices into CDO Director™, a single, fully audited environment to manage positions, monitor exposures, produce P&L and Risk numbers and generate exposure reports to presentation standards, while using a consistent set of prices.
Clients no longer have to suffer the inefficiencies and frustration caused by the need to update and manage multiple spreadsheets and databases. Users of CDO structures can now use Markit's independent pricing and CDO Software's cutting-edge management tools to gain transparency down to the reference obligation level. The further integration with Markit's RED codes enables industry standard identifiers to be used to match entities and obligations across portfolios, removing the operational risks involved in matching on issuer or obligation names.
"The rise in the complexity of structured products requires a more integrated and sophisticated approach for end-users. We are delighted that CDO Software has chosen to integrate our data since this represents an excellent combination aimed squarely at the issues joint customers are experiencing today, namely the risk management and control of exotic structured products" said Mark Hunt, Director of Alliances at Markit Group.
"The alliance of CDO Software and Markit really helps investors and issuers to monitor exposures and aggregate risks across portfolios, which is essential for better informed trading and investment decisions" continued Sunay Shah. Furthermore, this helps eliminate operational risk stemming from inadequate systems and processes, and helps encourage a far healthier and more transparent trading environment. The commitment from both firms will provide mutual clients with effective portfolio management solutions, as new strategies and traded products come to market.
About CDO Software
CDO Software provides cutting-edge management tools for participants in the structured credit products and credit derivatives market. The CDO Tools™ suite of products enables investors and issuers to efficiently manage CDO products, including static and managed pools, CDO2, other basket based products and single name credit default swaps. An invaluable tool, CDO Director™ covers the three stages of CDO management: data & trade capture, monitoring & analytics, and reporting. CDO Software delivers leading technology with open architecture that interfaces with live data sources and analytics software (third-party or in-house), whilst handling all the booking, processing and reporting of tranche and underlying portfolio data. Changes to any portfolio are automatically logged and an audit trail is generated, helping to mitigate operational risks. This allows the use of consistent data firm-wide, vital for companies to mark-to-market their investments and help to achieve Basel II compliance. CDO Software's management team has a wealth of experience in financial markets and specialises in credit derivatives, with a proven track record of delivering systems to major financial institutions.
About Markit Group Limited
Markit Group Limited is the leading industry source of independent pricing, reference data and valuations for the global financial and commodities markets. Markit receives data contributions from over 60 dealing firms, and its services are used by 450 institutions globally. Areas of product expertise include OTC derivatives (credit, equity, FX, rates, inflation, energy, power and metals), corporate bonds, syndicated loans, dividend forecasting, and index and ETF management. The company also provides operational benchmarking.
Markit has most recently brought price transparency to the European asset-backed securities market with the launch of the first independent ABS pricing service. Its position in the derivatives markets has been acknowledged by the industry with awards from Inside Market Data for Reference Data Provider of the Year 2006, and Company to Watch 2006; Risk Magazine for Trading Initiative of the Year 2006 (Credit Event Fixings); Structured Finance International's Editor's Award for Advancing Structured Finance 2006; International Securitisation Report's Editor's Award for Innovation 2005; International Financing Review's Innovation of the Year 2005 (Credit Event Fixings); Financial News' Best Derivatives Data Provider 2005; and Institutional Investor's Operations Management Award for Vendor of the Year 2005.
For press information contact:
CDO Software Ltd
Marketing Department
2nd Floor, Berkeley Square House
Berkeley Square
London W1J 6BD
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)20 7887 7878
E: marketing@cdosoftware.com
Markit Group Limited
Teresa Chick
Director, Corporate Communications
T: +44 20 7260 2094
E: teresa.chick@markit.com