Interactive Data, a provider of financial market data, analytics and related services, has launched the Basket Calculation Service, a new web-based offering that aims to provide clients wi
Interactive Data, a provider of financial market data, analytics and related services, has launched the Basket Calculation Service, a new web-based offering that aims to provide clients with indicative optimised portfolio value for equity and fixed-income exchange-trade funds.
According to Morgan Stanley, there were more than 950 ETFs worldwide with assets of more than USD688bn at the end of June. Some 240 new ETFs were launched worldwide in the first six months of 2007, and Morgan Stanley expects hundreds more to be introduced before the end of the year.
Interactive Data notes that sponsors are offering investors an increasingly diverse range of ETFs, including fixed-income products. The basket calculation service will use intra-day fixed-income valuations from Interactive Data Pricing And Reference Data and real-time equity pricing data to calculate and deliver updated indicative optimised portfolio values every 15 seconds through a hosted web application powered by PlusFeed, the consolidated low latency digital datafeed from Interactive Data Real-Time Services.
Three ETF sponsors have signed agreements to use the basket calculation service, which is currently available in North America. The intra-day valuations will initially cover municipal securities, with a broader range of global fixed-income instruments including treasury, emerging market, sovereign and corporate securities expected to be available by the end of October.
The new capability builds upon Interactive Data’s position as a provider of fixed-income evaluations to institutions. The intra-day valuations are expected to be offered to clients as a separate service by the end of the year.
‘The majority of ETFs launched to date have been equity-based,’ says Ken Starr, a senior director with Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data. ‘We believe this is due in part to the challenges associated with calculating valuations of ETFs that contain thinly-traded fixed income securities.
‘By combining Interactive Data’s experience in producing millions of fixed income evaluations each day with our expertise in delivering a vast universe of real-time data, we have been able to develop a unique offering that is designed to help clients who seek indicative optimised portfolio values for an increasingly diverse range of ETF products.’
President of sales and marketing Ray D’Arcy adds: ‘For many years, Interactive Data has provided mission critical evaluations and pricing data to mutual funds and investment firms, and we believe that delivering intra-day valuations for ETFs is a natural extension of this business.’
The basket calculation service is being offered by Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data. The process followed for producing intra-day fixed-income valuations is different than the process used for creating its end-of-day fixed-income evaluations.
Interactive Data provides financial market information, analytics and related services to financial institutions, active traders and individual investors. The company’s businesses supply time-sensitive pricing, evaluations and reference data for securities traded around the world.
Through its businesses, Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data, Interactive Data Real-Time Services, Interactive Data Fixed Income Analytics, and eSignal, the company has 2,200 employees in offices located in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The company is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, and its majority shareholder is Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times.
Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data collects, edits, maintains and delivers data on more than 3.5 million securities, including daily evaluations for approximately 2.5 million fixed income and international equity issues. The business specialises in ‘hard-to-get’ information and evaluation of hard-to value instruments.
