In Brief: Thomson Financial, Multex Enhance RIXML Offerings

Thomson Financial’s First Call and I/B/E/S product lines for research are now being upgraded to support the RIXML research standard. Thomson Connect, a fully RIXML-compliant buy-to-sell-side network connectivity system, is due for release before the end of the year. It has been based on the Worldstreet platform acquired by Thomson. Thomson Connect will be incorporated into First Call’s research platforms, which currently service more than buy-side 70,000 users.

Meanwhile, Multex is working with a number of financial institutions in the hopes of convincing them to incorporate RIXML tagging into their research endeavors. The company already supports version 1.0 of the RIXML standard and is now incorporating support for the higher-level version 2.0 into its research distribution platforms.

In Brief: Startup Mark-it Partners Launches Credit Pricing Service

Mark-it Partners has launched a daily pricing service for global credit markets. The service uses XML for distribution to end users, and is based on an Oracle Corp. database. The service will use data contributed by 11 major dealers in the global credit markets: ABN Amro, Bank of America, Salomon Smith Barney, CSFB, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and TD Securities. The data is fed into Mark-it’s platform overnight, and is pooled and then cleansed to ensure integrity.

Data is available in four formats: as a composite price and spread; graphed as London InterBank Offered Rate (Libor) spread curves; in the form of a daily price discrepancy service; and mapped against customers’ names. Mark-it says the applications have taken over two years to develop and use XML and Oracle technology. They can be accessed with a secure connection over the Web.

Mark-it Partners, founded by former executives of TD Securities, believes the system will boost transparency in the credit markets and help credit traders to verify asset prices and improve risk management for both cash and derivative credit instruments. The company believes credit market participants currently struggle to achieve daily price verification on all but the most liquid of assets, a situation that is hindering the growth of the market.