Interactive Data’s Pricing and Reference Data business has broadened its Evaluated Services capabilities for clients with the launch of a new monthly market data report. The new offering is aimed at helping clients prepare for fair value measurements under the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) Staff Position (FSP) FAS 157-4.
FSP FAS 157-4 provides additional guidance to preparers of financial statements for determining when the volume and level of activity for an asset or liability have significantly decreased and for identifying transactions that are not orderly. Interactive Data was one of nearly 350 organisations and individuals that responded to FASB’s request for comments to the proposed FSP FAS 157-e, which was adopted as FSP FAS 157-4.
Interactive Data’s monthly market data report contains information regarding market activity in different asset classes including US corporate bonds, US municipal bonds, and US asset backed and mortgage related securities. This report is available free of charge to Interactive Data’s Evaluated Services clients. A key tenet of Interactive Data’s evaluations process is to review market information and identify activity that may not be indicative of orderly transactions.
In addition to the monthly market data report, clients can also now submit and track evaluation inputs requests online via Interactive Data’s 360View service. With 360View, clients can also review key assumptive data used in the evaluation process for structured securities including collateralised mortgage obligations (CMOs), asset backed securities (ABS) and commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS).
Interactive Data has also expanded its evaluations capabilities by adding new coverage for mortgage backed securities. It has added coverage for 18 new pool types, totalling 1,625 securities — including securities backed by relocation and jumbo loans.
“Our Evaluated Services team continues to respond quickly to our clients’ needs by providing a variety of expanded services and broader coverage to assist with fair value measurements and to help clients determine valuations for a wider variety of complex securities,” says Shant Harootunian, managing director of Evaluations for Interactive Data. “Financial institutions can realise benefits by utilising independent evaluations of fixed income securities, instead of traditionally used broker quotes, as inputs to their valuations processes.”
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