Fitch Solutions has established a partnership with NumeriX, under which NumeriX will launch a new data adapter that supports Fitch Solutions consensus pricing data for corporate, sovereign, loan and asset backed credit derivatives, as well as credit default swap (CDS) indices information.
Steven O’Hanlon, president and chief operating officer of NumeriX, explains the benefits for the vendor’s customers: “Through our partnership with Fitch Solutions, NumeriX now offers full access to robust credit data for financial institutions, offering customers more flexibility and helping them make more informed investment decisions.”
As a result of the partnership with Fitch Solutions, which is a division of the Fitch Group, NumeriX hopes that its users will be able to leverage more credit data as they structure complex derivatives. The vendor believes this increased data will allow users to immediately value, price and capture new transactions as they enter the market, against a background of market instability. These users will therefore benefit from greater deal coverage and accuracy.
Thomas Aubrey, managing director of Fitch Solutions, explains how this fits into the his firm’s strategic vision: “Fitch has a lot of relevant content, and one of the key opportunities that we have is to see how we can distribute that content through appropriate third parties. We have set up a dedicated third party group that is researching this area at the moment and this is an important strategy of ours going forward.”
The integration has been done, and NumeriX has built an adapter for Fitch’s data, he explains. “That allows users to get access to the data quickly and easily. Its ease of use is important and its plug and play adaptability is what is different about this offering in comparison to the rest of the market. The development took approximately a couple of months and we spent a lot of time testing the service so that the clients had full access to the data from the launch of the offering,” he says.
“The market leading content is integrated into the solution and that makes it attractive from the end user perspective,” he contends. “Other providers may have models but users would then have to do the integration work to connect to the data source.”
Aubrey’s colleague, Gloria Aviotti, group managing director and head of Fitch Solutions, adds: “In today’s environment, access to accurate data and analytics is more important than ever. Both companies provide superior quantitative and analytic solutions to the financial industry, to ensure investors are equipped with the best tools.”
O’Hanlon seconds this notion: “After almost two years of unstable credit markets, the quick and accurate flow of data is crucial to powering useful and effective analytics.”
Aubrey reckons that when it comes to the valuations and pricing business, Fitch Solutions has a lot of
content based on the CDS pricing area and one of the biggest consumers of this data are institutions engaged in structuring and valuing derivatives. “Looking at the various vendors involved in this space, NumeriX is clearly a leading player in this market with regards to structuring and the valuation of derivatives and structured products,” he says.
He believes NumeriX is a natural fit for Fitch Solutions: “We have the content that they need and they have a very broad base of models and clients.”
Fitch Solutions is being more proactive in pushing some of its content out via key third parties, says Aubrey. Accordingly, the global partnership programme was set up around two months ago and this has helped the vendor to further define with whom it should be working, he continues.
“It is important for Fitch Solutions to partner with key players. There are different market requirements from different institutions and from different job functions within these institutions – we need to make sure that we are meeting these different needs. Ultimately, we can provide users with the valuations and the models as well. NumeriX is the first partner to come out of our new programme and we are looking at other providers in the market to add at a later stage. Choosing selectively is key – it is not about lots and lots of partnerships, it is about getting the right partnerships in place,” he concludes.
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