Swiss private bank and asset manager Pictet & Cie has selected Interactive Data’s pricing and reference data business to provide bond evaluations.
Brendan Beith, sales director, Interactive Data (Europe), believes that by leveraging relationships with the buy side, electronic trading platforms, and essentially major market makers, it has access to a unique flow of market colour. “We are a global provider with a local presence – more than 5000 financial institutions worldwide now subscribe to our bond evaluations,” he says.
Prior to the migration of Pictet’s core banking system, Interactive Data provided its bond evaluations service via a third party. Pictet now uses the Avaloq Banking System in conjunction with Gain Data Management from Aim Software, with whom Interactive Data (Europe) has a longstanding relationship.
This new platform enables Pictet to access more up-to-date and much wider coverage of bond evaluations, which are delivered via the FTSSM, Interactive Data’s securities administration service, adds Beith. “This direct feed allows Pictet to benefit from our wide range of fixed income evaluations and will also enable Pictet to subscribe to our evaluations of other asset types. The new platform requires less manual input, therefore reducing human resource and potential for errors. It is simpler to use and can increase timeliness of delivery,” he explains.
Michel Mermoux, head of market data at Pictet & Cie, comments: “The integration of the bond evaluations service into Gain Data Management gives us direct access to a large universe of bond evaluations from Interactive Data. We currently subscribe to over 3,000 bond evaluations on a daily basis, primarily mortgage-backed securities, but also municipal bonds and other fixed income securities.”
With regards to potential future challenges, Beith explains that these are similar across Interactive Data’s client base. “We are increasing our coverage in terms of the number of securities, as well as new asset types, whilst maintaining the quality of our data. Being in a close relationship with the client can really help us to be prepared to meet their future needs,” he says.
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