CME Group-owned Credit Market Analysis (CMA) has upgraded its solutions set to account for the impending changes to the North American credit default swap (CDS) market. The changes, which are being introduced on 8 April and are being championed by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), affect the quoting conventions for single name CDS as a result of the new standardised 100/500 contracts.
Jav Bose, head of product development at CMA, explains that the vendor has upgraded its OTC credit market price discovery service QuoteVision, price verification data service DataVision and Analytics product sets in order for its clients to transition to the new standards.
“The upcoming changes to quoting conventions for single name CDS are required for smooth settlement and position netting in the CDS market. The adaptations we have made will make it easier for clients to manage the new conventions and pricing conversions and minimise the time from price discovery to taking trading and risk management decisions,” he explains.
The ISDA led changes are designed to strengthen the infrastructure for CDS transactions and enhance the liquidity and transparency of the markets for standardised CDS.
Rival vendors Markit and RiskVal have also recently added new services to their portfolios to account for the CDS changes. A couple of weeks ago, Markit launched a CDS data and information portal along with a free online calculator that converts CDS spreads into the new upfront quoting convention. RiskVal launched a similar calculation feature in the same week.
