ISO 15022 Service Now Available from FT Interactive Data
The first phase of FT Interactive Data's
ISO 15022 service is immediately available to both existing
and new customers
2 August 2004 - London
FT Interactive Data, the major operating subsidiary of Interactive
Data Corporation (NYSE: IDC) and a leading supplier of financial
information and analytical software to global markets, has
today released the first phase of its ISO 15022 service. The
service is available as an optional module within FT Interactive
Data's FTS online desktop portfolio administration tool.
This new ISO 15022 service is the culmination of significant
development work by FT Interactive Data to map global corporate
actions data from its proprietary formats to the MT564 event
types specified within the industry data standard. Releasing
the facility as a module within the already popular FTS service
means that FT Interactive Data's existing - as well as new
- customers can take advantage of the immediate access.
The main benefits of data standards such as ISO 15022 are
often seen by the industry as increased rates of STP, greater
transparency and therefore reduced operational risk. Cited
as one of the obstacles to automation in the Giovannini Group's
'Second Report on EU Clearing and Settlement Arrangements',
published in April 2003, the lack of harmonisation within
the corporate actions space has long been an area of industry
concern. Many believe that industry standard data formats
can facilitate the path to harmonisation.
Recent analysis of FT Interactive Data's corporate actions
content shows that the event breakdown is approximately 94
per cent income, 3 per cent capital change, and 3 per cent
mergers and acquisitions. Closer inspection of those events
reveals that 99 per cent of income events, 98 per cent of
capital changes, and 75 per cent of mergers and acquisitions
are fully coded.
Nat Sey, FT Interactive Data's manager of infrastructure and
delivery comments: "It is this outstanding degree to
which our databases are fully coded that has resulted in the
far speedier mapping of that content to the standard - ultimately
this has meant that we are able to bring this benefit to our
customers at the earliest opportunity. Our ISO 15022 development
has been able to bypass the otherwise lengthy and costly 'codification'
phase".
Sey adds: "We have participated in open standards forums
for a number of years and are pleased to report that standardisation
in the industry is alive and well. Initiatives such as the
Market Data Provider User Group, Reference Data User Group
and ISO Working Group 11 are all contributing towards making
an even playing field, with fantastic transparency upon which
the more dynamic data vendors can build real added value.
Easier access to that added value is achieved because the
more vanilla offerings are easier to process, and as a result,
this frees up valuable resource to concentrate on the integration
and execution of those added value components.
"We estimate that the volume of events that can now be
output as MT564 messages on a daily basis is now in the high
90 per cent range and additional coverage will be added during
the coming months."
About FT Interactive Data
FT Interactive Data is a leading provider of financial information
and analytical software to global markets. FT Interactive
Data supplies global securities pricing, evaluations, dividend,
corporate action and descriptive information designed to support
mutual funds' pricing activities, securities operations, research
and portfolio management. The company collects, edits, maintains
and delivers data on more than 3.5 million securities, including
daily evaluations for more than 2.5 million fixed income issues.
FT Interactive Data specialises in 'hard-to-value' instruments
and 'hard-to-get' information from emerging markets.
Through BondEdge® FT Interactive Data is a recognised
leader and independent source of fixed income portfolio analytics,
risk management tools and quantitative research.
FT Interactive Data is the major operating subsidiary of Interactive
Data Corporation (NYSE: IDC), a leading global provider of
financial and business information to institutional and individual
investors. Headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, Interactive
Data Corporation has approximately 1,700 employees in offices
throughout the world.
Interactive Data Corporation (www.InteractiveDataCorp.com)
is approximately 60 per cent owned by Pearson plc and included
within its Financial Times Group. Other Financial Times Group
companies include the Financial Times newspaper, FT.com and
Financial Times Business. Pearson plc is an international
media company with market leading businesses in education,
business information and consumer publishing.
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