Markit says it is working with a broad group of dealers on documentation for a European residential mortgage-backed index. The ERMBX.UK is designed to reference synthetic UK prime mortgage-backed securities. Markit is the owner of the iTraxx and CDX credit derivative indices and the synthetic structured finance and loan indices ABX.HE, CMBX, LCDX and LevX. Following feedback from all market participants, and in light of the current volatile market conditions, it has been agreed that any decision regarding the launch of the new index will be made at a later date.

Markit, provider of independent data, portfolio valuations and OTC derivatives trade processing, has postponed the roll-out of the Markit ABX.HE index, a synthetic index of US home equity asset-backed securities, for three months. The new series, the Markit ABX.HE 08-1, was scheduled to launch on January 19 2008. The decision to postpone its launch was taken following extensive consultation with the dealer community. It follows a lack of RMBS deals issued in the second half of 2007 and eligible for inclusion in the forthcoming Markit ABX.HE. The Markit ABX.HE 07-2 remains the on-the-run series until further notice.

Telekurs Financial has extended its offering of MSCI index data, integrating it into Telekurs Financial’s market and reference data products comprising structured and coded data feeds (Valordata Feed / VDF, Market Data Feed / MDF) sophisticated visualization tools (Telekurs iD and Valordata Browser), the Intraday Pricing Service as well as customised solutions.

Markit, provider of data, portfolio valuations and OTC derivatives trade processing, has launched its enhanced ABX Calculator, designed to aid settlement of ABX index trades. Markit is the calculation agent for ABX.HE, a synthetic index of US home equity asset-backed securities (ABS). In response to the increased focus on the synthetic ABS market during the past several months, Markit has enhanced its ABX Calculator to enable clients to understand the impact that credit scenarios can have on ABX index trade economics. The new functionality of the ABX Calculator enables users to input their own prepayment, delinquency, default and loss assumptions.

Rimes Technologies, an integrator of financial information services, has added Russell Global Indexes to its portfolio of data partners. This family of global stock indexes, comprising of more than 10,000 securities divided into a family of indexes which cover 22 regions and 63 countries, is now available through Rimes’ integration platform, offering a set of benchmarks consisting of small-cap and large-cap companies in developed and emerging markets.

Quantifi Solutions has extended the functionality of its credit derivatives valuation software to include the ability to price correlation products on asset-backed securities (ABS) such as tranches on the ABX index (TABX). Quantifi’s new tools for valuing TABX and tranches on baskets of ABCDS build upon existing modelling tools for synthetic CDOs on corporate credits by adding the ability to model prepayments.

CDS IndexCo consortium and Markit Group have launched CMBX, a synthetic index of U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) with an initial group of 14 market-making banks. Markit will serve as the central source of information about CMBX, and will utilize cashflows from Trepp. As with ABX, a home equity loan-linked index based on various asset-backed securities (ABS) launched in January as part of the same partnership, a new series of CMBX indices will be issued every six months.

The National Association of Securities Dealer (NASD) and Bloomberg are jointly launching two new corporate bond indices: the NASD-Bloomberg Active Investment Grade U.S. Corporate Bond Index and the NASD-Bloomberg Active High Yield U.S. Corporate Bond Index. READ THE REST

Capco Reference Data Services is expanding its Global Index Monitor product, acquired through the purchase of Iverson Financial to include dividend forecasts. The new data, branded Global DivCast, will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. It is being positioned as a centralised source of dividend data providing current and accurate dividend projections on global securities, according to the company.

Iverson Financial Systems has added an index family indicator and a total return index value field to its Global Index Monitor (GIM) index data service. The index family indicator is a parent index of index categories, which can help with mapping of indices internally. The total return index value field provides a measure of the impact of dividends on index values. Both additions were required by clients, particularly on the buy side, according to Iverson.

Encouraged by a commissioned survey that indicated firms’ growing interest in outsourcing data management, Iverson Financial Systems is pitching its concept of operating so-called vertical utilities on behalf of clients. Iverson already has three such utilities in operation, having grown the concept from an outsourced solution for equities reference data for a Wall Street firm some eight years ago.

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