Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Sell-Side Newcomer (Vendor or Product) — Markit

sst-311-markit-analytics
Victor Anderson, Peter Handley, Torjus Dalen, and John Starks

A balance-sheet management and optimization tool for margin, risk-weighted assets (RWAs), and valuation adjustment calculations, IRM allows front-office staff to price intermediation of a trade, determine the appropriate central counterparties (CCPs) and clearinghouses to work with, which CCPs to backload with certain trades, and other all-in costs including default capital or funding of un-cleared initial margin. It is particularly useful for pricing novation packages and renegotiation of collateral agreements—two areas that have become more important in the current sell-side environment—and includes a messaging function that exports incremental cost considerations, known as “inception pricing,” for any new trade to all relevant desks.

The capability runs on the Markit Analytics Engine, a multi-dimensional vector calculator that utilizes supercomputing concepts that was acquired in 2011 from start-up vendor QuIC Financial Technologies. Targeting financial engineers, the engine emphasizes the ability to parse out underlying complex mathematics from financial modeling as a central design tenet, allowing the engineers to build plug-ins on top of the analytics framework quickly and efficiently via libraries that feature flexible contract- and scenario-definition languages, dedicated scripting, and an in-memory multidimensional expression (MDX)-based cube reporting level.

IRM’s first and biggest client for the product to date, Lloyds Banking Group, is set to be joined by several other sell-side firms this year with which the vendor is now in discussions. That goal seems sensible, because Markit has often proved itself pretty good at figuring out what the future looks like—one need only look at its rapid success with Markit EDM, formerly Cadis, as proof. Still, this win might be just a little sweeter. With far less splash this time around, Markit has demonstrated that the most solid industry mainstay can learn new tricks, and can even do so in a space that is—to say the least—highly saturated.

Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.

To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe

You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.

Most read articles loading...

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a WatersTechnology account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an individual account here