LONDON, March 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Capital IQ's Valuations service has been ranked best vendor for high yield bonds and US municipals in A-Team Group's 2012 Valuations Performance Benchmarking report. A-Team Group surveyed valuations managers across 36 Europe-based financial institutions – a mix of asset managers and the securities firms that support them – about what is driving the need for better valuations and how they manage valuations data. As part of the study, respondents were also asked to drill down into the performance of the ten key vendors that supply pricing and valuation data across fixed income asset classes. The respondents ranked S&P Capital IQ's Valuations service the top scoring vendor for high yield corporate bonds and US municipals, number two for investment grade corporate bonds, and in the top four for government/agency debt.

The study reveals that the attributes respondents consider most important for achieving valuations transparency, needed to meet regulatory requirements, are the number of contributors or data sources, followed by the range of attributes contributing to the valuation. "Financial Institutions increasingly need to conduct more timely and detailed valuation reviews, and expect increased transparency into the valuation and pricing processes," comments Peter Jones, Senior Director, Europe Pricing Content at S&P Capital IQ. "This includes insight into the underlying valuation inputs, and available pre- and post-trade price and quote data across the spectrum of asset classes."

S&P Capital IQ's Valuations service supports clients' needs by providing a cross-market approach to assessing risk and value in portfolios. Through continued investment in pre- and post-trade pricing data and through the acquisitions of Credit Market Analysis Ltd. (CMA), R² Financial Technologies (R²), and QuantHouse in 2012, the company has deepened its capabilities and broadened its asset class coverage. "S&P Capital IQ's valuation and data offering now combines pre-and post-trade pricing data, multi asset class valuation and robust financial engineering tools. Covering global fixed income securities and hard-to-price instruments using both market approach and model valuation methods, the service offers a full solution set," highlights Peter Jones. "Investors, traders, risk managers and operations teams look to S&P Capital IQ for timely and extensive reference data, valuation, pricing and security linkages across complex interconnected sets of data."

S&P Capital IQ continues to update and enhance its product offering, providing clients with flexible delivery channels, including an online platform, on-demand software, and data feeds. Product releases planned for the first quarter of 2013 include enhanced transparency features, allowing clients to compare bonds and pre- and post-trade data, as well as the introduction of a Market Activity Score, enabling a greater understanding of the depth of activity in pre-and post-trade price reports.

Including over 375,000 daily pre- and post-trade fixed income prices, 3.2 million evaluated fixed income prices, 1,500 intraday single name CDS and index curves, 200 rating sector benchmark curves and in excess of 1.8 million trade and third party equity prices, S&P Capital IQ's global Valuation and Pricing content covers cash fixed income, credit, derivatives and equities, as well as terms and conditions records on three million fixed income instruments. Evaluated pricing and CMA NAVigate derivative valuations are provided by Standard and Poor's Securities Evaluations, Inc., a part of S&P Capital IQ.

To view A-Team Group's 2012 Valuations Performance Benchmarking report in full or for further information on S&P Capital IQ's Valuations service, please contact emea-marketing@spcapitaliq.com. To find out more about A-Team Group, visit www.a-teamgroup.com.

About S&P Capital IQ:
S&P Capital IQ, a business line of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leading provider of multi-asset class and real time data, research and analytics to institutional investors, investment and commercial banks, investment advisors and wealth managers, corporations and universities around the world. We provide a broad suite of capabilities designed to help track performance, generate alpha, and identify new trading and investment ideas, and perform risk analysis and mitigation strategies. Through leading desktop solutions such as the S&P Capital IQ, Global Credit Portal and MarketScope Advisor desktops; enterprise solutions such as S&P Capital IQ Valuations, and Compustat; and research offerings, including Leveraged Commentary & Data, Global Markets Intelligence, and company and funds research, S&P Capital IQ sharpens financial intelligence into the wisdom today's investors need. For more information visit: www.spcapitaliq.com.

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SOURCE S&P Capital IQ