NEW YORK, July 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognizing the need for improved price transparency in the odd-lot fixed income markets, BondDesk Group LLC and S&P Capital IQ today announced a new pricing service for U.S. corporate and municipal bonds, Odd-Lot Valuations.  The evaluated prices in this new service will be derived using S&P Capital IQ's proprietary methodologies and factor in market data from the BondDesk ATS, the largest odd-lot fixed income trading venue in the United States.

Odd-Lot Valuations will include bid- and ask-side odd-lot (<$1 million) evaluated prices, a unique market range around these prices and a flexible suite of tools to deliver these outputs to fixed income marketplace participants including retail brokers, market makers, buy-side institutions, interdealer brokers, data providers and alternative trading systems (ATSs).  This innovative service will bring a degree of confidence to the execution of odd-lot fixed income trades, provide compliance departments with a consistent way to help assess trade execution quality, and provide investors with valuations that are more indicative of odd lot transactions.  

"There are often differences between the round-lot evaluated prices that investors see before making a trade and the prices at which their odd-lot trades get executed," said Howard Edelstein, CEO and Chairman of BondDesk Group LLC.  "What the industry needs is a pricing service that reduces this discrepancy and provides an independent benchmark to help assess price quality.  Our service will provide these benefits."

"The combination of S&P Capital IQ's deep experience in evaluated pricing and BondDesk's unique market data and expertise in odd-lot fixed income trading represent a powerful advantage for professional investors in the fixed income world," said Lou Eccleston, President, S&P Capital IQ.  "I believe the quality of our prices and the availability of a corresponding market range will bring higher levels of certainty and efficiency to the odd-lot market.

"This much anticipated service, now expected to launch in the fourth quarter of this year, will initially cover U.S. corporate and municipal bonds," said Frank Ciccotto, Senior Vice President, S&P Capital IQ.  "Users will have the choice of having it delivered through BondDesk's workstations or one of BondDesk's or S&P Capital IQ's data feeds."

Steven Shaw, Managing Director, BondDesk added, "Approximately 90% of corporate and municipal bond trades are less than $1 million in size.  It's crucial for participants in this marketplace – investors, traders, financial advisors, compliance officers and portfolio managers – to have a relevant benchmark for trade execution and portfolio pricing.  Now they will."

About BondDesk
BondDesk Group LLC is a leading financial technology company providing innovative, enterprise-wide fixed income solutions to a community of over 2,000 investment firms, including many of the top broker-dealers in North America. BondDesk's award winning BondWorks^® Wealth Management Platform provides over 105,000 financial advisors and asset managers with portfolio management, price transparency and compliance solutions that empower them to better service the needs of the investing public.  The BondDesk Alternative Trading System (ATS), operated by BondDesk Trading LLC, member FINRA and SIPC, provides the BondDesk community with access to an aggregated pool of over 170,000 daily live offerings of odd-lot fixed income securities in a broad range of asset classes.  The BondDesk ATS executes 15,000-20,000 transactions per day with high fill ratios and price quality. 

BondDesk Trading LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BondDesk Group LLC. 

To learn more, visit www.bonddeskgroup.com, and follow @BondDesk on Twitter.

About S&P Capital IQ
S&P Capital IQ, a part of McGraw Hill Financial (NYSE: MHFI), 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. S&P Capital IQ provides 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 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. Evaluated pricing is prepared by Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations, Inc., a part of S&P Capital IQ. For more information visit: www.spcapitaliq.com and follow @SPCapitalIQ on Twitter

SOURCE S&P Capital IQ