PARIS, BOSTON, NEW YORK, LONDON, HONG KONG, March 9, 2017 – Linedata (NYSE Euronext: LIN), the global solutions provider dedicated to the investment management and credit industries, today announced that it is extending its partnership with Morningstar, Inc. (Morningstar) in the area of fixed income and credit derivatives to include its Fund Services clients.
As the search for returns in a difficult investment climate progresses, the investment management community is investing in diverse global fixed income products, requiring accounting systems to have robust and flexible asset coverage. The growth of alternative mutual funds and the increase in popularity of direct lending in private equity type structures require accounting systems to meet this challenge. “As the global fixed income market becomes more complex and as more managers move to gain international exposure, dealing with these complexities can become quite a burden”, commented Todd Roitfarb, Head of Fixed Income Products at Morningstar.
The partnership will provide expanded analytics to meet the requirements of alternative funds and SMA’s and enhances Linedata Admin Edge’s financial reporting capabilities, adding diversity to Linedata’s auditable client reporting. This will initially take the form of an integration between the Linedata Admin Edge fund administration platform and Morningstar’s BondPro library of fixed income and derivative analytics and accounting calculations. Linedata Admin Edge has built a significant client base who manages administration in the areas of fixed income and alternatives. The addition of BondPro will give those firms access to broader instrument coverage and greater agility in dealing with their associated calculations. Overall this means a faster time to market for new functionality and smoother automation.
The right tools at the right time
“Understanding the nuances of each market, and being able to keep up as they evolve, require constant vigilance, access to knowledge not easily available, and an ability to have flexible software that can evolve as well”, said Todd Roitfarb. “Morningstar has been specializing in global fixed income for over 15 years, and as such has developed unmatched knowledge and capabilities in this area. We are excited to extend our partnership with Linedata as we bring our capabilities to their Fund Services clients”, added Todd Roitfarb.
According to Daniel Burstein, North America Head of Fund Services at Linedata, “this partnership with Morningstar characterizes our approach to providing timely, value-added services to our clients in the most efficient, cost- effective way. We know that an increasing number of our clients are dealing with the complexities of the fixed income and derivatives market. BondPro is the recognised leader in the provision of analytics and accounting calculations in this space and we are delighted to be able to make this software and expertise available to our growing client base”. “This makes it a functionally rich yet cost-effective choice, backed by Linedata’s on-going commitment to invest in its Fund Services solutions and services to ensure that they meet clients’ expectations, in terms of automation, functionality, scalability, regulatory updates and new instrument coverage”, added Daniel Burstein.