JPMorgan's Institutional Trust Service (ITS) announced this morning that it would begin offering independent asset pricing information for its U.S. CDO business.Clients of ITS' services may obtain information via third party price quotes provided through a partnership with Mark-It Partners Ltd.
"Collateral managers and investors have been asking us to assist them with third party pricing information for awhile," said Steve Patterson, senior vice president and head of JPMorgan's CDO business.
Patterson explained that while collateral managers and investors already look to third parties for pricing to asses total portfolio value, the move streamlines the process and builds an additional level of efficiency.
"There is demand out there in the market, and we, as a trustee, are already the custodian of the assets in CDOs. It makes sense that the custodian would help to price these assets," Patterson added.
Mark-It Partners, a London-based credit pricing service, is probably best known for its LoanX platform
Roughly 10 asset types are included in the initial roll-out of the new bundled service, including all syndicated loans, investment-grade and high yield bonds, multisector assets -- RMBS, CMBS -- and some credit default swaps.
As the CDO market evolves, the ITS service and partnership with Mark-It would expand to include prices for other asset classes, Patterson said.
