S&P Dow Jones Indices and IHS Markit have announced a strategic partnership that will see the firms collaborate a series of multi-asset indices.
Sophia Dancygier, Head of Indices at IHS Markit.
The partnership will focus on each company’s strengths, combining S&P DJI’s equity indices with IHS Markit’s fixed income benchmarks.
S&P DJI offers a comprehensive suite of equity indices that covers the entire global investable universe. This includes a wide-range of sub-indices that slice and dice the global universe by economic development, geographic region, country, market capitalization, and sector.
Among its roster of indices are the two of the most widely followed benchmarks for the health of the US stock market – the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
IHS Markit is best known for its iBoxx bond and iTraxx credit index families.
The iBoxx series tracks bond markets globally using transparent, rules-based methodologies while maintaining minimum levels of liquidity. A diverse range of sub-indices based on sector, rating, maturity, and size are also available.
The iTraxx series tracks the credit default swap markets in Europe, Australia, Japan, and Asia Pacific ex-Japan. The indices allow investors to express their bullish or bearish sentiments on credit as an asset class, while the selection methodology ensures that the indices are replicable and represent the most liquid, traded part of the market.
S&P DJI and IHS Markit have stated that their combined offering will provide investors with best-in-breed multi-asset benchmarks that help meet the growing demand for portfolio allocation, diversification, and risk management solutions.
Jamie Farmer, Chief Commercial Officer, S&P Dow Jones Indices, commented, “We are excited to collaborate with IHS Markit in developing innovative multi-asset solutions vital to investors. S&P DJI has had great success with indices such as the S&P MARC 5% (Multi-Asset Risk Control) Excess Return Index, and we are confident that, together with IHS Markit, we will enable additional index solutions with just as much potential.”
Sophia Dancygier, Head of Indices at IHS Markit, added, “During these volatile market conditions, we are proud to unite the capabilities of the most authoritative equity and fixed income index providers. Together, we will enable dynamic exposure to stocks and bonds, which is essential for annuity sponsors, pension funds, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.
“Our collective range of indices and associated financial products are the liquidity cornerstone of the global investment community, and they continue to act as a solid gateway into equity and fixed income markets.”
This is the second major index collaboration IHS Markit has unveiled this year. In February, it announced a collaboration with MSCI in which it would apply MSCI’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) expertise to its range of fixed income and credit indices.