London Stock Exchange Announces Partnership with FactSet to Deliver Joint Reference Data Through UnaVista

Firms will now be able to receive FactSet’s issue-to-issuer linkage data and parent-subsidiary relationship data via the UnaVista platform. UnaVista will reconcile the data against the Exchange’s SEDOL Masterfile and the firm’s own systems. This will reduce the firm’s risk exposure without the need for manual checks. As UnaVista is a web-hosted system, firms don’t have to invest in expensive new hardware to run it, they also benefit from the reassurance of knowing that their data is safe, because it is securely hosted at the Exchange.

The first firm to benefit from the joint venture will be a major international bank, who signed up to UnaVista’s service earlier this month. The bank chose UnaVista because of its ability to integrate and reconcile data from multiple sources quickly, with no hardware costs.

Mark Husler, Head of Information Services Business Development at the London Stock Exchange, said: "By partnering with FactSet, we can provide the very highest quality reference data by combining data from the two businesses and delivering it through a hosted model."

Joerg Gerth, Vice President, Content Sales at FactSet, added: "I am delighted with our new partnership with the London Stock Exchange which enables us to deliver FactSet entity data to clients who wish to have their data hosted and matched back against their own internal content, creating a golden copy of reference data."

Reference data is now considered one of the most important data sets for financial services companies, particularly following an increased focus on counterparty exposure in testing market conditions. A recent survey by Tower Group showed that 43% of firms now recognise the importance of entity data, which has the highest impact on credit analysis, application integration, and compliance with "know your customer" regulations.

FactSet have 1.44 million securities linked to over 168,000 issuing entities, with 872,000 entities participating in 225,000 parent-sub tree hierarchies. The Exchange’s SEDOL Masterfile holds around 10 million unique SEDOL codes, across all asset classes. As a result, the partnership is in a unique position to provide superior reference data to the market.

UnaVista is a web-based platform that provides validation, matching and reconciliation services. UnaVista offers a number of solutions including Compliance, Trade Confirmation, Transaction Reporting, Reconciliation, Reference Data and Commission Sharing.

About London Stock Exchange Group

London Stock Exchange Group is Europe's leading diversified exchange business, incorporating Borsa Italiana and London Stock Exchange. With over 500 member firms and more than 3,000 companies quoted across its markets, the Group operates the largest and most liquid equity marketplace in Europe.

London Stock Exchange itself is the world's most international exchange with over 600 overseas companies from more than 70 countries quoted on its markets. These figures include international companies on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's growth market, which has grown to become the world's most successful market for small and medium sized enterprises with 1,385 companies at the end of July 2009.

The Group offers trading in a wide range of instruments, holding the number one position in the trading of exchange-traded products (ETFs and ETCs) and through its interest in MTS, is Europe’s leading platform for the trading of fixed income products. Through Borsa Italian’s MOT market it offers a comprehensive range of European corporate and government bond trading services. Its Italian Derivatives Exchange Market (IDEM) sees over €2.5 billion worth of trading every day and through EDX London the Group provides a facility for the trading of Scandinavian and Russian equity derivatives.

London Stock Exchange Group also offers post-trade services such as netting, clearing and settlement on an efficient and competitive basis. These include services from Monte Titoli, the Central Securities Depository for all Italian financial instruments, and Cassa di Compensazione & Garanzia (CC&G), which in July 2009 was granted Recognised Overseas Clearing House (ROCH) status by the FSA to operate in the UK.

Now with the recent acquisition of MillenniumIT, the Group also encompasses a leading developer of low cost high performance trading platforms and financial markets software serving both the industry and the Group's own businesses..

About FactSet

FactSet (NYSE: FDS | NASDAQ: FDS) combines integrated financial information, analytical applications, and client service to enhance the workflow and productivity of the global investment community. The company, headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, was formed in 1978 and now conducts operations along with its affiliates from more than twenty-three locations worldwide, including Boston, New York, Chicago, San Mateo, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Mumbai, and Sydney.