Market-Data Newsflashes

Dresdner looks to IBM to outsource reference-data operations; Swiss bank licenses data and distribution system from Telekurs; Philadelphia Stock Exchange contracts with HyperFeed.

The financial-market-information database at Dresdner Bank of Germany, a unit of Allianz Holding AG, will soon be operated by IBM. The database, which was co-developed by the two organizations, will be managed by IBM in an outsourcing arrangement, allowing the bank to access its data on demand.

The database collects, archives and analyzes financial information for risk-control processes at Dresdner. The highest priority in the database is for data-quality assurance, according to a press release. In the release, Otto Steinmetz, the bank's director charged with risk management, says, "With IBM handling process management and running the database, Dresdner Bank will be able to achieve sustainable cost savings with constant quality and an assured supply of all the relevant market data whilst keeping our own know-how in risk valuation and management." He added that the agreement is part of the bank's recent focus on core competencies, called the "New Dresdner" future program. The agreement also moved 24 bank employees to work at IBM.

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Pictet & Cie., a Swiss private bank and independent asset manager, will be implementing Telekurs iD, the Java-based data-management and distribution system from Zurich-based Telekurs Financial. Pictet's worldwide offices will be using Telekurs iD for its investment-consulting and portfolio-management users, as well as middle- and back-office users. Pictet's back-office processes will also subscribe to Telekur's Valordata feed for securities data. Michel Mermoux, Pictet's data-feed manager, says that the firm was already users of display products and securities data from Telekurs, according to a statement.

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Philadelphia Stock Exchange has agreed to contract HyperFeed Technologies' Managed Exchange Platform Services for data processing and distribution for two years. The solution, from the Chicago-based vendor, will process high-speed market data for automated trading applications, and provide software for calculating the National Best Bid Offer quotes developed by the PHLX. In addition, the exchange will use HyperFeed to develop a Front End Processor to integrate PHLX-generated data with calculations of a PHLX-designed NBBO.

The PHLX will have HyperFeed servers installed on its Philadelphia premises, and will use MEPS to process market content for distribution to the exchange's member firms.