Formed as an offshoot of New York-based IT services firm ebusinessware, and supported by PricewaterhouseCoopers, project management firm Adsatis, and middleware vendor Objective Edge, CreditDimensions recently completed an operating pilot of a Web-based reference data management solution in tandem with Credit Suisse First Boston, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and another global firm.

Kathleen Wells, vice president at JPMorgan Chase, says: "The product fills a void in the marketplace and creates the opportunity for firms to obtain the data more cheaply than it costs internally. This is line with a growing strategic trend among large firms to outsource what they do not consider a core business.”

She says the outcome of the pilot review was a unanimous agreement to define detailed operating processes to support the exchange and verification of reference data. In addition to the four initial participants, other institutions to have joined the working group include Morgan Stanley, Nomura and RBC Financial Group.

Ian Piddock, director at Credit Suisse First Boston comments: "We believe in the importance of an industry-led initiative for counterparty data. Working together to define standards and best practices is an important step towards fulfilling the industry initiative.”

Credit Dimensions core data product is a database of industry-provided reference data supported and maintained by a team of research analysts. Subscribers receive operational quality credit data in real-time while reducing their costs for data acquisition and management, says the firm.

The formation of the working group coincides with the launch of a similar initiative by Reuters last week.