New workflow and validation tools will increase flexibility and transparency across all pricing functions, including P&L analysis, client reporting, product control, risk management, and finance.

The upgrade will benefit sell-side firms by improving their IPV (Independent Price Verification) processes, as well as fund administrators and custodians who are under pressure to support clients' multiple pricing and valuation policies. Automation of the price collection, validation and cross-checking processes will also eliminate the need for manual workarounds and provide greater clarity into asset valuation.

John Jay, senior analyst at Aite Group said, "The importance of accurate pricing valuations is now a top IT priority. In a recent survey carried out by Aite Group, respondents answered that five of their top eight IT initiatives were valuation risk-related. With investors and regulators looking ever more closely into organizations' positioning of their pricing and valuation infrastructures, the pressure is on. Solutions that therefore help companies to provide accurate pricing will be key to ensuring output integrity and consistency."

Users can construct pricing methods and validation rules with any mix of sources, hierarchies and validations, and implement a scalable "source data once - use multiple times" approach. The GoldenSource EDM suite also features end-to-end workflows for the verification process, ensuring step-by-step control and increased auditability. In addition, the integration of all pricing related processes eliminates the operational risks often associated with poorly integrated in-house and third-party systems.

"Without automation, firms have to create a different mix of data feeds, hierarchy preferences and validation rules for each pricing policy, making them difficult to duplicate and almost impossible to audit," said Tom Stock, SVP Product Management, GoldenSource. "Automation enables users to serve up multiple golden copy prices from a single data source, scale pricing and IPV processes and address regulatory demand for auditable pricing."

Version 8.2 also includes new features and enhancements designed to increase flexibility and further streamline the data management process from end-to-end, including:

• Redesigned user interface with customizable screens and functions, improving usability and control
• Exception management improvements
• New and enhanced connections

GoldenSource's EDM suite supports pricing for equities, fixed income securities, options, futures and OTC products. Users can also plug in their own pricing models for complex instruments such as OTC derivatives and reconcile them against third-party valuation services.