The partnership means that the Exchange will deliver FactSet's reference data via UnaVista, a web-based platform that provides validation, matching and reconciliation solutions.

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.