Markit, a leading, global financial information services company, today announced that its dividend forecasting content is now available to clients using Markit Securities Finance products and services.
Brad Hunt, Managing Director and Head of Securities Finance, Dividends and ETFs at Markit, said: "The integration of dividend forecasting data with our services is a first for our industry. It will help customers determine the impact of dividends within securities finance programmes to aid investment and risk decisions, as well as help to optimise trading and portfolio valuation. This is the first of many planned enhancements to our comprehensive securities financing information drawing on data from across the Markit product portfolio".
The Markit Dividend service covers more than 6,500 of the most traded global equities that influence the securities lending markets. The service forecasts dividend amounts and payment schedules for up to four years and enables clients to improve the pricing of dividend baskets and portfolio revenue estimations. The combination of this dividend forecasting information alongside securities finance data allows clients to calculate "all in" levels and evaluate portfolios.
This new service is available immediately through the Markit Securities Finance Toolkit for Excel, Datafeeds and API applications.