The companies believe that this initiative will further strengthen the quality of FT Interactive Data's comprehensive bond evaluation services.

The alliance supports the evolution of corporate bond valuations by allowing FT Interactive Data to use Markit's credit default swap (CDS), credit index and bond pricing data within FT Interactive Data’s corporate and government bond evaluation models. This integration of pricing data across related asset classes will augment existing data sources already used by FT Interactive Data’s international teams of evaluators in the interpretation of the markets, providing visibility to new areas of the credit markets and permitting a broader array of comparative analyses for the benefit of FT Interactive Data's customers.

Stuart Clark, Interactive Data's president and chief executive officer, said: "We believe that Markit's insight on the global credit market, combined with FT Interactive Data's strength and expertise in the fixed income evaluation arena, will help infuse even more quality and depth into the comprehensive range of services we offer to our customers. The alliance also provides a significant volume of additional credit market information that will supplement FT Interactive Data's well-established methodology and enable us to offer evaluations of corporate and sovereign debt instruments that better reflect the complexities of today’s ever-changing marketplace."

"Markit is delighted to be working with FT Interactive Data to contribute to the evolution of critically important evaluated bond pricing," added Lance Uggla, chief executive officer of Markit Group.

In addition to the incorporation of CDS pricing into FT Interactive Data's corporate and government bond evaluations, this alliance provides for the expansion and enhancement of the service offerings of both FT Interactive Data and Markit. FT Interactive Data will now provide its customers with access to Markit's CDS and loan datasets, historical data, CDX and iTraxx families of index data, and Markit's Reference Entity Database (RED), the industry standard for reference entity and reference obligation identifiers used throughout the CDS markets.

Markit will now provide its clients with access to FT Interactive Data's fixed income evaluation services through the Markit Portal. The Markit Portal is a leading distribution channel for integrated asset pricing, news and independent research.