Best Managed Service for Reference Data: Rimes

In recent years, vendors have seen a decreased appetite for large-scale technology implementations and, in response, have released a flurry of new managed services for reference data. The winner of this year’s Best Managed Service for Reference Data award is Rimes—known for its long background in the field—which supplies data to clients through managed data services and has recently launched new offerings to help firms comply with the European Union’s Benchmarks Regulation (BMR). 

As a benchmark data specialist, Rimes stands out for its extensive service, which feeds data directly into front‑, middle‑ and back‑office systems. Powered by cloud technology, the service covers a range of index and reference challenges, including customization and blending, asset allocation support, preview and pro forma data, credit ratings, classifications, price-aligned analytics, and security identification. Alessandro Ferrari, chief marketing officer at Rimes Technologies, says: “We partner with all major data vendors, and can deliver over 1,000 data sources from over 350 data partners into more than 60 third-party solutions—and many in-house systems—in the format required by our clients.” 

The judges praised Rimes for its functionality and market adoption, and called the offering a “proper managed service with advanced analytics and the standard basics you’d expect.” In addition, they highlighted that Rimes has “weathered the utility storm and moved ahead” with its reference data service.

 For benchmarks, last year saw firms gearing up for the BMR, which came into effect in January 2018, and was at the center of new product innovation for Rimes. To comply with the new regulation, it is up to benchmark users to ensure they register all new benchmarks from 2018 and, by the end of a two-year transition period for all existing benchmarks, Rimes has stepped up to the challenge by releasing RegFocus BMR Control—a regulatory technology solution to help firms build an inventory of benchmarks and gain better control of them—which the judges described as “a much-needed expert solution for BMR requirements.” 

“It includes a feature-rich inventory management system for users to gain an immediate understanding of the universe of benchmarks used at their firm, and offers comprehensive data enrichment capabilities, enabling our clients to augment the key attributes of one or a set of benchmarks,” says Ferrari. 

Read more about the IMD/IRD Awards 2018 winners