BST Awards 2023: Best buy-side evaluated pricing service—CanDeal Data & Analytics (DNA)

Overview

CanDeal Data & Analytics’ (DNA’s) unique sources and proprietary methodologies provide buy-side market participants with access to accurate pricing, analytics and security master data for around 95,000 Canadian fixed-income securities updated on an intraday basis, enabling accurate valuation and advanced risk strategies on a per-security or holdings basis. Risk attributes and insights include interest rate, credit, liquidity and execution impact, presented for each security and aggregated by portfolios and holdings.

The solution  

Buy-side market participants active in the Canadian fixed-income market have access to coverage for all Canadian money market and bond types, supported by a transparent, detailed price challenge process, and available via ICE, Refinitiv, FTSE Russell, S&P Global and Fundata. Users can access accurate pricing and analytics data that is historically opaque and illiquid yet presents a range of investment opportunities in a stable, reasonably low-risk environment.

Secret sauce 

Using Iosco principles, CanDeal DNA Reference Pricing is enabled through synchronized institutional-quality price quotes and trade data from Canada’s largest banks and regional dealers, advanced validation techniques, and proprietary valuation methodologies. The firm’s partner banks and dealer network provide oversight and industry expertise to optimize accuracy, and CanDeal can challenge prices at source, resulting in continuous source coverage and accuracy improvement.

Recent milestones

• Launched price volatility and maximum drawdown impact for various holding periods for historical one-month and three-month periods
• Launched trade class liquidity indicator for all instruments with new issue indicator
• Launched Migrations.ml probability of default for Canadian-listed corporate issuers and provinces

Future objectives 

• Post-trade analytics for the universe of Canadian fixed-income securities
• Package unique datasets to facilitate advanced modeling and back-testing
• Enhanced update frequency

Why they won

CanDeal Data & Analytics wins its first ever Buy-Side Technology Award thanks to its Reference Pricing Service focusing on the Canadian fixed-income market. Evaluated pricing is a well-served segment across the buy side, dominated by a handful of large, well-established players that have the expertise, financial clout, and reach to produce prices and fair valuations, especially when it comes to thinly traded securities where market data is either patchy or altogether non-existent. CanDeal has carved out something of a niche for itself, producing transparent and accurate valuations and advanced risk strategies on a daily basis for just shy of 100,000 Canadian fixed-income securities. Its price challenge process provides buy-side clients with confidence that the prices they receive reflect fair market value, underpinned by well-documented methodologies and credible capital markets partners.