Markit Group Limited

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Markit is a provider of financial data, portfolio valuations and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives processing, headquartered in London. Other Markit offices include New York, Amsterdam, Toronto, Singapore and Tokyo.

Markit was founded in 2001 to provide daily credit default swap pricing.^[1] Markit is owned by 16 large banks, four hedge funds and company employees.

In January 2006 Markit launched the first asset-backed securities index, ABX.HE.^[2] In May 2006 Markit bought Communicator Inc from White Plains, New York, a financial information technology company.^[3] In August 2006 Markit acquired Chasen Enterprises, provider of structured securities modelling.^[4] In September 2006 Markit bought Amsterdam-based MarketXS, a financial data distribution and trading solution provider.^[5]

Markit's credit derivative data became especially sought after since the start of the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis.^[6]

In November 2007 Markit acquired the owners of the iTraxx and CDX credit default swap indexes, International Index Company (IIC) and CDS Index Company (CDSIndexCo).^[7] In December 2007 Markit announced the acquisition of SwapsWire, an electronic trade confirmation network.^[8]

In January 2008 Markit acquired the Boat MiFID-compliant trade reporting platform from a consortium of nine investment banks.^[9]