Markit, a leading, global financial information services company, today announced that it has successfully completed a Statement on Auditing Standards No.70 (SAS 70) Type II examination of its Portfolio Valuations business.
An auditing standard issued by the American Standards Board and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, SAS 70 is a formal certification by an external auditor of the integrity of a company’s business processes including the ability to protect the security of client data and ensure the reliability of the service.
The SAS 70 Type II report is the most comprehensive accreditation issued and not only examines the design and implementation of controls but also provides an independent opinion on the effectiveness of the controls.
Markit Portfolio Valuations provides a fully outsourced service to buy-side participants in the cash and derivative markets that require independent asset valuations. The business unit sought SAS 70 certification to ensure adherence to industry best practice and rigorous control standards, and to meet the needs of institutional buy-side and fund administration clients who have outsourced the valuation of their clients’ assets to Markit and therefore require a SAS 70 certification.
Markit’s SAS 70 auditor was Deloitte LLP who evaluated Markit’s controls and the operating effectiveness of the controls for the period from 1st June 2009 to 30th August 2009. Areas examined included market data capture; data security and back-up; data cleaning and quality control; the price challenge process and audit trail; client data transmission; the software development cycle and release process; and operating systems and networks.
Kevin Borrett, managing director of Portfolio Valuations at Markit, said: “Our independent portfolio valuation service distinguishes itself for the unique quality and breadth of our data, the accuracy of our results and our dedicated team of client-support analysts. Receiving SAS 70 Type II certification represents a very important, independent check and shows Markit’s buy-side and fund administration clients that we have a uniformly high level of control across a range of complex business activities.”
