Pershing Includes S&P Fund Data on its Broker/Dealer Platform

May 10, 2002, 1:00 a.m. EDT 1 Min Read

Fund clearinghouse Pershing has reached an agreement with Standard & Poors to provide mutual fund data and analytical tools from S&Ps Fund Advisor on Pershings NetExchange Pro platform for broker/dealers. Through the end of May, Pershing is offering free access to Fund Advisor to the 44,000 financial advisers at 500 broker/dealers who subscribe to NetExchangePro.

The limited-time offer is an attempt to encourage broker/dealers to subscribe to mutual fund data from Pershing.

Pershing already offers S&Ps Stock Reports and MarketScope but looked into including mutual fund data and analytics after customers continued asking for such information, said Marc Butler, director of the global customers group for Pershing, a subsidiary of Credit Suisse First Boston.

"We have had a number of strategic discussions with our customers about [including] things like market data and tools on NetExchange," Butler said.

Pershing did look at other mutual fund data providers but settled on S&P because it could provide the necessary information and offered easier integration and an existing relationship.

Rather than "coming out with something and [trying to convince brokers] they need to subscribe, weve come out with something they asked [for]," Butler said. Mutual fund information is in great demand, he said, because an estimated 70% to 80% of financial advisors on the platform use mutual funds.

Fund Advisor became available on April 19 and advisors will have free access until the beginning of June.