SOLVE provides historical scale tool for past muni deals

Market data platform SOLVE has introduced a public finance workflow solution that shows historical scales for all muni deals, allowing for spread comparisons of where a deal priced in the past to where it might price in current market conditions.

The firm’s clients wanted a tool to deliver deal-based spreads on their terms, said Gregg Bienstock, senior vice president and group head of municipal markets at SOLVE.

This included finding historical scales for specific issuers or seeing what a specific market segment did on the new-issue side in the past, he noted.

The workflow solution, referred to as Scale Viewer, “leverages the firm’s obligor-based database to deliver these solutions,” according to the press release. The tool uses triple-A yield curves from Refinitiv MMD and ICE Data Services.

Bienstock said it is “the only tool of its kind to give clients instantaneous access to historical scales.”

SOLVE is also introducing connectivity between Scale Viewer and its Debt Analysis tool that aims to “simplify the experience for muni professionals searching for refunding opportunities or to see all outstanding debt, coupon and spread information,” the release said.

Connecting the products enables users to segment the data “in ways that make the most sense to them and export that data to their spreadsheets or internal systems,” the release noted.

“One of the things we have done over the years is listen to what the market wants,” Bienstock said.

The firm learned that “a good segment” of the market likes its current pricing platform, but “there’s this other segment that wants the ability to access scales for historical deals and the simplicity in accessing that data,” he said.

Over the years, the market has demanded more data, of which there is a “massive” amount available, Bienstock said, but what SOLVE is doing “is finding innovative ways to turn that data into usable information through technology.”

“We take that massive amount of data, refine it down to what the user needs in a simplified way,” he added.

In June, the firm launched a new platform that gives market professionals information through the aggregation, curation and delivery of available historical and real-time fixed-income data.

In the coming months, the firm plans to incorporate SOLVE quotes into its muni ticker and secondary pricing tool, according to Bienstock.

Within the muni market, he said, there is a continual need for more.

“What we’ve done over 13-plus years is listen and keep building,” Bienstock said.