Word has it that Barcap is taking point and the team as part of the deal. What I'm wondering about these days is whether LEH's mess will make people look for alternatives to the agg. It's about time we got more open FI benchmarks.

I hear the same. I guess, in the midst of this turmoil, quants are viewed as among the few assets carrying a real value...

On opps in FI benchmarks:This situation reminds me of the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. Small companies working in Enterprise Apps suddenly had a customer problem (pain!) to address and a cottage industry was born.It was a mixed blessing for VC backed firms, since across the board Sarb-Ox made IPO exits more expensive. But some funded software firms that focused on compliance have gone public or been acquired with good results. Of course, they generally develop other lines of business too.

QuoteOriginally posted by: StructCredWord has it that Barcap is taking point and the team as part of the deal. What I'm wondering about these days is whether LEH's mess will make people look for alternatives to the agg. It's about time we got more open FI benchmarks.The only other firm with transparent index analytics was Merrill. Lehman was by far the best. I dont understand why other banks never cared to be as transparent....of course it is costly, but then again it gets you attention from clients.I once talked to the index guy from JPM and he actually claimed it was ok to rebalance a bond index daily (that was a few years ago). So in essence, as if you are trying to beat what Lehman calls their statistics universe. What a big freaking fool...and he was arrogant about it too.