McGraw-Hill Launches Major New Brand, S&P Capital IQ, as Master Brand for Its Financial Desktop, Data Feed and Research & Analytics

NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- McGraw-Hill Financial, a segment of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), today announced that it will market its unique combination of multi-asset-class data, benchmarks and analytics products under two master brands, S&P Capital IQ and S&P Indices.  S&P Capital IQ will be the new master brand name for integrated desktop solutions, enterprise services and proprietary market, company and fund research.  S&P Indices will continue to be the brand name for the Company's leading global index business.

"The combination of two powerful brands – S&P, a name known globally for analytic expertise and high-quality benchmarks, and Capital IQ, whose innovative platform has created new methods and tools for global professionals to gather and analyze information to optimize  investment decisions – creates a major new financial  brand, S&P Capital IQ," said Lou Eccleston, president of McGraw-Hill Financial. "Our customer and market research in the past year, including that by Interbrand, a leading branding agency, concluded that these two brands complement each other and provide significant brand extension in the financial information industry."

S&P Capital IQ combines two of McGraw-Hill's strongest brands: Standard & Poor's, which has a long history in the global capital markets, and Capital IQ, which is known for its outstanding customer service, its nimbleness and product savvy. As one master brand, these two previously separate brands represent the optimum positioning in the marketplace, resonating very strongly with current and prospective customers.

S&P Capital IQ will deliver to clients a broad and deep set of solutions to help them identify new trading and investment ideas, benchmark data, generate alpha and perform risk analysis and mitigation strategies. This new brand will combine offerings previously provided separately by the Capital IQ, Global Credit Portal and MarketScope® Advisor desktops; enterprise solutions such as S&P Securities Evaluations, Global Data Solutions, and Compustat; and research offerings including Leveraged Commentary & Data, and S&P Equity Research.

In addition, S&P Capital IQ will continue to drive investor demand for the independently derived credit ratings and research of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services by marketing RatingsDirect® and RatingsXpress® in its integrated desktop solutions and data feeds.

The brand launch will be supported with an advertising campaign later in the fall.

About McGraw-Hill Financial

McGraw-Hill Financial, a segment of the McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leading provider of multi-asset class data, research, indices and analytics to institutional investors, investment advisors and wealth managers around the world.  Under our two powerful brands, S&P Capital IQ and S&P Indices, we provide a broad suite of capabilities designed to help benchmark performance, generate alpha, identify new trading and investment ideas, and perform risk analysis and mitigation strategies. More than $1 trillion in assets around the world are directly tied to S&P indices, and more than $3.5 trillion in assets are benchmarked to them.  Through leading desktop solutions such as Capital IQ, Global Credit Portal and MarketScope Advisor desktops; enterprise solutions such as S&P Securities Evaluations, Global Data Solutions, and Compustat; and research offerings, including Leveraged Commentary & Data, Valuation & Risk Strategies and S&P Equity Research, S&P Capital IQ sharpens financial intelligence into the wisdom our customers seek.  

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Financial