S&P Indices Named Most Innovative Index Provider of the Year in Europe by Structured Products magazine

LONDON, Nov. 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, announced today that it has been named most innovative index provider of the year at the Structured Products Europe Awards 2010. This is the third award recognition for S&P Indices in 2010, and second by Structured Products magazine which named S&P Indices the most innovative index provider of the year at the Structured Products Americas Awards in June.

"S&P Indices is proud of its continued innovation in post crisis Europe and its ability to help investors navigate the divide between a world filled with investment opportunity and one filled with uncertainty," says Alex Matturri, Executive Managing Director at S&P Indices. "Our accomplishments in Europe and throughout the world in 2010 have raised the bar of index development for the structured product market, and have set the stage for product innovations for years to come."

In 2010, S&P Indices expanded two index families to meet the growing demand for indices to provide equity exposure while controlling the level risk (S&P Risk Control Index Series), and to provide alternative dividend income strategies that have lower correlation to equities but with higher yields (S&P Dividend Investors Index Series).

Further to growing existing families, two new index series were launched in 2010. The S&P 500 VIX Short Term and Medium Term Futures Indices were created to enable product providers to develop products, which allow investors to profit or hedge against changes in short and medium term expectations of volatility; and the S&P 500 Dynamic VEQTOR Index family was developed to provide investors broad equity exposure with an implied volatility hedge.

"The evolution of the structured products market has been remarkable and demand for innovative index-linked products continues to rise," continues Matturri. "We are, therefore, delighted to be honored with this award from Structured Products magazine, in recognition of our continued commitment to developing responsive index solutions in Europe."

For more information about S&P Indices, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

About S&P Indices

S&P Indices, the world's leading index provider, maintains a wide variety of investable and benchmark indices to meet an array of investor needs. Over $1.25 trillion is directly indexed to Standard & Poor's family of indices, which includes the S&P 500, the world's most followed stock market index, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, the S&P Global BMI, an index with approximately 11,000 constituents, the S&P GSCI, the industry's most closely watched commodities index, and the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index, the premier investable index for U.S. municipal bonds. For more information, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

About Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With offices in 23 countries and markets, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for 150 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit http://www.standardandpoors.com.

SOURCE Standard & Poor's