OptiRisk, Thomson Reuters and RavenPack contribute expert commentary on news analysis and its application to financial markets

LONDON & NEW YORK - 4th May 2011 - OptiRisk, the optimisation and financial analytics provider, today announced the publication of 'The Handbook of News Analytics in Finance', the first compilation of the research from leading industry experts on the impact of news in moving the financial markets. Bringing together recent work from principal researchers, practitioners and suppliers in the field of news analytics the handbook seeks to define the four corners of this increasingly influential discipline.

The use of news analytics tools is now becoming mainstream in financial markets with institutions using such tools to feed high-frequency, sub-second trading engines as well as to aggregate weekly and monthly news data to analyse trends, improve their risk models and hedge against market movements. More recently, trading firms have also looked to interpret the sentiment found in new forms of communication such as Twitter and blogs to generate alpha.

The handbook is designed to deliver a rapid and comprehensive understanding of the main elements of news analytics by featuring research from esteemed professors Andrew Lo, Terrence Odean and Sanjiv Das as well as insight from market practitioners Thomson Reuters and RavenPack who offer products in this space. The handbook is edited by Professor Gautam Mitra who has set out a road-map that professionals and academics can follow to augment or kick-start their skills in the field of news analytics.

"We set out to make this publication a timely and ground-breaking source of knowledge on how qualitative sources of information can be used in the quantitative investment process," said Professor Mitra.

The content is presented in four parts: the first deals with the measurement of sentiment, the second with the relationship between news and abnormal returns, the third with enhancing risk control using news, and the concluding section featuring an industry focus from experts in the vendor community, and a concise summary of the main providers of content and technology in this space.

Following his review of the book, Matthew Lee, Head of Research at BlackRock, said: "The world runs on information and few areas as directly so as in Finance. Now that technology and quantitative techniques have caught up to the live news feed, this volume will be an indispensible addition to the practitioner's library."

Professor David J. Hand, President of the Royal Statistical Society, added: "This book is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of the art. The work described in this volume will enable us to discern and quantify the forces which steer financial markets."

The handbook is published by John Wiley and Sons, Ltd and is available now for purchase.

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One of the UK's longest established training and conference companies was subject to a successful Management Buyout on 1 July 2010 and has ambitious plans for growth.

UNICOM Seminars Ltd [ www.unicom.co.uk ], based in Uxbridge, West London specialises in conferences and training in Management Strategy, Business Intelligence and IT.

UNICOM was established in 1984 and now runs over 200 courses and events per year. In 2006, UNICOM was strategically acquired by QAI [ www.qaiglobal.com ] the global "Operational Excellence" consulting and workforce development organisation in order for them to expand in Europe and grow beyond the US and Asia - QAI is now focusing on on its core consulting business in Europe.

Two of UNICOM's long-serving senior management team, Alec McCutcheon and Julie Valentine, led the buyout in a cash purchase backed by investment from OptiRisk Systems [ www.optirisk-systems.com ] a specialist in Financial Risk Management training and software - OptiRisk Systems' CEO, Prof. Gautam Mitra, who is the original founder of UNICOM is re-joining the board of UNICOM as Chairman.

Bucking the current economic trend, UNICOM continues with its existing range of training courses and events, but is also expanding its portfolio to include finance training and vertical industry sector focused conferences including the launch of four new conferences by the end of 2010. Unusually there will be no redundancies as part of change of ownership and the company is recruiting additional team members to facilitate its expansion.

UNICOM also opens an office in Bangalore, India in August 2010 and will be running a broad range of training and events throughout India in topic areas covered in the UK. OptiRisk already has an established operation in India with a young and dynamic management team and have been successfully running a programme of finance training and events [www.optiriskindia.com ].

"The whole team here is very excited about this new chapter in UNICOM's history. During the past few years QAI has invested heavily in the company enabling it to launch many new and innovative conferences and courses whilst retaining the brand and independence on which its reputation was founded. This will continue with our expansion into finance training and events in partnership with OptiRisk - including the launch of four new conferences by the end of 2010", says Alec McCutcheon, Director of UNICOM

"Its going to be fantastic aligning and building on the activities of UNICOM and OptiRisk and I am delighted to be re-joining the board of UNICOM the company I founded more than twenty five years ago. Both companies have great products and a strong heritage and it will be exciting building on their strengths to create a truly global company", says Gautam Mitra, CEO of OptiRisk Systems and Chairman of UNICOM.

For further information, please contact:

The Press Office UNICOM Seminars Ltd OptiRisk R&D House, One Oxford Road Uxbridge, UB9 4DA UK

info@unicom.co.uk Telephone: +44 (0) 1895 256 484 Fax: +44 (0) 1895 813 095 www.unicom.co.uk