IHS Markit has signed a deal with hedge fund trade body AIMA and AITEC, a community of alternative investment executives, to strengthen its Know Your Third Party (KY3P) platform.

The agreement brings together KY3P’s private cloud platform with an AITEC-AIMA questionnaire on due diligence of vendor cyber security.

The set of questions, now available on KY3P, enables AITEC and AIMA member firms to centralise their approach for vendor outreach and establish a process to promote timelier, efficient and quality responses.

Member can also add their own questions.

“With over 250 members at firms representing $2trn assets under management, AITEC is a community that understands the importance and value of information exchange,” said Maura Harris, director of business development and operations at AITEC.

“This relationship will further develop efficiencies in vendor due diligence by allowing AITEC and AIMA members to systematically capture and evaluate critical vendor information on a consistent and timely basis.”

Jack Inglis, AIMA’s chief executive, added: “This questionnaire is so important because it will enable alternative investment managers to approach technology vendors with a consistent set of questions, consequently providing efficiencies in communication and ultimately increasing our sector’s understanding of technology infrastructure.”

According to Gina Ghent, managing director and head of KY3P at IHS Markit, the asset management community has raised the bar with their leadership in publishing the AITEC-AIMA DDQ.

“With KY3P’s technology underpinning this due diligence questionnaire, we have addressed and met the dynamic and ongoing needs of the market to manage the exchange of critical information.”