One of the most common barriers firms face when working with external credit data isn’t the data itself — it’s getting their internal entity lists to talk to it. In our latest webinar, the Credit Benchmark team walked through exactly how to solve that problem.

Why Entity Matching Matters

At the heart of the Credit Benchmark platform is the Credit Benchmark Identifier (CBID) — a unique ID that connects your internal data to our full consensus universe, covering thousands of sovereigns, corporates, financials, and funds. Before you can monitor portfolios, run analytics, or integrate data into your workflows, you need to map your entities to a CBID. That matching step is the key that unlocks everything else.

Three Ways to Match Your Data

Credit Benchmark offers three approaches to entity identification, each suited to different scales and levels of automation:

1. Web Application — The most accessible entry point. Upload your entity list directly through the My Portfolios page, and a machine learning-driven matching engine does the heavy lifting. Unmatched entities are reviewed by the data operations team to close any gaps. Ideal for smaller portfolios or one-off uploads.

2. SFTP File Feeds — For firms with larger or frequently changing portfolios, a recurring SFTP feed automates the process end to end. Credit Benchmark handles the matching, manages exceptions, and returns enriched, standardised data on a scheduled basis — effectively a matching-as-a-service model.

3. API-Based Matching — The most advanced option, allowing real-time programmatic matching directly within your own systems. Submit entity names or identifiers and receive CBIDs and enriched metadata instantly. Perfect for dynamic environments and firms with sophisticated data pipelines.

See It in Action

The webinar included a live demo of the web app matching workflow, showing how straightforward it is to upload a portfolio, review confident matches, and send unmatched entities to the support team for human review. Upcoming enhancements will also allow users to view and select potential matches directly from the interface — making the process even faster.

Whether your firm is just getting started with Credit Benchmark or looking to deepen integration, entity identification is the essential first step. Watch the recording to see the full walkthrough.

To explore how these enhancements can be applied to your workflow, please contact your Credit Benchmark account manager.