[3] The company provided independent financial data, trade processing of derivatives, foreign exchange and loans, customised technology platforms and managed services.

[6] Markit was founded in 2003 by Canadian Lance Uggla[7][8] in St Albans, outside London, as Mark-it Partners to provide daily credit default swap (CDS) pricing.

[10] In September 2009, Markit and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) launched MarkitSERV, a joint venture to provide over-the-counter (OTC) derivative trade processing.

[16] The Boat platform was established by these nine banks "for the collection and sale of trading data following the introduction of EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) in November 2007.

JPMorgan Chase's FCS Corporation, a provider of syndicated loan market portfolio and risk management software and services, including the Wall Street Office family of products, was acquired by Markit in July 2008.

On 5 May 2014 Markit Ltd., a company registered in Bermuda, filed for an initial public offering (IPO), to be listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol MRKT.