New York City, February, 2010 -- Trade Settlement Inc.
TSI LAUNCHES FIRST FULLY AUTOMATED
DISTRESSED LOAN SETTLEMENT PLATFORM
New Capabilities Will Greatly Improve the Settlement Process
Trade Settlement Inc. (TSI) today announced an industry breakthrough with the launch of the first and only fully automated settlement platform for the distressed loan market. The new platform greatly streamlines the process of trading and settling distressed loans creating substantial time and cost efficiencies for all market participants.
“We have put in place a tremendous opportunity for market participants to improve the efficiency of post-trade processing of distressed loans,” said Pat Loret de Mola, President of TSI. “The industry wants and urgently needs an automated settlement platform to help achieve business and operational goals. The new automation for distressed loans does just that while providing greater transparency and better tracking of settlements. This will lead to quicker completion of trade processing and lower transaction costs. And, we believe, the automated platform will help drive the future, healthy growth of the market.”
The new distressed platform, now accessible to all authorized TSI users at www.trade-settlement.com, substitutes automated functionality for the manual elements of the loan closing process and enables the sharing of information in a totally secure and efficient web-based environment.
It provides users and their agents with the ability to prepare and sign distressed transfer documents online, including trade confirms, assignment agreements, purchase and sale agreements, and purchase price letters. It also facilitates the management and tracking of loan inventories and related loan activity, providing an easier way to allocate trade inventory to open sales. Relevant data is streamed in and out of the platform through dynamic, real-time interfaces with certain back-office lending and portfolio management systems, eliminating double entry and maximizing the transparency of a trade’s closing status. This comprehensive functionality fosters more accurate and timely cash and position reconciliations.
The innovative distressed loan platform comes at a time of tremendous growth and challenges for the market. With distressed loan volume climbing to $140-billion in 2009, a 250% increase from 2008, settlement times have not improved. Average settlement for distressed loans significantly lagged settlement for par trades over the last two years, according to industry statistics, a situation that can have significant negative consequences for market participants.
TSI’s new distressed loan settlement platform has been piloted by several market participants over the past months. User feedback has been positive and prospects for use by both the buy and sell side institutions are strong.
About Trade Settlement Inc.
Trade Settlement Inc. (TSI) provides the only fully automated settlement platform for the global primary and secondary syndicated loan markets. Since the Company’s inception in June 2000, TSI has been a pioneer and innovator in the syndicated loan trading space. In addition to launching the first fully automated browser-based platform for the settlement of par/near par loan trades, TSI also created the first real-time data link with a widely used agent bank. TSI’s platform has radically streamlined the settlement cycle, allowing for rapid, error-free settlement of loan transactions. The TSI system offers the highest standard of security, leading-edge technology, first-rate customer service, scalability and fastest execution. In addition, TSI offers high-quality and professional loan closing outsource services.
TSI’s easy-to-use system was designed to interface with existing back-office accounting and portfolio management systems, eliminating double and triple entry and maximizing the benefits of straight-through-processing. TSI has built its state-of-the-art platform with the flexibility to link to virtually every lending and portfolio management system, whether branded or proprietary.
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