Syndications Manager now generally available
Misys launches Midas Plus Syndications Manager to help banks manage syndicated lending more efficiently
New module for Misys Midas Plus customers reduces costs and improves operational capacity
March 5 - Misys plc the global application software and services company, today announces the availability of Misys Midas Plus Syndications Manager. The new module, part of the core banking system Midas Plus, will help banks to reduce the administrative burden of loan syndication by reducing complexity and automating manually intensive processes. The solution will help banks to gain greater visibility and control over increasingly complex syndicated loans and extend their share of this growing industry.
The market for syndicated loans is growing fast, with global syndicated lending reaching US$4.5 trillion in 2007, up from US$4 trillion in 2006, representing a 13.4% increase (Thomson Financial). The loans are also becoming increasingly complex, often constructed across multiple continents and time zones, and 20 financial institutions participating in a single loan is now commonplace. Banks seeking to enter this attractive market must also find ways to manage the business efficiently and minimise operational risk.
Syndications Manager, which is fully integrated with Misys Midas Plus, streamlines the syndicated lending process from loan booking to maturity. By automating processes and eliminating duplicated work, banks can remove large amounts of manual processing and increase the efficiency of their syndicated lending operations. The solution automatically and accurately apportions income and costs, thus reducing operational risk, and delivers real-time, accurate information to speed up decision making. Banks are provided with a better view of risk across the syndicated loan portfolio, whilst supporting compliance requirements in each relevant market.
Lee Duxbury, Senior Vice President, Operations Manager at Helaba, New York comments, "As an early adopter of Syndications Manager, Helaba is already experiencing the benefits of the new solution. We found the complexity of syndicated lending was an intensive manual business, whilst governance demands were at the same time becoming stricter. Misys has helped us manage the whole syndicated lending process much more effectively and we are now looking to expand our syndications business within our existing resource constraints."
The higher number of parties involved also requires more time to be spent on communications of any changes with regards to the loan. A key component of the administration function is to make sure the communications between the lending institutions and the agent remains open so that both sides remain quickly informed about changing business and market realities. Syndications Manager provides comprehensive reporting and correspondence, ensuring good communication between the syndication members.
Gary Carroll, Product Manager for Midas Plus at Misys, comments, "The introduction of Syndications Manager has been driven by the demands of our customers. They are dealing with ever more complex syndicated loans on their books and the market for syndicated lending is growing rapidly. This will help banks to continue syndicating without increased labour costs or being constrained through complexity."
Syndications Manager is used in conjunction with Midas Plus Customer Lending to handle situations where the financial institution is either the lead manager of syndicated loans or a participant in a loan managed by another institution but where the participant bank wishes to further sub-participate its share. It also gives the flexibility for the agency function and the lending function of the financial institution to be reported and accounted for separately.
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