Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW), the investment banking arm of Dresdner Bank, has launched a client version of its in-house credit risk and portfolio analysis system CreditHorizons.
CreditHorizons was developed by DrKW's credit portfolio strategy group to help manage the bank's own risk and assets. Since January 2003, DrKW has been working with a limited group of counterparties to develop a client version of the product.
CreditHorizons taps information arising from bonds, equities and options to arrive at daily risk and valuation indications for credit. DrKW says the system brings a new standard of transparency and management capability to the structured product asset class.
Evan Kalimtgis, head of credit portfolio strategy, DrKW says: "We quickly discovered that many of our counterparties had the same needs we had - namely for a transparent asset management and risk system which would allow them to aggregate and manage credit risk across the spectrum of loans, bonds, credit default swaps, structured products, equities and options."
Separately, DrKW has launched a service that will allow clients to post orders electronically on to the London Metal Exchange's electronic trading platform, LME Select, according to a report by Reuters.
DrKW says the service is delivered via its Web based trading system GatorNet (Global Access to Order Routing) and take-up of the service so far has been very positive.
According to the report, the bank said clients would benefit from better and more transparent pricing, lower execution costs and confidentiality as transactions appear on Select screens under DrKW name.
Reuters says less than five percent of the total trade on the LME goes through electronic systems.