Principia Partners, a leading solution provider for the management and administration of structured finance operations, has just released Principia SFP Version 5.1.
The new release provides extensive standardized compliance reporting and accounting functionality for the rapidly expanding Structured Investment Vehicle (SIV) and Securities Arbitrage Conduit markets.
Despite tightening spreads in the structured finance securities market, SIVs and innovative SIV-like structures such as SIV-lites have enjoyed a recent boom, climbing above $300 Billion in outstanding notes in 2007. The number of SIVs expanded 30% in 2006 and is expected to achieve stronger growth in 2007. Additionally, many securities arbitrage conduits, driven largely by regulatory changes, are adopting SIV compliance practices to enhance their return on capital. The success of the SIV business model has greatly contributed to the convergence of structured finance technologies and methodologies.
"As market requirements and practices have become more standardized, we are able to package a complete SIV management solution that covers a wide range of compliance reporting and operational needs out of the box," states Dr. Douglas Long, EVP - Business Strategy at Principia. Using an intuitive interface, SIV managers can select and edit the standard suite of compliance reports covering cash outflows, portfolio composition, liquidity, market risk and capital adequacy and stress tests. The packaged SIV chart of accounts accommodates a broad range of accounting treatments, requiring little or no customization.
The added functionality seamlessly integrates with Principia's market-tested deal capture, portfolio management and risk capabilities. This continuous end-to-end processing is critical because SIVs do not require costly liquidity backup facilities to guarantee shortfalls in settling maturing liabilities. SIVs qualify for this capital efficient approach by marking their portfolios, testing cashflow adequacy and monitoring credit and market risks on a daily basis. Thus they require far more robust and analytic portfolio management capabilities than other less dyrr less dynamic vehicles.
"To meet the stringent risk limits imposed by the ratings criteria, SIVs must be assured that analytics are consistent and no model noise (conflicts in valuations that can be created from disparate systems) can be tolerated," states Long. "Furthermore, relying on lean operations teams typically much smaller than those in commercial banks, SIVs place a priority on supporting all assets, liabilities and derivatives on a single integrated platform focused on the specific requirements of advanced Structured Finance Operations. Principia SFP provides that comprehensive level of support."
As a result of the heightened activity in this market, new and existing SIVs are focusing efforts to more diligently manage investment strategies and to reduce overall expenses. The new 5.1 release is designed to deliver comprehensive functionality and ease of implementation, increasing enterprise-wide efficiencies while reducing the technical barriers to entry into the SIV space. "Principia SFP is an end-to-end system that will enable managers to meet the challenges of cost reduction first during implementation and then on an ongoing basis by scaling with portfolio growth and driving all operational processing in an automated manner," states Long.
SIVs are independent, bankruptcy-remote entities, often sponsored by large banks that capitalize on the arbitrage between the highly-rated investment grade securities that they purchase, such as asset-backed securities, and the shorter-term commercial paper and medium-term notes that they issue.
Principia's latest release incorporates more than a decade of experience in providing industry expertise and innovative solutions to managers and administrators of SIVs.