AcadiaSoft today announced the launch of a web-based portal for collateral management and workflow in the OTC derivatives market, which substantially improves operational efficiencies for both sell-side and buy-side participants.
The new portal provides a unified, automated venue from which market participants can receive, send and confirm margin calls, taking the place of today's less efficient practice of using email, fax and phone.
Already, the service is being piloted by major market participants -- Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and State Street -- and there is substantial interest from other major dealers as well as buy-side market participants.
"The importance of properly managing collateral and counterparty risk has never been more important than it is today given the growth in the industry and recent financial market events," said Craig Welch, co-founder of AcadiaSoft. "Our service replaces the inefficiencies created by the current, manual approach and offers one that is highly visible and reliable. We believe the benefits offered will help market participants achieve better operational efficiencies and help prepare for future growth."
AcadiaSoft allows dealers and investors to manage all aspects of collateral communications online, giving parties involved in a trade access to the same information instantaneously. Users may view their collateral exposures and commitments and make adjustments as needed. All activity is time stamped, and a fully auditable audit trail of activity is created. Users can interface with the system through the internet, and in-house collateral management systems can be seamlessly integrated.
The new service significantly improves the process by reducing operational risk and by dramatically increasing transparency. Having a centralized location from which to track and manage margin calls helps avoid costly and time-consuming errors while also helping to achieve STP.
The launch of the new service comes at a time when the OTC derivatives industry is increasingly moving to standardize and automate its activities. Regulators have called for improved efficienefficiencies and the industry has taken many steps to streamline the post trade process.
Welch notes that additional users are expected to pilot the system in the very near future. The new participants will include dealers as well as administrators, hedge funds and mutual funds.
The introduction of AcadiaSoft's platform marks a significant step in improving the efficiency of collateral management and workflow. OTC derivative participants are adopting AcadiaSoft's technology for their margin calls over the next couple of months owing to its tremendous potential to increase the speed and accuracy with which margin calls are handled.
Recently, MarkitSERV, the premier electronic trade processing platform for OTC derivative transactions, began offering clients collateral management services in partnership with AcadiaSoft. The new partnership integrates AcadiaSoft into the MarkitSERV portal and expands the scope of MarkitSERV's platform for managing post-trade requirements of OTC derivative transactions.
"We are excited to work with AcadiaSoft and make its innovative technology a part of the MarkitSERV platform, said Jeff Gooch, CEO of MarkitSERV. "Providing the ability to manage collateral messaging alongside other post-trade requirements for derivatives transactions, on one platform, will greatly benefit the market. We look forward to introducing the service to our clients."