Euroclear Bank announces today that HSBC France and The Bank of New York Mellon have signed up to Euroclear Bank's LoanReach service for syndicated loan transactions.
Corinne Léger-Licoine, Head of Global Banking, Agency & Operations at HSBC France, commented: "We have been very active in the LoanReach consultation groups over the past few years. We are convinced that this automated solution to process syndicated bank loan transactions will greatly benefit us and our counterparties. As a lender, we believe that LoanReach will make the market for syndicated loans more orderly in terms of data flows, operational efficiency, risk control and cost containment."
Joe Duffy, Managing Director, EMEA Corporate Trust Executive at The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon), said: "BNY Mellon believes that Euroclear Bank's LoanReach platform will further improve the service level that the company provides to its clients by streamlining and centralising communication and cash flows between agents and lenders. We look forward to benefitting from the added value that LoanReach provides in substantially reducing operational inefficiencies and risks within the syndicated loan business."
Christian Schaef, Director, Loan Servicing Product Management at Euroclear, added: "Euroclear welcomes HSBC France and The Bank of New York Mellon as LoanReach clients. Through continuing market dialogue, we aim to regularly add new features to the LoanReach service in order to meet the evolving needs of the market and to address various points of operational inefficiency."
About 15 clients are currently testing LoanReach and four are now using the service.
LoanReach offers a free-of-charge service to allocate unique identifying codes for syndicated loans. It also provides a centralised loan database, as well as customised reporting possibilities for agent and lender portfolios. LoanReach's portfolio reconciliation feature enables agents and lenders to reduce their operational workload and risks, whilst maintaining the confidentiality of loan information. A key purpose is to decrease the number of reconciliation failures between agents and lenders, resulting in more efficient and accurate processing of cash-related operations, which benefits lenders and agents alike.
LoanReach is the first integrated multi-currency, delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement service for secondary market trades in syndicated loans. The automated service fills a major efficiency gap in the syndicated loan business, reducing operational costs and risks in secondary market trading.
Future LoanReach enhancements include DvP settlement for primary market syndicated loan transactions, tax services, interest payments, the automation of agent notifications and the use of loans as collateral to support refinancing transactions.