The acquisition enables Interwoven to introduce the first complete ECM solution for the automation of Over-the-Counter (OTC) derivatives, and positions Interwoven as the leading ECM provider in the rapidly growing market for the trading of non-exchange based financial instruments.

The Interwoven OTC Derivatives solution is the first solution Interwoven is delivering based on the acquisition to address a critical need within the burgeoning market for non-exchange based trading. Interwoven believes a number of factors have contributed to the need for a specific, targeted solution for straight-through-processing of OTC Derivatives confirmation:

• Market Growth—According to The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the OTC derivatives market has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 31 percent since 2001, with a reported value of over $220 trillion at the start of 2005.
• Technology Spend—TowerGroup, a leading financial services industry analyst firm, reports that technology spending for the OTC Derivatives market is expected to reach $1.07 billion by 2006.
• Trading Volume—The International Swaps and Dealers Association (ISDA) reports that the average number of weekly trades has risen from 1,975 in 2001 to 3,704 in 2004.
• Current Solution—Acutely aware of the need to manage operational risk, investment banks are experiencing limitations with current proprietary systems and manual processes as the complexity and volume of OTC Derivatives trading increases.

"The historic growth statistics of the BIS mask the fact that the growth rate is accelerating and the growth is occurring in increasingly complicated instruments. To put this market into context, the OTC derivatives notional value of $248 trillion dollars is more than 30 times the size of the US mutual fund market," said Gavin Little-Gill, director, TowerGroup. "While the market has grown, it has struggled to integrate the automation necessary to maintain this growth. Many of the proprietary and niche solutions that characterize this market are creaking under the strains that this growth has created. As a result, institutions are looking for more robust third party applications from vendors with the capability to support continued development of those applications. Automation of contract management is top on the list of pain points for both buyers and sellers of these securities and central to efforts to manage the growth of this business. The combination of a market leader in the Enterprise Content Management market and a dominant OTC derivatives platform shows promise in providing a scalable solution to this market."

Currently, Interwoven provides targeted solutions to capital markets, corporate banking, and retail banking operations, with customers such as ABN Amro and Credit Suisse First Boston. With the addition of Scrittura's customer base—including AIG International, Bear Stearns, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Wachovia Bank—Interwoven now has as customers 19 of the top 25 financial services companies on the Financial Times 500 list.

"Interwoven is focused on bringing to market best-in-class ECM solutions that address specific business challenges across enterprises, and within vertical markets," said Martin Brauns, chairman and CEO, Interwoven. "Interwoven's acquisition of Scrittura not only reinforces this commitment, but significantly adds to our already strong leadership role within the financial services industry. Building on the success Scrittura has already achieved in the OTC Derivatives market, we expect to continue strengthening our existing footprint in the financial services industry by providing additional high-value solutions in the coming months."

The Interwoven OTC Derivatives solution will provide banks and asset managers with complete functionality including: business process management; document management; records management; fax and paper capture; and messaging brokering. As a result, financial services customers can reduce the amount of time it takes to complete a trade from days and often weeks, to hours or minutes.

"In the last 15 years, Scrittura has marked out a territory in the financial services technology market that no other vendor has been able to successfully enter," said John Lewis, CEO, Scrittura. "The root of our success has been our specialist focus and responsiveness to the exacting demands of a very complex industry, and this focus will continue as we merge with Interwoven. As a result, we expect clients to be able to benefit from a powerful combination of market-leading technologies, enabling them to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by the growing popularity of OTC trading."