Skip to content
Article

Syndicated Loan Trading: An Automation Laggard No More

September 20, 2024 | 1 minutes reading time | By John Hintze

Big-bank-backed Octaura and Versana are delivering on their promises for data and operational modernization.

While waves of technological innovation swept through one capital-market segment after another over the last quarter century, trading of syndicated loans remained mired in manual inefficiencies and plagued by weeks-long settlement cycles. Modernization initiatives launched in 2022 by bank-led joint ventures Octaura and Versana are now shifting this $1.39 trillion market into high gear.

Octaura, incubated and co-developed by Citi and Bank of America, set out to usher leveraged loan and structured credit trading onto a sleek digital platform. In June it traded 2.2% of secondary loan trades – out of a total market that the Loan Syndications & Trading Association (LSTA) calculated at $62.7 billion.

Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Moody’s Analytics became co-owners of Octaura, where Brian Bejile from Citi serves as chief executive officer.

Vitaliy Kozak of Octaura

Secondary-market trading strengthens banks’ relationships with corporate borrowers, but intermediating trades is capital intensive, Octaura chief product officer Vitaliy Kozak explained. Bids wanted in competition (BWICs), submitted...

to access this content.

Become a GARP Member to Unlock Exclusive Risk Insights and More!

  • Access timely articles, thought leadership, and an archive of on-demand webcasts, event recordings, and Chapter meeting presentations in our Member Multimedia Library.
  • Get regulatory capital data for global and regional banks in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa through our Pillar 3+ data analytics platform from the GARP Benchmarking Initiative (GBI®).
  • Gain priority registration to attend any worldwide Chapter meeting for free, as well as preferential rates for GARP events and access to local members-only dinners and professional networking opportunities.
  • Receive comprehensive access via our digital GARP Learning platform to the latest curriculum readings, videos, end of chapter practice questions, and more for the program(s) of which you passed the exam(s).

Topics: Innovation

Trending