Algo Collateral Newsletter

At the ISDA Annual General Meeting in Tokyo last week the results of the Electronic Data Interchange Collateral Working Group were published.

In December 2001 a number of our users requested Algorithmics to help standardize collateral reconciliation practices, in particular an accepted format for exchanging trade detail information. Algorithmics responded with the 310 portfolio statement, which Algo Collateral users were encouraged to use. (For more information please refer to the December 2001 issue of Collateral Management Newsletter). In April 2002 at the ISDA Annual General Meeting in Berlin, one of the four collateral working groups established would focus on Electronic Data Interchange. Many industry players joined this working group, amidst them a good number of Algorithmics clients. Two deliverables were achieved: a minimum set of data with description of each data field and a sample output file in Microsoft Excel format; an xml specification including a sample output in xml format.

What does this mean? The 310 portfolio statement will be amended to reflect the industry standard. Although certain fields will not yet be part of clients' production version, by May 2003, Algorithmics will have temporary reports (Microsoft Excel output) available for clients using Version 3.5 and 4.2. These the clients can us until the complete report becomes available in the next database version 4.4. This template will be added to the template drop-down menu in the reconciliation module in Version 4.4 and going forward. Selecting this template will then assume the counterparty has sent file in industry standard format, making it needless to map field by field.

For more information please refer to our website or to the ISDA website.

Algo Collateral is committed to staying ahead of the technology curve and as such, will be migrating to a new .Net platform in the next year. Algo Collateral's new platform and functionality will provide greater scalability, performance as well as the integration of a repackaged and enhanced Algo Collateral module. Clients will be encouraged to upgrade to the new platform to take advantage of these new features.

As part of the platform development, Algo Collateral will address upgrade issues and implementation changes to ease the transition for our clients making any upgrade process smooth. Throughout the development and deliverable phase of the new platform, Algo Collateral will continue to support and develop additional features on the existing framework. More information will be provided on the changes and new developments on this project.

Soros Fund Management LLC of New York has licensed its Algo Collateral solution for OTC derivative margining. Additionally of note, Soros purchased Algo Collateral's powerful Enhanced Exposure Asset Management module that allows in-depth analysis of credit exposures to counterparties, custodians and security issuers across all products by industry, country, credit rating, and product type.

Landesbank Hessen - Thüringen (Helaba) has selected Algo Collateral as the software platform to manage all of their current and future collateral management requirements.

Unfortunately, our second Algo Collateral User Conference has been cancelled because of the SARS epidemic. We are however working towards holding 2 smaller client events in London and in New York in June.