Press Release
Principia enhanced to integrate Standard & Poor's Structured Finance Evaluated Pricing
Critical link established to more than 1.1 million US and European structured securities
London, United Kingdom/Jersey City, NJ 12th June, 2006 - Principia Partners, a leading provider of advanced end-to-end processing solutions for structured finance and capital markets, today announced that its clients can now incorporate Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations (SPSE) intraday pricing service for US and European structured finance bonds into Principia SFP. Principia SFP is the leading solution for the management and administration of structured finance operations as well as asset-backed securities and mortgage-based securities (ABS/MBS) and structured credit investment management. The SPSE service provides intraday and daily valuations on more than 1.1 million US and European structured finance securities, including ABS, RMBS and CMBS.
"The ability to include independent valuations from a trusted evaluated pricing industry leader such as SPSE will significantly enhance and facilitate the cross-asset portfolio monitoring, end-of-day processing and risk management capabilities of Principia SFP," states Dr. Douglas Long, EVP - Business Strategy at Principia Partners. Principia's clients are among the largest portfolio managers of structured finance securities and structured credit products, leveraging the system to automate end-to-end processing of ABS/MBS and credit instruments from deal capture to exposure analysis to accounting.
The SPSE service applies advanced cash flow modelling on securities based on analysis of underlying collateral, cash flows, prepayment speeds and credit spreads. The ability for an end user to integrate SPSE's evaluated prices further extends the Principia SFP solution's chief benefit: reducing manual processing and operation risks commonly associated with managing financial instruments with uncertain cash flows and market risk factors. "For our structured finance clients, the ability to manage ABS and MBS instruments on the same valuation platform with other assets, liabilities and derivatives is critical to meeting cost and new business development objectives," states Dr. Long.
One of the challenges faced by financial institutions investing in European structured finance securities is the lack of transparency and independence of structured bond valuations. As the securitisation market continues to rapidly evolve, more timely and independent valuations of structured finance securities are required in order for the industry to sustain its growth and to meet emerging regulatory issues. "The recent rapid growth in securitisation issuance, especially in Europe, has not been matched by the development of a liquid secondary market, and this has raised concerns about the transparency, independence and consistency of valuing many structured bonds. Our service provides an independent, rigorous and credible answer for daily valuation and mark-to-market issues within this important but thinly traded market. We are very pleased to be working with a proven applications provider such as Principia to deliver consistent, independent data in a scalable, robust platform that will help support the industry's evolving needs for the pricing of complex OTC securities," states Peter Jones, Director, Securities Evaluations at SPSE.
Note: Both Principia Partners and Standard & Poor’s Securities Evaluations are exhibiting at the Global ABS Conference, Barcelona from 12th – 15th June 2006. For further information their exhibition stands can be found at www.imn.org.
About Principia Partners
Principia Partners LLC (Principia) provides a comprehensive single platform solution for the end-to-end management of structured finance investments. Global financial institutions and independent asset managers have used the award winning Principia Structured Finance Platform since 1995 to unify investment analysis, portfolio management, risk surveillance, accounting and operational control across the breadth of structured credit assets, fixed income investments and complex derivatives.
For over 15 years Principia’s mission has been to help investors independently address the deal specific investment and cashflow analysis, valuation, risk management, reporting and due diligence requirements of structured credit investments and portfolios. Its dedicated support and continued development of functionality for structured finance instruments is accompanied by a proven and fully integrated derivative valuation framework. This overall credit investment and market risk solution delivers the robust backbone necessary for deeper investment analysis, proactive risk surveillance and operational control across the credit investment business.
Principia is based in New York, with an office in London and a technology center in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Principia SFP was awarded the Credit Technology Innovation award by Credit magazine in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
For press information contact:
Ben Jarrold
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7618 1370
Email: Jarrold@ppllc.com
About Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations, Inc.
Standard & Poor’s provides independent valuations on over 2.5 million fixed income securities. Our specialist team of professional evaluators generate daily and intra-day prices for a comprehensive range of instruments. Our proprietary valuation methodology enables us to derive clear, considered and timely prices from the full range of information available, helping firms avoid regional pricing discrepancies and other issues on illiquid markets.
We research and price the following fixed income instruments: Corporates, Governments, CMO/ABS/CMBS/MBS, Syndicated loans, US Municipals, Certificates of Deposit and Swaps/Swaptions. Also, on offer is a bespoke service that allows for coverage of specific securities on request. Securities evaluation services are provided by Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the McGraw-Hill Companies. Analytic services and products provided by Standard & Poor's are the result of separate activities designed to preserve the independence and objectivity of each analytic process. Standard & Poor's has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of non-public information during each analytic process.
About Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP), is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research, data and valuations. With approximately 6,300 employees located in 20 countries and markets, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit www.standardandpoors.com.
Standard & Poor's product information:
George McFerran
+44 (0)20 7176 7433
george_mcferran@standardandpoors.com
Peter Jones
+44 (0)20 7176 7441
peter_jones@standardandpoors.com
Katharina Voudouris
+212 438 4442
Katharina_Voudouris@standardandpoors.com