International bank aims to lower counterparty risk and optimize capital via automated collateral management solution
Omgeo, the global standard for post-trade efficiency, today announced that Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), an international financial institution of the Nordic and Baltic countries, has selected Omgeo ProtoColl®, an end-to-end collateral management solution for their over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives trades. The firm implemented and went live on the solution in less than three months.
With Omgeo ProtoColl, NIB is able to automate its collateral management process for OTC derivatives, reducing exposure to operational and counterparty risk while increasing efficiency. By eliminating manual processes, NIB is able to improve its internal and external collateral management processes. In addition, it is able to reconcile its OTC portfolios with counterparties, better manage cash collateral, complete margin calculations and issue notices directly to counterparties. NIB’s adoption of ProtoColl comes at a pivotal time in the financial markets industry where transparency in the derivatives’ trade process has become a significant regulatory focus area. All OTC derivatives trades will be subject to timely confirmation, robust and resilient auditable processes, as well as frequent reconciliation and effective dispute management. Omgeo ProtoColl helps firms to achieve these goals.
Lars-Ake Olsson, senior director, NIB, said, “As OTC derivatives trading volume continues to increase, we needed a single solution that would provide us with the insights to effectively measure and manage our counterparty risk. We chose Omgeo ProtoColl because of its robust capabilities as well as its accelerated implementation timeframe.”
Martin Loxley, director of Collateral Management at Omgeo, commented, “Our clients are always looking for ways to lower their risk and improve process automation. We are extremely pleased to be helping NIB achieve its goals of implementing a one-stop collateral management solution in its OTC derivatives operation with Omgeo ProtoColl. As the industry focuses more and more on transparency and improved operational processes, automation within the OTC derivatives space will continue to increase.”
Omgeo ProtoColl provides an end-to-end, event-driven collateral and margin management workflow solution for clients to identify, negotiate and satisfy daily margin calls. With ProtoColl, clients gain tremendous insight into their firms’ exposures and risk profiles. The offering handles all margining requirements, including OTC and exchange traded derivatives, repos, securities lending, leveraged trading, emerging markets and loan facilities. In addition, clients benefit from ProtoColl’s efficient, quality implementation process where users can be live in less than three months.
