Capco Highlights why Collateral Management is Central to Regulatory Change and the Business Opportunities it Creates if you get it Right

By Capco, PRNE
Sunday, March 27, 2011

Wide-ranging Regulatory Developments and Liquidity Concerns Form a Strategic Imperative to Revolutionise Collateral Management

LONDON, March 28, 2011 - Capco, the global business and technology consultancy dedicated solely to
the financial services industry, has observed a seismic shift in how
Collateral Management is viewed in many financial organisations since 2008.
With the credit crisis driving continued regulatory change, Collateral
Management is changing from a reactive, largely administrative function in
the back office to being integrated with Trading (Collateral Brokering and
Securities Finance), Liquidity Management, Credit Risk, Market Risk and
Finance (Capital Adequacy).

Financial institutions continue to face major challenges with regard to
the scale of reform required, but the prize for those organisations that
respond effectively will include additional client and revenue flows, as well
as proactive Risk and Liquidity Management that improve business performance.

Stephen Vinnicombe (
www.capco.com/about-capco/who-is-who/stephen-vinnicombe) , a Capco
Partner, comments:

"While investment costs associated with 'revolutionising' the way
Collateral Management is viewed will be high, the benefits of doing so are
wide-reaching. Capital Adequacy (banks are 30-40% inefficient on RWA
valuations), Liquidity (single counterparty and issuer views to enable
proactive management) and New Business opportunities (increased Collateral
Trading and Tri Party activity) all stand to improve measurably and
significantly, making the costs and consequences associated with doing
nothing even greater.

"Financial institutions need to consider the following seven points if
they are to successfully integrate Collateral Managementacross their
organisation:


    1. Risk management

    The ability to re-assess counterparty risk on a near real-time basis and
    make appropriate credit valuation adjustments (CVA) across client and
    counterparty portfolios will be essential to improving margin and
    threshold management, handling of concentration risks and identify
    trading opportunities.

    2. Integration across product types

    Many banks still have a silo-based Collateral Management environment
    between products with individual margin calls. Exposure and Collateral
    Management should be amalgamated across product lines to achieve
    efficient cross product netting and consistent pricing.

    3. Integration between business functions

    The criticality of Collateral Management to business performance demands
    a move from reactive focus to a pro-active intra-day approach across
    Front Office, Finance, Operations, Credit and Market Risk. .

    4. Introduction of CCPs

    Separation of wholesale (CCP) and client collateral flows (bilateral) is
    required which could increase overall exposure. The industry is
    considering netting across CCPs e.g. ICE Trust and CME (credit
    derivatives and commodities) and LCH Clearnet (interest rate
    derivatives), using agreed risk arrays across open trades, and also
    including exchange traded activity. The intraday margining of the CCPs
    will increase focus on the STP capability of all firms.

    5. Client servicing

    There are a range of requirements clients are looking to their Collateral
    Managers for:

    - Consolidated margin calls

    - Intraday facilities

    - Trading and substitution opportunities

    - Straight through processing (STP)

    6. Efficiency, STP and operational risk

    There will be a rapid increase in the frequency of collateral management
    activity with the standard shifting from batch to real time and the
    volume of activity will test whether firms have got the right levels of
    STP and control in place to manage efficiently.

    7. Business model

    There is a broader business model question to answer as to the relative
    roles of the traditional Investment Bank, Prime Broker and Custodian in
    the provision of the next generation of Collateral Management services.
    The banks that emerge from this era of change the strongest will be
    those that have harnessed the "Back Office" strengths of custodians and
    their huge balance sheets with the "Front Office" CVA, Pricing, Capital
    Adequacy and trading opportunities.

About Capco

Capco, a global business and technology consultancy dedicated solely to
the financial services industry. Our professionals combine innovative
thinking with our unrivalled first-hand industry knowledge to offer our
clients consulting expertise, complex technology and package integration, and
managed services to move their organisations forward.

Through our collaborative and efficient approach, we help our clients
successfully increase revenue, manage risk and regulatory change, reduce
costs and enhance control. We specialise in banking; capital markets; wealth
and investment management; finance, risk & compliance; and technology. We
serve our clients from offices in leading financial centres across North
America
and Europe. To learn more, visit our web site at www.capco.com
and subscribe to Capco's newsroom RSS feed (
feeds.feedburner.com/capco/newsroom).

Contact: Robert Akam, T: +44-(0)20-7400-4480, E: rakam at hanovercomms.com;
Contact: Joe Eldridge, T: +44-(0)20-7400-4480, E: jeldridge at hanovercomm.com

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