Client type: North American Regional Bank
Regulatory impact: UMR Phase 5 – AANA $/€50bn

Client summary

In-house solution used for collateral management with manual exchange of margin calls via email, combined with use of OSTTRA triResolve for portfolio reconciliation and dispute investigation. Subject to new uncleared margin rules (UMR) in phase 5. Primary focus was modernisation of their day to day process, including adoption of electronic messaging for margin call exchange, improved workflow support and replacement of legacy processes with automation, plus connectivity to IM infrastructure.

Problem

The use of old technology meant an over reliance on manual processing to support collateral requirements for several hundred margin agreements (both OTC & Repo). Users described the legacy solution as fragmented and error prone, resulting in slow and manual processing of calls. Further, the portfolio reconciliation and dispute investigation processes were not aligned with the collateral infrastructure, thus providing limited transparency. New UMR requirements were estimated to significantly increase margin call volumes.

Their existing collateral solution was designed for Variation Margin and would require extensive effort to build new automation and extend support for Initial Margin. The cost and resources required to extend the legacy system were large, and it became clear this approach didn’t align with the organisation’s strategy for risk and technology. Instead, they undertook an extensive review of vendor solutions via RFP, with the goal of identifying an automated vendor solution that provided support for both VM and IM via a single integrated service.

Solution

OSTTRA triResolve Margin was selected to replace the firm’s existing in-house collateral system with the objective of supporting both existing VM and new IM requirements following the September 1st deadline. As an existing OSTTRA triResolve portfolio reconciliation subscriber, the adoption of OSTTRA triResolve Margin was a natural fit.

This provided the ability to easily calculate margin calls using the data already submitted for reconciliation purposes, and with ‘one click’ integration between the services, they were able to eliminate the fragmented nature of their previous process. The firm also found new features from the added transparency of being able to see all margin calls derived using both their own, and counterparty, valuations.

With an expected increase in the volume of calls following UMR compliance, the firm required higher levels of automation. A key objective was to reduce the use of email for margin call communications, something they found both manual and slow. OSTTRA triResolve Margin not only solved this challenge with built-in connectivity to Acadia’s Margin Manager messaging service at no additional cost, but it also provides the Bank with the capability to automate the entire call workflow.

In order to provide both transparency and capability to manage disputes, the firm required a collateral solution that connects to both OSTTRA triResolve and Acadia’s Initial Margin Exposure Manager (IMEM) services. Use of OSTTRA triResolve Margin provides this connectivity with zero integration, allowing the Bank to easily drilldown into all VM and IM differences, identify issues, and collaborate with their counterparties to manage exceptions.

Our solution provides the firm with complete support for both VM & IM, an easy to use dashboard, new levels of automation, and connectivity with their counterparties using industry standard tools.

To learn more about Collateral Management, click here or contact us at info@trioptima.com.