Vendor expands CDO administration package

London, 01 July 2006

London-based start-up CDO Software is planning a new product as part of its suite of CDO administration software. The firm was set up last year by two technology specialists, Sunay Shah and Brett Paton, who most recently worked at Mizuho.

The company's main product, CDO Tools, which has been developed in the past few months, is designed to help firms with the booking, processing and reporting of CDOs both at the tranche level and in the underlying portfolio. The software differs from other trade capture software in that it is focused specifically on CDOs.

"This is for both the buy side and the sell side," says chief executive Shah. "Its benefit is that it replaces spreadsheets, and there are many firms, including large banks, that rely on spreadsheets for portfolio administration, such as making substitutions. One key benefit is that with this system there is an audit log for changes made to the deal."

The product also includes a scheduling tool for downloads of data feeds. The company has agreements in place with Markit and Standard & Poor's, which means that if clients subscribe to Markit's price and reference entity data or to S&P's RatingsXpress, that data can feed directly into the software.

The new addition will be CDO Tracker, a customisable web interface to the product. Banks or investment managers can use this to give their clients access to up to date information on their deals.

Shah declines to reveal the cost of the products, but says that CDO Tools is priced on an annual per-user basis, with CDO Tracker available for a one-off fee.

Michael Peterson