Finastra has signed three global banks on its Fusion LenderComm platform as part of a coordinated campaign, including BNP Paribas, Natixis and Societe Generale. With NatWest, which joined recently, the ramp up signals a move towards a new era of efficiency in this complex space.
Grant Jones, VP, Fusion LenderComm, Finastra said, “All of these banks were part of our Fusion LenderComm pilot and the momentum that the platform has seen since then is nothing short of extraordinary. This is an historic step that brings leading global banks together on the platform in the live Fusion LenderComm environment, for seamless and secure information exchange. But more than that, this is an important inflection point, paving the way for the whole industry to come on board, achieving even further critical mass.”
Fusion LenderComm is based on Corda Enterprise, R3’s commercial version of its open source blockchain platform, Corda. It is enabling banks to expose real-time credit agreement, accrual balances and position information data to lenders, directly from agent bank loan servicing platforms, such as Finastra’s Fusion Loan IQ.
Philippe Boulas, Global Head of Corporate Banking Operations at BNP Paribas said, “We have been fully supportive of the Fusion LenderComm initiative since the beginning as it prompts the major players of this industry to work together and improve the service we offer to our borrower-clients in terms of quality, reducing delay and costs. With the creation of this community and a collaborative mindset we have a unique opportunity to tackle the operational pain points we have all been experiencing for years and that constrain syndicated loan market expansion.”
Frédéric Dalibard, Head of Digital for Corporate & Investment Banking at Natixis said, “Given Natixis’ high involvement in the lending space we have been very supportive of the Fusion LenderComm initiative since day one. R3’s Corda is the perfect technology to enable the sharing of information between agents and lenders on a need-to-know basis while being fully compliant with our stringent IT security policies. We praise Finastra for having committed to take this path and we are delighted to work with our peers and partners to make this initiative a success.”
Cécile Bartenieff, Chief Operating Officer of Global Banking & Investor Solutions at Societe Generale said, “The Fusion LenderComm initiative will help provide greater transparency and operational efficiency to the syndicated loan market for the benefit of all participants, including the pool of banking lenders and our borrower clients. This is an illustration of how blockchain can help banks optimize the entire flow of financial operations in a standardized and secured framework.”
David E. Rutter, CEO of R3, said, “Fusion LenderComm is quickly becoming recognized as one of the most advanced and forward-looking solutions for the syndicated loan market. There are exciting times ahead for the platform as more banks join at an accelerating pace. R3 is proud to facilitate the use of blockchain technology to provide lenders with access to many aspects of their positions in real-time. This brings a significant increase in transparency and convenience during the entire portfolio lifecycle. Having been involved since day one, I am certain Fusion LenderComm will lead to dramatic improvements in the syndicated lending market.”
