New technology benefits financial services data managers

In today's global market, it's important for data managers to understand how to use complex financial services software elements in order to manage their credit risk and collateralization.

If you are the data manager at a financial services company, you have a lot on your plate. But one of the most important areas under your watchful eye is the creation of proper credit risk management systems. As we have seen with the rash of high-profile collapses in the banking industry in recent years, the ability to effectively manage your institution's credit risk is crucial in keeping on top of your current and future situation.

An important factor to consider when determining your firm's credit risk is its level of collateralization - what happens when a borrower uses an asset to pay back a lender in case they default on their initial loan. Collateralization allows companies to issue loans to borrowers with less than perfect credit ratings who otherwise wouldn't qualify. Because of the positive and potentially negative aspects of this, collateral management systems must be put in place to effectively manage a firm's credit risk.

For data managers, collateral management can be a time-consuming, frustrating task. Much of it involves using back-office staff to manually track and provide management of a wide range of functions, keeping them from other duties. This is where automated securities processing systems are so valuable for today's data manager - having the ability to deploy staff to more mission-critical tasks is a major advantage with today's lean business model.

Financial services software such as the PowerPledge system from Davidsohn Global Technologies provides many benefits for data managers. It provides users with a real-time composite listing of all securities available for bank loans, along with manual searches for excess securities, calculation of concentration values and retention of DTC Participant Terminal System generated (PTS) tickets. In addition, journal entries, DTC security movements and detailed balancing reports are automatically generated. These are just a few of the ways that financial services technology is changing the way that data managers think about approaching their back-office programs.

Michael Dougherty is a financial writer who lives in Boston, MA. He has written for newspapers and magazines along with some of the leading online Web sites.