BNP Paribas, China Construction Bank (Asia), DBS, MUFG, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered have all joined the iLex platform to “accelerate the digitization of corporate loan markets.”
The 6 global syndicated loan book runners are joining iLex as partner banks in order to support “innovation in loan capital markets,” according to a release shared with Crowdfund Insider.
iLex was incorporated in 2019 and officially “launched its electronic corporate loan market in January this year.”
The Singapore-based Fintech is focused on “creating the first multi-dealer electronic market and trading platform for corporate loans, which will increase the overall liquidity, efficiency and transparency of the market.”
Since early 2020, these partner banks have been actively “contributing to the development of iLex’s marketplace and solutions by providing feedback on the design of platform features and their adequacy with market practices,” the announcement revealed.
The release also mentioned that the partner banks will “play an active role in building up the platform’s deal flow to help drive the adoption of digital distribution workflows and increase the speed of issuances and market trades.”
Bertrand Billon, CEO and Founder of iLex, stated:
“We are immensely pleased to have the support of these global bookrunners, in addition to what we have received from our other global partners, regulators and trade associations. Our ambition is to build and create an integrated global ecosystem together with the industry, and become the reference electronic market for corporate loans.”
At present, iLex is working with some of these partner banks on the launch of “new trading protocols and investor portals for the private credit and secondary loan markets, targeted for Q1 2022.”
The update further noted that these new developments will “help loan distribution teams increase their day-to-day engagement with the buy-side community and manage deals and interactions with investors more swiftly.”
While the corporate loan market remains private in nature, there are considerable benefits of going electronic – “easier and faster access to deal opportunities will attract new investors and increase overall liquidity; standardization and digitization of loan processing and documentation will enhance efficiency; and aggregation of market data and credit analytics will bring greater transparency for all market participants.”
Bertrand Billon added:
“We will continue to invest in new trading protocols, partnerships and markets to create a global, integrated loan ecosystem that delivers more deal opportunities to all market participants, and harness the power of data and technology to build the future of loan capital markets and facilitate access to the asset class.”
Alexis Postel-Vinay, Head of Loans and Market Financing Syndicate, BNP Paribas, commented:
“BNP Paribas is delighted to be one of the partner banks of iLex to deliver innovative solutions for the Asian loan market. We look forward to using the iLex marketplace to expand loan and private debt distribution to a growing universe of banks and institutional investors.”
Eugene Lau, MD, Head of Capital Markets at China Construction Bank (Asia), said:
“We are very pleased to work with iLex in the digitisation of the syndicated loan process and to change for the better. For decades, we have not seen much advancement in technology in the loan market space. We are hopeful that technology can help to improve liquidity and efficiency in the syndicated loan market that will benefit all of us. Human bankers can make use of the technology for increased efficiency, opportunities and higher-value work. Let’s work together towards the digital future of syndicated loans.”
Mildred Chua, Head of Syndicated Finance, DBS, remarked:
“We are excited to leverage iLex’s innovative platform and avail our syndication and execution capabilities to digitalise the future of syndicated finance. We believe our collaboration will help drive greater efficiency, liquidity, and transparency in the syndicated loans market, and ultimately deliver greater value to our customers.”
Siong Ooi, Co-Head of Debt Capital Markets – Loans & Bonds, Asian Investment Banking Division, MUFG Bank, noted:
“We are glad to be able to harness the exciting possibilities inherent within iLex’s advanced platform to transform the syndicated loan market. The syndicated lending industry relies on costly, manually-intensive processes, and the iLex platform delivers an elegant solution that seeks to address these issues. The solution not only brings improved operational efficiency for MUFG and its investors, but also provides much needed transparency to the syndicated market.”
As covered, iLex is creating the first independent, multi-dealer electronic market and trading platform “for corporate loans, delivering a wide network of loan market participants and targeted deal opportunities using its proprietary matching engine.”
Via the use of its digital solutions and strategic partnerships, iLex facilitates “the end-to-end automation of primary syndication and secondary market workflows and provides a comprehensive source of loan market data and analytics.”
Supported by various industry players, iLex is focused on supporting innovation to “deliver better liquidity, efficiency, transparency and security to the loan market.” iLex was launched in 2019 and is based in Singapore.