Temenos Transact
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Introduction to Club Loans

Syndicated loans or club loans are a large credit facility issued by a consortium of lenders to a sole borrower. The amount of one syndicated or club loan is so high that one lender cannot fund or take on the debt alone. The credit agreement for these types of loans is very complex in nature and attracts several fees such as upfront fees, arrangement fees, commitment fees and unutilised fee for the borrower and this becomes a huge income to the bank.

These loans are provided to medium-to-large corporates to help their business expansions as well as day-to-day business operations. Examples of these loan types are project finance loans, working capital loans, construction finance and standby letter of credits.

The lenders are composed of banks, but financial institutions like mutual funds and insurance companies may also participate in this type of lending. Depending on the type of the deal, the complexity of the credit agreement structure and the financial need of the borrower, there are many different parties or roles that a lender or bank can be assigned such as:

  • Book Runner
  • Lead Arranger
  • Co-Lead Arranger
  • Joint Lead Arranger
  • Lead Arranger
  • Letter of Credit Issuer
  • Swing Line Lender
  • Bid Bank
  • Administrative Agent
  • Collateral Agent
  • Documentation Agent
  • Book Manager

However, the key role which conduits between the lender and borrower group is the administrative agent. Typically, one bank from the lender group is appointed as administrative agent and referred as Agent Bank.

Apart from funding a substantial portion of the loan (however, in some cases, the administrative agent need not fund the loan), the lead agent is also responsible for:

  • Servicing the loan to borrower
  • Maintaining the loan positions of each participants
  • Monitoring the performance of the borrowing group
  • Monitoring the covenants and conditions and notify participants
  • Sending notifications to the borrower and other participants on events such as, but not limited to – borrower funding request and interest rate changes.
  • Distributing cash flows between the borrower and the other participants.

Club Loans in Temenos Transact

Temenos Transact supports the Club Loans functionality. A Transact bank can create club loan contracts and the following features are supported:

  • Club loans can be created as standalone loans or loans under club facility
  • Participant details can be captured at the facility level and the share details are automatically followed at the drawing level
  • The Transact bank, called as the owning bank, can record contracts where they are the administrative agents (both funding and on funding) and also where they are just participants.
  • If the owning bank takes the agent role, then all the other participant balances and details are recorded off the book. This is for administrative purpose.
  • If the owning bank is just a participant, then the bank’s own balances are recorded on the book. The global amount that is funded is recorded off the book for information purpose.
  • Shares can be transferred from one of the participant to another during the course of the club loan
  • Most of the other AA Loan and AA Facility functionality is available for Club Loans as well.

Configuring Club Loans

To configure a loan as a club loan, the loan product should have the Participant Property Class attached to it. Because the lender participant details are contract-specific information, they are captured during every contract creation.

Apart from attaching the Participant Property Class, the Balance Treatment field in the Account Property Class has to be set to Participation. If this field is not set to Participation, then the user cannot capture loan participant details even if the Participant Property Class is attached. This field acts as a switch to define whether the contract is a bilateral (one lender to one borrower) or a club loan.

After a club loan or facility is created, the lender participants can choose to sell their shares or to buy more shares from other lender participants. This is achieved by the process of share transfer. To do a share transfer, the bank user should use the Capture Share Transfer activity. The activity opens the Share Transfer Transaction Class where the necessary details can be captured.

Illustrating Model Parameters

This section covers the model parameters required for the club loans.

Illustrating Model Products

All the products in model bank under the Product Groups Corporate Facilities (Facility Product Line) and Corporate Drawings (Lending Product Line) have the Participant Property Class attached to them. During runtime, the user can make use of the Balance Treatment field in the Account Property Class to capture the club loan details.

Sl.no Product Name Product Attributes
1 Corporate Deal
  • Deal
2 Corporate Facilities
  • Revolving Facility
  • Term Facility
3 Corporate Drawings
  • Annuity Drawings
  • Euribor Drawings
  • Fixed Rate Drawings
  • Index Based Drawings
  • LIBOR Drawings
  • Construction Loan

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Published on :
Tuesday, May 28, 2024 4:02:03 PM IST