Six banks to test Origin electronic MTN platform

By Tom Porter

LONDON, Jan 9 (IFR) - Origin, a start-up platform for frequent issuers of medium-term notes and private placements, launched in beta mode on Monday with backing from six investment banks and more than 20 international borrowers.

BNP Paribas (LSE: 0HB5.L - news) , DekaBank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Societe Generale (Swiss: 519928.SW - news) , Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) and Danske Bank (LSE: 0NVC.L - news) are the dealers signed up, while the borrower roster includes Rabobank, IFC and Korea Development Bank.

The platform allows issuers to post information such as borrowing targets in one place, connecting them with dealers rather than both sides having to go to the expense and effort of maintaining several sets of bilateral relationships.

Private placement MTNs account for around a third of the 1trn of investment-grade debt issued annually in Europe, according to a statement from Origin.

Ben Powell, head of funding for IFC, said the technology simplifies what was once a "manual process prone to inefficiency".

Technology is gradually worming its way into the primary debt business, which has been slow to adopt new methods when compared to the widespread automation seen in financial markets such as foreign currency and equity trading.

Investor Access, an electronic bookbuilding platform backed by some of Europe's biggest DCM (KSE: 024090.KS - news) banks, was used for the first time on a live deal on January 5, a £350m five-year covered bond from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Other OTC: CBAUF - news) . (Reporting by Tom Porter; Editing by Ian Edmondson)