OpenLink

WestLB Global Finance Markets Goes Live With OpenLink's Front to Back-Office Trading Solution

LONDON, October 24, 2001  — Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB) has chosen OpenLink's Endur™ trading, risk management and transaction processing solution for its commodities trading desk in London.  

OpenLink's fully integrated, cross asset class, front- to back-office trading solution will be used by WestLB to manage its energy and precious metals trading business. The bank has recently completed the implementation of Endur for its power and natural gas activities, and is now working on the implementation for its metals business. 

Marc Wall, Global Head of Gold, Energy and Commodities at WestLB, says, "OpenLink provided us with the open architecture we needed, plus the flexibility to manage risk in the way we saw fit."  

Endur links the front-, middle- and back-offices of a trading organization with real-time functionality specifically designed for the entire energy transaction life cycle. Endur combines advanced analytics with sophisticated pricing curves, helping users to accurately model and value any energy instrument. 

Endur has unparalleled trader-centric front end functionality, enabling deal capture, real time position keeping and advanced analytics.  It performs risk evaluation at the instrument level, and allows traders to evaluate market, credit, volumetric and operational exposures. Users can also purchase a range of development tools for sophisticated customization. 

OpenLink International managing director Jean-Claude Riss said, "More and more banks are demanding the type of risk management features that OpenLink offers across the entire transaction life cycle, covering both the financial and the commodities markets.  OpenLink's solution allows WestLB to trade and manage their risk across the most complicated instruments and to tailor the system to their own business model." 

Endur has been fully integrated with WestLB's major banking systems, says Wall, to enable straight through processing of the newly traded instruments.  

Wall says that the bank considered several competitive applications, but that OpenLink's open architecture and point and click capabilities meant that WestLB could specify precisely the configuration they required and customize it as needed.

About OpenLink

Founded in 1992, OpenLink has emerged as a leading solution provider of financial and energy trading and risk management systems with broad market functionality.  The company's global client base includes Bank for International Settlements, Bayerische Landesbank International, Credit Local de France, Deutsche Bank, Halifax PLC, and Manulife Financial.  Headquartered in Long Island, New York, OpenLink employs more than 230 professionals worldwide and has offices in New York, London and Houston.

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e-mail: Dorianne Landolphi
OpenLink
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