Big Banks Launch Syndicated Loan Platform Versana

Versana, a loan platform founded by four of the world’s largest banks, announced its launch Wednesday (March 16), saying it wanted to bring “transparency, efficiency and velocity” to the $5 trillion syndicated loan market.

Founded by J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Citi and Credit Suisse and expected to launcher later in the year, Versana “will aim to reduce the corporate loan market’s operational challenges by digitally capturing agent banks’ reference data directly from its source on a real-time basis,” the company said in news release.

Versana has named Cynthia Sachs, a twenty-five year Wall Street veteran, to serve as its CEO. Sachs has spent much of her time creating and overseeing loan-related businesses in the banking and tech sectors, working for companies such as Morgan Stanley, Natixis and Bank of America, and previously served as Global Head of Fixed Income Valuations at Bloomberg.

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At Bloomberg, Sachs led the launch of BVAL, the firm’s evaluated pricing service. Her most recent position was as CEO and chief investment officer of Athena Art Finance, Carlyle’s specialty finance startup.

“Versana is backed by some of the biggest players and is being built by industry veterans with decades of experience working in the loan ecosystem,” she said. “We know first-hand the challenges that exist today and are passionate about fixing the market’s inefficiencies and inherent risks, setting it up for accelerated growth for years to come.”

Versana says the syndicated loan market is poised for substantial growth, especially with inflation driving up interest rates, forcing borrowers to turn to floating rate financial products.

Read more: Inflation Soars 7.9% to Another 40-Year High

“But the highly fragmented and inefficient nature of the current market ecosystem – settlement times average more than 20 days – often results in frustration among participants, significant additional costs and a high level of operational challenges,” the company said.

Figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last week showed that inflation was at a 40-year record high — 7.9% —thanks in part to rising prices in food, shelter and gas.