An advanced book-building tool development- an innovative solution for the capital markets

A prominent global financial institution, sought to reduce expenses associated with the widely-used third-party tool, IssueBook. They wanted to transition to an in-house online solution for managing the traditional process of fixed-income issuance in the primary capital market.  

The primary motivations for this shift were cost considerations and performance concerns. An added benefit aligned them with the industry trend of banks migrating from IssueBook to other third-party tools. The client aimed to establish easy connectivity with other banks.  

As a global institution, with offices and businesses across the globe, their application needed to be accessible and functional across different regions. It required various modules based on their specific functional requirements. 

To achieve these objectives, the SoHo team decided to integrate DirectBooks and IssueNet with the client’s in-house book-building tool. Due to the requirement for widespread usage across multiple regions, SoHo built the application using the Azure cloud. 

SoHo introduced various modules to meet the client’s diverse set of features and functions, including: 

• User access management (UAM): Manage user types and permissions, allowing admin customization. 
• Reference Data: Manage application-wide reference data. 
• Deal Calendar: Track live and archived market deals. 
• Deal & Tranche: Syndicate users and manage deal and tranche details. 
• Master Book: Core module to oversee order workflow and hedging. 
• Bill and Deliver: Generate trade tickets for smooth settlements. 
• Sales Order Book: Manage order workflows for sales users. 
• Doc Management: Share various documents with clients. 
• Wire Management: Facilitate syndicate communication via emails 
• IssueNet Integration: Connect with IssueNet for seamless bank interaction. 

• DirectBooks Integration: Link with DirectBooks for enhanced bank connectivity. 
• Issuer View: Allows issuers to track live deals in the order book. 
• Internal Integration: Move client data to Book Builder through an integration. 
• Sales Credit: Manage sales credits for the sales team. 
• Reporting: Generate reports for data analysis and track all deals data. 

This cutting-edge application serves as a node, seamlessly connecting the finance giant’s clients with partner syndicate desks, salespersons, traders, and syndicate desk professionals worldwide. 

The widespread use of the tool DRM (DirectBooks) among the majority of banks meant the effective integration of DRM with their in-house book-building tool enables the client to integrate with any bank at any point in time.  

The in-house tool comes with the following benefits: 

• Streamlines and enhances the end-to-end management of fixed-income issues during launch in the primary capital market. 
• Leverages digital capabilities to bring efficiency, transparency, and global collaboration to the book-building process. 
• Facilitates real-time collaboration among clients and professionals from partner syndicate desks across the globe. 
• Works as a central hub for syndicate desk professionals, enabling them to coordinate and strategize effectively. 
• Significantly reduced costs, bringing expenses to 1/3 of the previous total cost. 
• Ensures effective disaster recovery with a dedicated team 
• Provides 24/7 technical support for uninterrupted operations.