Shrinking margins and a more competitive business environment mean that agility and fast time-to-market are essential when trading financial products. However, many financial institutions still endure high operational risk and opportunity cost by not leveraging technology that provides real-time credit calculations. Without accessible, accurate and timely information, these firms not only leave themselves vulnerable to losses, but they also negatively impact their trading potential.

Rising trade volumes further highlight the need for real-time credit operations. For example, in London and New York, FX trade volumes increased by 14% and 28%, respectively, between April and October 2009. With front and middle office resources already stretched to handle these increased volumes, applying appropriate limits and monitoring against counterparties, countries, and currencies for both external and internal exposures is no mean feat. In most cases these limit monitoring and credit risk operations simply can’t keep up with the front office.

Without strong insight into what can and can’t be done, banks lose agility and being too conservative because credit isn’t being measured real-time can yield significant opportunity cost. TwoFour LM allows users to monitor their position and settlement risk in real-time using custom or traditional methodologies. Front, middle, and back office staff is provided with accurate data, thereby facilitating excellent knowledge of the organization’s exposure.