Former IKB Consultant Branches Out

Asset-Backed Alert, November 3, 2006

A software producer that got its start as a consultant to IKB Deutsche Industriebank has landed its first batch of outside clients.

The Düsseldorf, Germany, firm, Securitisation Consulting, won the assignments from four undisclosed buyside players in Germany and Austria. Its task: to custom build programs that each will use to manage its structured-product holdings, based on a product called ABS Platform that covers asset-backed securities, mortgage bonds and collateralized debt obligations.

Securitisation Consulting hopes to sign up more than a dozen more customers over the next two years, said Yury Menchinskiy, who owns and runs the outfit.

Menchinskiy is focusing on German-speaking clients at the moment, but eventually plans to expand into other parts of Europe. As his workload increases, he also expects to boost his staff to 50, from 10, over the next two years.

Menchinskiy claims his products work faster and go beyond the software used by most investors in Europe, which often run on Microsoft's Excel and Access programs. For instance, his platform can automatically accept data feeds from the rating agencies and incorporate any cashflow- modeling techniques an investor already uses.

Securitisation Consulting was known as Authentic Software when it began working for IKB three years ago. Menchinskiy started looking for ways to expand the operation's services earlier this year, after finishing work on the bank's investment-management systems.