GlobalCapital: What sets Debtdomain apart from other technology providers?
Conway: The short answer is trust. Debtdomain really stands out as a trusted technology provider through our commitment to our clients and a tailored approach guided by extensive industry expertise. The platform was specifically designed for the loan industry and that has fostered a strong sense of community among users. Debtdomain has prioritised understanding and addressing clients’ unique needs. That focus on client service is essential in an industry that is so heavily based on relationships and human engagement. Our client services team is incredibly strong and highly valued across the market. There’s a level of service that speaks volumes and shows why Debtdomain is such a well loved product. It’s not just the cutting-edge software, but the service and experience.
GlobalCapital: What challenges do loan market participants face and how does Debtdomain’s technology help solve them?
Conway: Historically, the loan market hasn’t been particularly fast moving when it comes to technology, and Debtdomain is now solving problems that have arisen as a result. For example, we’re taking operations that were typically done in Excel and bringing those lifecycle events into the platform. Just last month, we released new covenant tracking functionality that allows clients to upload covenants and have the platform create all the necessary files and share them with lenders. We’ve reduced something that used to take around a dozen clicks to something that only takes a couple of clicks. These kinds of efficiency gains are making things even easier for users.
Ultimately, Debtdomain thrives in a challenging environment by providing tools that enable deal teams to manage loan distributions for large syndications while remaining adaptable for smaller club deals and private credit situations. Our platform is designed to cater to a wide range of transaction sizes and complexities across jurisdictions. That ensures that users can quickly and reliably communicate with investors in a secure way.
GlobalCapital: How do you see technology shaping the loans industry in the coming years?
Conway: The emergence of private credit lenders and advancements in AI technologies are definitely going to encourage transformation across the loan space. For private credit to scale and establish itself as a robust asset class, it has to adopt technology solutions that were created to fuel similar growth in the syndicated loan market. As an existing platform, the key for Debtdomain is to cater to those new private credit lenders and facilitate partnerships with the existing players.
Those existing players, meanwhile, will need to adapt their technology to collaborate effectively with private credit initiatives. This evolution will likely result in new deal structures, dependencies, and collaborations that necessitate a robust technological framework. As such, emerging deal structures will require the same infrastructure that supports traditional loan transactions for effective recording and management.
The increasing digitisation of the loan market will raise expectations for speed and efficiency. As clients demand quicker turnaround times and more streamlined processes, technology will play a critical role in meeting these expectations. The integration of digital tools will help users to execute deals more rapidly, enhance communication among stakeholders, and improve overall transaction transparency. Our roadmap is built around taking away some of the pain around the more manual tasks that face loan market participants, whether that be syndicate bankers, lenders or agent bankers.
GlobalCapital: What role does automation and AI play in the Debtdomain platform?
Conway: Automation and AI are integral to our strategic vision at Debtdomain. We recognise the importance of leveraging these technologies to enhance client outcomes and streamline operations. Our approach focuses on providing clients with access to advanced capabilities while allowing them to maintain control over their data. We are hugely fortunate to benefit from being part of a company like S&P Global where there is heavy investment into AI and other machine learning technologies, so this does provide us with a significant opportunity to deliver efficiencies for our clients where appropriate. For instance, we are exploring AI applications for amendment voting and Q&A management on syndication, which we expect will significantly reduce costs and improve response times for deal teams.
GlobalCapital: What’s next for Debtdomain?
Conway: A lot! In addition to what has already been mentioned we are adding language localisation and that will open doors in regions such as Latin America and France and other European countries. That’s going to increase our geographical footprint and we expect to grow in America and Europe as well as emerging markets. Over the last year, we have more than doubled our product development team. We received our SOC II Type II certification. We anticipate an increase in Debtdomain-specific events and the launch of new functionalities that will reinvigorate our platform. Our alignment with S&P Global ensures we have access to a multitude of expertise not only across the loan market but across capital markets generally, as well as access to the latest technologies. Introducing that new functionality has the potential to open markets where we weren’t previously key players — whether that’s the M&A market or increasing our presence in the secondary market. We remain excited and optimistic about the future.