These were two of the closest-run awards this year. All the banks that entered them have sites with a wealth of information and tools that is clearly impossible to explore properly in a short demonstration. Many of these sites were extremely impressive in their own right.
But CSFB’s Securitized Products Web did enough to win both categories. It has more information in one place than any other site and covers a wider array of products and client types. It has third-party data that other banks can’t match. While other sites might have equally impressive functionality in some areas, none could match CSFB’s across the board and none came close in terms of design and ease of use.
SPWeb offers research publications, trader commentary and indicative market data such as swap spread levels. It aims to complement the service available on Bloomberg, which is ubiquitous in this market.
The site offers information and pricing on all the products in CSFB’s inventory – typically around 450 bonds at any given time with a total value of between $6 billion and $7 billion. Clicking on a bond brings up its details, with information on pricing, collateral, capital structure, and ratings.
A bewildering array of variables can be analyzed, including prepayment speeds, default assumptions, loss severity and delinquency rates. Users can test a bond under several sets of circumstances at the same time. The site’s archives also give full information on all the deals that CSFB has been lead manager or co-lead on over the past 10 years. This includes trustee reports, rating agency information, and prices.
“I love it,” says one mortgage trader who uses the site. “The site is fantastic, and I use it every day, mostly for things like TBA reports, research and duration runs. It just has all the information you could want, and it’s much easier to find it than with any of the other websites I’ve used.” Another user is at the opposite, highly structured end of the market. He uses the site to research underlying ABS securities that will then be used to create CBOs. He says: “As an investor in the lowest-rated tranche, we’re worried about losses coming up from the bottom. What’s great about CSFB’s site is the way it lets you stress-test a bond to see how high delinquency rates have to go before you’re in trouble.”
