Systems and methods for objective financing of assets

• US 20060015421A1
• Filed: 07/02/2004
• Published: 01/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Capital Tool Co.
• Original Assignee: Capital Tool Co.
• Inventors: Grimberg, Robertus
• Granted Patent: US 7,881,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products consistent with the principles of the present invention provide an infrastructure for asset owners to obtain financing arrangements from a multitude of liability providers in near real time and objectively.

Claims

1. A method performed by a processor for financing at least one pool of assets within a portfolio using at least one liability instrument, comprising:

obtaining data on the assets, the data including data on the assets in the pool of assets;

learning the behavior of the assets based on the data obtained, wherein learning comprises estimating a cash flow distribution originating from each of the assets;

creating a sell-option for the pool of assets;

projecting future performance of the pool of assets based on the behavior learned;

projecting future performance of the portfolio with and without the assets in the sell-option based on the behavior learned;

determining a set of possible funding options for the sell option, wherein each possible funding options comprises at least one liability instrument; and

presenting the set of possible funding options to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

facilitating deal making between a holder of the pool of assets and at least one provider of the at least one liability instrument,

wherein facilitating deal making includes selecting a funding option from the set of possible funding options wherein all required liability instruments are committed.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

executing a deal comprising the sell option and the selected funding option with the committed liability instruments

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

administering the deal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein creating a sell option comprises:

creating a sell-option using at least one technique from a group comprising;

actuarial pool rules, manual interfaces, and random selection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein projecting future performance comprises:

estimating cash flow distribution for the pool of assets;

estimating cash flow distribution for the portfolio; and

estimating cash flow distribution for the at least one liability instrument.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a set of possible funding options comprises:

calculating an All-in Final Cost (AFC) for each funding option in the set.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

calculating the AFC for each funding option in the set based on at least one form of pricing chosen from the group comprising;

committed pricing, latest pricing, extrapolated pricing, and indexed pricing.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the set of possible funding options comprises:

receiving at least one funding-option characteristic desired by a user

determining an optimal funding option based on the at least one desired characteristic; and

presenting the optimal funding option to at least one user.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the steps of learning the behavior of the assets, projecting future performance of the pool of assets, projecting future performance of the portfolio, and determining a set of possible funding options is performed using at least one plug-in procedure, the plug-in procedure being adapted to run simultaneously with other plug-in procedures selectable by a user.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

running a test procedure on a goal to determine the adequacy of the at least one plug-in procedure.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the test procedure uses at least one of:

benchmarking and historic performance.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

analyzing at least one of;

a current effect and a historical effect; and

choosing an optimal plug-in procedure based on the comparing.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

selecting a preferred plug-in procedure for a deal based on a result of the test procedure.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a set of possible goals using at least one plug-in procedure;

wherein each goal of the set of possible goals is further subdivided into goals with tests and plug-in procedures, which may be selected by the user.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

prohibiting changes to a plug-in procedure after the plug-in procedure is used by at least one user.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

prohibiting changes to a test procedure after the test procedure is used by at least one user.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein projecting future performance of the pool of assets comprises:

expressing the future performance of the pool of assets as a cash flow distribution.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein projecting future performance of the portfolio comprises:

expressing the future performance of the portfolio as a cash flow distribution.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

closing an open pool of assets, wherein no further sell options may be added.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein creating a sell option comprises:

periodically creating a sell-option based on an actuarial pool rule and a target set by a treasurer.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a set of possible funding options comprises:

calculating an All-in Final Cost (AFC) of a possible funding option in the set by summing a cost of each liability instrument and a service fee.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the cost of each liability instrument is at least one of:

a committed price, a recent executed price, an index-based price, an extrapolated price, and an estimated price.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one liability instrument comprises:

a liability instrument that supports a subset of the assets in the portfolio.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the subset is one of:

a pool and an individual asset.

26. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining an optimal combination of a sell-option and a funding option based on an optimization target set by a treasurer and an optimization target set by a liability provider; and

presenting the optimal combination to at least one user.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the optimization target set by a treasurer is an All-in Final Cost (AFC), and wherein the optimization target set by the liability provider is a desired terms and conditions constraint.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the optimization target is at least one of:

multiple optimization targets set by the treasurer, and multiple optimization targets set by the liability provider.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a set of possible funding options comprises:

determining at least one characteristic for a funding option from the group comprising;

an amount of exposure, an amount of risk, a return, and a value indicator; and

wherein presenting the set comprises;

presenting the determined characteristic to the user.

30. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

using a plug-in procedure to find a funding option with a characteristic specified by the user and to request the at least one liability instrument associated with the found funding option from at least one liability provider for each liability instrument.

31. The method of claim 2, wherein facilitating deal making comprises:

selecting a method of sale for the at least one liability instrument of a funding option;

offering the at least one liability instrument to an investor according to the method of sale selected;

locking a committed liability instrument in the amount required for the funding option;

discovering whether prices match a target price set by a treasurer and a target price set by a liability provider;

determining when all required liability instruments and the sell option are committed at a matching price;

closing the deal and initiating execution;

removing other funding options from the set of possible funding options offered for the same sell option; and

removing other sell options for the same pool of assets containing the same asset as the executed sell option.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

changing a terms in the language of the liability instrument;

updating locking based on the changed terms;

discovering whether a funding option exists under the changed terms wherein all liability instruments are committed;

calculating a needed terms change to make a deal for each sell option provider and liability provider, if a funding option does not exist wherein all liability instruments are committed;

updating an assessment of exposure to a user; and

presenting the assessment to the user.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the liability instruments of funding options of multiple sell options are aggregated and executed together when at least one liability provider commits to the liability instruments.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein commitments from multiple liability providers in at least one liability instrument are used for executing at least one sell option-funding option combination.

35. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

offering a combination of the sell-option and a funding option at a price set by a treasurer;

wherein the price expires after a set period of time.

36. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

offering each funding option at the latest market pricing for the liability instruments;

informing each liability provider regarding a potential change in terms for a sell option that would result in a deal; and

changing, by a user, the terms for at least one of;

the liability instrument and the sell option.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the terms are pricing terms.

38. A method for obtaining asset data, comprising:

providing, to a user, an interface for inputting data regarding an asset and changes to the data regarding an asset;

providing, to a user, an interface to identify the data and its status from among an official data set;

freezing the data input by the user such that said changes can no longer be made by the user;

confirming the information in the data input by the user using a physical check; and

allowing the user to use a resource if the data input by the user is confirmed to be accurate.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein confirming the information further comprises:

over sampling suspicious data.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein freezing the data input by the user comprises:

determining when to freeze the data based on a condition from a group of conditions comprising;

changes in the data, unusual changes in the data, and data that differs substantially from the official data set.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein a user may add changes to data after freezing, and wherein the changes are used in ongoing assessments.

42. The method of claim 38, wherein the step of providing, to a user, an interface to identify the data further comprises:

complementing the data input by the user with data from an official data set based on the identification made;

penalizing the user for misidentifying the data; and

penalizing the user for data that cannot be complemented.