Logica Upgrades System For Commercial Lending With a Hand from Citi

Logica Inc., with the help of Citibank, has upgraded its commercial loan processing software.

The New York banking giant participated in the design of two versions of Logica's Loan Administrator software, which aims to improve loan processing and increase the number and types of loans that can be handled.

"With this new release, we hope to provide our current commercial lending customers with improved processing capabilities, as well as reach new customers in previously untapped markets," said David Hatcher, senior vice president and general manager of Logica's retail banking and commercial lending division.

The system was developed in response to changes in the commercial lending marketplace.

Lending organizations "need systems that support new types of instruments, and provide the ability to analyze data in flexible ways," said Tom Shriver, Logica's director of sales.

Fred Jensen, manager in Logica's commercial lending division, agreed that banks are focusing more attention on their lending portfolios and need something more flexible than traditional mainframe environments for keeping pace with rapid changes.

"The data processing industry in general, and banks in particular, are looking to move stand-alone applications off of mainframes and onto more cost-effective technology," he said.

With the banking industry becoming more competitive, those with flexibility in lending will have an edge, he added, "by being able to sell more products and offer a broader array of products."

Citibank, which was using a previous version of the software in some of its branches, worked closely with Logica over the past year, providing input for the design of the product.

"Integrated classified loan processing functionality was a critical component for Citibank," said Donald Mott, director of operations and systems for Citibank's community business bank in New York.

Logica is offering "standard" and "classified" versions of its software, both with the capability to process nonperforming interest.

The standard version is for organizations that do not manage loan-loss reserve activity in the loan accounting system.

The classified version was developed to manage loan-loss reserve, interest recovery balances, and associated general ledger activity.

This capability will enable lending organizations to monitor the entire reserve process in order to increase profitability and reduce risk in their lending areas, Logica officials said.

The system offers improvements in reporting and billing capabilities, with over 70 standard reports, and the ability to create custom reports.

It was also designed to allow client customization. The new releases feature the ability to customize pop-up windows and data entry fields. Through the data entry fields, users can search the customer data base and sort reports.

Previous versions of Loan Administrator are installed at about 100 banks. These institutions will be offered the opportunity to upgrade to the new release.

The DOS-based system runs on personal computers, minicomputers, and computer networks. It is used by community banks as an overall lending system, and by large banks for processing niche portfolios.

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