Barclays moves from FIS’s ACBS to Finastra’s Loan IQ system
EXCLUSIVE. Barclays has signed a lendtech deal to move from FIS’s ACBS to Finastra’s Fusion Loan IQ system.
In the syndicated lending arena, there are two main systems for large banks: ACBS and Loan IQ. (The third option is an in-house developed system.)
ACBS is a very old system, which is mainframe-based (i.e. IBM’s AS/400). FIS describes ACBS as an “enterprise-level modular commercial lending solution”. However, the technology is dying as it does not support APIs or open banking.
FIS contacted FinTech Futures and said: “ACBS is not an old system. We regularly issue new releases that provide our clients with leading-edge functionality and capabilities.”
It also pointed out that it is not just mainframe-based. The system also runs on Windows/Oracle and IBM mid-range systems, and can also support a hosted environment.
FIS added: “ACBS can hardly be characterised as ‘dying’ and closed. The system supports open APIs and has a number of new solutions that utilise an API framework.”
Some notable ACBS users include BB&T, Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK), and Bank of Ireland.
Loan IQ, on the other hand, was re-written in Java when Finastra (called Misys at the time) acquired the system from Deutsche Bank in 2004 for $40 million.
In fact, in 2016, Finastra/Misys signed a five-year enterprise licence agreement with Deutsche Bank giving it “unrestricted access” to deploy FusionBanking Lending and FusionCapital solutions across the business.
FusionBanking Lending offering includes the Loan IQ back office and the front-end that originates from Custom Credit Systems (CCS), a US-based provider of commercial loan software (acquired by Finastra/Misys in 2014).
Loan IQ has several notable users as well. These include Swedbank, Nedbank in South Africa, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).
Finastra says Loan IQ’s coverage includes “structured, project, syndicated, bilateral, asset based, commercial real estate, agricultural, Islamic and niche lending”.
FinTech Futures understands that most of the ACBS customers in Europe have been moving over the last few years to Loan IQ, and there are just a handful left on the continent.
But as with a core banking migration, moving to a new lending system is a lengthy and expensive undertaking.
FIS added: “The statement that most of our ACBS clients in Europe have moved to the Loan IQ system is not true. We have lost a couple of our clients over the past ten years to the Loan IQ system (one of which was due to a client acquisition) and our system continues to compete strongly in RFPs and to win new clients.”
FinTech Futures contacted Finastra and Barclays for comment. Finastra provided a “no comment”. We are still waiting for a comment from Barclays.
Ah, where else would you combine mainframe-based IBM’s AS/400 tech with “leading-edge functionality and capabilities” if not in a PR statement…