Enron Turns Internal Credit-Risk Tool Into New Product

Thought that you might find this interesting.

Best,
Jeff

Enron Turns Internal Credit-Risk Tool Into New Product
2001-04-04 17:19 (New York)

By Christina Cheddar
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--With the number of corporate bankruptcies on the rise,
knowing the creditworthiness of one's customers is becoming more and more
important.
For Enron Corp. (ENE), the world's largest energy trading company, keeping
track of credit risk has always been part of doing business. That became even
more true with the company's launch of EnronOnline, its Internet-based
commodities trading network.
In order to deal with the accelerated volume and speed of transactions on
EnronOnline, the company developed a tool to help its own commercial traders
manage the credit risk.
Early last year, Enron rolled out this tool, Enron Credit, on a limited
basis. Gradually, the company expanded its use and scope. Last month, the
company re-launched Enron Credit in its current format.
Enron Credit tracks more than 10,000 companies, giving each a rating known
as
the "Enron cost of credit." The rating is expressed as an interest rate.
The Web site also provides news, a company's expected chance of bankruptcy
and other related information.
While much of this information is free to registered users, Enron also has
turned the product into a new revenue stream.
Users may download data into a spreadsheet and receive periodic updates for
a
fee.
The site also can sell a user a "digital bankruptcy swap," which is a way to
hedge against credit exposure.
The price of the swap is determined by a rating Enron's staff assigns to a
company and the amount of credit exposure a company needs to protect against.
For a supplier, the main advantage of a swap is that if a customer is unable
to pay due to bankruptcy, the supplier will be paid immediately.
According to Enron Europe President John Sherriff, the goal of Enron Credit
is to create a more efficient credit market by increasing trading liquidity.
The tool is important because "in just a short amount of time, a company's
credit can go from stellar to bad literally overnight."
At present, some analysts haven't factored in revenue from Enron Credit into
their earnings models. However, as the commodity markets Enron trades in
mature, it is possible the need for products such as Enron Credit could
increase.
-By Christina Cheddar, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5166