New vendor to compete with IBM and BEA Systems for bank op risk business

GoldTier Technologies, based in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, is looking to compete with IBM and BEA Systems in the financial workflow order management systems business. Technology for workflow order management aims to reduce the operational risk posed by fouled and delayed transaction settlement.

For an institution making 5,000 cross-border equity transactions a day, GoldTier co-founder Yaron Avitov estimated savings of $2.5 million annually could be achieved from applying the technology just to reduce late settlements. Further savings are possible by applying GoldTier to repairing settlement instructions and the better matching of confirms, Avitov said.

GoldTier began marketing to several global banks in North America in April. Avitov said banks have been testing the product, but he declined to name likely first clients.

Avitov is the former head of technology at collateral management systems vendor Sentry, which was bought out by Toronto-based risk systems vendor Algorithmics in September 2000. Besides being systems-compatible, Algorithmics is partnering in a GoldTier product aimed at resolving the excess of limits at banks.

GoldTier is written in Java and XML and operates from a user’s browser. A user manipulates icons to arrange a workflow process on their screens. Each icon represents a node that contains explicit instructions from the programmer. At any given node, the system may perform operations such as e-mailing alerts or updates to employees, generating reports, and reconciling data from internal and external sources with a current transaction.

Avitov said GoldTier’s edge over mainstays BEA Systems and IBM will come from the reduced need to dedicate programmers to implementing the system. Avitov added that a potentially lucrative market for GoldTier awaits in retail-oriented commercial banks. As a mark of his confidence in GoldTier’s prospects, Avitov said he is investing a considerable amount of his own money in the enterprise.