Royal Bank
of Canada is leading the way into a new era of “cyber-syndications”
through its agreement with New York-based
IntraLinks to offer Internet loan
syndication services to clients and investors.
Royal Bank’s syndications groups now have access to technology known as
IntraLoans for the secure distribution of large loan transactions within
countries and across international borders over the Internet. The bank is
the first Canadian financial institution to enter into a full service
agreement with IntraLinks.
IntraLinks uses IBM’s Lotus Notes technology and Internet security and
digital encryption protocols. Banks selected to participate will receive
a password and ID, and can then log onto Royal Bank’s IntraLinks site to
access details of a transaction in real time. The system can also be
used to communicate approvals and acceptances.
Cameco Corporation, recently
launched a $400 million syndicated financing with Royal Bank as Arranger
and Administrative Agent using IntraLinks. Cameco Corporation, with its
head office in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is the world’s largest
publicly-traded uranium company and a growing gold producer.
Since the introduction of IntraLinks’ service in June 1997, it has
delivered more than US$35 billion in financial transactions.