January 19, 2023 - Do you have loans? Do you have specific questions regarding your loans?  Have there been times when you don’t know to whom you should direct those questions?  Well good news!  Today the LSTA is pleased to announce that a DIRECTORY AND ESCALATION MATRIX has been created to improve communications among leveraged loan market participants. The goal of this tool is to assist members with all aspects of operations and carry them through to an easier and earlier settlement.

How to enter information into the Directory and Escalation Matrix:

Rather than simply providing a list of escalation contacts at a given entity, the LSTA Working Group developed a comprehensive list of subject matters that are typically handled by different people within an institution. For banks, brokers, dealers and underwriters, these ranged from signing assignment agreements for third party trades versus when dealer is the agent, providing DQ lists, all aspects of loan servicing, par and distressed trades, trade payments and trade reconciliations, onboarding, tax, data site access and audit confirms for both unsettled loan trades and for settled loan positions. The subject matters relevant to buy-side institutions include trade settlement, trade payments and trade reconciliations, callbacks and standard settlement instructions, obtaining KYC approvals, obtaining tax consents and onboarding new legal entities.   

For each matter relevant to it, each institution is asked to provide a group email address as the first line of escalation followed by three individual escalation contacts with the first to be accessed prior to the second prior to the third, or highest escalation. If you approve of your logo being included on the matrix, please include it within the format, in the space allocated to logos, when you complete the matrix with your relevant contact details.  We ask that contact information is entered directly into the form as written. Do not delete any rows, e.g., the third escalation, even if such rows are not applicable to your institution.   Please return your completed matrix in Excel to ehefferan@lsta.org BY NO LATER THAN FEBRUARY 3, 2023. It is VERY IMPORTANT that the format be followed for ease of compilation by the LSTA.

The Directory and Escalation Matrix will only be shared with LSTA members that provide their contact information.  It will not be posted on the LSTA website as a general member benefit; however, if access to the information points people in the right direction to obtain answers to their queries, it should be extremely useful for those who participate.  

Terms of Use

The escalation contacts contained within the matrix should be used to address issues which are either urgent or significantly aged, only after normal channels have been exhausted. By using this Escalation Matrix, parties agree that it will not be shared with anyone except senior-level managers and department heads within their organizations. It is not expected to be shared with any outsourced third-party service provider. All are asked to exercise good judgment and be responsible in your distribution and use of this sensitive information.  Therefore, please note the following: 

1. Initial attempts to resolve issues must flow through normal channels, e.g., using the appropriate contact person on the trade ticket or group email for the particular question.
2. Any attempt to reach an individual senior level escalation contact should be done by contacting the first escalation contact prior to the second, prior to contacting the third, if any.   There should be no attempt made to reach any individual contact until a minimum of two attempts over a one week or more period have been made and gone unanswered.  
3. When reaching out to escalation contacts via email, please include the following:
   • An appropriate subject line.
   • A description of the issue with sufficient detail.
   • The full legal name of the account(s) in question.
   • ClearPar trade ticket No. (if trade-related).
   • Applicable identifying information related to the issue, e.g. facility CUSIP, position size, historical activity, etc.
   • Any relevant attachments or back-up support, if available.
4. When reaching out to escalation contacts via phone, have the same information available as listed above, or follow-up with an email. 

We hope that providing this tool will assist our bank, broker, dealer, underwriter and institutional investor members with all aspects of operations and carry you through to an easier and earlier settlement.   Please contact ehefferan@lsta.org if you have questions.