EP1325446A1

EP1325446A1 - Automated system and method for matching potential investors to financial offerings based on investor profiles

Info

Publication number: EP1325446A1
Application number: EP01968247A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Daniel C. Chan; Russell S. Clark; Fu-Chin Cecelia Lee Mundt; Marilyn G. Morash; Bernhard J. Scholz; Phyllis W. Grossman
Original assignee: GE Capital Markets Services Inc
Current assignee: GE Capital Markets Services Inc
Priority date: 2000-09-08
Filing date: 2001-08-28
Publication date: 2003-07-09
Also published as: JP2004538537A; WO2002021375A2; AU2001288506A1

Description

AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MATCHING POTENTIAL INVESTORS TO FINANCIAL OFFERINGS BASED ON INVESTOR

PROFILES

Cross-Reference to Related Patent Application

This patent application is related to application Serial No. 09/xxxxxx, entitled "System and Method for Remote Access to Investment Product Information," naming John Trentos and Irene M. Eddy as inventors and which was filed on September 8, 2000, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an automated system and method for matching potential investors to a financial offering, such as the sale of a lease or loan, based on each investor's profile and the nature of the transaction. Background of the Invention

In the past twenty years, a growing market has developed for the sale of leases and loans generated by one financial institution or leasing company to another. The growth in the sale of these products has been particularly strong in the equipment leasing and loan industry as well as in the leasing of commercial real estate. Such sales generally are either outright sales of the leases/loans or involve participation arrangements where the original holder of the lease/loan creates a participation agreement wherein each party shares in the risks and rewards of the sale, but the original holder remains as the agent for the transaction.

There are several reasons why financial institutions place their leases/loans up for sale, the most common being to generate cash flow and to mitigate risk by diversification (e.g., a financial institution may already have significant exposure with a particular customer, in a particular industry or with respect to a specific type of asset). However, it is not uncommon for financial institutions such as banks to not only have a "sell" desk for such sales, but also a "buy" desk for acquiring loans/leases that it is unable to generate business for itself in geographical areas outside its footprint and to do business with customers to which its internal sales force may not have access. With the pressure for companies to grow each year, acquiring assets from third parties is an efficient vehicle for both growth and diversification. For some financial institutions, it is their most important growth vehicle.

Every institutional investor that buys or acquires assets has a list of criteria or attributes (i.e., a "profile") of the type of assets that he is looking to acquire. These attributes include asset type, product type, credit rating of the end user, industry, and a myriad of others. In addition, each investor has limits on how to price the acquisition of assets based on his institution's cost of funds and pricing matrix. The attributes are many and are subject to change at any given moment.

Because there may be several hundred assets for sale in the marketplace at any given time, it is efficient to direct an investor to only those transactions falling within the investor's profile or "sweet spot" and thus having the most likelihood of success. Currently, sellers maintain lists or spreadsheets of possible investors and some information relating to the investors' attributes, typically based on historical observations. When a transaction or a portfolio of transactions to be sold becomes available, the seller manually matches the attributes of the transaction to the investor attributes on his spreadsheets or even attempts to recall by random memory which investors might be interested in the transaction. Sellers also often engage in an extensive telephone survey of the investor marketplace to determine to whom information relating to the transaction should be sent. However, a shortcoming of this method is that investors are often excluded or overlooked because their profiles have changed or because the seller did not believe they would be interested in a transaction based on the exact variables relating to the transaction.

Accordingly, a need currently exists for an automated system and method for matching investors to transactions or offerings based on the attributes of the investor in relation to the attributes of the offering. Such a system and method should be designed to allow a seller to dynamically use investor data (both self- reported by the investor and internally developed by the seller based on history reported by the seller's relationship manager for each investor) to match offerings with investors. The number of data fields is preferably large (e.g., in excess of 175) and include such areas as pricing parameters, asset preferences, lease and loan types, as well as specific data such as the fiscal year end of the investor. The system and method can be used to find exact matches, or matches with emphasis on certain fields. Either way, such a system and method will provide the seller with much greater precision in providing investment opportunities according to investors' preferences and attributes, thereby saving the investors time and increasing investor-customer loyalty, which ultimately translates into increased profits for the seller. The seller can also use the system and method to measure against performance by comparing the type(s) of deals that the investor has actually completed with the seller to what the investor's profile indicates that he wants to complete. It could also be used to structure new product offerings based on the seller's ability to match investor needs. Finally, it need not be limited to the lease/loan market. It can also be used to sell customized products that require dynamic matching and where there exists a large quantity of self-reported and/or historical data for properly customizing product offerings to customers.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention overcomes the inadequacies of the prior art by automating the matching of potential investors to financial offerings based on the nature of the transaction and investor preferences relating thereto. In accordance with the present invention, a system and method for matching an investor to a financial product is provided, the method comprising the steps of receiving and storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences of the investor, receiving and storing a plurality of deal attributes relating to the financial product, correlating the profile attributes and the deal attributes, identifying any profile attributes corresponding with the deal attributes and inviting the investor to invest in the financial product in response to an assessment of the corresponding attributes.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the investor updates or modifies his profile attributes at any time and/or with any frequency that he chooses.

According to another aspect of the invention, an on-line user interface is provided to permit users (particularly administrators) to interactively match potential investors to financial product offerings through a web-enabled application, thus avoiding the delay that would otherwise be caused by off-line processin .

According to another aspect of the present invention, the administrator, e.g., syndicator, filters the investors based on certain deal attributes and according to a matching sensitivity level. According to another aspect of the present invention, groups of investors having similar profiles are created based on the profile(s) of investors previously selected to be invited to invest in the financial product by the transaction's syndicator. According to another aspect of the present invention, groups of investors having attributes in common are created, as refined by adjusting the matching sensitivity and/or filter criteria.

According to another aspect of the present invention, numerical values are assigned to both the deal attributes and the profile attributes for each of a plurality of investors and a matching score is calculated for each of the investors as a function of the two sets of numerical values. The investors are matched to investor groups based on their matching scores. Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram of the application and database servers of Figure 1.

Figure 3A-3Q is a chart of tables stored in the database server of Figure 2. Figure 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an Investor List Form providing a current list of investors for a particular offering.

Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a Prioritized Investors List Form for providing a ranked list of investors that match criteria for a particular offering. Figure 6A-6C illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a Seeded Form for selecting investors to be added to an offering using previously-selected investors as a seed group.

Figure 7A-7B illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an Unseeded Form for selecting investors to be added to an offering without using a seed group.

Figure 8A-8B illustrates a flow diagram describing an embodiment of a matchmaking process in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 9A-9D illustrates a flow diagram describing an embodiment of a ProfileMatchmaker™ program in accordance with the present invention. Figure 10 illustrates an example of a cluster diagram generated in accordance with the program of Figure 9A-9D.

Figure 11A-11E illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an Investor Profile Form for receiving and updating investor profiles.

Detailed Description of the Invention

System Overview

In a preferred embodiment, the information portal of the present invention is implemented as a site of the world wide web, e.g., http ://www.rrofilematchmaker. com. Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of a system in accordance with the present invention, where a plurality of syndicators 110 at content entry desktops exchange information over an Intranet/Extranet 120 with a server 200 that generally retrieves stored investor profile data and identifies investors with profiles having variables that match criteria relating to the syndicators' deals for selection and addition to such deals. The investor profile data is input and updated by each syndicator 110 over the Intranet/Extranet 120 in a separate session by completing or amending an Investor Profile Form (discussed below) that allows the syndicator 110 to select attributes from a number of fields that define the variables of the investor's profile.

Each syndicator 110 asynchronously communicates with the server 200 by accessing the http://v ww.profilematchmaker.com Web site over the Intranet/Extranet 120 using a web-browser (e.g., Netscape® or Internet Explorer®) on his personal computer or by using well-known alternatives to a web-browser, such as Web-TN®, Palm® hand-held devices, cellular telephones, pagers and other personal digital assistants ("PDAs"). Because the invention utilizes an Intranet/Extranet 120 for information exchange, only personal computers configured to operate within an internal firewall of the organization supporting the system and customers and others outside the organization who have a need for selective information- -from the organization are permitted access to the system. In other words, the system is not accessible to the Internet at large. The operation of the Intranet/Extranet 120 and access thereto is well-known and is accordingly not described here in detail.

As Figure 1 illustrates, the server 200 is in actuality a combination of three servers: a web server 210; an application server 220; and a database server 230. Although not specifically shown, the server 200 may actually include multiple web servers 210 and application servers 220 clustered together in a unit. Servers 210, 220 and 230 each include certain standard hardware components, such as a central processing unit ("CPU") that is linked to both a random access memory ("RAM") and a read only memory ("ROM") by means of a shared data bus or by dedicated connections. The CPU performs all of the processing functions of the servers 210, 220 and 230 in accordance with an operating system ("OS"; not shown) that is stored in the ROM and which has multi-tasking capabilities. Because the system is intended for a large number of syndicators 110, the RAM is preferably of sufficient size to prevent problems such as slow loading and system failure due to too many connections being attempted to be established at the same time.

In a preferred embodiment of the system: the web server 210 comprises a cluster of two Sun Ultra 2 servers, each including 1 GB RAM, two 300 MHz CPUs and 9 GB disk space, wherein requests from the syndicators 110 are distributed between the servers by a CISCO LocalDirector 430 load balancer; the application server 220 comprises two Sun E450 servers, each including 4 GB RAM, two 400 MHz CPUs and 16 GB disk space, clustered in a load-balancing mode; and the database server 230 comprises a Sun E450 having 2 CPUs, 2 GB RAM and 9GB disk space and is in communication with three databases (described below), which are in actuality stored in both the database server 230 and a fully-mirrored 1000 Redundant Array of Independent Disks ("RAID") having 36.4 GB prior to mirroring.

The web server 210 indirectly communicates with the syndicators 110 on hypertext transfer protocol ("HTTP") that is secured using a standard secure protocol (e.g., secure socket layer ("SSL") encryption software) through an input/output communications port. When a syndicator 110 (for example, from outside the organization) requests access to the Web site by transmitting the http://www.profilematchmaker.com domain name, the syndicator' s request is routed from the syndicator' s ISP to a hosting ISP (not shown) associated with the web server 210. The hosting ISP in turn routes the investor's request to the web server's communications port via a communication line (e.g., a Tl or T3 line). This type of line provides a high speed data connection between the hosting ISP and the web server 210.

The web server 210 communicates directly with the application server 220 over an internal communications line to an input/output communications port of the application server 220. The application server 220 is also connected via an internal communications line with the database server 230. In a preferred embodiment, the input/output communications ports for the web and application servers 210 and 220 are Cisco 2924 XL switches with redundancy.

Servers 210, 220 and 230 all include certain software components, such as software servers and software databases, to store information and perform the plurality of requests and transactions. The implementation of software servers to execute Internet-directed software in conjunction with a central server is well-known in the art, and the servers' configurations are accordingly not described in detail herein. The web server 210 includes a software component that performs the function of acting as a liaison between the syndicators 110 and the application server 220. For example, the web server 210 stores and serves static content to the syndicators 110 and requests information from the syndicators 110 as directed by the application server 220. Referring now to Figure 2, the application server 220 includes two distinct software components: the first component 240 is referred to as "Business Logic" and basically controls the dynamic content logic of the server 200, i.e., updating the deals, investor profile and investor assignment databases 260, 270 and 280, respectively, of the database server 230, caching HTML and database result sets, processing searches and content entry, authentication, logging, authorization and other business logic. The second component 250 is referred to as "Statistical Library" and generally includes stored algorithms that are executed using the investor profile data to generate a list of investors to be provided to a syndicator 110 for a particular deal. As previously mentioned, the database server contains three databases: the deals database 260, which includes a listing of the offerings presently open for syndication; the investor profile database 270, which includes a listing of all the investors currently registered with the system and their associated profiles; and the investor assignment database 280, which includes a listing of all of the past and current offerings and the prospective and committed investors associated with those offerings.

Figures 3A-3Q comprises a chart listing records of tables/variables stored in the database server 230 in the preferred embodiment of the invention. In field 310 of the chart, an identifier of the table stored in the database 260 is provided. The different variables for which corresponding information is stored are listed in the same record in field 320. All information entered by the syndicators 110 during operation of the system is stored in the appropriate table(s)/variable(s) of Figures 3 A- 3Q.

A brief description of each of the tables listed in field 310 and the information contained therein follows: table DEAL_CRED_QUAL_TYPE (field

321) stores information relating to the credit rating for a deal; table TCMS_BID (field

322) stores information relating to bids placed on a deal; table TCMS_CONTACT (field 323) stores securitization program contacts; table TCMS_CONTACT_TYP (field 324) stores information relating to types of contacts (e.g., dealer, rating, agency, etc.); table TCMS_COUNTRY (field 325) stores country names and codes; table TCMS_CRED_FOCUS_TYPE (field 326) stores credit information relating to specific types of deals; table TCMS_CURRENCY (field 327) stores information relating to the currencies of various countries; table TCMS_DEAL (field 328) stores information relating to syndication deals; table TCMS_DEAL_CATEGORY (field 329) stores information relating to syndication deal categories; table TCMS_DEAL_CATEGORY_REF (field 330) stores referencing information relating to the syndication deals; table TCMS_DEAL_SIZE_TYPE (field 331) stores information relating to the size of a deal; table TCMS_DEAL_STATUS (field 332) stores information relating to the status of a deal; table TCMS_DEAL_SUB_CAT (field 333) stores information relating to syndication deal sub-categories; table TCMS_DEAL_TERM_TYPE (field 334) stores information relating to the- term of a deal; table TCMS_DEAL_TEXT (field 335) stores summary information regarding a deal; table TCMS_DEAL_TYPE (field 336) stores information relating to the type of deal; table TCMS_DEBT_RATING (field 337) stores debt rating information; table TCMS_DOC_ENENT (field 338) stores information relating to document events (e.g., date of download, etc.); table TCMS_EMAIL_NOTIFY_TYP (field 339) stores e-mail notification types; table TCMS_EQUIP_TYPE (field 340) stores information relating to equipment; table TCMS_EVENT_TYP (field 341) stores document event types (e.g., modify, upload, download, etc.); table TCMS_FACTORY (field 342) stores information relating to factories (e.g., business classes such as syndication, securitization, etc.) and units used with respect thereto (deal, conduit, etc.); table TCMS_FIELD_ACCESS (field 343) stores information for mapping field accessibility to roles; table TCMS_FILE (field 344) stores information relating to operating system files associated with syndication documents; table TCMS_FrXED_TYPE (field 345) stores information relating to types of deals; table TCMS_FLOAT_TYPE (field 346) stores information relating to types of deals; table TCMS_GE_BUSINESS (field 347) stores information relating to various business units of GE; table TCMS_GLOBAL_PARAM (field 348) stores global parameters; table TCMS_rNDUS_TYPE (field 349) stores industry information and descriptions; table TCMS_INTL_REGION (field 350) stores information on international regions; table TCMS_INTL_REGION_ CTRY (field 351) stores information on international countries; table TCMSJLANGUAGE (field 352) stores language information; table TCMS_METHOD_TYPE (field 353) stores transaction method information; table TCMS_MODE_TYPE (field 354) stores transaction mode information; table TCMS_PLACEMENT_TYPE (field 355) stores deal placement information; table TCMS_PRESCREEN_TYPE (field 356) stores prescreening information; table TCMS_PROD_TYPE (field 357) stores descriptions of products; table TCMS_PROGRAM (field 358) stores information relating to securitization programs; table TCMS_ROLE (field 359) stores administrative/non-administrative investor roles with respect to both syndication and securitization; table TCMS_SCREEN (field 360) stores information relating to companies' screens; table TCMS_SEC_DOC (field 361) stores information relating to securitization documents; table TCMS_SEC_DOC_TYP (field 362) stores types of securitization documents; table TCMS_SIC_CODE (field 363) stores standard industry codes; table TCMS_STATE (field 364) stores the states of the United States; table TCMS_SYN_DOC (field 365) stores information relating to syndication documents table TCMS_SYN_DOC_TO_USRGRP (field 366) - stores information relating to syndication documents; table TCMS_TENDER_TYPE (field 367) stores information relating to tender; table TCMS_TEXT_TYPE (field 368) stores summary information relating to the deal; table TCMS_TRANCHE (field 369) stores information relating to the syndication deal tranches; table TCMS TRANCHEJTYP (field 370) stores types of syndication tranches; table TCMS_TRANSACTION_TYPE (field 371) stores transaction descriptions; table TCMSJURL (field 372) stores information relating to URLs; table TCMS_US_REGION (field 373) stores United States region information; table TCMS_US_REGION_STATE (field 374) stores United States state information; table TCMS_USER (field 375) stores information relating to application users (i.e., not database users); table TCMS_USER_CRED_PREF (field 376) stores information relating to user credit preferences; table TCMS_USER_CURR_PREF (field 377) stores information relating to user currency preferences; table TCMS_USER_DEAL_SIZE_PREF (field 378) stores information relating to user deal size preferences; table TCMS_USER_EMAIL_PREFS_PROGRAM (field 379) stores information relating to e-mails about securitization programs that an investor wishes to receive; table TCMS_USER_EQUIP_PREF (field 380) stores information relating to user equipment preferences; table TCMS_USER_GROUP (field 381) stores information relating to user groups; table TCMS_USER_INDUS_PREF (field 382) stores information relating to user industry preferences; table TCMS_USER_INTL_REG_PREF (field 383) stores information relating to user international region preferences; table TCMS_USER_PROD_PREF (field 384) stores information relating to user product preferences; table TCMS_USER_REG_PREF (field 385) stores information relating to user region preferences; table TCMS_USER_STATUS (field 386) stores the different statuses that can be assigned to investors (e.g., active, disabled, etc.); table TCMS_USER_TERM_PREF (field 387) stores information relating to user term preferences; table TCMS_USER_ TO_PROG_ROLE (field 388) stores information relating to the securitization program roles granted to investors; table TCMS_USR_DEAL_DET (field 389) stores information mapping investors to various syndication deals; and table TCMS_USR_EMAIL_PREFS_DEAL (field 390) stores information relating to e-mails about syndication deals that an investor wishes to receive.

A method for matching prospective investors with offerings using the above system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail.

Investor Profiling

Before an investor can be matched to a deal, the investor's profile describing his investment preferences and attributes must be obtained by and stored in the system. An exemplary embodiment of a form for an investor to provide such information (i.e., an "Investor Profile Form") is illustrated in Figure 11A-11E. This form is preferably provided to the investor during the registration process described in related co-pending application Serial No. 09/xxxxxx, the disclosure of which has been incorporated herein by reference.

Section 1110 of the Investor Profile Form allows the investor to select criteria that most meets his specific requirements with respect to variables relating to a Transaction Specification, such as size, term, credit quality, primary credit focus, financing (for fixed and floating rates) and geography. As used throughout the figures, square boxes next to variables within a category indicates that the investor or syndicator _.110 may select or check as many boxes within the category as are appropriate, whereas categories having circles next to variables only allows the investor or syndicator 110 to select a single variable within the category. Furthermore, it should be understood that the criteria and categories of Figure 11 A- 1 IE are not meant to be exclusive, and can be custom-tailored based on the needs and requirements of the organization associated with the system. As previously indicated, the invention is not limited to the sale of leases/loans and financial transactions, and thus the criteria and categories can be created and tailored to fulfill the needs of other types of businesses requiring the customization of product offerings to customers.

Section 1120 allows the investor to indicate his investment interest level among a list of Equipment types (e.g., Agricultural, Software, Woodworking, etc.). For each Equipment type, three fields are provided for the investor to select one relating to the investor's interest level (e.g., "None", "Some", or "Strong"). The default setting for the investor's interest level can be set at "None" for the convenience of the investor. Furthermore, a space labeled "Other" is provided for the investor to include an Equipment type that has not been included on the list.

Sections 1130 and 1140 allow the investor to indicate his preferences with respect to Industry type (e.g., Biotech, Forestry, Medical, etc.) and Product type (e.g., operating lease, loan, QTE, etc.), respectively, in exactly the same manner described above with respect to Equipment types in section 1120. Section 1150 allows the investor to indicate his preferences with respect to General Information relating to the investor's areas of special interest or capability (e.g., Dot corns, Tax exempt, etc.).

As an alternative to the form of Figs. 11A-E, profile information may be gathered from investors using a "wizard" type technique. In particular, rather than requiring an investor to check off all parameters on a form, the investor is prompted to respond to a series of inquiries. Typically, each subsequent inquiry will depend upon the investor's response to the previous inquiry, so that the specific information gathered from an investor is tailored to that investor's indicated preferences. In certain circumstances, it may be more efficient to gather investor profile information using this technique.

Section 1160 is provided for the investor to indicate his expected annual purchases. Fields are provided for the investor to indicate his dollar amount of purchase volume from the prior year, the fiscal year end (selected from a drop down menu) and percentage composite tax rate.

By transmitting the Investor Profile Form, the investor agrees to receive all appropriate documentation and information available through the Web site regarding private placements being offered, including those to which the investor has been added based on a matching of the requisite criteria of a particular deal to the investor's profile data.

Upon receipt of the investor's profile data, each datum is stored as a variable corresponding to the investor in the investor profile database 270. As will be described in more detail below, each variable will be assigned a value that may be used for investor matching depending on whether or not the variable is relevant to the particular deal being matched. The investor will be provided opportunities to update or. revise his profile at any time and with any frequency as he chooses so that his profile adequately reflects his most current investment interests and needs. This will eliminate the inadvertent selection of the investor by a syndicator 110 of a deal in which the investor is unlikely to be interested. Deal Profiling

Syndicators 110 can either manually add investors to a deal (as described in related co-pending application Serial No. 09/xxxxxx) or can use the ProfileMatchmaker™ program to generate a list of prospective investors from which to select for addition to the deal. Before using the ProfileMatchmaker™ program, however, a syndicator 110 must complete a Criteria Filtering Form (not shown) which allows the syndicator 110 to identify the details of the deal and requirements as to the types of investors it wishes to invite to participate in the deal.

Although not illustrated herein, the Criteria Filtering Form generally includes fields identical to those on the Investor Profile Form for the syndicator 110 to select if the criteria corresponding to the field relates to his deal and if the syndicator 110 wishes to use the criteria to filter prospective investors. For example, if the deal size is $3 million with a term of 5 years, the syndicator 110 may choose to select the buttons corresponding to the "$1 million to $5 million" and "3-5 years" and "5-7 years" fields in the section relating to the Transaction Specification. He may also select equipment type(s), industry type(s), product type(s) and general information relating to the deal, including administration identification information relating to each of the identified types which can be selected from an additional two fields (e.g., "Has done" or "Syndicator Preferred") for each of the criteria listed therein. Upon receipt of the deal's profile data, each datum is stored as a variable corresponding to the deal in the deals database 250. As with the investor's profile, the syndicator 110 will be allowed to update or revise the deal profile so that it adequately reflects the current status of the deal so that only appropriate investors are filtered when the ProfileMatchmaker™ program is subsequently run. Profile Matchmaking

As previously indicated, the profile matchmaking process simplifies the means by which a syndicator 110 selects and invites investors to participate in a deal. Generally, this process leads the syndicator 110 through an investor screening process which allows the syndicator 110 to select potential investors that are likely to be the best fits for the particular deal, based on both prior experience and a statistical model that takes the investor and deal variables into account.

Figure 8A-8B illustrates a flow diagram describing the matchmaking process initiated by a syndicator 110 from the perspective of the server 200. The process starts in step 800, and in step 805 an Investor List Form is transmitted to the syndicator 110 providing a current list of the prospective and committed investors for a selected deal.

An exemplary embodiment of the Investor List Form is illustrated in Figure 4. Referring to Figure 4, the form is generally divided into two sections. Section 410 identifies the specific deal or lease for which the investors' names are provided, e.g., "ABC LEASE Investors". It also provides a link to a listing of other deals to which the syndicator 110 has access (not shown) if the syndicator 110 wishes to view or modify the investor list for a different deal. Section 420 provides the list of current investors for the deal named in section 410. An option is provided to change each investor's deal document review permissions and status (e.g., active, committed or declined) by clicking on the provided "Edit" link adjacent to the investor's name, or to remove the investor from the deal altogether by clicking on the provided "Remove" link. Once an investor has been invited to invest in a financial product, his status is automatically changed to "active" and he is electronically notified of such invitation.

If in step 810, it is determined that the syndicator 110 has elected to edit a particular investor's document permissions/status, a User Classification Form (as described herein by reference to Serial No. 09/xxxxxx) corresponding to that investor is transmitted to the syndicator 110 for revising such information in step 815 and the matchmaking process ends. If not, it is determined in step 820 whether the syndicator 110 has elected to remove a particular investor from the deal. If so, the selected investor's name is removed from the Investor List Form in step 825, and the process repeats itself beginning from step 805.

Referring again to Figure 4, by clicking on the "Search" button 430, the syndicator 110 can manually select search terms by which to find investors by specific deal criteria. By clicking on the "ProfileMatchmaker™" button 440, the system will automatically find investors on behalf of the syndicator 110 using a stored ProfileMatchmaker™ program. In step 830, it is determined whether the syndicator 110 has selected the manual "Search" option. If so, the syndicator 110 is linked to a Manual Search Form (not shown or described herein) in step 835 and the matchmaking process ends. If not, it is determined whether the syndicator 110 has clicked on the "ProfileMatchmaker™" button 440 in step 840. If so, the syndicator 110 is transmitted a Prioritized Investor List Form in step 845. If not, the process repeats itself beginning at 830.

An exemplary embodiment of a Prioritized Investor List Form is illustrated in Figure 5. Section 510 identifies the specific deal or lease, e.g., "ABC LEASE", and also provides a link to a listing of other deals to which the syndicator 110 has access (as described above with respect to Figure 4). Section 520 includes a graph listing in rows investors that match at least some of the criteria entered by the syndicator 110 for the particular deal in the Criteria Filtering Form. Each investor on the list is ranked according to how closely its profile matches the criteria for the deal (e.g., $5,000,000 deal size, in dollars, 5 year term, investment grade, float, computers and energy), each of which is provided in a column that contains a bullet point if the investor satisfies the criteria. Adjacent to the name and company of each investor is a box for the syndicator 110 to check if he wants to add the investor to the deal (and to run the investor's profiles through the ProfileMatchmaker™ program to ascertain the identities of similar investors, if that option is later selected). On the bottom of the form are four buttons for the syndicator 110 to select once he has selected which investors (if any) to be added to the deal: a "Back" button 530; a "Reset" button 540; a "Next" button 550; and a "Done" button 560.

In step 850, it is determined whether the syndicator 110 has selected the "Back" button 530. If so, the process repeats itself beginning at step 805, where the syndicator 110 is transmitted the Investor List Form for the particular deal. If not, it is determined whether the syndicator 110 has selected the "Reset" button 540 in step 855. If so, the process repeats itself beginning at step 845 with a blank Prioritized Investor List Form being transmitted to the syndicator 110. If not, it is determined in step 860 whether the syndicator 110 has selected the "Next" button 550. If so, the ProfileMatchmaker™ program is executed (as discussed below with respect to Figure 9A-9D). If not, in step 865 it is determined whether the syndicator 110 has selected the "Done" button 560. If so, the selected investors are added to and become "active" with respect to the deal and the matchmaking process ends. In some embodiments, this simplified matchmaking process is sufficient to identify investors to add to a deal. In other embodiments, it may be beneficial to further refine the matchmaking process using more sophisticated algorithms as described below.

Figure 9A-9D is a flowchart illustrating a preferred embodiment of the ProfileMatchmaker™ program beginning at step 900.

The process of the ProfileMatchmaker™ program uses two algorithms: a "seeded" algorithm and an "unseeded" algorithm. The seeded algorithm is used to filter prospective investors having similar profiles to previously-selected investors which are used as the "seed" group. The syndicator 110 can limit the number of investors that result by adjusting the matching sensitivity level or the profile criteria that may be selected to be used for filtering. On the other hand, the unseeded algorithm does not use a seed group. It instead allows the syndicator 110 to- search all of the profiles of all of the prospective investors and to group the investors according to similar criteria, subject also to a matching sensitivity level and selected filtering criteria. The unseeded feature advantageously reverses the normal process of finding investors only for existing deals by allowing the collective requirements of the investors themselves to define the type of deal that the syndicator 110 will put together in the future. For example, if a large number of investors share similar geographical, deal size and deal term preferences, the syndicator 110 can coordinate a deal catered to such investors. It should be understood that either of the two algorithms can be implemented to run independently from the ProfileMatchmaker™ program described herein.

The seeded algorithm is run first, beginning in step 902. In step 904, an agglomerative cluster analysis is performed based on a squared Euclidean distance, single (nearest neighbor) algorithm. The parameters involved in this analysis are as follows: weighted values assigned to the set of variables corresponding to the deal; the number of prospective investors; and the pre-selected investors (i.e., the investors selected from the Prioritized Investor List) based on the scaled distance at which they join an investor group and the cumulative group memberships.

With respect to the weighted values assigned to scaled variables, for example, with respect to Equipment or investment types, where the investor must select one of three levels of interest: an investor selection of "None" is assigned a point value of zero ("0"); an investor selection of "Some" is assigned a point value of three ("3"); and an investor selection of "Strong" is assigned a point value of five ("5"). The rationale for this point assignment is that the squared difference between "Some" and "Strong" (i.e., (5-3)² = 4) should be less than the squared -difference between "None" and "Some" (i.e., (3-0)² = 9). With respect to the weighted values assigned to binary variables, for example, within the General Interest category where a box corresponding to a variable is either checked or not checked: an unchecked box corresponding to the variable is assigned a point value of zero ("0"); and a checked box corresponding to a variable is assigned a point value of four ("4"). The reasoning for this point assignment is to make the checked items to be about the same squared Euclidean distance from 0 (i.e., 16) as the average for those with "Some" or "Strong" using the 3-level scale (i.e., (25 + 9)/2 = 17). Other data categories may also require adjusted weightings, for example, those with much denser data entries, to avoid an undue weighting of items with low importance. These values, and any other predetermined default settings described herein, are part of the system's stored "Initial Matching Rules". In step 906, investor groups are selected based on a matching sensitivity level based on a scale of 1 to 10, corresponding to the distance at which a pre-selected investor joins a group, and omitting groups having a sensitivity level equal to a predetermined default setting (e.g., "1"). An example of a cluster diagram generated for simulated investor profile data is illustrated in Figure 10. Referring to Figure 10, the diagram contains the distance calculation on the left, and the scaled matching sensitivity levels from 0- 10 on the right. The values of the sensitivity levels for the groups are shown at the intersections of the dendrograms of the groups. Higher sensitivity levels (e.g., 10) yield fewer, more selective groups, whereas lower sensitivity levels (e.g., 1) yield large groups. As illustrated, every investor is included at a sensitivity level of 1, which is the reason why such groups are omitted in step 906.

In step 908, the investor groups are sorted a first time and labeled by the ascending scaled distance at which the investors enter the group. In step 910, any investor entering a group at a scaled distance greater than a predetermined syndicator-selected matching sensitivity level are omitted.

In step 912, the investor groups are sorted a second time and the preselected investors are displayed in a separate subgroup. In step 914, any remaining investors from the pre-selected investors' are listed in a separate ungrouped category, with the sensitivity level at which they would join a group (i.e., the "matching score"). In step 916, for each selected group (but not the ungrouped category), the means of each of the variables for group members is determined. A median split of the variables is performed in step 918, and the variables in the half with the highest means are selected and sorted by descending order of standard deviation in step 920. This eliminates the variables that are near-consistent zeros, as those are not of interest to the syndicator 110. In step 922, the top "x" number of these (where "x" is equal to a predetermined value in the range of 5-10) are selected and sorted again, first by logical category, then by ascending standard deviation. In step 924, the data generated by the seeded algorithm is displayed to the syndicator 110 in a Seeded Form. An exemplary embodiment of a Seeded Form is illustrated in Figure 6A-6C. The Seeded Form groups and classifies investors based on the similarities between their profiles based on selected (i.e., filtered) deal attributes. Section 610 identifies the specific deal or lease, e.g., "ABC LEASE" and also provides a link to a listing of other deals to which the syndicator 110 has access (as described above with respect to Figures 4 and 5). Section 620 and 630 provide investor Groups A and B, respectively, each including both (i) the- investors previously selected from the Prioritized Investor List Form (i.e., the seeds) and (ii) prospective investors having similar attributes to those investors based on the primary, filtered matching criteria. All of the investors are provided with their matching scores described above, which are values from 1 to 10 corresponding to how close of a match the particular investor is to the matching criteria based on the results of the algorithm, with a score of "10" being a good match, and a score of "1" being a poor match. Adjacent to each prospective investor's name is a box for the syndicator 110 to check if he wishes to add that investor to the deal. Section 640 contains the list of ungrouped investors generated in step 914. This list includes the seeds that were not grouped with any other investors at their assigned matching sensitivity levels. Note that sections 630 and 640 will not have any investor groups if no prospective investors are identified as falling into a group with one or more of the seeds. Section 650 allows the syndicator 110 to link to the Criteria Filtering Form to revise the filtering criteria for the matching algorithm. For example, Equipment type can be revised to include "Construction" and a Transaction Specification category such as Credit quality=High yield can also be added. Section 650 also provides the syndicator 110 an option to change the matching sensitivity level to a higher number to generate more precise matches or a lower number to find and list more investors. By pressing the "Recalculate matches" button 655 on the bottom of the page, new investor groupings can be generated based on the new filtering criteria and/or matching sensitivity levels. Also included at the bottom of the page are a "Back" button 660, a "Reset" button 665, a "Next" button 670 and a "Done" button 675.

In step 926, it is determined whether the syndicator 110 has' selected to recalculate the matches. If so, the process repeats itself beginning at step 902, with the seeded algorithm using the new filter criteria and/or matching sensitivity level. If not, in step 928, it is determined whether the syndicator 110 has selected the "Back" button 660. If so, the process repeats itself beginning at step 845, where the syndicator 110 is transmitted the Prioritized Investor List Form for the particular deal. If not, it is determined whether the syndicator 110 has selected the "Reset" button 665 in step 930. If so, the process repeats itself beginning at step 924 with a blank Seeded Form being transmitted to the syndicator 110. If not, it is determined in step 932 whether the syndicator 110 has selected the "Next" button 670. If so, the selected investors (if any) are added to the deal and unseeded ProfileMatchmaker™ algorithm is run in step 936 (described below). If not, in step 934 it is determined whether the syndicator 110 has selected the "Done" button 675. If so, the process ends and investors are added to the deal if selected on the form by the syndicator 110. If not, the process repeats itself beginning at step 928.

The first three steps of the "unseeded" algorithm (and the parameters and weightings) is the same as the "seeded algorithm", although it is performed without the pre-selected investor (collectively step 938): an agglomerative cluster analysis is performed based on a squared Euclidean distance, single (nearest neighbor) algorithm, investor groups are selected based on a matching sensitivity level based on a scale of 1 to 10, corresponding to the distance at which a prospective investor joins a group, and groups having a sensitivity level equal to a default setting (e.g., "1") are Omitted.

In step 940, the means of each of the variables for group members is determined. A median split of the variables is performed in step 942, and the variables in the half with the highest means are selected and sorted by descending order of standard deviation in step 944. In step 946, the top "x" number of these (where x=5-10) are selected and sorted again, first by logical category, then by ascending standard deviation. The results are displayed to the syndicator 110 in a Unseeded Form in step 948.

An exemplary embodiment of a Unseeded Form is illustrated in Figure 7A-7B. The Unseeded Form classifies and groups all of the investors stored in the database 270 based on the similarities between their profiles, subject to a matching sensitivity level and filtering criteria selected by the syndicator 110. Section 710 identifies the specific deal or lease, e.g., "ABC LEASE" and also provides a link to a listing of other deals to which the syndicator 110 has access (as described above with respect to Figures 4, 5 and 6A). Section 720 includes "Group A" prospective investors, which are selected to the group and provided matching scores based on their primary matching criteria of those criteria selected by the syndicator 110 on the Criteria Filter Form. Section 730 and 740 include Group B and Group C prospective investors, respectively, which are also selected to their groups and provided matching scores based on their primary matching criteria. Adjacent to the name of each prospective investor in every group is a box for the syndicator 110 to select if he wishes to add the investor to the deal. Section 750 allows the syndicator to adjust the filter criteria and/or matching sensitivity in the exact same manner as was described in relation to section 650 of the Seeded Form. A "Recalculate groups" button 755, a "Back" button 760 and a "Reset" button 765 provided on the form also functions in the same manner as described above. However, when the "Done" button 770 is pressed, the syndicator' s final selections of investors to be added to the deal are stored in the investor assignment database 280 in step 950.

Although the present invention has been described in detail in connection with a preferred embodiment, it should be understood that various modifications may be made to the specified features, functionality and steps of the invention by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

We claim:

1. A method for matching an investor to a financial product, comprising the steps of: receiving and storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences of said investor; receiving and storing a plurality of deal attributes relating to said financial product; correlating said profile attributes and said deal attributes; identifying any profile attributes corresponding with said deal attributes; and inviting said investor to invest in said financial product based on an assessment of said corresponding attributes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said investment preferences relate to types^' of equipment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said investment preferences relate to types of industries.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said investment preferences relate to types of products.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said investment preferences relate to specifications of the financial product.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said investment preferences relate to historical investment data of said investor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said deal attributes are received from a syndicator for said financial product.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the inviting step includes the steps of: receiving an indication from said syndicator to invite said investor to invest in said financial product; and notifying said investor electronically of said invitation.

9. A method for matching investors to a financial product, comprising the steps of: receiving and storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences for each of a plurality of investors; receiving and storing a plurality of deal attributes relating to said financial product; assigning a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes for each of said investors; assigning a second numerical value to each of said deal attributes; calculating a matching score for each of said investors, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical values and said second numerical values; matching said investors to said financial product based on said matching scores.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said matching step includes the steps of: providing a list of investors having matching scores exceeding a predetermined numerical value; receiving a selection of investors to be invited to invest in said financial product; and notifying the selected investors electronically of said section.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said list ranks the listed investors according to their matching scores.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said list provides an indication for each listed investor of the profile attributes of the listed investor that correspond-to the deal attributes.

13. A method for matching investors to a financial product, comprising the steps of: receiving and storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences for each of a plurality of investors; receiving from a syndicator an identification of a seed investor; assigning a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes for each of said investors; assigning a second numerical value to each of said profile attributes of said seed investor; determining a matching score for each of said investors, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical values and said second numerical values; identifying investors matched to said financial product based on said matching scores; and providing a list of said matched investors to said syndicator.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of receiving a matching sensitivity level for filtering said matching scores, wherein said investors are identified if their matching scores are the same or greater than said matching sensitivity level.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of: receiving from said syndicator a plurality of deal attributes relating to said financial product; correlating said profile attributes for said seed investor and said deal attributes; and identifying any profile attributes of said seed investor corresponding with said deal attributes, wherein said second numerical value is assigned to each of said identified profile attributes of said seed investor.

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16. A method for matching investors to a financial product, comprising the steps of: receiving and storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences for each of a plurality of investors; receiving from a syndicator a plurality of deal attributes relating to said financial product; receiving from said syndicator an identification of a seed investor from said plurality of investors; correlating said profile attributes for said seed investor and said deal attributes; identifying any profile attributes of said seed investor corresponding with said deal attributes; assigning a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes; assigning a second numerical value to each of said identified corresponding attributes; determining a matching score for each of said investors, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical value and said second numerical value; receiving a matching sensitivity level for filtering said matching scores; identifying investors matched to said financial product, said matched investors comprising investors having matching scores the same or greater than said matching sensitivity level; and providing a list of said matched investors to said syndicator.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of providing to said syndicator the names of investors previously matched to said financial product for identifying the seed investor.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of: receiving an identification of a second seed investor from said plurality of investors; correlating said profile attributes for said second seed investor and said deal attributes; identifying any profile attributes of said second seed investor corresponding with said deal attributes; and assigning a third numerical value to each of said identified corresponding attributes; wherein the matching score for each of said investors is determined as a function of said first numerical value, said second numerical value and. said third numerical value.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining step includes the step of performing an agglomerative cluster analysis of said plurality of investors using said first and second numerical values.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the determining step includes the step of performing an agglomerative cluster analysis of said plurality of investors using said first, second and third numerical values.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of identifying investors matched to said financial product includes the step of categorizing an investor group of investors having similar profile attributes to said seed investor based on said agglomerative cluster analysis.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of identifying investors matched to said financial product includes the step of categorizing investor groups of investors having similar profile attributes to said seed investor and said second seed investor based on said agglomerative cluster analysis.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the first and second seed investors are categorized as ungrouped if no investors having similar profile attributes are categorized in an investor group with said investors.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of receiving an indication from said syndicator of the matched investors to be invited to participate with respect to said financial product.

25. A method for matching groups of similar investors, comprising the steps of: receiving and storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences for each of a plurality of investors; receiving a plurality of deal attributes; identifying groups of investors wherein each group contains investors having at least one attribute in common; assigning a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes; assigning a second numerical value to each of said deal attributes; determining a matching score for each of said investors, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical value and said second numerical value; receiving a matching sensitivity level for filtering said matching scores; identifying matched groups of investors, said matched groups comprising investors having matching scores the same or greater than said matching sensitivity level; and providing a list of said groups to said syndicator.

26. A method for matching prospective customers to a product, comprising the steps of: receiving and storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to purchasing preferences for each of a plurality of prospective customers; receiving and storing a plurality of product attributes relating to said product; assigning a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes for each of said prospective customers; assigning a second numerical value to each of said product attributes; calculating a matching score for each of said prospective customers, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical values and said second numerical values; matching said prospective customers to said product based on said matching scores.

27. A system for matching an investor to a financial product, comprising: a web server coupled to the Internet, said web server for receiving information from and transmitting information to the investor; an application server coupled to said web server; a database server coupled to said application server; and a storage device coupled to the database server, said storage device for storing i) a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences of said investor, and ii) a plurality of deal attributes relating to said financial product; wherein said system is configured to: correlate said profile attributes and said deal attributes; identify any profile attributes corresponding with said deal attributes; and invite said investor to invest in said financial product based on an assessment of said corresponding attributes.

28. A system for matching investors to a financial product, comprising: a web server coupled to the Internet, said web server for receiving information from and transmitting information to the investors; an application server coupled to said web server; a database server coupled to said application server; and a storage device coupled to the database server, said storage device for storing i) a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences for each of said plurality of investors, and ii) a plurality of deal attributes relating to said financial product; wherein said system is configured to: assign a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes for each of said investors; assign a second numerical value to each of said deal attributes; calculate a matching score for each of said investors, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical values and said second numerical values; and match said investors to said financial product based on said matching scores.

29. A system for matching investors to a financial product, comprising: a web server coupled to the internet, said web server for receiving information from and transmitting information to the investors and a syndicator; an application server coupled to said web server; a database server coupled to said application server; and a storage device coupled to the database server, said storage device for storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences for each of said plurality of investors; wherein said system is configured to: receive from the syndicator an identification of a seed investor; assign a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes for each of said investors; assign a second numerical value to each of said profile attributes of said seed investor; determine a matching score for each of said investors, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical values and said second numerical values; identify investors matched to said financial product based on said matching scores; and provide a list of said matched investors to said syndicator.

30. A system for matching investors to a financial product, comprising: a web server coupled to the Internet, said web server for receiving information from and transmitting information to the investors and a syndicator; an application server coupled to said web server; a database server coupled to said application server; and a storage device coupled to the database server, said storage device for storing

(i) a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences for each of said plurality of investors, and (ii) a plurality of deal attributes relating to said financial product; wherein said system is configured to: receive from the syndicator an identification of a seed investor from said plurality of investors; correlate said profile attributes for said seed investor and said deal attributes; identify any profile attributes of said selected investor corresponding with said deal attributes; assign a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes for each of said investors; assign a second numerical value to each of said identified corresponding attributes; determine a matching score for each of said investors, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical values and said second numerical values; receive a matching sensitivity level for filtering said matching scores; identify investors matched to said financial product, said matched investors comprising investors having matching scores the same or greater than said matching sensitivity level; and provide a list of said matched investors to said syndicator.

31. A system for matching groups of similar investors, comprising: a web server coupled to the Internet, said web server for receiving information from and transmitting information to the investors and a syndicator; an application server coupled to said web server; a database server coupled to said application server; and a storage device coupled to the database server, said storage device for storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to investment preferences for each of said plurality of investors; wherein said system is configured to: identify groups of investors wherein each group contains investors having at least one attribute in common; assign a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes; assign a second numerical value to each of said deal attributes; determine a matching score for each of said investors, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical value and said second numerical value; receive a matching sensitivity level for filtering said matching scores; identify matched groups of investors, said matched groups comprising investors having matching scores the same or greater than said matching sensitivity level; and provide a list of said groups to said syndicator.

32. A system for matching prospective customers to a product, comprising: a web server coupled to the internet, said web server for receiving information from and transmitting information to the prospective customers; an application server coupled to said web server; a database server coupled to said application server; and a storage device coupled to the database server, said storage device for storing a plurality of profile attributes relating to purchasing preferences for each of said plurality of prospective customers; wherein said system is configured to: assign a first numerical value to each of said profile attributes for each of said prospective customers; assigning a second numerical value to each of said product attributes; calculating a matching score for each of said prospective customers, wherein said matching score is a function of said first numerical values and said second numerical values; and matching said prospective customers to said product based on said matching scores.