Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLO) Best Practices
Overview
A collateralized loan obligation (CLO) is a security backed by a pool of debt. These are typically corporate loans that have low credit ratings, or leveraged buyouts made by a private equity firm to take a controlling interest in an existing company. A CLO is similar to a collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO), except the underlying debt is a different type and character: a company loan instead of a mortgage. With a CLO, the investor receives scheduled debt payments from the underlying loans and therefore assumes most of the risk if the borrowers default. In exchange for taking on the default risk, the investor is offered greater diversity and the potential for higher-than-average returns.
Eagle supports CLOs using the core mortgage-backed security (MBS) functionality. This document covers the details specific to CLOs. More information about general MBS processing is available in Understand Mortgage-backed (MBS) and Asset-backed (ABS) Securities.
On this page
Example reference data screens, trade screens, and reports are attached:
Entity Setup
Entities trading CLOs do not require any special setup.
Reference Data
Storage & Configuration
Eagle models CLO security master files (SMFs) as single rows in Data Management.
Market Data
CLO payments are derived from an underlying index, which is linked by entering its ID in the Underlying Information section of the CLO SMF. Index SMFs can be set up and maintained using Issue Viewer, Security Reference Manager (SRM), or Reference Data Center (RDC). Other than identifiers, the only information that must be entered is the currency.
Once the index has been set up, floating rates can be loaded using Add Variable Rate. Eagle Accounting will automatically pull the appropriate rates into the accrual process based on the First Rate Reset Date (10911), Reset Frequency (1788), and Reset Look-Back Days (10547).
Interest rates must be loaded to the underlying index back to Dated Date
CLOs are also eligible to have paydowns. These are treated as corporate actions in Eagle Accounting, which involve a two-step process of first setting up an announcement, then triggering the event. More details are provided in the Accounting section.
Security Data
Eagle recommends modeling CLOs as MBS and setting up separate SMFs to represent different tranches. Most fields are the same as other fixed income securities, but those specific to CLOs are highlighted below.
Processing Security Type (3931) =Â
DBFBFB (Factor Based Debt Instrument)
Price Multiplier (18) =
0.01
Quantity Scale (19) =
1.00
Issue Price (69) =
100
Maturity Price (42) =
100
Coupon Type (97) =
X (Floating Rate)
Floating Rate Fields
First Rate Reset Date (10911): same as First Coupon Date (473)
Reset Frequency (1788): same as Payment Frequency (472)
Reset Look-Back Days (10547): # of days prior to the floating rate reset to grab new floating rate
Reset Look-Back Days Type (5075): measure look-back inÂ
B (Business)
 orÂC (Calendar)
 days
Fixing Date Business Center (16407, V15 R2.18): select calendar used for floating rate resets, which may be different than the calendar used for payment dates; this calendar will be used in lieu of the main Business Calendar when applying the Reset Look-Back Days for fixing dates
Underlying Security (1347): floating rates will be automatically retrieved from this underlying index
Spread/Index Offset (215): spread above or below the floating rate, entered in basis points (0.55% = 55)
When a floating rate (0.25%) plus negative spread (-55 bps) goes negative (effective rate = -0.3%), accruals and coupons are posted in the appropriate direction
Trade Processing
Buy
Trades are entered using the Book Trade module once entity and reference data have been configured. Enter the appropriate entity, security identifier, and trade (35)/settle (37) dates and click Submit to query for the security. Right-click it and select Open > Buy or ShortSell. The list below contains all fields required to book a CLO trade.
Original Face (41)
Current Factor (91): this is looked up automatically from any existing Final Factor corporate action records, otherwise it defaults to
1.00
Current Face (40): this is calculated automatically as Original Face * Current Factor
Price (45)
Traded Interest (49): the accrued interest bought (or sold) on the trade
You can either enter this or have Eagle Accounting calculate it
Broker (88)
Sell
The Book Trade module should also be used to process both full and partial closes. Enter the same identifiers as the open to query for the security. Right-click it and select Close > Sell or BuytoCover depending on whether the existing position is long or short. All fields on the close are the same as the open, except Lot Selection Method (27). This defaults to the entity-level election, but can be overridden.
Maturity/Expiration
CLOs are captured by Eagle’s core maturity process. Maturities are triggered using:
V17 & Above: Accounting Center > Processing and Exceptions > Global Processes > Expirations & Maturities > Run Mature Process
Prior to V17: Global Process Center > Expirations > Mature
Accounting
Once a CLO trade is booked, it will be picked up in Eagle’s global workflow. Daily accruals and periodic coupon payments are generated as part of the earnings process, Accounting valuation is calculated when posting unrealized gain/loss, and Data Management valuation is calculated in the STAR to PACE push.
Valuation
CLOs are valued using real clean prices, entered via Add Issue Price or Pricing Center.
Market Value = Current Face * Clean Unit Price * Price Multiplier * Quantity Scale
Paydowns
To process a paydown on a CLO in Eagle Accounting, a Final Factor corporate action must be created and processed. Eagle Accounting maintains a record of both current and original face, plus the specific impacts of each individual paydown.
The following fields are required to set up the corporate action announcement.
Asset IDÂ (14)Â &Â Issue Name (961): enter one or the other to query for the CLO
Sweep Date (1197): date when the global corporate action process will pick up and execute the corporate action (generally current date)
Note: this is a strictly operational data element for global processing; the corporate action will take effect on Effective Date (65)
Effective Date = date of the paydown
Corporate Action Status (54) =
Released
Corporate Action Sub Priority: priority with which credit events will be processed (use default of
1
unless there are two or more concurrent credit events)Mandatory/Voluntary Indicator (1734) =Â
Mandatory
Factor Rate (1696) = new factor
Paydown Trade Flat (16994): controls whether traded interest is calculated on the paydown for paydowns that occur on non-coupon dates
Yes
(default): no traded interest is included in the paydownNo
: traded interest is calculated and included in the paydown
Principal Loss Factor (2926): leave null to follow the normal process where Eagle Accounting treats the portion of a paydown that is the result of a loss at a price of zero
More information about this field is available in Create Final Factor Panel Options
Corporate Action Type (1728) =
Factor
The corporate action is triggered using:
V17 & Above: Accounting Center > Processing and Exceptions > Global Processes > Corporate Actions > Factor Processing
Prior to V17: Global Process Center > Factor Processing > Factor
Set Corporation Action Begin (220) & End Sweep Date (221) to a range that includes the Sweep Date entered on the announcement.
Reporting
STAR to PACE (S2P)
Almost all reports in Eagle leverage data from Data Management, which is populated by the S2P process. This will be scheduled as part of the daily workflow, but can also be triggered manually as described in the Accounting section.
The S2P process creates single rows for each CLO in the POSITION, POSITION_DETAIL, TRADE, and CASH_ACTIVITY tables. The MARKET_VALUE_INCOME column captures the total market value, inclusive of price fluctuations and period-to-date accruals payable or receivable.
Accounting Reports
Eagle has a core set of accounting reports that can be used to review CLO information. These are designed to support the daily operational workflow for business users, allowing Grid Reports to be easily exported to Excel and customized to provide additional details as needed. Advanced Reports are intended to be client-facing and do not provide the same level of customization.
Data Management Reporting
Performance
The performance toolkit has full functionality to calculate market value-based performance for CLOs using data supplied by the S2P process. Risk and performance attribution features are available to analyze CLO performance.
Automation
CLO SMFs and trades can be loaded through the standard Message Center streams. The SMF must be loaded prior to the trade (trades do not spawn SMFs). Refer to Supported Generic Interfaces V17Â for more information.