Municipal loan platform komuno now available for all banks

The municipal loan platform komuno, a joint venture between Helaba Digital and Lucht Probst Associates (LPA), has also been available to all banks outside the Sparkassen-Finanz­gruppe since the beginning of the year. Using komuno, municipal invest­ment loans and cash advances can be processed quickly, efficiently and easily. Since the launch of the platform in September 2018, numerous towns, munici­palities and districts as well as savings banks and Landes­banks have already decided to use the platform. In addition to regular invitations to tender on komuno, the growing demand has also led to the first successful, legally binding trans­actions on the platform. In order to further consoli­date this positive momentum, the platform was extended to all banks on 1 January 2019.

In future, users would like to conduct tenders in a fully digital format using komuno

Now that the func­tionality of komuno has been success­fully tested among users of the Sparkassen-Finanz­gruppe, extending it to all banks is a logical step, as it meets the wish of users to be able to conduct tenders in an exclusively digital process using komuno in future. This means that all licensed banking institutions - private banks, cooperative institutions as well as develop­ment banks and other credit insti­tutions - can now register to use the platform.

“We are convinced that extending the platform to insti­tutions outside the Sparkassen-Finanz­gruppe will increase the added value of the platform for all its users and thus strengthen komuno's position. Participating munici­palities can now approach all insti­tutions and partners relevant to them via the platform and use komuno as their primary tendering channel,” says Dr Gerhard Kebbel, head of Helaba's Strategic Digitali­sation Project Stefan Lucht, founder of LPA GmbH, adds: “The in-depth discussions that we have con­ducted with users and partners confirm that komuno's func­tion­ality meets their require­ments. In order to create further added value for partici­pants, it is now time to capture the entire market. The use of redundant communi­cation channels will hopefully soon be a thing of the past and our approach of successively digitising the municipal lending process remains a top priority.”

Develop­ments in techno­logy and content over the past few months have also responded to this require­ment: the tendering and bidding process has been further improved and, on the basis of user feedback, additional practical functions have been added. At the same time, users maintain the control over their tenders and bids that they are accustomed to. Both partici­pating munici­palities and credit institutions have the option of actively deciding, on the basis of an indivi­dually defined list of partici­pants, which organi­sation should have access to published invi­tations to tender as well as which regional towns, munici­palities or districts, for example, should submit invitations to tender to the bank.

In the future, komuno's functionality will go even further than that of a pure marketplace

A major milestone in the develop­ment of komuno's functions in 2019 will be the launch of an interface between komuno and OSPlus, the core banking system of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. This will enable municipal loans to be processed directly in the IT system of the savings banks without any media discontinuity from mid-2019 onwards. The further development of the existing interface to "S-Kompass", the leading municipal debt management system, as well as extensive modifications to continuously improve the user-friend­liness of komuno will also be the focus of updates in the coming months.

The founders

Helaba Digital (https://helaba.digital/)
Helaba Digital GmbH & Co. KG is a holding company owned by Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen for start-up investments that focuses on innovative companies that are the driving forces behind the issue of digital trans­formation in the areas of financial services (Fintechs), regulation (Regtechs) and the real estate sector (Proptechs). This leads to invest­ments that actively complement the Helaba Group’s business model and optimise the bank’s core processes

LPA (https://www.l-p-a.com/)
LPA is a financial service provider with a particular focus on capital market activities, offering strategic advice, management and implemen­tation services as well as a broad suite of software to optimise processes and regulatory compliance.
In addition to a global network of locations, the company, which was estab­lished in 1999, employs around 200 people at its head office in Frankfurt am Main. In co­operation with members of the S-Finanzgruppe, since 2013 LPA has also been responsible for the development of the municipal debt management system “S-Kompass”.