Mintz Lands On Feet, As Thomson's Asset- Backed Securities Group Readies Marketing Push

Thomson Financial Services' Asset-Backed Securities Group (ABSG) has hired Gerry Mintz to run its data and analytics business, naming him president. Mintz will report to Rick Trepp, who as chief executive officer of the unit will turn his focus towards long-term strategy for the $11 million Thomson unit.

According to Trepp, Mintz's appointment, effective ten days ago, is aimed at spawning a renewed effort to sell ABSG's existing products and to integrate new products into the vendor's suite of end-of-day pricing, cash flow descriptive and factor data and analytical services.

The hire also marks the end of a three-month odyssey for Mintz, who abandoned his post as senior vice president in charge of sales and marketing at the EJV Partners L.P. Mintz left following differences of opinion with EJV president Bruce Peterson over strategic direction of that data and analytics vendor (IMD, Jan. 18).

ABSG comprises Trepp Information and Pricing Services, the Bond Buyer MBS Disclosure Services and Almont Analytical units. The group was formed in 1990 after Thomson acquired the two Trepp units from Trepp & Co. and merged them with its own mortgage- backed securities-oriented data groups.

Rick Trepp will continue to act as chairman to the remaining Trepp & Co. units, which structure and manage asset-backed securities.

Mintz's re-emergence at database vendor ABSG is ironic: Amidst growing partner discontent, the EJV has shifted its strategy since Mintz's departure, opting to unbundle its databases from its core UniVu fixed-income data and analytics platform (see related story, this issue). As a result, EJV's product mix now looks rather similar to that of ABSG, although the EJV also covers government securities and other fixed-income data.

But the chances are remote that Mintz will have occasion to face off against his former colleagues, as the EJV is itself a customer for ABSG data.

ABSG's limited sales force -- eight sales people -- has made redistribution agreements a cornerstone of the unit's strategy. Many of the Thomson unit's largest customers are portfolio accounting and other data redistributors, according to Trepp.

It's unclear as yet whether that will change, says Mintz, who adds that before setting a plan he will determine costs and benefits of reaching prospective customers through various sales methods, including telemarketing, redistributors' sales staff and salespeople at Thomson's sister companies.

But new products at ABSG may make it more likely that the unit will choose to expand its own sales efforts. Earlier this year, the unit launched its Almont Portfolio Management, which performs many of the same portfolio accounting and reporting services offered by ABSG's redistributors (Investment Management Technology, Nov. 27, 1992).

ABSG has also recently released a suite of upgraded analytical services aimed at the burgeoning CMO (collateralized mortgage obligations) market. As part of its so-called Cashflow services, an Almont POOL service offers cashflow projections that have been pre-generated based on some two dozen prepayment assumptions.

The CMOIS service allows users to specify prepayment speeds, while the unit's Maximi software allows users to reverse engineer existing deals, and structure new ones. All three services rely on descriptive and pricing data from ABSG.

For new products, says Trepp, "we must become more market- oriented." As the market has grown to $1 trillion dollar in outstanding issues, asset-backed securities have become a sizable portion of many institutions' balance sheets -- and remain highly sensitive to interest rate fluctuations. Regulatory concern has boosted reporting requirements, and as a result, information needs.

To exploit that growth, says Trepp, "we'll look to take the data we now have and carve it into different products and services."