At bottom, Origin is a platform where borrowers can post their funding levels for dealers to view. Sceptics might point out that issuers are already able to show their levels to dealers simply by emailing them a spreadsheet but Origin aims to make the process more efficient. Rather than collecting dozens of spreadsheets, dealers will be able to refer to any borrower's levels all in one place.
For borrowers, the value of the service it should provide is that it would allow them to contact a broader range of intermediaries, accessing new pockets of demand and broadening their investor base.
While this would be useful, both of these advantages are meaningful only if Origin is widely adopted, hitting the critical mass where more market participants are using it than not.
If the platform does not reach that point then, rather than streamlining the process, Origin will simply be another step in the already complex issuance workflow, and a costly one at that. Dealers, rather than being able to access funding levels on a single central platform will simply have an extra place to check, in addition to the dozens of spreadsheets that they will still receive.
Borrowers will still have to produce and send out their levels using emails unless a whole range of dealers — from the big global players to the smaller local shops that can ferret out untapped pockets of demand — have all signed up and agreed to pay for the service.
If it does reach the critical mass, these advantages may only be the start of what Origin can contribute.
The standardisation and swift, automated production of term sheets, including for structured products, would make the issuance process easier and less painful adding to what has made MTNs such an alluring rapid fire product in the first place.
MTNs lack the new issue premiums and liquidity of public deals. So instead they provide investors the opportunity for swift execution of a bespoke investment. The way to make Origin, and the MTN market, a success is to play to these strengths.
It doesn't have to be Origin to lead the charge — any sufficiently widely adopted electronic platform would do — but if the MTN market is to evolve, this is its best chance yet.