Municipal bond tracking and evaluation system

Abstract

The present invention relates to a web-application that gathers raw data and meta data, matches debt related data with corresponding meta data, marks the debt data so that the resulting data stream can be used to create various analytical reports on variable rate securities for Users.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of correlating securities by security characteristics to assess efficiencies or inefficiencies in the issuance of the securities, the method comprising the steps of:
 a) providing at least one network accessible program server having a query engine, data storage and stored algorithms wherein in response to an initial input to the program server:
 i) the program server initiates at least one query to locate user selected security identifiers and rate data for at least two select securities from at least one networked security rate server; 
 ii) the program server initiates at least one query to locate user selected meta data associated with the selected security identifiers from at least one networked meta data server; 
 iii) the program server correlates the securities meta data with the securities identifiers and rate data to create a searchable database on the program server of securities characteristics that is searchable by debt security characteristics; 
 iv) the program server queries the database of debt securities characteristics to search for at least one user selected debt security characteristic to identify a pool of securities having the selected characteristic; and 
 v) the program server examines the pool of securities having the selected characteristic and compares the efficiencies of at least one issued security to one or more of the remaining securities having the selected characteristic to ascertain efficiencies or inefficiencies in issuance of the at least one issued security. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the securities are variable rate debt obligations, commercial paper or auction rate securities. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of correlating the securities meta data with the securities identifiers and rate data is mathematically accomplished through the use of algorithms. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of the program server initiates at least one query to locate user selected security identifiers and rate data for at least two select securities from at least one networked security rate server includes using the program server query engine to communicate over the network with one or more security rate servers to obtain the security identifiers and rate data for the at least two select securities. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of the program server initiates at least one query to locate user selected security identifiers and rate data for at least two select securities from at least one networked security rate server includes using the program server query engine to communicate over the network with the federal Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's electronic municipal market web-accessible server to locate user selected security identifiers and rate data for at least two select securities. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the program server examines the pool of securities having the selected characteristic and compares the efficiencies of at least one issued security to one or more of the remaining securities having the selected characteristic to ascertain efficiencies or inefficiencies in issuance of the at least one issued security includes examination of costs or timelines for issuance of the security. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the securities are variable rate debt obligations, commercial paper, auction rate securities or general securities. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the wherein the program server examines the pool of securities having the selected characteristic and compares the efficiencies of at least one issued security to one or more of the remaining securities having the selected characteristic to ascertain efficiencies or inefficiencies in issuance of the at least one issued security includes the step of determining how to better rate, classify and value a security to be issued based on the identified pool of matching securities. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the network is the internet. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the user selected security identifiers, rate data and meta data are selected by one or more of the following users: Borrowers looking to lower cost of capital, Investors of Money Market Funds and Individually Managed Accounts looking to pick up yield, Dealers looking to rank their own performance by sectors to tout superior performance, securities brokers, advisors looking for new recurring services to provide to existing client base or Credit Enhancement Providers to assess the performance of previous variable rate debts, commercial paper or auction rates that the Credit Enhancement Providers are asked to enhance. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of the program server initiates at least one query to locate user selected security identifiers and rate data for at least two select securities from at least one networked security rate server includes using the program server query engine communicating over the internet with the EMMA database to obtain the identifiers and rate data for the at least two select securities. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the securities are variable rate debt obligations (VRDO), and further including the step of the program server converting any meta data, rate data and associated identifiers having different formats to a common format and correlating the meta data with the VRDO identifier and associated rate data to create a database searchable by VRDO characteristics; 
     
     
         13 . A method of ranking the performance of participants involved with the remarketing of securities using ranking criteria, comprising the steps of:
 a) providing at least one network accessible program server having a query engine, data storage and stored algorithms wherein in response to an initial input to the program server:
 i) the program server initiates at least one query to locate user selected security identifiers and rate data for at least two select securities from at least one networked security rate server; 
 ii) the program server initiates at least one query to locate user selected meta data associated with the selected security identifiers from at least one networked meta data server; 
 iii) the program server correlates the securities meta data with the securities identifiers and rate data to create a searchable database on the program server of securities characteristics that is searchable by debt security characteristics; 
 iv) the program server queries the database of debt securities characteristics to search for at least one user selected debt security characteristics to identify a pool of securities having the selected characteristic, which characteristic includes a participant identifier; and 
 v) the program server examines the pool of securities having the selected characteristic and ranks the performance of the participants based on a comparison of the ranking criteria and the search results. 
   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the participants are one of the following: a group of remarketing agents, a group of dealers, a group of security issuers and a group of Credit Enhancement Providers. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the securities are one from a group of: variable rate debt obligations, commercial paper and auction rate securities.