A couple of years ago, a senior investment banker berated me for using the word

IRVINE, Calif., BUSINESS WIRE -- Thunderhead, the leading provider of
communications technology, announced today that Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking has adopted Thunderhead to automate the creation of its equity derivative trade confirmation documents.
Thunderhead's document generation platform replaces an existing in-house, back-
system at Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking and enables the bank to automate its current manual processes for generating complex trade confirmation documentation. This automation is expected to bring greater efficiency and cost savings to the bank's trade operations and will also provide improved capacity management to support its future business growth.
Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking selected Thunderhead for its proven business user-centric design, which empowers business users to directly control the process of creating trade confirmations. The flexibility of the Thunderhead solution will also enable the bank to effectively manage equity derivative trade confirmations across multiple markets, languages and jurisdictions.
Another important factor was Thunderhead's open, standards-based architecture, which has already allowed the bank to rapidly integrate the Thunderhead platform within its current IT infrastructure.
Glen Manchester, Thunderhead's CEO, commented, "In selecting Thunderhead, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking has chosen a proven
communications platform that meets all of its requirements. This is a significant win for Thunderhead as we continue to expand into the European market and further establishes our leadership in providing innovative trade confirmation solutions to the investment banking community."
A leading player present in over 45 countries across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking is the bank of reference for:
-- Euro capital markets. A top 5 player across euro debt capital markets (bonds, securitization, loans) and a leader in French Equity Capital Markets with European reach.
-- Derivatives. A world leader in equity derivatives, and with forefront positions in many interest rate, credit, foreign exchange and commodities derivatives.
-- Structured finance. A worldwide leader in export, project and structured commodity finance with global expertise in energy, infrastructure, real estate and media and telecom finance.
Tailoring solutions in terms of capital raising, financing, risk management and investment, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking combines expertise, innovation and advisory skills coupled with quality of execution to both issuers and investors clients across debt and equity.
www.sgcib.com
solutions for the production of highly personalized, multi-channel communications.
Thunderhead's innovative platform, Thunderhead NOW, empowers business users to own the end-to-end process of creating and maintaining customer communications and delivers significant efficiencies and cost savings. Thunderhead NOW also enhances customer engagement, improving customer satisfaction, loyalty and revenue outcomes. Due to its unique combination of business user control, open standards-based architecture and broad
capabilities, Thunderhead has quickly established itself as a clear market leader and is one of the fastest-growing software companies in the world.
The company counts nine of the top 10 leading investment banks as customers, including UBS, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, RBS and Societe Generale. Thunderhead services its global customer base from offices located in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
For further information please visit www.thunderhead.com.
LEWIS PR Katie Eakins / Wanda Soler 619-677-2700 thunderhead@lewispr.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008. All Rights Reserved
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PARIS, Oct 1 (Reuters) - France could finance its share of a
rescue of Dexia (DEXI.BR:
,
,
,
) (DEXI.PA:
,
,
,
) by borrowing the one billion
euros ($1.42 billion) it will invest in the Franco-Belgian bank,
government spokesman Luc Chatel said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, France, the Belgian government and other
stakeholders said they would invest a total of 6.4 billion euros
($9.2 billion) in Dexia. The French state said it would invest
one billion euros while French state-controlled Caisse des
Depots (CDC) promised two billion euros.
"The financing method has not been completely set. It is not
impossible that the financing will come from borrowing," Chatel
told a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting.
"It is not absurd that an investment of this kind be
financed through borrowing."
France could issue government paper, which has generally
attracted strong interest as investors have sought safe havens
amid global financial markets turmoil, analysts say.
One billion euros would be a relatively small amount for
France, Europe's second-biggest economy, to borrow -- Paris last
week announced its total financing requirement for 2009 would
amount to 165.3 billion euros.
Still, France's debt was worth around 65.7 percent of gross
domestic product at the end of the second quarter, above the
European Union's limit of 60 percent.
(Reporting by Sophie Louet; Writing by Tamora Vidaillet;
editing by Swaha Pattanaik)

A week ago, Buffett invested $5 billion in Wall Street bellwether Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Scores of other companies have unsuccessfully sought his assistance as the banking system has come under stress.
"It's a shocking comment on today's environment that GE and Goldman would need the reputational shots in the arm that Buffett can provide," said Scott Kolbrenner, an investment banker at Houlihan Lokey in Century City. "In any sane environment, it has been GE and Goldman playing the role that it appears only Buffett can provide today."
The terms of Buffett's GE investment are similar to those he struck with Goldman Sachs and are in line with his long-held strategy of investing in high-caliber companies during periods of weakness.
They also show that the Oracle of Omaha drives a hard bargain.
Buffett's preferred shares pay a hefty 10% annual dividend and can be bought back by the company after three years, but only at a 10% premium.
Buffett also gets warrants to buy GE common stock at any time during the next five years at $22.25 a share. That's 13% below GE's closing price Tuesday of $25.50. The shares fell as low as $23 early Wednesday but spiked on news of the Buffett deal before finishing at $24.50, down $1 for the day.
GE plans to sell $12 billion in common shares to the public as early as today.
The company's quest for capital demonstrates the magnitude of the paroxysm roiling the credit markets.
Firms of all sizes are having difficulty accessing short-term capital and have to pay significantly higher rates for it than just a few weeks ago.
Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. is one of several large companies that have been forced to tap revolving credit lines amid the breakdown in the commercial paper market, which many companies normally rely on to finance routine operations.
Jeffrey R. Immelt, GE's chairman and chief executive, alluded to those issues in a statement.
"In the recent market volatility, we continue to successfully meet our commercial paper needs," he said.
GE said last week that troubles at its GE Capital unit -- which offers commercial loans, home loans and other financial services -- would crimp earnings this year.