"This acquisition will foster greatly enhanced risk-management practices, and, ultimately, greater liquidity for commercial mortgage portfolios within the $1.3 trillion US commercial real estate market," says Joanne W. Rice, executive managing director of S&P's Structured Finance Group.

Each year, the top 70 US banks spend between $2 million and $15 million on credit risk management. For fiscal 2000, total spending for global risk management for all financial services companies is estimated to be in excess of $1.4 billion. Five years from now, that figure is projected to rise to more than $3.4 billion.

Charter is also nearing the launch of a new software product, Liquid, a risk-management tool for the commercial real estate market geared toward banks and insurance companies, which originate and hold the majority of commercial mortgage loans. Charter was founded in 1992 by Michael A. Ervolini, the former chief information officer of Aldrich, Eastman & Waltsch LLP, a real estate investment advisory firm.