MortgageRamp is planning to continue its push into Europe and Asia in 2004. The Atlanta-based company provides technology and servicers to lenders and other parties to speed the process of arranging commercial real estate financing. "If you look at CMBS statistics, a lot of growth is coming from the European market. We really have started putting a lot of time into the area," said Ken Beyer, president and CEO.

The company offers two kinds of products-DealCentral, which allows lenders to manage a loan from origination to closing, and Business Process Outsourcing Services, which includes underwriting, due diligence, inspections and serving support. It has also opened an office in Dallas, its eighth regional office, to service its clients in the Southwestern United States.

MortgageRamp has two people dedicated to business development in Europe and is looking specifically at the United Kingdom, in particular London, and France. The company has been meeting with the primary CMBS lenders and investors in Europe to talk about DealCentral. Clients can pick a U.S. dollar, British pound or Euro-denominated program and choose from language options that include English, French, Italian and German, said Jack Trafton, senior managing director.

In Asia, MortgageRamp is currently focused on Japan but sees room to grow throughout Asia and into Australia and New Zealand. The company is also active in Canada, where it has signed up CIBC Mortgages for DealCentral, and is rolling out an English-language version with Canadian nomenclature, Trafton said.

Beyer noted that although the sign-up rate for new clients has been slightly slower than anticipated, things have been speeding up. "When you get to 20% adoption, the next 80% happens overnight. People are now live on these systems and are able to recognize that they have better risk management," he said, noting that in the past three months they have signed up five new clients for DealCentral.