Synapse

Proactive loan management that protects your bottom line

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Inspiration

We asked a simple question: Why do banks still lose money on loans they could have saved?

The answer wasn't bad credit decisions—it was late detection. A mid-sized bank with a $500M portfolio spends $2M annually on Loan Management Agents who manually track thousands of covenants across spreadsheets. When a borrower's financials deteriorate, it takes 3-5 days to draft an amendment—by which time the damage is done.

We were inspired by the LMA EDGE challenge categories—specifically "Keeping Loans on Track" and "Loan Documents"—to build a system that doesn't just store loan data, but actively protects the portfolio. Synapse transforms reactive loan management into proactive risk protection.

What it does

Synapse is an intelligent loan management platform that connects real-time credit intelligence with adaptive loan documentation and continuous covenant monitoring. It:

  1. Automates covenant tracking: Monitors 388 covenants across a $237M portfolio (53 borrowers, 99 facilities) in real-time, replacing manual spreadsheet tracking
  2. Generates risk-adaptive documents: Automatically selects document clauses and covenant thresholds from curated templates based on real-time Credit_AI risk scores
  3. Provides proactive risk management: Scenario analysis projects how financial changes would impact covenant compliance, enabling preemptive action before breaches occur
  4. Integrates end-to-end workflow: From document generation through DocuSign e-signature to continuous monitoring—all in one platform
  5. Enables "what-if" simulations: Model revenue declines, expense increases, or interest rate changes to see exactly which covenants would be impacted

How we built it

We built Synapse on enterprise-grade technology designed for financial institutions:

Core Platform:

  • Credit_AI Foundation: Leverages 1,000 customer credit profiles for real-time risk assessment
  • TimescaleDB: Time-series database optimized for covenant history tracking and trend analysis
  • Real-time Monitoring: WebSocket connections for instant alerts across all connected users

Key Innovations:

  1. Risk-to-Document Mapping: Automatically selects covenant thresholds (DTI, ICR, leverage) based on credit risk tier (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH)
  2. Scenario Analysis Engine: "What-if" simulations project covenant impacts from financial changes
  3. Amendment Generator: One-click amendment proposals with risk-adjusted terms
  4. DocuSign Integration: End-to-end workflow from document generation to e-signature using official SDK

Technical Stack: FastAPI backend, Next.js 16 frontend, TimescaleDB with hypertables, WebSocket real-time updates—built in 10 days with a focus on production-ready integrations, not just prototypes.

Challenges we ran into

  1. DocuSign Integration: Initially implemented raw HTTP calls, then refactored to use official SDK with JWT authentication after discovering compatibility issues with the standard auth flow
  2. Real-time Data Updates: Ensuring WebSocket connections remained stable and efficient across multiple topic subscriptions (covenant updates, alerts, risk score changes)
  3. TimescaleDB Hypertables: Learning curve for time-series optimization—discovered that refresh_continuous_aggregate() cannot run inside transaction blocks
  4. Risk-to-Document Mapping: Creating intelligent algorithms that select appropriate document clauses based on dynamic risk scores required deep understanding of lending domain
  5. Frontend Performance: Optimizing Next.js server components and client-side state for sub-second dashboard loads across 13 pages

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  1. Measurable ROI: Projected $800K-$1.6M annual savings for mid-sized banks through 80% faster covenant tracking and 70% reduction in document preparation time
  2. Production-Ready Integration: Successfully connected to DocuSign's production API and Credit_AI's 1,000-customer database—not mock integrations
  3. Complete Platform: Built 13 web pages covering the entire loan lifecycle in just 10 days
  4. Proactive Monitoring: Identified 59 warnings and 58 breaches across 388 covenants—catching problems before they become losses
  5. Risk-Adaptive Documents: First system to automatically adjust document terms based on live credit risk data from Credit_AI
  6. Verified Data: Extensive testing against real database (53 borrowers, 99 facilities, $237M portfolio, 388 covenants)

What we learned

  1. Proactive > Reactive: The biggest value isn't in tracking covenants—it's in predicting breaches before they happen through scenario analysis
  2. Integration Matters: Real-world value comes from connecting systems (Credit_AI + DocuSign + TimescaleDB), not building in isolation
  3. Risk-Based Automation: Static rules fail; intelligent systems that adapt to changing conditions succeed
  4. Financial Domain Complexity: The intricate relationship between risk scores, covenant thresholds, and legal document clauses requires deep domain understanding
  5. Demo-First Development: Building with the 3-minute narrative in mind from day one kept us focused on what matters to stakeholders

What's next for Synapse

  1. ESG Integration: Adding sustainability covenant tracking with environmental, social, and governance scoring—directly addressing the "Greener Lending" challenge category
  2. Regulatory Reporting: Automated Basel III, IFRS 9, and TCFD compliance reporting for regulatory requirements
  3. Multi-Party Workflows: Syndication support with multi-party redlining, comment threads, and approval chains
  4. Predictive Analytics: Machine learning for breach prediction using historical covenant performance patterns
  5. Mobile Experience: Native mobile apps for on-the-go covenant monitoring and approval workflows
  6. Multi-Tenant Architecture: Scalability improvements to support multiple financial institutions as a SaaS platform

Synapse demonstrates that loan management doesn't have to be reactive and manual. By connecting real-time credit intelligence with adaptive documentation, we've created a proactive, intelligent system that protects lenders' portfolios while reducing operational costs by up to $1.6M annually for mid-sized banks.

📊 See our investor-style pitch deck at synapse-lma.vercel.app — it walks through the problem, our Credit AI foundation, and how Synapse delivers measurable ROI.

🧠 Synapse is built on Credit AI — our conversational credit intelligence engine. Ask your database questions in plain English and get board-ready answers in seconds. Try Credit AI →

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