Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest.
This article is about an association of people or groups. For other uses, see Syndicate (disambiguation).Etymology[edit]
The word syndicate comes from the French word syndicat which means "administrator" or "representative" (syndic meaning "administrator"), from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος (syndikos), which means "caretaker of an issue"; compare to ombudsman or representative.[1]
Definition[edit]
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines syndicate as a group of people or businesses that work together as a team. This may be a council or body or association of people or an association of concerns, officially authorized to undertake a duty or negotiate business with an office or jurisdiction. It may mean an association of racketeers in organized crime. It may refer to a business concern that sells materials for publication (newspaper, radio, TV, internet) in a number of outlets simultaneously, or a group of newspapers under one management.[2]
Sales syndicates[edit]
A sales syndicate is a cartel with a joint sales agency.[4] Such combinations were widespread before the Second World War. The organizational merger of the sales departments of the individual enterprises caused an increased dependence of the cartel member on the cartel administration. This in trend stabilized these combinations. Some headquarters and other premises of these syndicate cartels have remained up to the present via their monument status as historical buildings.
Finance syndicates[edit]
In finance, a bank (or credit union) syndicate, often referred to simply as a syndicate, is a group of banks (or credit unions) traditionally lending a usually large amount of money for a specific purpose and to one single borrower. Syndicated loans are loans underwritten by a bank syndicate and are more common in the US, where financial markets are in corporate ownership rather than private equity markets as in Europe or South America. Syndicates have a lead lender that originates the loan and subordinated lenders that participate in the loan. Servicing, Collections, etc. are generally handled by the lead lender.
Unregulated governmental and industrial insurance syndicates[edit]
Typically these arrangements are neither public nor regulated and as such they are hard to describe and attribute. However, thousands of such arrangements in existence around the world where risks are shared by affinity/governmental/industrial groups on a several liability basis.[5]
Crowdfunding[edit]
Researchers argue that syndicates may reduce the potential for market failure in crowdfunding, a method that allows creators to raise funds for projects from many different investors through online platforms. Equity crowdfunding allows creators to issue equity to investors when they make an investment in the project. In equity crowdfunding, information asymmetry between the creator and investor may result in a variety of problems and, in some cases, market failure.[12]
A syndicate can be started by an individual, angel investor, or venture capitalist. An individual who wants to form a syndicate creates an investment strategy and discloses it on a crowdfunding platform. Other investors can choose to back the individual, who is the leader. The backing investors must follow the leader's investment strategy and pay them a fee. Syndicates do not exist on all equity crowdfunding platforms.[12]