How to anticipate Liquidity risks to secure the Cash Flow

15-03-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

For the past 10 years we have lived with an overabundance of liquidity. In most people’s minds, abundant liquidity means constant availability. But the subprime crisis, the European debt crisis and now the COVID pandemic have shown the opposite to be true.

In a world of extreme volatility, liquidity flows can be interrupted overnight. And for financial managers therein lies the paradox. Despite its overabundance, it has never been more crucial to secure, diversify, monitor and optimise liquidity.

Prepare for the unthinkable.

In this environment, liquidity is obviously strategic, but above all it must be seen as a volatile and fragile resource, especially vulnerable to market disruptions whose occurrence and scope are unforeseeable by definition as well as by their very nature. The health crisis showed us that nothing is safe from a complete, abrupt halt, not even cash flow from operations, across every sector.

CFOs must now prepare their companies for the unthinkable! They will need to spend more and more time and energy to activate every possible source of liquidity by monitoring prices, availability, term, currencies and security packages for each of these sources. They will do this with a constant focus on optimisation, and above all must be ready to make snap decisions about sources that have run dry. It’s a massive undertaking. In a world of extreme volatility, Active Liquidity Management will make tomorrow’s leaders stand out from the crowd.

 

Contact Kyriba directly for more information.

Interbank Payments Transactions (Dutch Item)

10-03-2021 | treasuryXL | Enigma Consulting |

The playing field of interbank settlement and settlement of international payments is being overhauled. In Europe, Target2, T2S and TIPS are being consolidated in a new platform. The international payment and reporting messages between banks will be switched from MT to ISO20022. Now SWIFT comes with a new Transaction Management Platform for international payments and securities transactions. That means a lot of work for institutions using the Target systems and SWIFT. Enigma Consulting can help you analyze and implement the changes.

Target Consolidatie

De huidige Target2, T2S en TIPS-systemen van de Europese centrale banken worden ondergebracht in een nieuw platform voor Europees interbancair betalingsverkeer. Naast deze drie systemen maken onder meer een centrale opzet van het liquiditeitsbeheer (CLM), centraal beheer van gemeenschappelijke gegevens en een geharmoniseerde interface met de buitenwereld (ESMIG) deel uit van het nieuwe platform. En het berichtenverkeer van en naar Target2 migreert van MT naar ISO20022. Al deze veranderingen krijgen hun beslag in een big bang implementatie per 21 november 2022.

Neemt uw instelling direct of indirect deel aan één van de Target-systemen? Dan moet u vóór die tijd uw processen en IT-systemen aanpassen aan de nieuwe werkwijze, berichtenstandaard en interface. Daarbij moet u voldoen aan de verschillende mijlpalen die de Europese Centrale Bank heeft gedefinieerd.

Migratie naar ISO20022

Het interbancaire berichtenverkeer in het kader van internationale betalingen via SWIFT migreert van de MT naar de ISO20022 (MX) standaard. Het gaat hierbij met name om de betaalberichten uit de MT1- en MT2-serie en de rapportageberichten uit de MT9-serie. Het gebruik van de MX-berichten en de vertaalregels tussen MT en MX worden in goede banen geleid door de Cross Border Payments and Reporting Plus Group (CBPR+) van de banken en SWIFT. De migratie zelf wordt uitgesmeerd over de periode november 2022 tot en met november 2025.

Initieert of verwerkt uw instelling internationale betalingen via SWIFT? Of verstuurt of ontvangt uw instelling rekening- of transactierapportages via SWIFT? Dan moeten uw IT-systemen aan de ISO20022 formaten en regels worden aangepast. En omdat de technische aansluiting op het SWIFT-netwerk met de overstap op MX-berichten ook wijzigt, moet die ook worden aangepast.

Hoe kunnen wij u helpen?

Onze interbancair betalingsverkeer experts kunnen u helpen bij het analyseren van de impact en begeleiden van de implementatie van de wijzigingen in het kader van de Target-consolidatie en de migratie van MT naar ISO20022. U kunt daarbij denken aan het volgende:

Target-consolidatie
  • Adviseren over nieuwe opzet van rekeningen bij de Europese Centrale Bank.
  • Analyseren en inrichten van de processen in het kader van betalingen en liquiditeitsbeheer.
  • Analyseren van de impact van de nieuwe ISO20022 berichten voor uw instelling én voor uw klanten.
  • Workshops over het verandergebied, de processen en de berichtenstandaard.
Migratie naar ISO20022
  • Analyseren van de impact van de nieuwe ISO20022 berichten voor uw instelling én voor uw klanten.
  • Adviseren over en analyseren van de impact van het nieuwe Transaction Management Platform van SWIFT.
  • Workshops over het verandergebied, de processen en de berichtenstandaard.

Geïnteresseerd of wilt u meer weten? Neem dan contact op met één van onze consultants.

Corporates: Caveat IBOR and Build-Up Your IBOR Knowledge!

01-03-2021 | treasuryXL | Enigma Consulting |

Last year November we published the article ‘Corporates: Caveat IBOR!’ regarding the IBOR phase out and the impact on corporates. Let’s have a look why today’s corporate treasurer should be even more aware of IBOR interest rate benchmarks.

It is highly likely that your organisation will be affected by the IBOR transition. Most corporate organisations underestimate the impact, thinking that the ‘only’ thing that will change is a base rate and its calculation method. Before you join their ranks, take some time to reflect on the following:

The IBOR will cease to exist, starting on the 31st December 2021 and be replaced by Risk-Free Rates (RFRs) with a different basis for calculation:

  • These changes will impact financial (e.g. bond, (intercompany) loan, (multi-currency) credit facility) contracts as well as commercial contracts with an IBOR related ‘late payment clause’
  • This in turn will impact processes in the Treasury functions, with knock-on effects to supporting departments, Legal, IT systems, accounting, and tax reporting to name just a few
  • IBOR transition is progressing at a different pace across jurisdictions and financial products (e.g. loans, bonds, and derivatives), adding to the complexity of managing the transition
  • The Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates (RFRWG) published the following milestones regarding GBP LIBOR:
    • By end-Q1 2021, all legacy GBP LIBOR contracts expiring after end 2021 that can be actively converted need to be identified, and progress active conversion where viable through to completion by end-Q3 2021
    • Active steps to enable a shift of volumes from GBP LIBOR to SONIA in non-linear derivative markets: by end-Q2 2021, initiation of new GBP LIBOR linked non-linear derivatives that expire after the end of 2021 will be ceased; and, by end-Q3 2021, complete active conversion

The good news is that there is still time to assess the impact of the pending IBOR changes on your organisation and to act upon it if needs be. The sooner you have a plan for the potential consequences for your organisation, the sooner you will be able to mitigate these. This understanding will also give you more leverage in the coming discussions with your bank(s).

Moreover, the IBOR phase out may bring a golden opportunity for corporates to re-evaluate the current contract agreements and look for better deals. Consider this: during the IBOR migration contracts are in fact ‘renegotiated’ and banks will need to come up with a new offer. Will you take that offer as a corporate client? That all depends on your level of understanding and preparation.

What should you do to prepare?

As the deadline approaches, you will need to know your level of exposure and impact in order to prevent surprises. What will the impact of the IBOR transition be on your TMS and ERP systems, your credit facilities, bank loans, cash pooling, bonds, ISDA agreements and intercompany agreements? What impacts will these have on your processes and supporting systems? Which complexities will need to be managed?

 

 

Having this information at hand will enable you to be a proper sparring partner for your banks when they renegotiate contract terms.

Depending on the complexity of your contracts, the IBOR phase out could substantially affect your corporate organisation. Prevent unnecessary loss by preparing yourself, following this five-step approach:

 

  • IBOR phase out knowledge build-up

Corporates should start to build-up their knowledge regarding the IBOR phase-out and get up-to-speed with developments related to different kind of products and RFRs in order to be able to assess the IBOR phase-out impact. Each corporate organisation has a different situation and a variety of financial contracts. Complexity depends on the type of business. A larger organisation active across multiple regions in the world with more complex non-Euro instruments will be impacted higher than a smaller organisation that only is active locally within the Eurozone. Thorough knowledge about IBOR is a key starting point to assess the impact on your organisation and to be able to assess, plan and implement the migration to alternative reference rates.

  • Assess impact

The second step you should take is to analyse the IBOR related contracts in use throughout your organisation. Determine which contracts have an IBOR related component and the size of the exposure. Once you have assessed the complexity of your IBOR related contracts, analyse the impact on related areas (ranging from Tax and Legal to IT systems, and procedures, reporting, accounting (e.g. hedge-accounting), and the like).

  • Become a prepared discussion partner for your bank(s)

The third step is to be prepared for a call with your bank to discuss an RFR offering! The magnitude of change is well-recognised by banks and financial institutions, and they are demonstrating an increasing sense of urgency to address contracts maturing after 2021. More and more newly issued IBOR related products by your bank(s) will refer to a new alternative reference rate during 2021.

  • Plan actions

Knowing the alternative RFRs is an important input on creating a detailed action plan. Define a project team governance to manage this action plan and the status of the transition across different areas, business lines, and geographical locations. In particular, take care to ensure external resource availability regarding e.g. Legal counselling and system provider experts, as demand for these specialists will rapidly increase as the IBOR transition deadline approaches.

  • Act and implement

Step five is the implementation of your action plan throughout the affected areas of your organisation. In this ‘Act’ phase it is important to maintain the conversation with external parties, such as banks and system providers. It is also of vital importance to support the implementation across all relevant business lines and functions, maintaining support for go-live readiness in line with the defined action plan and deadlines.

A golden opportunity starts with IBOR knowledge build-up

Enigma Consulting supports you in knowledge build-up by providing ‘tailor-made’ workshops in order to discuss the impact on your corporate organisation related to different RFRs for different products based on your specific situation and to help you to prepare and become a discussion partner with your bank.

IBOR may well be a golden opportunity, but it is up to you as a corporate treasurer to seize it by acting rather sooner than later! Corporates: Caveat IBOR and build up your knowledge!

If you are interested in how we can help you to build-up your knowledge and to assess your IBOR related contract complexity or if you want to understand how we can support your corporate organisation in the IBOR phase out transition, you can contact us on:

[email protected] or look at www.enigmaconsulting.nl

Daniel Pluta

 

 

 

Kyriba Webinar: How Connectivity-as-a-Service Can Help In ERP Migration

25-02-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

4th March • 2pm GMT • 3pm CET

In this webinar Kyriba and Deloitte will discuss some of the challenges and time constraints faced in bank connectivity and outline how Kyriba’s Connectivity-As-A-Service can accelerate global banking connectivity projects by more than 80%.

The agenda will follow:

  • The Connectivity-as-a-Service challenges
  • The Kyriba Connectivity Network
  • A case study on implementation with Deloitte

REGISTER NOW to understand more of the issues related to cost-control, deployment, security and bank connectivity when embarking on large-scale ERP cloud migration projects.

Date:

March 4, 2pm GMT/ 3pm CET

Contact:

7 steps on how to make Cash Flow forecast a success

| 15-02-2021 | Bas Kolenburg

Last year was a good example to remind organizations that cash flow forecasting is important, although, very little were prepared for the unprecedented, sharp and abrupt changes in turnover and cash flow due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

CFO’s have been asking:

  • Where is the cash?
  • Are we prepared for all the contingencies?
  • Do we know how our cash flow will hold up for the rest of the year?
  • Will we meet the covenants set in our credit facilities?

In many treasuries, cash flow forecasting is a well-established basic core process, but from my experience it is often a “struggle” where the results do not always outweigh the efforts. Why is this process so difficult and more importantly: how can you make the cash flow forecast process a success?

Here are 7 steps that will help your organization:

1. Set your purpose and the horizon

Allow yourself to describe what the purpose of the cash flow forecast is as this will define also the horizon and the data that you need to build your forecast. The purpose will also be the guiding framework what level of tolerances you are prepared to accept.
Setting up a cash flow forecasting for quarterly reporting of covenants or to prepare for short term liquidity shortfalls means a different horizon and sometimes also a different set of data. Horizons can vary as much from the ‘standard’ 13-weeks to monthly or quarterly to even years. With a longer horizon, the level of accuracy will diminish.

2. Identify the cash flow drivers

This is the most essential and valuable step in the process as the right identification will largely determine the success of your forecasting.

    1. Where and when do we receive cash inflows and what will be our expected cash outflows?”
    2. From what sources can we derive the data, how predictable are they, in what currencies?
    3. And in which entities or what bank accounts will these cash flows occur?

Prepare a list of all (forecasted) cash in- and outflows and label them with priority, currency, predictability and identify in what entity and from what source you will be able to find actual and forecasted data.

3. Collect systematic and consistent data from all cash flow drivers

As you have, in the previous step, identified what will drive your cash flow, then we reach the really difficult part and that is obtaining reliable data on actuals and forecasts on these drivers.
You often hear : “I do not know when our clients will pay our invoices” and “If we win the tender then contract turnover will be X, however timing of the tender and outcome is unsure” and “Forecasted volumes of our product, I can give you but prices will be determined at the sale on spot basis”.
Don’t confuse sales and profit with cash. Most organizations seem very well equipped and organized to close each accounting period their books and forecast somehow the main profit and loss items going forward, however translating that into cash items, in the right currency with the right timing is not always easy.

My experience is that the process of obtaining these data gives you great insights on how cash driven the company really is and what role cash is playing in the KPI and rewards throughout the organization. You will often find that cash is, except for the treasury responsible, not on top of each minds.
Find also the right balance in detail of the data you want to forecast, as you can define a lot of cash flow categories, but that also means that you will need to label your actuals for all these categories. Manual labelling is often undoable (unless you have unlimited resources) and automating this labelling with tools is often easier said than done.

4. Focus on cash balance visibility

Your starting point for your cash flow forecast is the cash balance you have today and without adequate cash balance visibility on your today’s cash balance you will not be able to project future cash balances. Cash visibility means that you have access to – real time- information of all cash balances in your organization. When you have 1 or 2 banks, the Electronic Banking tools of these 1 or 2 banks will provide you all the information that you need. However, often certain bank accounts are managed on a decentralized level and information on these accounts are provided only at the close of the reporting period. Multi-banking tools that function as an information overlay can help you to overcome these kind of situations but you can also set up you own cash balance reporting consolidation.

5. Include analysis for variances

Analyzing the actuals versus your forecasts gives you a better insight how well the predictions have been and which data were reliable in the previous forecasting period and which were not. The sources that provided these data need to receive feedback on the variances from you to understand what was causing this difference so that their data can be improved going forward. Otherwise, it is only your problem. Sometimes a sort of “carrot and stick” feedback can be used to strengthen the reliability of the data collecting and create co-ownership for the process.

6. Prepare for scenarios

For treasurers, being prepared for the unknown is part of their DNA. So setting up scenario’s next to a base case in the cash flow forecast is essential to understand the headroom and even more important, what are the main drivers affecting the headroom. Because one thing is certain: Covid-19 will not be the last crisis they we will face.

7. Let systems work for you

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each process and tool must be tailored to the needs and objectives of each specific business. Many organizations work with Excel sheets because of the flexibility, it’s easy to use, the low costs and because it can manage massive amounts of data. Basically there is no problem with that, except when you would like to follow the steps, I described above, in more complex and multi-currency environment, then Excel will fall short to “let systems work for you”.
Nowadays there are multiple solutions (in various price ranges) for tools that can support your cash flow forecasting process from dedicated cash flow forecasting tools to more generic treasury systems and also payment hubs and banks provide (parts of) the solutions to support the cash flow forecasting process. Sometimes the tools include also artificial intelligence features that use actual company data to determine and support the forecasts. But often the tool is just a blank template sheet that needs to be filled with the actual and forecasted data. Then the added value is limited as “garbage in” means often also “garbage out” .

Conclusion

My advice is to revisit the cash flow forecast process in your own organization with the above mentioned 7 steps. If not ideal, there might be a strong business case to change (parts) of the process to be better prepared for the future.

 

 

Bas Kolenburg

View my profile

 

 

 

The Case for a Global Payment Hub

02-02-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

Global corporate payments technology is changing at a rapid pace. So rapidly, in fact, that internal IT-managed platforms are not able to keep up and the challenges that ensue are left for the IT team to sort out.

These challenges include:

  • Insufficient Controls
    It is up to IT to protect assets from digitized fraud capabilities that are able to penetrate the standard four-eye principal and, in order to do so, IT will need to enhance controls.
  • Custom Banking Formats
    Each bank has its own specific requirements that, even within the same bank, may differ depending on payment type and bank branch location. The number of custom formats needed can make it difficult for IT to meet all global banking format customization requirements.
  • Infrastructure Costs
    The cost of building and maintaining payment connectivity infrastructure, especially given the customization requirements, can easily exceed what a company anticipated.
  • Delayed Project
    Established bank connections will need to be rebuilt as ERPs migrate to the cloud, which can greatly delay the project. And, rebuilding the connection is often made more difficult as employees leave and retire, taking with them the tribal knowledge of how the original architecture was deployed.

Let’s evaluate some of these in the context of the return on investment (ROI) your organisation would achieve by deploying a connectivity as a service global payment hub.

Enhancing Controls

The most common vulnerabilities to fraud include technical, process and simple human mistakes – and, worst case scenario, internal collusion. All of these become significantly more vulnerable when corporations rely on internally built systems and processes that depend on human control workflows with multiple checkpoints.

Today’s fraudsters are more sophisticated, able to easily penetrate corporate infrastructure and pass internal human dependent control workflows. They utilize social networks to penetrate organisations with phishing schemes that include email, as well as deep fake voice simulation software via phone that can sound exactly like your CFO or CEO requesting payment execution.

The best payment hub solution will aid the human dependent controls with machine learning technology, bringing to their attention anomalies that they must further investigate.  The solution must be able to keep up with technical assets at the fraudster’s disposal – for example, based on history alerts related to banking change and volume as well as OFAC exception.  Payment hubs with machine learning capabilities have demonstrated the ability to reduce corporate fraud exposure by at least 70%.

Payment Connectivity Complexities  

Global banking format customization requirements are extremely complex with very limited, if any, corporate tribal knowledge related to the technical architecture and deployment. Each bank has their own specific requirements. In many cases, there may even be differences of formats within the same bank depending on branch locations. The cost of building and maintaining payment connectivity infrastructure given the customization requirements can be in the millions of dollars.

Payment hubs eliminate this cost in several ways:

  • IT no longer has to manage bank connectivity with outsourced development and maintenance of bank payment formats to the hub solution. Developing this internally can take up to 9 months for each bank at a cost of up to $150K+ per bank, not including any ERP consultant fees.  A payment hub solution will be able to deploy connectivity within weeks and provide 24/7/365 maintenance and support at a fraction of the cost.
  • Multiple systems that previously sent payments to banks can be consolidated down to one. IT will only have to manage one format which is to the payment hub.
  • Treasury can optimise banking services and remove duplication caused by the multitude of systems (including treasury and ERPs) that connected to the banks. This will standardise and enhance controls and auditability of internal workflows.

ERP Cloud Transformation

If you are considering an ERP cloud transformation or are in the process of the transition, all of the bank connectivity that is established in the current environment will have to be re-built.  Given the considerations highlighted earlier tied to the complexities, re-building all of the connections internally will be costly and risk go-live.

Connectivity as a service with the right payment hub will de-risk and accelerate cloud transformation projects. In fact, payment hub solutions provide a more than 80% improvement in time-to-value related to payment go live. This return on investment is inclusive of internal man-hour efforts, external consultant fee elimination, as well as the speed of bank on boarding timelines from up to 9 months to only a few weeks.

In conclusion, payment hubs enhance controls and keep up with the ever-changing fraud environment, eliminate any risk tied to business continuity due to internal infrastructure or tribal knowledge, and finally enable a successful ERP cloud transformation deployment eliminating any risk to internal timelines or objectives.

 

Banks are increasingly looking for an Ecosystem strategy

27-01-2021 | treasuryXL | Enigma Consulting | Paul Jans

Banks are increasingly developing an ecosystem strategy to realize competitive advantages. They use partners, software suppliers and BPO providers and link plug-and-play solutions.

“These ecosystems are the foundation of their changing business model (‘open banking’) and facilitate innovation. The basis for this development is a stable core banking and payment infrastructure that does not require all means in terms of budgets and resources, ”says Paul Jans, Managing Director at Enigma Consulting. The article continues in Dutch…

Hij vervolgt: “In onze gesprekken met klanten is dat de belangrijkste motivatie om tot outsourcing van deze non concurrentiele diensten over te gaan.” Jans verwijst in dat kader naar onderzoek van PwC, waaruit blijkt dat “de belangrijkste strategische reden voor banken om samen te werken met derde partijen is om het productaanbod van de bank te verbeteren (juli 2020).”

“De belangrijkste strategische reden voor banken om samen te werken met derde partijen is om het productaanbod van de bank te verbeteren.”
– Paul Jans, Enigma Consulting

Het streven naar meer samenwerking (met Fintechs) wordt mogelijk gedreven door een aantal ontwikkelingen, legt Jans uit.

Om te beginnen reageren FinTechs snel door gebruik te maken van technologische ontwikkelingen, snelle besluitvorming en de toegang tot investeringskapitaal. Jans: “Ze zijn wendbaar en kunnen snel nieuwe diensten aanbieden die aansluiten bij het veranderende gedrag van de klanten.”

Ook versnelt nieuwe wet- en regelgeving de ontwikkeling dat innovatieve partijen de klantinteractie overnemen en de banken naar de achtergrond drukken. De toegang tot rekening gegevens van derde partijen op basis van de PSD 2 wetgeving lijkt een eerste stap in een ontwikkeling waar banken de directe klantinteractie steeds meer kunnen verliezen aan derde partijen. “Succesvolle banken concurreren niet met deze derde partijen maar via hun ecosysteem strategie maken ze deze FinTechs onderdeel van hun businessmodel”, aldus Jans.

Verder ondersteunen technologische ontwikkelingen de nieuwe businessmodellen. “Het koppelen van innovatieve Fintech oplossingen via een integratie laag (API’s) maakt het mogelijk dat banken beter blijven voldoen aan de huidige hoge klantverwachtingen”, legt Jans uit.

“Samenwerking, outsourcing en partnering met een open ecosysteem lijkt de toekomst voor de bancaire core banking infrastructuur”

Tot slot wijst de Enigma Consulting managing director erop dat het bedrijfsmodel van banken onder druk staat. “We zien verdergaande schaalgrootte, digitalisering en consolidatie of samenwerking. Het afgelopen jaar zien we dit in internationaal en ook in de Nederlandse markt hebben we een aantal voorbeelden gezien (Van Lanschot Kempen met Hof Hoorneman Bankiers, Insingergilissen met Quintet).”

“In gesprekken met onze bancaire klanten naar aanleiding van onze outsourcing survey komt duidelijk naar voren dat de banken te weinig focus kunnen onderhouden op al deze ontwikkelingen. Wet- en regelgeving, verplichtende veranderingen zoals de SEPA rulebooks, Swift changes of zoals bijvoorbeeld de vervanging van benchmarks voor rentetarieven (IBOR) eisen alle aandacht op”, geeft Jans aan.

Om de nieuwe uitdagingen toch het hoofd te bieden, zo legt hij uit, zoeken de banken naar een oplossing met de volgende kenmerken:

  • Nieuwe bancaire architectuur die flexibel is
  • Geen zorgen over backoffice onderhoud en noodzakelijke aanpassingen
  • Ontzorging en implementatie van wet- en regelgeving
  • Architectuur die het mogelijk maakt makkelijk te koppelen aan nieuwe oplossingen en de mogelijkheid te switchen
  • Een integratie laag (de API-infrastructuur) die zowel integratie met het ecosysteem, de integratie met interne systemen als de klant interactie ondersteunt en faciliteert. Dit maakt een optimale en flexibele customer journey mogelijk

Jans vat samen: “Modernisering van de core banking omgeving om gegevensuitwisseling te vergemakkelijken en flexibiliteit te bieden is de oplossing om nu en in de toekomst alle bovenstaande uitdagingen het hoofd te bieden. Samenwerking, outsourcing en partnering met een open ecosysteem lijkt de toekomst voor de bancaire core banking infrastructuur. De huidige stand van de techniek maakt dit mogelijk.”

Paul Jans

Managing Director at Enigma Consulting







Source

 

 

Making a Successful Transformation to SAP S/4HANA

19-01-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

SAP S/4HANA is SAP’s next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for large businesses. Many organizations that are currently using the SAP business suite are looking to upgrade to the new solution, often as part of a wider digital transformation.

As a digital core, S/4HANA is the link between the key business functions within an organization, including finance, marketing, manufacturing, procurement and sales. As well as connecting to the SAP ecosystem, it can connect to other cloud-based systems. It harnesses intelligent technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and the internet of things to automate operations, and it connects data, devices and people in real-time.

S/4HANA enables digital transformation in several ways. It reduces an organization’s overall costs, drives business innovation, supports transformation projects and frees up the IT budget for investment in emerging technologies. Yet, while there is a strong business case in favor of S/4HANA, companies often struggle to identify which functionality they need from the platform, and when and how they should migrate.

Why Migrate Now?

Digital transformation is accelerating all the time and S/4HANA is “mission-critical” for digital transformation, explained Promantus’ director and head of Europe, Vikash Roy Chowdhury, during a recent webinar hosted by SAPinsider and sponsored by Kyriba. He added that as S/4HANA optimizes an organization’s digital transformation strategy, “it provides identity, visibility and innovation”.

There are many reasons why organizations should begin their migration to S/4HANA now:

  1. To take advantage of the digital economy and be quicker at getting new products and solutions to market.
     As digital transformation continues to gather pace, business processes will be further automated and new data flows will emerge, enabling organizations to gain better insights, improve their decision-making and foster business innovation.
  2. To avoid falling behind in the digital transformation journey.
    SAP will continue to provide standard support for its on-premise ERP system, ERP Central Component (ECC), until 2027. On the face of it, this commitment may seem a reason for organizations not to migrate to S/4HANA, but there are risks associated with continuing with a platform that has been earmarked for retirement. One risk is that organizations will get a poor return on investment in terms of their technological spend. Another is that they are overtaken by rivals that use S/4HANA’s state-of-the-art functionality to run their businesses more efficiently.
  3. To save money.
    The cost of implementing S/4HANA, and migrating to the platform, is likely to increase substantially over the next few years, as more and more businesses compete to secure resources that can support them with transformation.

The Challenges of an ERP Transformation

Migration to S/4HANA can present some significant challenges to businesses. Typically, the biggest challenge is resolving data issues. Other challenges include a lack of qualified resources, integration of legacy systems, accommodation of custom coding, and understanding the impact of S/4HANA on processes, especially where functionality has changed.

And treasuries have specific requirements in relation to an S/4HANA migration. They want bank connectivity and the integration of their global banks inside the S/4HANA infrastructure. They also want to see accelerated time-to-value (the rate at which the business benefits from the migration) so that they can free up resources from routine work to focus on more strategic activities, such as helping their organization to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, bank connectivity can be one of the most difficult aspects of migration to S/4HANA, or any other ERP for that matter. It can take months – or even years – to achieve. “A lot of times… what keeps these ERP projects from going live is still waiting for the banks,” says Steven Otwell, director of payments at Kyriba.

For this reason, Kyriba is strategically collaborating with Promantus to support migration to S/4HANA from a treasury perspective.

Support for Treasuries

Fortunately, automation can ease the migration process. Promantus has developed a comprehensive S/4HANA transformation tool called ProAcc, which quickly and seamlessly automates all the migration phases, including assessment, pre-conversion, post-conversion and validation.

ProAcc provides a detailed assessment report that includes tailored recommendations for optimization and alternative scenarios, based on the current state. It also offers a single-view dashboard that gives full visibility around the migration process, from discovery to go-live. Furthermore, it acts as a single repository for the sequence of automated activities that take place, including prediction, monitoring, data snapshots, data integrity, configuration checks, and reconciliation.

The speed of migration will depend on an organization’s business and technological requirements, current SAP environment, and data quality and quantity, among other considerations.

Organizations that use ProAcc to support their S/4HANA migration benefit from:

  • Swift, secure and cost-effective implementation
  • Minimal interruptions to critical business processes
  • A tailor-made approach
  • Sequentially automated processes
  • Comprehensive support

“At Promantus and Kyriba, our entire focus is to bring the highest value to corporations in the shortest possible time, and at the lowest cost,” said Johnny Daugaard, vice president of client engagement at Promantus.

Kyriba’s service-based solution includes:

  • Connectivity as a Service.
    Bolt-on bank connectivity for SAP enables organizations to connect with thousands of banks and achieve time savings in excess of 80%. Kyriba has more than 550 active, configured and tested bank solutions for plug and play ERP connectivity. It also monitors bank connection 24/7 on behalf of its clients, with connection managed in different ways including FTP, host-to-host, regional protocols and SWIFT. Kyriba is the largest SWIFT for Corporates service bureau globally, managing more than 20% of SWIFT’s corporate business. As Kyriba’s service is fully outsourced, organizations do not need to employ internal resources to support bank connectivity, which reduces their overheads.
  • Customized Payment Fraud Management.
    This solution uses detection rules, coupled with machine learning, to detect anomalies in an organization’s flow of data from its SAP system to its banks. These anomalies could be possible payment frauds.
  • Payment Format Library.
    Kyriba’s library contains over 45,000 pre-developed and bank-tested payment format scenarios, which are shared across all Kyriba clients. This saves organizations from having to develop their own payment formats for their S/4HANA platform, which can be complicated, expensive and time-consuming – especially when an organization works with a large number of banks. Kyriba simply takes a single payment file from the organization’s ERP and interprets it. It then transforms the file, based on the approved format requirements of the individual banks.
  • Global bank monitoring.
    All incoming and outcoming bank files are monitored, relieving the IT team of the burden of having to work out whether files have been processed. Effectively, an organization’s banking support is fully outsourced to Kyriba.

Conclusion 

Today, organizations are having to react with agility to the challenges posed by Covid-19. Digital transformation is key both to their present survival and their future success – and for many large organizations, this transformation will be underpinned by migration to S/4HANA. Treasury and IT should be closely involved with this migration and carefully consider solutions that enable them to meet their objectives without consuming valuable resources.

 

Brexit: UK Payment Service Providers barred from EU

13-01-2021 | treasuryXL | Enigma Consulting | Geert Blom

UK Payment Service Providers without an EU-license are barred from doing business in the EU. As of December 31, 2020, the UK and EU have concluded arrangements that effectuate the partnership between both parties on many different levels. However, the arrangement agreed upon does not include specifications regarding provisions, exemptions or special treatment for UK Payment Service Providers.


On January 31, 2020 the UK left the EU on the basis of the agreed withdrawal agreement. This prevented a no-deal Brexit on that date and led to the transition period until the end of 2020. In 2020, lawmakers have argued over the possibility to arrange for so-called EU-equivalence decisions with regard to the UK. These arrangements have not materialized and neither did EU member state parliaments deem it necessary to extend temporary exemptions for the provision of services by payment service providers or electronic money institutions established in the UK.

This means that from 2021 onwards, all British financial service providers without an EU-license are no longer allowed to provide many of their services to EU-clients. Also, the access rights of British financial institutions to provide cross-border financial services in the European Union will in many cases no longer apply. The financial supervising authorities expect that British institutions have taken timely preparatory measures so that the relevant state laws and regulations are complied with. Compliance could and can still be attained by applying for – and receiving – a payment institution license in one of the EU member states.

In recent years, The Netherlands have served as a favorite hub nation for many UK PSP’s. At Enigma Consulting, we are experienced and market leader in applying for payment institution licenses specifically in the Netherlands, for both PSP’s and EGI’s. We specialize in creating all required documentation and provide expert guidance on all applicable policies, procedures and related topics. If you too aspire to do business in the Netherlands as a PSP or EGI and if you are currently in need of expert advice or assistance with acquiring a license, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

 

Geert Blom

Senior Legal Consultant

+31 (0)6 13 91 88 22

 

 

 

 

 

New MiCA regulation further tightens regulations for crypto companies (Dutch Item)

23-12-2020 | treasuryXL | Enigma Consulting |

Op 21 november 2020 verliep de deadline waarop cryptodienstverleners, die in of vanuit Nederland opereren bij toezichthouder DNB, geregistreerd dienden te zijn om hun crypto-activiteiten te mogen voorzetten. Bijna vijftig partijen hebben een aanvraag ingediend bij DNB, maar tot op heden heeft DNB ‘slechts’ dertien partijen in het openbaar register bijgeschreven. Het volgende reguleringskader staat echter al in de steigers: de zogeheten Europese verordening ‘Markets in Crypto-Assets’ (MiCA). Deze verordening moet vanaf 2024 voor alle lidstaten van de EU gaan gelden. Erik van der Leer van Enigma Consulting beschrijft welke impact MiCA kan hebben op de bedrijfsvoering van (crypto)bedrijven.

MiCA zal de van toepassing zijnde regelgeving voor cryptoplatformen verder uitbreiden en aanscherpen. Onder MiCA zullen ook verschillende cryptodiensten die voorheen buiten het reguleringskader vielen moeten voldoen aan Europese regelgeving. Zo definieert MiCA drie verschillende soorten uitgevers van crypto-assets en zeven verschillende cryptodienstverleners. Naast  de cryptodienstverleners die zich vandaag de dag reeds dienen te registreren in Nederland worden daarmee ook andere cryptodiensten binnen bereik van de wetgeving van de Europese lidstaten gebracht.

MiCA typeert aanbieders van een of meer van de volgende diensten als cryptodienstverlening:

  1. Diensten waarbij advies wordt gegeven over crypto-assets;
  2. Diensten waarbij orders in crypto-assets worden ontvangen en uitgevoerd;
  3. Diensten waarbij crypto-assets in de markt geplaatst worden;
  4. Diensten waarbij orders in crypto-assets worden afgewikkeld door derde partijen;
  5. Diensten waarbij crypto-assets in bewaring worden beheerd;
  6. Diensten waarbij een handelsplatform voor crypto-assets wordt geëxploiteerd;
  7. Diensten waarbij crypto-assets worden verhandeld tegen fiatgeld of andere crypto-assets.

Hoe staan de eisen uit MiCA in verhouding tot het in Nederland geldende registratie-regime?

Onder MiCA moeten cryptodienstverleners, net zoals dat geldt binnen het DNB registratieregime, een bedrijfsplan opstellen, procedures inrichten voor de integere bedrijfsuitoefening, de betrouwbaarheid en geschiktheid van bestuurders en beleidsbepalers laten testen door de toezichthouder en over een transparante zeggenschapsstructuur beschikken.

Deze verplichtingen worden uitgebreid met o.a. de volgende zaken:

  • Het aanbrengen van een strikte scheiding tussen het vermogen van de dienstverlener en het geld in beheer van de klant;
  • Het opstellen van een uitbestedingsbeleid, waaronder het formuleren van een herstel- en exitplan;
  • Het opstellen en naleven van een, aan de wettelijke eisen voldoende, klachtenprocedure;
  • Het beschrijven van de geïmplementeerde IT-systemen en beveiligingsprotocollen;
  • Het voldoen aan strike eisen omtrent marktmisbruik en insider-trading.

Ook zullen cryptodienstverleners een cliëntenacceptatiebeleid moeten opstellen voor diensten waarbij crypto-assets worden geplaatst, alsook moeten voldoen aan verschillende transparantievereisten voor diensten waarbij crypto-assets worden verhandeld tegen fiat geld of andere assets. Naast deze zaken zal ook een eigen vermogenseis gaan gelden van minimaal € 50.000.

Wat zal de impact zijn van MiCA op de Nederlandse cryptosector?

Zoals blijkt uit de bovenstaande zorgt MiCA voor een flinke toename in regeldruk binnen de Europese en Nederlandse cryptosector. De cryptodienstverleners dienen niet alleen hun bedrijfsvoering verder aan te passen, maar dienen ook over een aanzienlijk minimum eigen vermogen te bezitten. Met name voor de kleinere Europese spelers in de markt kan dit potentieel een grote impact hebben.

Desalniettemin brengt MiCA ook voordelen met zich mee voor de Nederlandse cryptosector. Het huidige Nederlandse registratieregime staat binnen Europa immers te boek als relatief streng, waardoor de Nederlandse cryptosector zijn concurrentiepositie ten aanzien van Europese concurrentie heeft zien verslechteren. Doordat MiCA het Europese speelveld nu gelijk maakt verbetert de internationale positie van cryptodienstverleners in Nederland. Ook beoogt MiCA dat een verkregen autorisatie gepassport kan worden naar andere lidstaten, iets dat momenteel niet mogelijk is. Omdat Nederland al relatief strenge eisen stelt zullen Nederlandse registratiehouders naar alle waarschijnlijkheid beter voorbereid zijn op de additionele MiCA-vereisten.

Ten slotte zorgt MiCA ervoor dat de uitgifte van crypto-assets en het verrichten van crypto dienstverlening een duidelijk en universeel reguleringskader krijgt binnen Europa. Alhoewel de hieraan verbonden eisen streng zijn en wellicht een negatief effect zullen uitoefenen op de bedrijfsuitvoering van sommige spelers in de sector, brengt MiCA ook zekerheid voor de markt én de consument. Het ontvangen van een MiCA-autorisatie zal daarmee ongetwijfeld deuren openen die tot op heden gesloten waren en nieuwe commerciële kansen met zich meebrengen voor de Europese en Nederlandse cryptosector.