Nomentia Webinar: Payment Templates

| 15-02-2021 | treasuryXL | OpusCapita |

Live Demo: Unleash your payments with payment templates

Maybe not quite unleash but the better word might be superpower. Because payment templates are truly what will take your set-up to the next level. We are continuing our popular live demo webinar set-up where our solution managers will provide a quick deep dive into one topic and how this is working in our solution.


Payment templates allow you to publish templates for manual payment that you can use to process payments.

In this webinar we will show you how you can:

  • Lock and hide fields, and mark the desired fields required. You can also define whether a section is automatically expanded or not when a payment template is selected.
  • What type of security settings you can and possibly should set up for payment templates.

And on top of that we will provide a practical application to how those templates can make your daily life easier.

When?

  • February 18th, 2021
  • 13:00 CET / 14:00 EET

Who should attend?

Cash Managers, Treasurers, and anyone looking to optimize their payment processes.

Meet the speaker

Jouni Round

Jouni Kirjola

Jouni is Solution Manager at Nomentia and has over 10 years of experience in corporate cash management and has deep expertise in cash forecasting, payment factories and in-house banking, and process development. Previously Jouni has worked in product management, consulting and R&D.

Register Here

About Nomentia

Nomentia is a Nordic powerhouse for global cash management. We believe in a world in which businesses can make the right decisions no matter how unpredictable the times are. Our SaaS-based platform offers solutions for cash forecasting and visibility, global payments with bank connectivity, reconciliation, in-house banking, guarantees, and FX dealing. We serve 2,300+ clients in over 100 countries processing more than 200 billion euros annually. Cash is king!

Nomentia – Treasury Trends 2021

| 10-02-2021 | treasuryXL | Nomentia |

Recently, Nomentia held a webinar about the key Trends in Treasury and Cash Management. The recording of this webinar “Treasury Trends 2021” is now available for you on demand. Feel free to rewatch it as much as you like!

Watch The Webinar

About Nomentia

Nomentia is a Nordic powerhouse for global cash management. We believe in a world in which businesses can make the right decisions no matter how unpredictable the times are. Our SaaS-based platform offers solutions for cash forecasting and visibility, global payments with bank connectivity, reconciliation, in-house banking, guarantees, and FX dealing. We serve 2,300+ clients in over 100 countries processing more than 200 billion euros annually. Cash is king!

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.

 

Cashforce & TIS – Partnering Up to Deliver Best-of-Breed Technology

| 29-01-2021 | treasuryXL |

In July 2020, Cashforce, the “next generation” cash forecasting & working capital analytics company and TIS, well known as a leading bank connectivity & payments provider formed a strategic alliance. This collaboration provides a unique solution for corporates looking for a rich cash forecasting and payment experience with seamless integration to their banks and enterprise systems (ERP, TMS etc.).

Join the webinar with Nicolas Christiaen, CEO & Co-founder at Cashforce and Jörg Wiemer, CSO and Co-founder at TIS and get to know more about this best-of-breed approach and how this partnership can help you tackle your challenges in cash forecasting and corporate payments.

Register Here

 

Date and Time
  • Tuesday, March 2nd 2021
  • 16:00-17:00

 

 

 

How can businesses protect their bottom line against the currency markets?

28-01-2021 | treasuryXL | XE |

Does your company have an exposure to foreign currencies? Wybe Schutte explains in below interview how business can tackle the complexity of FX.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

Wybe Schutte is head of Business Development Europe at XE.com. Wybe’s career has always centered around international business development and managing relationships. Within XE.com both play an important part as globally we XE is the trusted partner of many business in helping them manage & mitigate the risk that is associated with dealing with multiple currencies, be this through simple rate regulation or looking at high level currency risk management & hedging solutions.

We asked him 10 questions. Let’s go!

 

INTERVIEW

1. Can you tell something about XE and its mission?

At Xe, we live currencies. Most people know Xe from the currency converter, however we also provide international money transfer services for business for over 25 years.  Xe’s Business Solutions supports company’s that have an exposure to foreign currency, supporting them to safeguard profit margins and improve cashflow through quantifying the FX risk they face and implementing strategies to mitigate it. So that our clients can focus on their core business and do not have to worry about their FX.

2.What kind of FX risk types exists and how does XE deal with it?

We look within each business to see where the currency risks are, and whether these can be offset. For example, any sales made in Euros could be offset against Euro costs. If there is still an exposure this is where products such as Forward Contracts can be considered in order to provide protection against the risk. Currency risk can be divided into three types: Transactional Risk, when a business deals in a country that differs to their base currency; Transnational Risk, when a business has an asset or liability overseas on their balance sheet, and Economic Risk where a movement in the exchange rate can give a business a competitive advantage when competing for a particular market.

3. How can you measure the different types of FX risk?

FX Risk can either have a negative or positive impact on a business’ bottom line. If you look back over the last 10 years you can understand what the potential impact could be in the most extreme, least extreme and average scenarios over your given timeline.

This can be done by looking at the high & low points of the market and a business’ FX exposure. This step helps companies to understand what the impact of the net exposure can have on the bottom line.

4. What are the most common critical FX problems that businesses have?

Businesses that have a transactional exposure to the currency markets can differentiate between committed and forecasted exposures. A committed exposure is when the price for a good or service in a foreign currency is known and contracted. Therefore, any movement in exchange rate has a direct impact on their profit or cost unless hedged. A forecasted exposure is when a business looks to the period beyond the committed period to see what their requirements may be. Confidence levels into forecasted periods can vary largely and it is normally the case that the further out a business forecasts, the lower the confidence levels.

5. How can businesses protect their bottom line against the currency markets?

There are a number of key stages that a business can look to follow in order to mitigate FX volatility. Firstly, Identify the type of risk, quantify the risk elements, and then look to build a strategy and agree the implementation process. These stages will allow you to decide the products that are most suitable, so you can then move to market timing and execution. Lastly, you should look to review, revise and adjust your approach on a regular basis. It is important to remember that it is not about market speculation but about mitigating your risk.

6. What is, in your perception, the biggest benefit of a working Foreign Exchange strategy?

Given the ever-uncertain world in which we currently live in, finance departments and treasury centres could be looking to build a strategy to deal with currency fluctuations, which over time could have a considerable impact on your company’s bottom line. A structured approach to foreign exchange risk can enable your business to make strategic planning decisions, rather than attempting to respond to day-to-day developments in the market.

7. Do you experience differences in FX before COVID19 and the time we live in now? What are the differences?

There has been significant movements in the currency markets during the Covid19 period and there are still many factors that influence the daily rates. During these uncertain times our clients are looking for certainty and stability. And although price is always important, other key factors like security and credibility became more important. Naturally each of our clients has been impacted very differently and we have worked with them to provide the solutions and flexibility they needed. We have welcomed many new clients from new geographies? as they were growing, and we supported existing clients that were growing or adapting their business models to suit the changing market.

8. The market is always changing, how does XE stay top of mind of the latest developments in the currency world?

We work closely with our clients to continuously understand their needs and adjust accordingly. Our expert Dealers keep a close eye out on the market. Understanding the movements, resistance levels, and key economic & political updates that can influence the market so that our clients do not have to worry about that. Xe also works closely with our sister companies and parent company Euronet Worldwide.

9. How does the future of FX look like in your perspective?

The near future could be set to weather extraordinary levels of balance sheet expansion and recession, potentially leading to a longer stimulative/expansionary monetary policy which could in turn depress currency rates of the countries that bear them. Near to medium term impacts of this could include a lack of major economic expansion as capital returns are often negative when factoring inflation. This may mean that we see a re-composition of FX strength toward commodity-based currencies (CAD/AUD/NZD) and alternative safe havens (CHF). However, we could see this shift in the longer term as public debt, in particular, becomes more tenable and attractive at such low interest rates and could invite broader investment for countries and to a degree private industry.

We have witnessed ample FX market volatility from an increased reliance on a more narrow data core. Inflation and interest rates and also public debt and balance sheet expansion narratives are having the most impact on rate movements. With this in mind; where much of the corrective forces required are formed around policies related to these key issues, it appears that volatility could behere to stay for at least the coming 6-12 months and beyond.

10. What has been your best experience ever in the world of currencies?

Supporting a scale-up with their complex FX requirements and enable them to grow their business in a short period of time by eliminating the FX risk and provide significant costs savings along the way.

 

About XE

At XE, they live currencies. XE provides a comprehensive range of currency services and products, including their Currency Converter, Market Analysis, Currency Data API and quick, easy, secure Money Transfers for individuals and businesses. They leverage technology to deliver these services through their website, mobile apps and over the phone.

Last year, XE helped nearly 300 million people access information about the currencies that matter to them and over 350,000 people used XE to send money overseas. Thousands of businesses relied on XE for information about the currency markets, advice on managing their foreign exchange risk or trusted XE with their business-critical international payments.

International Payments & FX Risk management for business

XE Business Solutions can help safeguard your profit margins and improve cashflow through quantifying the FX risk you face and implementing unique strategies to mitigate it. We provide a comprehensive range of currency services and products to help you access competitive rates with greater control.

At XE, they share the belief that behind every currency exchange, query or transaction is a person or business trying to accomplish something important, so XE works together to develop new and better currency services that put their customers first.

XE is proud to be part of Euronet Worldwide (Nasdaq: EEFT), a global leader in processing secure electronic financial transactions. XE is part of the Money Transfer Division of Euronet and is the unification of HiFX and XE.com.

Visit XE.com

Read XE blogs

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

 

 

Crisis Management: Why Treasury & Finance are pivotal to recovery

| 26-01-2021 | treasuryXL | Nomentia |

Initiating a crisis management strategy is now top priority for people, businesses and Governments alike. Utilizing and developing survival capabilities is proving challenging for many organisations, including cash flow forecasting and managing risk around major supply chain disruptions.

Diligent Cash Management and scenario analysis are both integral to managing uncertainty during the current crisis but also positioning finance and treasury leaders as pivotal to driving successful recovery planning.


Top things businesses should be concentrating on during the current crisis

Most organisations have a real need to understand what their current liquidity is: today, tomorrow and into the future. Finance and treasury must continue to run the business as best as they can but, to do this effectively, they need to know how much cash they have to work with on a daily basis. Therefore, group-wide, real-time cash visibility and future cash forecasting are crucial – if you don’t have enough liquidity in the business then trouble could be looming on the horizon.

The first step is to figure out what the real cash picture looks like, identify gaps and put the necessary measures and contingencies in place to avoid nasty surprises. Bill payment periods may have to be extended, funding requirements and arrangements revisited, hedging policies re-worked etc but the big picture i.e. cash visibility, is critical.

Cash forecasting comes next in order of priority, gathering a full and concise picture of short-term cash availability is imperative. Maximising business agility with some ‘what if’ scenario modelling may be required, for example: what happens if we don’t get paid a percentage of what we are expecting, what fall back positions do we have on government grants, loan agreements etc. Again, the key driver is knowing your current cash picture now and today, allowing you the best possible position for making strategic, next-step decisions. And the situation is real, a Guardian report, on the 2nd April, states 6 out 10 (60%) UK firms have no more than 3 months of cash left!

Many companies are struggling with cash forecasting, they simply don’t have adequate tools in place. What can they do, right now, given the logistics of remote working?

Thankfully there’s a lot they can do, and quickly. Ensuring whatever systems they have in place for managing liquidity are as automated as possible to enable real time, up to date information access on cash visibility. If automation is a problem or the company is still using traditional manual processes, then change as soon as possible. This is not as difficult as it sounds as many cash management solutions are now available on monthly on-demand payment plans, cloud based and can be installed quickly and efficiently without the need for IT involvement, onsite implementation teams or large upfront fees.

Given the availability of cloud-based cash forecasting solutions, systems can also be accessed remotely so staff working from home can work as efficiently and effectively as if they were operating from their respective office environments.

Actionable advice for post-crisis future planning

Preparedness. Post-crisis analysis will be critical for all organisations. Some will have managed better than others, particularly those who had previously invested in technology upgrades and system automation. Questions around: how well we were prepared, what worked or didn’t work so well, will be food for thought for all business leaders.

But the fact remains technology is absolutely key to maintaining business agility and formulating crisis preparation. Automating as many tasks as possible, in order to provide real-time access to all the data and information needed to make quick and informed decisions, can mean the difference between success and failure. Many organisations will use the time now and post-crisis to reassess technology needs and processes and plan investment in tech upgrades and automation to improve agility, accuracy and efficiency for the future.

Here’s a round-up of some actionable advice for finance and treasury leaders:

  • Know your cash availability today and going forward, focus on: group wide, real-time cash visibility and future cash forecasting
  • Consider bill payment extensions & re-visit funding requirements
  • Cash forecast regularly & consider fall back positions across a range of scenarios
  • Automate as much as possible so you’re benefiting from real-time, up to date information on cash visibility – make those upgrades as soon as possible
  • Cloud-based cash forecasting tools are more affordable and easier to implement than you might think – empower your staff with the ability to work as effectively as required, remotely
  • Reflect on how well you were prepared for this current crisis. What worked and what didn’t work so well
  • Automate as much as possible so that you benefit from real-time, accurate data to enable you to make key decisions as quickly as possible

Information is power, now more than ever.

About Nomentia

Nomentia is a Nordic powerhouse for global cash management. We believe in a world in which businesses can make the right decisions no matter how unpredictable the times are. Our SaaS-based platform offers solutions for cash forecasting and visibility, global payments with bank connectivity, reconciliation, in-house banking, guarantees, and FX dealing. We serve 2,300+ clients in over 100 countries processing more than 200 billion euros annually. Cash is king!

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Webinar: Trends for Treasury and Cash Management 2021

| 04-01-2021 | treasuryXL | Nomentia |

Treasury & Cash Management Trends 2021

A new year is just ahead of us. And what better way to start the year than to look at trends that will shape our business in the coming months.

Some of the trends derive from the global pandemic that is still showing its effect on the global economy and businesses around the world but other trends have been long brewing or just got further amplified.

Date, Time and Registration


Date: Thursday, January 14, 2021

Start: 13:00 CET / 14:00 EET

Duration: 45 minutes

Register: click here

Some of the topics Nomentia will cover

 

  • Centralization, in 2021 for real? A joint survey we did with GTNews showed that centralization is often stifled by internal roadblocks such as prioritizing the topic internally across functions.
  • This relates to the second trend for 2021, which is the role Treasury functions will take in bridging internal silos.
  • On top of this also payment fraud is a topic that has only further increased during the pandemic. Our survey shows that almost 50% of respondents consider fraud as a big challenge.
  • Lastly we will take a look at the death of monolithic platforms. In 2021 we will see the trend toward best-of-breed platforms continue.

Who should attend:

 

Cash Managers, Treasurers, and Finance leaders working in international companies who are interested in understanding the landscape they are operating in and want to stay up-to-date with developments.

Meet the speakers

jukka_round

Jukka Sallinen

Deputy CEO, Nomentia

Jukka is a cash management domain expert with a strong hands-on background from international and complex payment factory and SWIFT projects. Previously, Jukka has been working in various R&D roles, focusing on bank and ERP integrations and security topics.

 

 

 

David Kelin

David Kelin

Owner, DNA Treasury Ltd

David Kelin possesses invaluable commercial experience gained from over 35 years working in leading organizations in the areas of liquidity, treasury, and cash management. He has a keen interest in treasury technology and has written many articles on the topic. David owns and manages DNA Treasury Ltd where he provides advice to corporates and banks on treasury and liquidity. He has worked with 100’s of companies. He also runs a treasury training company which has developed courses and trained over 1,000 treasury professionals over the years.

 

About Nomentia

Nomentia is a Nordic powerhouse for global cash management. We believe in a world in which businesses can make the right decisions no matter how unpredictable the times are. Our SaaS-based platform offers solutions for cash forecasting and visibility, global payments with bank connectivity, reconciliation, in-house banking, guarantees, and FX dealing. We serve 2,300+ clients in over 100 countries processing more than 200 billion euros annually. Cash is king!