8 reasons why you need to invest on the Dutch NPEX stock exchange

03-08-2020 | NPEX |

The NPEX stock exchange brings entrepreneurs and (institutional) investors together for financing and returns.
We share 8 reasons why you need to invest on the Dutch NPEX stock exchange.

Blog and whitepaper continues in Dutch language

  • U heeft vermogen opgebouwd, of u bent vermogen aan het opbouwen.
  • U wilt graag dat uw vermogen rendeert.
  • Een spaarrekening levert nagenoeg niets op en ook de effectieve rentes op staats- en bedrijfsobligaties zijn historisch laag. Daarnaast dient u nog rekening te houden met de vermogensbelasting en inflatie.
  • Wat kunt u nog meer doen om rendement te behalen?

In 8 redenen vatten we samen waarom beleggen via NPEX voor u als belegger interessant is.

Download  de gratis whitepaper en lees over alle voordelen.

DOWNLOAD

 

 

Are There Risks to Conducting International Business in USD? (Part 1 of 2)

30-07-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |

American corporations often transact their international business in USD because they believe it eliminates FX risk. Unfortunately, this is a false sentiment.

When it comes to international business, American companies have a global advantage. The U.S. dollar (USD) serves as the world’s reserve currency. This has created a global demand for dollars and led to certain industries (e.g., energy) being globally priced in USD. Because of the USD’s global status, many American companies transact all their international business in USD—but this may not always be the best move.

American corporations—particularly smaller and middle market companies—often elect to transact their international business in USD because they believe it eliminates foreign exchange (FX) risk. Unfortunately, this is a false sentiment.

Pricing transactions in USD does not eliminate FX risk. Instead, it merely transfers it to the trade partner, because the trade partner most likely operates under a different functional currency.

When to Price in USD

When deciding whether to transact in USD, a company needs to examine its business operating environment. There are instances when pricing international business in USD is a valid strategy for a U.S. company.

Two examples of this are:

  • Industry standard: certain industries have long-established USD-functional supply chains. Some examples of these industries include aspects of energy, agriculture and aerospace.

  • First-time global traders: new entrants to global trade have other risks to prioritize over currency risk (such as counterparty risk, quality of goods, shipping, payment, and more).

Why Do US Businesses Price in USD?

Even though a vast majority of industries are not globally USD-functional, many American companies still transact their international business in USD.

The most common reasons cited for this include:

  • Perceived FX risk avoidance

  • Ease with current process

  • Internal system incompatibility

This set of circumstances falls under managerial influence. A company that continues to transact global business in USD under these reasons has made a business decision that the ease of transacting in USD outweighs the potential benefits of transacting in local currency.

However, what these companies need to understand is that transacting their global business in USD can also come with hidden costs or risks.

The Cost of Pricing in USD

American companies transacting globally in USD may be exposing their business to potentially higher costs or reduced sales and margins.

Why?

Because their trading partner is most likely not USD functional, making the USD payable or receivable a foreign currency to that company. The foreign company will need to be compensated for absorbing the FX risk; to do so, they will likely “pad” prices to U.S. importers or demand price discounts from U.S. exporters.

Industry studies estimate the cost to U.S. businesses can range from 2%-10%. Importers face inflated pricing and payment delay risk. Exporters face uncompetitive pricing, reduced margins, possible payment delays or, worse, potential lost sales.

Management Taking Control

In a globally competitive marketplace, it is prudent for a company to question why it transacts its global business in USD. Is it industry standard? Or a lack of internal knowledge and inadequate systems?

As companies strive to grow revenues and reduce costs, it is possible that transacting business in USD is having a negative effect. Is the purchasing group overpaying for goods? Has the export sales team experience lost sales to competitors pricing in local currency?

At Xe, we work every day with companies doing international business. We understand the challenges companies face when transitioning to pricing their international business in foreign currency. Wherever your business is on this transition journey, the Xe Corporate Team can be your partner and help your company manage the FX risk component of international business. Visit our Business page for more information about our products and services.

To learn more about the costs to American companies for transacting in USD, understand how this impacts importers and exporters, and see some solutions other companies have tried, stay tuned for the Part 2 in this series.

Get in touch with XE.com

About XE.com

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

Deciding when to make an international payment and at what rate can be critical. XE Business Solutions work with businesses to protect bottom-line from exchange rate fluctuations, while the currency experts and risk management specialists act as eyes and ears in the market to protect your profits from the world’s volatile currency markets.

Your company money is safe with XE, their NASDAQ listed parent company, Euronet Worldwide Inc., has a multi billion-dollar market capitalization, and an investment grade credit rating. With offices in the UK, Canada, Europe, APAC and North America they have a truly global coverage.

Are you curious to know more about XE?
Maurits Houthoff, senior business development manager at XE.com, is always in for a cup of coffee, mail or call to provide you detailed information.

 

 

Visit XE.com

Visit XE partner page

 

 

 

Rent a Treasurer – Joint Venture treasuryXL & Treasurer Search

| 29-07-2020 | treasuryXL | Pieter de Kiewit

Organisations with treasury exposure, without the expertise. The ones of you who know me longer, know this is one of my favourite hobby horses. For a longer period of time I have been tinkering with many plans to help the aforementioned organisations. This led to contributions to treasuryXL as a community and educational institutes like the Hogeschool Utrecht and the Vrije Universiteit. Now we will work on the obvious: bringing highly skilled treasury interim managers to organisations without a treasurer.

Impact on SME’s

Treasurer Search has a long and solid track record in finding interim treasury managers to large organisations with a corporate treasury function. One of our team members reaches out on a continuous basis to these managers to ask them about their availability, skills and preferences. Many of these managers love to work in smaller size organisations. There they can have real impact, save costs, mitigate risk and create opportunities.

Target audience treasuryXL

One of the important target audiences of treasuryXL is the group of CFOs, group controllers and entrepreneurs who, consciously or not, deal with treasury topics. In the content distributed on the platform the following is taken into consideration: non-technical treasury information on a regular basis with a clear upside-story. The communication channels that are used are also the ones that hardcore treasurers might not tune into but other financials do.

Rent a Treasurer

All the pieces of the puzzle have been on the table for a long time. The plans have been there for a long time and now we will act. As Ben Tiggelaar states: “the gap between plans and success is action”. Through treasuryXL you can “rent a treasurer”, click the link for more information about the concept.

Thank you,

On behalf of Treasurer Search, Pieter
On behalf of treasuryXL, Kendra

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit

Owner at Treasurer Search

Meet our Experts – Arnaud Béasse

28-07-2020 | Arnaud Béasse | treasuryXL

Welcome to the 10th and last (for now) interview of the ‘Meet the Expert’ series. This time we interviewed our brand new Expert Arnaud Béasse. Arnaud is founder of the advisory firm Arts+Brands and an expert in Debt Management. He started his career as Regional Financial Controller, cumulating the responsibility for IT.

Arnaud has more than 17 years experience in Banks focusing successively on Structured Asset Finance, Corporate Banking, DCM and in Multinational Corporates for their Energy and Metals trading and Project Finance. He created Arts+Brands to expand his entrepreneurial spirit by advising small ventures and start-ups (Fintech, Biotech, IT) for their Fund Raising and Finance strategy and also by getting involved in the daily operations.

Arnaud is fluent in English, German and French and is used to work in international, multi-cultural and virtual teams environments.

We asked him 11 questions, let’s go!

How did your treasury journey start?

During my first assignment as a regional financial controller, I have been immediately confronted to a complex consolidation of cash streams from different emerging countries with different currencies and regulations. Finding secure and systematic solutions has been challenging but also interesting and fun. This was the beginning of my treasury discovery, from which I moved then to asset finance, project finance, trade and export finance and later to the complete « corporates and markets » solutions offered by a large European bank.

What do you like about working in Treasury?

I find the central role played by treasury in supporting a business very motivating: it manages all financial resources a business needs to generate returns. Perfect understanding and anticipation of the needs (planning) and an accurate analysis of the resources available (controlling) are therefore essential. I also like the necessity of combining short term priorities like cash management and long term planning like investments.

What is your Treasury Expertise?

Capitalising on my long banking and large corporates experience, I have acquired a strong knowledge of all kind of debt solutions associated with credit, regulatory, compliance competencies. I have specialised in Debt Management, Fund Raising, Asset Finance, Leasing, Cash Flow Management, Trade and Export Finance and Project Finance. I am currently focusing on Sustainable Finance to support firms aligning their finance resources with their commitments towards the environment.

What’s the most important factor in debt management?

The starting point of debt management is a careful analysis and control of the cash flows. Borrowings need to align with the business cycle of the company and eventually its equity profile. Once the needs of each business line and the corresponding cash flow generation are consolidated, the adequate debt structure can be designed with a mix of junior to senior, short term to long term solutions and a calibrated interest rates structure.

What has been your best experience in your debt management career until today?

I remember a dramatic situation occurring during a local currency crisis in an emerging country, where we had arranged a large equipment finance. The debt repayment plan did not anymore match with the borrower’s cash flow generation and we were heading straight to a default situation. After long and numerous discussions, we managed to get transferred a large position on natural resources the company was owning but not operating and structured it in a way that the majority of risks were covered, the credit committees and respective boards were satisfied and ultimately the borrower managed to earn additional profit. I admit there is a part of luck in this experience but getting from this desperate situation to a point where all parties were so happy has been my most fulfilling experience so far!

What has been your biggest challenge in your career?

I consider the toughest challenges in a company are almost always linked to human resources management and termination of assignments. But if we remain within the treasury topic, my biggest challenge so far has been to accept a board decision not to conclude an M&A transaction, whereby all indicators (profit, risk, market position, further opportunities) were very favourable for the group and I had worked for more than one year on the case. Some months later, upon publication of the yearly results, it became clear why the project was rejected!

What is the most important lesson that you have learned as a treasurer?

Along the various experiences I had with treasury, the most important lesson might be to always seek the most simple and straight forward option. There are many ways of hedging a currency position, improving the average interest rate of a pool of debt facilities, leverage the value of an asset, optimise the return of positive cash position. But the risk and time associated to it can rapidly be disproportionate to the purpose and the size of the original transaction. Treasury shall normally create value, not necessarily profit!

How have you seen the role of Corporate Treasury evolve over the years?

Obviously, the role of Corporate Treasurer has become more and more complex. Treasury needs to deal with an increasing availability of alternative financial products, intensifying risk management requirements, regulatory and compliance constraints. But at the same time, the emergence of digital treasury platforms and integrated cash management systems are making the steering of treasury much easier and more accurate.

The coronavirus is undoubtedly an unprecedented crisis. In general, can you elaborate on the impact this virus has on treasury from your perspective?

Treasury is between a rock and a hard place: as a consequence of the crisis, sales are dropping and cash flows are missing but the financial obligations (debt, salaries, rents, supply, …) remain and the access (if not the availability) of financial resources become difficult. For treasurers who had a prudent cash flow management with enough resources to bridge the gap, it has been a confirmation for their risk management strategy. For others with more lean structure, it is, in the best case, a very stressing moment trying to find last minute and costly (not only in terms of interest rates) funding solutions. Some businesses, which have bet on a very tight business model, will probably be restructured. The crisis will certainly lead corporates to adopt more careful models with sufficient reserves and flexible organisations but also postponed or reduced investments.

What developments do you expect in corporate treasury in the near and further future?

The main trend is definitively the further digitisation of the treasury functions, offering more reliable, more secure and faster execution of the transactions: payments, cash management, trading, trade and export instruments, guarantees, etc. As the execution of transactions will be more and more automated and integrated in the supply chain systems, treasurers will shift their focus on analysing and planning for the financial resources in order to formulate strategies.

Another interesting trend for the treasurer is the further development of the non-banking debt market. This shall broaden the borrowers’ horizon, balancing again the bargaining power in favour of the corporates and generating even more tailor-made/OTC debt solutions.

What is your best advice for businesses without a Treasurer?

Running a business without a treasurer can only be considered for small businesses. For standard operations, managing the daily needs with modern digital tools will always become easier, even if substantial support shall be required during the implementation of a system. Once the system is running, the daily treasury tasks can be integrated in the accounting and finance agenda.

However, as soon as operations get more complex (investment, take-over, international development, restructuring…), the support of a specialist remains essential, be it for a limited period of time like part-time or ad interim…

 

 

Arnaud Béasse

 

 

 

 

Does your business need support in Treasury or a Treasury QuickScan?

We have treasurers available, go to Rent a Treasurer for all information.



Electronic signatures – basic step towards digitization?

| 27-07-2020 | treasuryXL | Enigma Consulting

The COVID-19 virus forces companies to work differently. Within a few days the use of Zoom, Teams and other video conference resources grew and it turned out that a large number of functions could be performed from home. Supportive administrative and operational systems such as corporate treasury management systems are also readily available, which means that new ways of working were quickly embraced. However, not everything works automatically. One of the examples is signing contracts.

Blog is in Dutch

Nu steeds meer processen worden gedigitaliseerd en geautomatiseerd, is het geen wonder dat de vraag naar elektronisch ondertekenen toeneemt. Door het juridische tintje aan ondertekenen vinden veel organisaties dit nu nog lastig. Met het oog op de efficiency proberen organisaties de tijd en kosten te verminderen die zijn gemoeid met ondertekening van een contract of overeenkomst.

Waar een zogeheten “natte” handtekening juridisch rechtsgeldig is, geeft het elektronisch ondertekenen van contracten kopzorgen aan bijvoorbeeld de treasurers bij het tekenen van financiële contracten. Een veel gehoord geluid is dat treasurers toch maar even naar kantoor komen om met de pen te tekenen, of allerlei acties nemen om contracten rechtsgeldig te laten zijn.

Allard Keuter van Signicat, Esther Makaay van Connectis en Robert-Jan Wekking van Enigma Consulting leggen uit hoe de elektronische handtekening ook voor deze processen ingezet kunnen worden. Allard Keuter en Robert-Jan Wekking  werkten eerder samen aan de ontwikkeling van de digitale identiteit iDIN en adviseren bedrijven bij het digitaliseren van hun bedrijfsprocessen.

Welke vorm heeft een elektronische handtekening?

Elektronische handtekeningen komen in vele vormen voor. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan het inscannen van een geschreven handtekening, maar ook het invullen van een naam op een elektronisch formulier of een vinkje zetten. Ook het inloggen met een authenticatiemiddel in de mijnomgeving om een akkoord te geven of het elektronisch ondertekenen met een eID, een digitale identiteit zoals bijvoorbeeld DigiD of iDIN, zijn vormen van een elektronische handtekening. De verschillende soorten elektronische handtekeningen hebben verschillende kenmerken en zijn niet allemaal even betrouwbaar. Het belangrijkste verschil is eigenlijk hoe de identificatie van de ondertekenaar heeft plaatsgevonden.

Wat betekent een elektronische handtekening juridisch?

Er is geen wettelijk kader voor de gewone geschreven handtekening. Wel wordt de handtekening in sommige gevallen voorgeschreven, als vormvereiste. De elektronische handtekening kent wel een wettelijke basis. Sinds 1999 was dit in een Europese richtlijn geregeld en vanaf 2014 is deze vervangen door de eIDAS verordening. Deze bepaalt onder meer dat er sprake is van drie niveaus handtekeningen:

  1. De gewone elektronische handtekening

    Hieronder valt bijvoorbeeld een ‘scan van de fysieke handtekening’, de ‘krabbel’ aan de deur, of het vinkje online. De betrouwbaarheid ervan is laag, en het is eenvoudig na te maken. De ontvanger kan wellicht wel controleren of de handtekening overeenkomt, of aantonen dat iemand iets heeft geaccepteerd, maar zekerheid dat deze ook écht door de wederpartij is gezet heeft hij niet.

  1. De geavanceerde elektronische handtekening

    Een geavanceerde elektronische handtekening kent meer waarborgen dan een ‘gewone’
    elektronische handtekening. Deze vorm vereist onder meer dat de ondertekenaar uniek geïdentificeerd kan worden, en dat een verandering (na ondertekenen) van het document gesignaleerd kan worden.

  1. De gekwalificeerde elektronische handtekening

    Een gekwalificeerde elektronische handtekening is een geavanceerde handtekening waarbij bovendien nog een gekwalificeerd certificaat is gebruikt. Gekwalificeerde certificaten mogen alleen door een gecertificeerde TSP (Trust Service Provider) worden uitgegeven.

Het is duidelijk dat de juridische bewijskracht toeneemt, naarmate er een hoger niveau van handtekening wordt gebruikt. In ieder (Europees) land is het in ieder geval zo dat een elektronische handtekening, in welke vorm dan ook, niet door een rechtbank geweigerd mag worden als bewijslast. Alleen de gekwalificeerde elektronische handtekening is in de EU juridisch gelijkgeschakeld aan de ‘natte’ handtekening, de juridische waarde voor de andere vormen is overgelaten aan de lidstaten. In Nederland is de geavanceerde variant bijvoorbeeld ook gelijk aan de ‘natte’ handtekening wanneer deze voldoende betrouwbaar is. En dat hangt weer af van het doel van ondertekening en ‘alle overige omstandigheden’.

Signicat heeft een rapport laten opstellen door advocatenkantoor Bird & Bird, waarin de juridische situatie voor 7 Europese landen uitgezocht is. Het beschrijft hoe er in de praktijk wordt omgegaan met bekrachtiging, erkenning en bewijslast van elektronische handtekeningen in Zweden, Denemarken, Noorwegen, Finland, Duitsland, België en Nederland.

Het belang van identificatie

In de meeste gevallen is het van belang dat de ondertekenaar ook geïdentificeerd wordt: wie ondertekent er en mag deze persoon wel tekenen? Denk bijvoorbeeld aan de bevoegdheid om te handelen namens een bedrijf of een controle of de ondertekenaar ouder is dan 18 jaar.

Als gebruik wordt gemaakt van een online applicatie waarbij gebruikers ingelogd zijn, is als het goed is bekend wie er bij welk user account hoort. Dit is in veel gevallen voldoende betrouwbaar. Voor getekende documenten die ook buiten de organisatie gedeeld moeten worden is het gebruik van een eID of digitale identiteit voor de hand liggend. Daarin is de identificatie dan geregeld: door authenticatie met dat eID worden de persoonsgegevens van de ondertekenaar vastgelegd.

Ook hierin zijn verschillen in de mate van betrouwbaarheid: social logins werken met door de gebruiker zelf ingevulde gegevens (“self-assured”), maar er zijn ook eIDs waarbij de identificatie van de gebruiker veel sterker gedaan is. Voorbeelden daarvan zijn iDIN en eHerkenning.

Hoe kun je dit gebruiken?

Veel bedrijven zijn al van start gegaan met elektronische handtekeningen in één of andere vorm. Met het breed beschikbaar komen van digitale identiteiten zoals iDIN en eHerkenning zijn ook deze vormen van ondertekening, dus met een betrouwbare identificatie van de ondertekenaar, breed beschikbaar. Ook in andere Europese landen zijn digitale identiteiten beschikbaar, waardoor het ondertekenen van contracten over de grens via gebruik van verschillende eID middelen geïntegreerd toegepast kan worden.

Er zijn verschillende manieren om elektronische handtekeningen te gebruiken.

Het tekenen van contracten kan volledig geïntegreerd worden in de eigen omgeving van het bedrijf. Door middel van een API naar de omgeving van een trust service provider wordt de technische uitvoering van de digitale handtekening uitbesteed, waardoor het voldoet aan de eisen die eraan gesteld worden. Opties als meerdere documenten tegelijk ondertekenen, meerdere ondertekenaars, ook buiten de eigen organisatie, doorsturen naar een andere ondertekenaar zijn allemaal mogelijk, volledig geïntegreerd via de eigen omgeving.

Een andere optie is gebruik maken van een Signing portaal.  De te ondertekenen documenten worden geupload in het portaal, met de gegevens van de ondertekenaars. Vervolgens handelt het Signing portaal het proces af, inclusief uitnodigingen tot tekenen en het uitsturen van herinneringen.

De juiste keuze voor uw organisatie hangt van verschillende facetten af, zoals het aantal documenten, de workflow waarin het ingepast moet worden, de snelheid van tekenen, en de benodigde betrouwbaarheid van de handtekening.

Signicat heeft hiervoor een buyers guide gepubliceerd die bedrijven helpt de juiste keuze te maken.

Deze tijd van werken versnelt de vraag naar digitale oplossingen. Het implementeren van een oplossing als het Signing Portaal kan direct helpen om de eerste zorg rondom contracten weg te halen. Wel wordt geadviseerd om in parallel te onderzoeken hoe op langer termijn de elektronische handtekening past in de gehele interne en externe bedrijfsvoering, waardoor stapsgewijs de stap naar volledige digitaliseren van documenten bereikt wordt.

 

SOURCE

Planning a Large Purchase? Tips for Saving

23-07-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |

When there’s a lot you need to save, it can seem daunting, and you might not know where to start. We want to help you with your savings plan.

Most of our purchases are pretty mundane. Think about the purchases you’ve made this week. They were probably more along the lines of swiping your card at the gas pump and paying your bills online than the lines of booking an extravagant trip or buying a new vehicle, right? But every so often, we will make those larger purchases.

Whether it’s a solid investment for your family and lifestyle (like a home) or a well-deserved bit of fun (like a hot tub), these purchases won’t be as easy. You may have enough saved up to make this purchase right now, but it’s more likely that this purchase is going to require a bit of saving.

When there’s a lot you need to save, it can seem daunting, and you might not know where to start. We wanted to share some of our tips to simplify the saving process for your next exciting purchase.

1. Figure out your timeline and use it to create your savings plan

Depending on the type of purchase that you’re making, there may be a specific date by which you’ll need to make your purchase. Even if you aren’t working towards a set deadline, it’s a good idea to set one for yourself so you can determine how much you want to save each month.

If there’s no rush, you can base your savings plan on how much you can comfortably put away each month, without having to make any changes to your current spending habits. But if you have a target date for your purchase or you’d prefer to shorten the process, read on to see how you can save more each month.

2. Make a separate savings account for this purchase

You may already have a general savings account (and if you don’t, try to open one as soon as possible). But creating a new savings account just for this purchase has a few benefits:

  1. You can visualize how much you’ve saved more quickly and easily;

  2. You won’t be tempted to pull from your emergency savings or other important savings (and vice versa);

  3. You can utilize accounts, tools, and services that you might not be using with your current savings account.

When you open this new savings account, take advantage of this opportunity to shop around your bank’s offerings or even other banks’ accounts. Some banks offer financial planning tools that can help you with your savings, or you could find a bank or account that will generate greater interest on what you’ve saved. Don’t just go with the first option available; take time to find the one that best suits your goals.

3. Reassess your budget

In general, you should revisit your budget on an annual basis, or any time you experience a change in your life or financial circumstances (such as starting or losing a job or combining finances with a spouse). Creating a savings plan is another time when you should take another look at your current spending. Determine how much you could comfortably put away each month, and how long it would take you to save at that rate. If you’re not happy with that timeline, try making a few changes to your budget to improve the efficacy of your savings.

There are some expenses that you can’t cut from your budget. Even when you’re saving up for a big purchase, you’ll still need to pay your bills, buy groceries, and put gas in your car in the meantime. But look at the subscriptions you pay for and the non-essentials that you buy and consider whether you need to budget for them

Even for the essential purchases, small changes like switching from name brands to generic, buying used, or comparison shopping online can add up to increased savings.

Need another currency for your purchase? Consider an Xe money transfer

You could be purchasing property in another country, or you could be making an investment. In these cases, your payment would. Sure, you couldjust make a card payment and let the exchange sort itself out in the payment process, or you could make a wire transfer. But when it comes to large purchases, there are a few unique advantages to using money transfer for your transaction.

When you’re exchanging a large amount of currency, the exchange rate can make a big difference in how much you need to provide. If you pay with your card or make a bank or wire transfer, your transfer will be made at their exchange rate. These exchange rates often come with hidden margins or are designed to favor the provider over you, meaning that you won’t get as much bang for your buck.

If you make your transaction through a money transfer provider, on the other hand, you can check the rates ahead of time and get a rate that you know you’ll be happy with. If you transfer money with Xe, you can guarantee that you’ll get a fair, honest exchange rate that comes from the live currency markets, with no hidden margins.

If you’re not on a time limit, there are a few tools you can take advantage of to ensure that you’ll get the best rate possible for your transfer. You can set a Rate Alert that will let you know as soon as your desired rate is live, or if you have the funds you can set a Market Order that will automatically purchase your currency when your ideal rate is live.

Or, if the rates are currently in your favor but you lack the funds or don’t want to make your purchase right away, a Forward Contract will allow you to lock in the current exchange rate and make your exchange or purchase at a future date.

Get in touch with XE.com

About XE.com

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

Deciding when to make an international payment and at what rate can be critical. XE Business Solutions work with businesses to protect bottom-line from exchange rate fluctuations, while the currency experts and risk management specialists act as eyes and ears in the market to protect your profits from the world’s volatile currency markets.

Your company money is safe with XE, their NASDAQ listed parent company, Euronet Worldwide Inc., has a multi billion-dollar market capitalization, and an investment grade credit rating. With offices in the UK, Canada, Europe, APAC and North America they have a truly global coverage.

Are you curious to know more about XE?
Maurits Houthoff, senior business development manager at XE.com, is always in for a cup of coffee, mail or call to provide you detailed information.

 

 

Visit XE.com

Visit XE partner page

 

 

 

Conference “Toekomst Betalingsverkeer” rescheduled to October 1, 2020 | Future of Payments

22-07-2020 | treasuryXL | Kendra Keydeniers |

Euroform will host the 21st edition of the Conference “Toekomst Betalingsverkeer” on Thursday October 1, 2020 at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam.

“Toekomst Betalingsverkeer” is a major event in the Payment Business with round table sessions, keynotes and more.

It’s time for big steps in the payment landscape!

What can you expect?

  • Expand your professional network with the attendance of 300 + strategic payment experts
  • Over 10 C-level speeches with topics like: Digital Transformation in Banking, FinTech, NextGen customer, New PSD2 Business Models, Blockchain Impact and Artificial Intelligence
  • 20 round table sessions: EID, PSD2, Instant Payments, Cybersecurity, Cryptocurrencies, Data Driven Business Models
  • Young Professional Breakfast
  • Plenty of networking opportunities with Drinks & Bites

Program and Speakers

This year there are a total of 35 speakers with a diversity of expertise. You can see an overview of all the speakers of 2020 here.

To take a deeper dive into the full program you can view and download the agenda here.

What happened in 2019?

Pieter de Kiewit

 

Pieter de Kiewit, Owner of Treasurer Search, visited the event last year and we asked him a couple of questions about the event:

 

 

 

Why did you attend the event ‘Toekomst Betalingsverkeer’ last year?
In my perception the developments in payments are diverse and frequent. Technology is making giant leaps. Consumer acceptance is slowly following. And the supplier landscape is shifting from traditional banks, to Fintech to dominant players like Apple, Google and Amazon. I hoped to gain further insight in what can and will actually happen.

What was your overall impression of the event?
Well organized, nice venue and professional. A nice mixture of keynote speakers, smaller presentations and roundtable meetings.

Did the event meet your expectations? And why?
Yes and no. I learned quite a lot and gained new insights. With my focus on corporate treasury I was surprised about the limited audience. All people I met were competitors in one way or the other representing banks, fintechs, tech solutions or payment service providers. There was some talk about consumer payments. I totally missed interest and understanding in the main client group of most people present: organizations actually doing and receiving payments. No Unilever, Belastingdienst, telco provider, e-commerce company or similar organization.

What is the best thing that you can remember of the event?
A keynote speaker informing us about technology in China. He told about a world I do not know about, where payments and doing business in general is very different and in many aspects ahead of us.

Will you attend this year again? If yes, what do you hope to learn and see?
If my schedule allows, yes. I would like to see a program similar like last year with further input for and from business to business clients of suppliers already present.

 

 

Last year, one of the treasuryXL ambassadors, Francois De Witte, chaired two round table sessions with the main topic: “The View of the Treasurer on Payment Transactions”.

He wrote a recap of the event and the round table sessions, check his recap here.

 

 

Join the event with discount and register exclusive via treasuryXL

The registration fee to attend the event is € 849,00 per attendee.

We are happy to provide our readers with a 20% discount on your registration fee.

Make sure to use this exclusive link to register with discount.

I wish you a great event!

Kendra Keydeniers

Community & Partner Manager treasuryXL

Meet our Experts – Vincenzo Masile

21-07-2020 | Vincenzo Masile | treasuryXL

Welcome to interview #9 of the ‘Meet the Expert” series. This time we interviewed our Expert and Treasury Specialist Vincenzo Masile. He is an experienced international finance manager who lived and developed his career in Italy, The United Kingdom, Switzerland and The Netherlands. Currently, he lives in Amsterdam, and enjoys working with people from different countries.

His fields of expertise are:

We asked him 11 questions, let’s go!

1. How did your treasury journey start?

Back in 2008 I was working as a credit manager for a large US agricultural commodities, ADM, at their cocoa operations in The Netherlands and I was asked to spend six months in Switzerland at the newly created treasury hub.

2. What do you like about working in Treasury?

I enjoy the variety of the tasks and the communication with the different company stakeholders.

3. What is your Treasury Expertise?

Cash Management, People Management, Project Management, FX, Reporting, Banks Relationships

4. Do you have examples of risk mitigation, creation of opportunities and/or cost savings?

I was the PMO of a hedging project at Netapp for the EMEA region back to 2012. Cost savings opportunities were identified improving the process accuracy on Oracle 11 and simplifying the reporting to corporate.

At Affidea I changed the cash flow forecast reporting moving from a fully manual version to a partial automated version. This change generated time saving and more accuracy.

5. What has been your best experience in your treasury career until today?

On April this year I completed an eighteen months assignment at Affidea B.V., a Dutch pan-European medical healthcare and I worked mainly from their finance ops in Budapest and occasionally from their holding office in Amsterdam.

It was a very interesting and valuable experience.

6. What has been your biggest challenge in treasury?

Lack of cash visibility especially at country level has been one of the biggest challenges I had to face to.

7. What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learned as a treasurer?

A treasurer has a watchdog role over all aspects of financial management and indeed cash will be always the King!

8. How have you seen the role of Corporate Treasury evolve over the years?

Treasury evolved from a traditional finance role into a business enabler supporting the company growth. In that respect effective communication & collaboration across different areas of business is the key.

9. The coronavirus is undoubtedly an unprecedented crisis. In general, can you elaborate on the impact this virus has on treasury from your perspective?

My view here is that treasurers should take the following steps going forward:

  • Cash flow management:  This is even more critical as we move beyond COVID-19
  •  Determine cash availability: Enables informed decisions around liquidity and cash flow, debt, FX exposures and payment priorities
  •  Scenario testing: Ensures understanding of preparedness for shocks
  •  Engage with relationship banks: Opportune time to partner with banks to fast track digital adoption of tools that provide visibility, efficiency, fraud control etc.
  •  Digitize manual processes: Ensures enhanced controls are put in place where manual payments remain – to mitigate cyber and fraud risk
  •  Monetize inventory: Inventory may be temporarily surplus to requirements because of demand gluts or supply chain disruption

10. What developments do you expect in corporate treasury in the near and further future?

Technology will play a major role in the future and this can be only beneficial to corporate treasury. Payments platforms, Fintech, Trade finance blockchain solutions, outline that the future is already here.

11. What is your best advice for businesses without a Treasurer?

It depends on the size of the company but generally speaking I strongly recommend to have on board a treasurer.

 

 

Vincenzo Masile

Treasury Expert/ Credit Risk Manager

 

 




 

Does your business need support in Treasury or a Treasury QuickScan?

We have treasurers available, go to Rent a Treasurer for all information.



Cultural differences and Trade Finance

| 20-07-2020 | Ger van Rosmalen | treasuryXL

What do Trade Finance and Cultural Differences have in common?
If you want to do business internationally, it is important to understand which risks you could encounter. These are not only payment or transport risks, but certainly also communication risks

This blog is in Dutch language.

Over betaal-en transport risico’s laten mensen zich graag voorlichten en op dat punt gaat men graag met de opgedane kennis aan de slag. Toch levert dat niet altijd het beoogde resultaat op. Hoe komt dat dan? Vaak denken wij Nederlanders met onze buitenlandse zakenpartners hele goede gesprekken te voeren terwijl de nuances van de gesprekspartners volledig aan ons voorbij gaan. We begrijpen niet dat er iets anders bedoeld wordt dan wat er wordt gezegd. Dan kan het zomaar gebeuren dat de deal aan je neus voorbij gaat.

(H)erkennen

Erkennen en herkennen dat er culturele verschillen zijn is een goed startpunt. De volgende stap is hoe maak ik mij die kennis eigen en hoe ga ik dat toepassen in mijn dagelijks werk? Kennis vergaren is kennis in huis halen door gebruik te maken van ervaren trainers/docenten die de cultuur van het bedrijf als startpunt nemen om je vervolgens mee te nemen in jouw wereld van internationaal zakendoen. Met welke delen van de wereld doe je zaken? Leren hoe je met die zakenpartners op een effectieve manier kunt communiceren. Dat kan zijn als je elkaar ontmoet of per email, videoconference of telefoongesprek spreekt. In ieder van deze communicatievormen zijn andere aandachtspunten waar je rekening mee kan houden. Immers bij een telefoongesprek spreek je elkaar maar zie je elkaar niet en gaat het om een andere vorm van communicatie dan wanneer je elkaar via een video conference spreekt. Nu zie je elkaar ook en kan jouw zakenpartner ineens non-verbale signalen afgeven die je in een telefoongesprek niet had gezien.

Culturele verschillen binnen het bedrijf

Culturele verschillen is in mijn ogen een ondergewaardeerd onderwerp in het internationaal zakendoen. Ik ben er van overtuigd wat het bedrijven kan brengen en heb diverse trainingen mogen bijwonen bij bedrijven. Er ging een wereld voor de mensen open, zoveel voorbeelden van miscommunicatie, elkaar niet begrijpen en soms herkenning als voorbeelden worden gegeven hoe het mis kan gaan en ik mensen zie lachen die dergelijke situatie hebben meegemaakt. Ik heb ook een keer een training bijgewoond bij een groot internationaal bedrijf waar ik dagvoorzitter was. Doel was om te praten over culturele verschillen als je over de hele wereld zaken doet. Er waren 20 deelnemers met 18 verschillende nationaliteiten. Het bleek dat culturele verschillen binnen het bedrijf zelf al een groot probleem bleek te zijn. Collega’s die elkaar niet begrijpen, die dicht klappen als wij “Hollanders” de druk even stevig opvoeren. Ik kan u vertellen de trainer heeft die dag niet gesproken over culturele verschillen met buitenlandse zakenpartners maar wel over culturele verschillen binnen het bedrijf. Het was een openbaring en verademing voor de deelnemers om daar over te kunnen spreken. Deelnemers die vanuit hun culturele achtergrond niet snel op de voorgrond zullen treden konden en mochten zich uitspreken. Het is een zeer openhartige training geworden wat de collegialiteit een enorme positieve boost heeft gegeven.

 

Wil je meer weten hoe een beter begrip van culturele verschillen jou verder kan helpen?
Neem dan contact op

 

 

Ger van Rosmalen

Trade Finance Specialist

 

 

Looking for a Junior Treasury Systems Implementation Consultant at Fintech Start-Up

17-07-2020 | Treasurer Search | treasuryXL

Our Partner Treasurer Search is looking for a Junior Treasury Systems Implementation Consultant for a Fintech Start-Up (f/m). Together with one of the co-founders of the company you will be communicating with banking clients to help successfully implement the services and products of your company. You will gather the product requirements of clients and manage the implementation projects. You will be responsible for planning and budget. Also, you will be supporting the internal organisation, both in product development and improving processes & working instructions. As these are treasury processes your task to make sure compliance is reached, is a very important one.

Ideal Junior Treasury Systems Implementation Consultant

The ideal candidate holds a MSc degree and has 2-5 years experience with IT in corporate and/or banking treasury. She has proven project management experience. Knowledge and a strong curiosity in how treasury systems will evolve is essential. Software development experience is a big plus, not a must.

Our Client

Our client is creating a new market in the landscape of corporate treasury and banking technology. They have about 30 international employees. The successful start-up has very strong investors, the first very prominent & international clients are landed and they are about to make the next step in standing on their own feet. The start-up entrepreneurs are leading the company by example and have a strong record in relevant professional fields.

Remuneration and Process

The base salary is expected to be €50K. The Treasurer Test might be part of the recruitment process.

Contact person

Pieter de Kiewit
T: (0850) 866 798
M: (06) 1111 9783
E: [email protected]





Location

Midden Nederland


APPLY HERE