Money Transfer vs. Wire Transfer: What’s Really the Difference?

17-04-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |

And is there really a difference? The two methods follow the same process. You have someone that you want to send money to, and sending cash in the mail isn’t going to cut it. So, you take your money to another service provider, pay them, give them your recipient’s information, and let them take care of the heavy details. Within the next couple of days, they’ll receive the money and you’re all set until your next transfer.

For a lot of customers, the biggest difference is where you set up the transfer. Wire transfers tend to run through banks, while money transfers are facilitated by other providers. It seems like a no-brainer: you already go to your bank for other financial matters, and you trust them to handle your money and information.

But is that really the best option? Let’s take a few minutes to explore the difference between wire transfer and money transfer, and what that means for you (and your wallet).

Wire Transfer

Wire transfers are a form of electronic funds transfer (ETF) that travel through banks and financial institutions. And though we used the word “travel” in the previous sentence, there’s no physical money transport. Instead, your bank verifies that you have the funds for the transfer and sends information through the SWIFT system to your recipient’s bank that will tell them to credit their account with the funds.

Money Transfer

Like wire transfers, money transfers don’t transport any physical money but transmit financial information between the relevant parties. But as we said above, money transfers don’t go through banks (though), and they use their own communication systems instead of using the SWIFT system.

So, what’s the difference?

Is how they send the money the only real difference? That is the biggest difference, but it also leads to a few smaller (but important) distinctions. Traditional wire transfers and online money transfer differ in these key areas:

  • Depending on your bank, you may or may not need to set up your wire transfer in person. Electronic money transfers, on the other hand, can be initialized online, often any day or time.
  • The SWIFT system and other systems function in the same way, but SWIFT system transfers require a fee for using the system. Online money transfer can vary; some providers will have third-party fees, while others have just a small service fee.
  • SWIFT fees aren’t the only fees. Wire transfer is typically considered a premium service, and comes with a higher price tag than other services. When a money transfer provider doesn’t involve any third parties, the fees will be much lower.

Now that you know the difference between the two services, you’ll know which questions to ask your provider and what to look for in a transfer provider.

 

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 multibillion-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

 

 

 

 

Source

New Job Opening in Treasury: Credit Analyst (m/f)

15-04-2020 | Treasurer Search | treasuryXL

Our partner Treasurer Search is looking for a Credit Analyst (m/f).

Tasks Credit Analyst

The Credit Analyst will focus on the financial analysis of counter parties from around the world. He communicates with internal and external stakeholders, combines different sources of information and uses these to (help) make solid decisions. The Credit Analyst reports to the Head of Treasury and Finance.

Ideal Credit Analyst

The ideal candidate has a relevant Bachelor or Master degree and at least 3 years of experience with analyzing counter party risk. He has experience with credit ratings, credit insurance and balance sheet analysis. He is expert in his field and combines good communication with analytical skills. As our client is in a transition, the ideal candidate is flexible and able to deal with organizational change.

Our Client

Our client is a company with a multi billion revenue stream and a global presence. Recently the organisation went through a transformation, the rebuilding of treasury and finance is one of the results of this. The company culture can be described with key words like: result oriented, hands-on and multi-cultural.

Remuneration and Process

Our client offers a market level salary, the annual base salary is expected to be between €60K and €70K. For interested candidates who qualify, a more elaborate job description is available. The Treasurer Test might be part of the recruitment process.

 

Location

Eindhoven Region

 

Contact person

Kim Vercoulen

 

T: (0850) 866 798
M: (06) 2467 9339
E: [email protected]




Cashforce Webinar: How Treasury is dealing with the new normal

| 14-04-2020 | Cashforce

We highlight the following event, held by our partner CashForce  in collaboration with Citi; Webinar: How Treasury is dealing with the new normal

Only a short few weeks back Treasury professionals were operating in a relatively benign environment; managing routine funding needs, investments and supporting expected business growth.
Today, Treasury is in unchartered waters, working remotely, with a return to 2001 and 2008 levels of market uncertainty.
Join the panel of Corporate Treasury professionals (speakers to be announced) who are managing this business and market disruption at the frontline.
Together with Nicolas Christiaen (CEO – Cashforce), we’ll learn about their response and what steps could be taken now to prepare for the emerging new norm for Treasury.
Furthermore, Dr Duncan Cole (Principal – Citi Treasury Advisory Group) is joining this webinar.

Date, time and registration

Date: April 21st, 2020

Start time: 11am EDT / 5pm CET.

Register here

Blockchain and European payments: banks in the defensive mode

| 14-04-2020 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL

The European Banking Federation (EBF), the European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB) and the European Savings and Retail Banking Group (ESBG) point out that the crisis has brought to the fore the importance of well-functioning payments services.

The three groups have put together their vision for payments in the EU over the next five years, as they “seek to meet changes sparked by a mix of evolving customer needs, regulatory action, technology and innovation, and increased competition”.

Top of the list of priorities is the importance of developing instant payments across the EU that allows for both the differentiation of EU companies and the reduction of dependency on the dominant non-EU payment card schemes.

But reading the document not one single word was mentioned about using  blockchain or distributed ledger technology. It seems banks are increasingly getting in the defensive mode worrying the disruptive impact of this technology on their business.

Some critical remarks

Looking into the report the focus is rather limited. It shows a rather isolated EU-oriented view. It does not take into account the new realities such as globalisation of the payments world, the upcoming of new technologies and the global role of organisations  such as Visa and MasterCard, but also the likes of Facebook and Google.
It is too much EU but above all too much euro-area focused, while not taking into account the cross border element especially towards non-euro EU countries.
The report also does not go into more detail towards the various technologies including Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and above all blockchain.

Present state of EU payments market

But let us first look at the present state of the EU payments market. And what blockchain could mean to improve. As EU banks you cannot deny the outside world. I agree, most European domestic payment systems are pretty efficient. But not where one has to transfer money cross-border, especially where it relates to non-euro countries.

Most established centralised payment systems were designed decades ago, in a completely different world. While they are considered to be reliant, secure and stable domestically i.e. inside individual EU countries, these centralized systems have not been able to catch up with the needs of our digital, open and hyper-connected world.

Banks have continued to use the old-style correspondent banking systems for international payments – despite their inherent weaknesses. Notably, these systems are expensive, slow, and complex. In the correspondent banking system, both the originating bank and the foreign bank retain their own ledgers, from which they make reconciliations and settlements. This may lead to a lack of transparency, but also make them vulnerable for hacks.

According to a SWIFT and EuroFinance joint survey, lack of payments traceability, invisibility on banking fees, and amount discrepancies are the key concerns in cross border payments. It can take days to clear traditional cross-border wire payments, which carry fees as high as 10%. According to a McKinsey Research, cross border-payments take 3–5 days, which is quite long for corporates seeking to receive money. In the event of a dispute or investigation, the duration can be longer.

Disruption

New technologies are revolutionizing the way we pay and transfer money all over the globe. With the advent of mobile banking, e-commerce, and digital wallets, banks have to rethink their correspondent banking system of making cross-border payments. Blockchain is another area that – if adopted in a more massive way – could majorly transform the global payment systems and disrupt banks, causing them to realign  or rethink their products.

SWIFT defensive stance

So it is not that strange banks are increasingly in the defensive. SWIFT is still the dominant payment-processing ecosystem with more than 11,000 banks. Blockchain, through its distributed ledger, however may disrupt SWIFT’s operations in the future. To neutralize the rapid adoption of blockchain in the cross-border payments industry, SWIFT developed a cloud solution called Global Payments Innovation (gpi) to connect all clients in the payment chain. Currently, gpi accounts for more than 55 percent of SWIFT cross-border payments. Half of these transactions are reaching the recipients within minutes, but all of them within 24 hours.

Although SWIFT plans to rely on common standards, core architecture, and APIs to be a leader in the industry, it is also slowly embracing blockchain technology. SWIFT has launched a proof-of-concept (PoC) trial with R3′s Corda platform, which is blockchain-powered, to initiate payments that then go to gpi.

How can blockchain improve payments?

Though blockchain is still in its early stages, this technology has a number of inherent characteristics  presenting a fundamentally new way to transfer information and value over digital networks.

This technology could play a huge and central role in payments, underpinning core market infrastructure as well as end-user products, as a source of efficiency, innovation and competitive advantage.

As it is slowly maturing, blockchain technology could gain the trust of banking institutions and adopted widely in the coming years. From large banks and enterprises optimizing global liquidity, to retail stores accepting payment in digital currencies, to new forms of customer identification for retail transactions, blockchain could permeat the payments landscape at an accelerated space.

New forms of payment rails could “blur the lines” between currencies and countries, while cryptography solutions like zero knowledge proof could shift paradigms in areas such as identity, compliance and data privacy.

What are the real benefits?

Blockchain is a promising technology for payment processing. The broad implications for payments, especially improving settlements’ times, removing the middleman and security of cross-border transactions are hard to ignore.

The ability to speed up the payments process, improve capabilities when it comes to cross-border payments, reducing fraud by using smart contracts and making the whole payment processes more efficient and transparent are all elements that may impact its future potential and use.

Efficiency

Blockchain’s primary feature is its efficiency. Because the core idea of a decentralised ledger technology (DLT) is to forego centralised institutions, paying on a blockchain is “as easy as clicking send.”  The distributed ledger facilitates the bilateral, immutable distribution of value with the assistance of a settlement agency. Blockchain, allows the sender and the receiver, as nodes in the network, to have a complete copy of the ledger. In such a scenario, there are no correspondent banks/intermediaries involved, eliminating any chances of manipulation. The results are no money transfer waiting periods or unnecessary third-party processing fees. Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies can be transferred (and recorded for auditing purposes) instantaneously across the world, increasing liquidity and efficiency in the markets.

Security/Safety

Another important feature of blockchain technology is safety. Blockchain allows for the safe transfer of money between different individuals, currencies and countries by securing all transactions on the network with cryptography. The crux of many of its purported benefits for the enterprise is its decentralized nature, which promotes visibility and makes it more difficult for data to be manipulated. The transactions are linked with previous transactions and are distributed to all the participants in the network. For a hacker to tamper with any transaction, he/she must alter all the previous ones, which is (almost) impossible. Additionally, the use of blockchain smart contracts can halt payments when agreed terms are violated.

Cost reduction

And blockchain may support real-time domestic and cross-border payments at lower costs compared to traditional payment services. Blockchain technology completely eliminates the need for intermediaries and facilitate a direct transfer over the platform, thereby eliminating foreign exchange fees while increasing speed of transfer. Instead of incurring these fees, blockchain allows customers to pay only a nominal fee or sometimes no fee at all.

The present state of blockchain adoption in payments

Of course, blockchain technology is still in their early ages and largely still immature. Blockchain payments are not (yet) mainstream and many banks and payment service providers are just testing it, trying to combine the so-called old monetary system with the new one (blockchain solution based values or solutions). Most institutions are still reluctant to embrace blockchain fully until there is broader support for it.

But what about Ripple?

A leading player in the blockchain payment world is Ripple. Its RippleNet blockchain platform facilitates transaction of global payments at a rapid speed, allows users (mostly small business) make payments across the globe and send and receive money in local currency, requiring lower capital amounts for cross-border payments. The company’s ledger technology secures, tracks and reconciles payments, so small businesses have a transparent history of all incoming and outgoing payments.

RippleNet has a product called xRapid, that is already providing low-cost liquidity to financial institutions responsible for facilitating cross-border payments. xRapid can facilitate the process without relying on mandatory pre-funded nostro accounts, as is the case in a correspondent banking system for the execution of cross-border payments, thereby lowering the cost of cross-border transactions. As a result, the transactions occur in a matter of minutes, saving time on recipients.

Currently, the network of banks and commercial platforms has grown to 365, and they are now able to resolve problems that delayed cross-border payments, such as missing data and compliance checks. As more banks join the network, payment delays will reduce importantly.

The Ripple payment system is still in strong competition with SWIFT but is super-fast and can settle a cross border transaction in a matter of few seconds where SWIFT takes more than 3 days at times. Ripple is much more cost effective as well.

Along with this also blockchain platform Corda R3 is helping financial institutions to settle payments.

From hype to more realism

The excitement about blockchain has subsided over the last couple of years. The blockchain hype is over and we are now in the trough of disillusionment, according to Garner’s Hypecycle. Lots of experiments and R&Ds have been taken place from start-ups to central banks, however no full scale working use case has been presented at the moment.

We now moved into a stage of “rational practicality”. However, that is not all bad for the further development of blockchain, as “in the trough is where the real work gets done”. The industry knows what is possible, but also is learning what is practical given the complexity of cross-border payments. Blockchain — assuming it is attached to relevant, pragmatic use cases — can add incremental value to a business or other organization.

Regulatory barriers

One of the primary barriers is the complex global regulatory framework surrounding money and its underlying infrastructure. Central banks, governments and regulatory bodies around the world have varying perspectives and attitudes towards blockchain and its implications to critical matters such as money supply, privacy and financial crime.

As a result, most payment-related innovations either get trapped in ‘proof-of-concept’ mode with limited options for global scale, or end up buried in complicated cross-jurisdiction approval processes. The question now is not will blockchain work, but rather how do we put it to work to create more efficiency in global payment systems and can we get regulatory bodies on-board.

What should banks do?

Inevitably, banks will have to re-evaluate and revamp their existing payment systems to meet the needs of their customers with or without blockchain. However, it is increasingly clear that the scale seems to be tipping towards blockchain given the various benefits including its transparency, speed, and cost of transactions. In the realm of cross-border payments, some financial institutions are already working with blockchain providers to give their customers fast, secure, and cheap services.

When applied correctly, it has the ability to significantly change the way organizations do business with one another. As the global payments ecosystem continues to transform in response to a rapidly shifting commerce landscape, we may see the number of blockchain applications in payments exponentially growing.

A growing number of financial institutions world-wide have reached the point where they recognize blockchain as something that’s not going away and realize that they have to be involved in it if they don’t want to be disrupted by other payments players that use blockchain to bypass slower-moving banking infrastructure.

So, European banks, if you can’t beat them, join them.

By the way, a joint effort of ECB and European banks in creating a European digital currency would be a great step forward.

 

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

 

 

 

Source

LIVE DEMO: Centralized Cash Visibility

| 10-4-2020 | treasuryXL | OpusCapita |

We are excited to announce that our Partner OpusCapita, is organizing a Live Demo: Centralized Cash Visibility, which highlights the use of management tools that enable you to easily manage your liquidity.

The Live Demo takes place on May 12th, at 13:00 CEST / 14:00 EEST and takes 30 minutes.

OpusCapita believes seeing is believing! In this live demo, they show you how their dashboards enable you to easily manage missing statements or get a quick overview of your cash positions in certain banks, business divisions, companies or bank accounts. With their flexible reporting tool, you can build reports with drag and drop-functionality to meet your reporting needs. With their hierarchy-settings design, you can create your own structures of bank accounts, cash-pools and mix of companies to enable a fully customized visualization of cash positions.

In this live demo, the following topics are covered:

  • Dashboards: How to set up Balance Tracker gadgets for monitoring the bank account statement imports
  • Liquidity Reports: How to build the most commonly used Cash Visibility reports using different dimensions (currency, cashpool, company, business division etc)
  • Hierarchies: How to create and manage bank account and company hierarchies for report purposes
  • How to collect your favorite Cash Visibility Reports in a Dashboard

Who should attend:

This webinar is for treasury professionals who are looking for new ways to take their liquidity management forward.

Presenter:

KARL-HENRIK SUNDBERG
Presales Executive Lead at OpusCapita

Karl-Henrik has a background from CM in Transaction Banking followed by 6 years as head of Cash Management at a Corporate Treasury. As CM Presales in OpusCapita he is involved in sales, RFPs, product demos and product development of the next generation Cash Management modules.

Registration, date and time

  • To register, fill out this form.
  • Date: May 12th
  • Start: 13:00 CEST / 14:00 EEST
  • Duration: 30 minutes.

About OpusCapita

OpusCapita enables organizations to buy and pay quickly and securely, with a real-time view of their business. OpusCapita customers use their source-to-pay and cash management solutions to connect, transact and grow. OpusCapita processes over 100 million electronic transactions annually on its Business Network.

Visit OpusCapita

Visit Partner Page

Read Customer Success Stories

What are my International Money Transfer Options?

09-04-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |

When you break it down, all money transfers follow the same core process:

  1. You select your currencies and get your rate,
  2. You provide your information and that of the recipient,
  3. We facilitate the transfer.

However, they aren’t all created equal! Where they differ is when you pay and when the transfer goes out. Depending on why you’re making your transfer and whether you have any time constraints, one type of transfer could suit you better than others.

We’ll start by discussing these three transfer methods:

  1. Spot transfers
  2. Forwards
  3. Market orders

Let’s take a closer look at what these transfers are and when they’d be best utilized.

Spot Transfers

If you just want to make a quick, “on the spot” transfer, you can immediately do so through our spot transfers. You can buy now, pay now, and get your transfer taken care of ASAP. There’s nothing that will affect the transfer process.

When would I use this? Any time you need to make a quick, one-off payment or transfer, and you know you’re ready to send. If your transfer needs are more complex, one of the next two options might be better for you.

Forward Contracts

You’ve got a dilemma. You’ve checked the currency conversion charts, and the rate is in your favor for your transfer—but you’re not quite ready to take the plunge and initiate the transfer. Maybe you’re still building up your savings, maybe you’re still finalizing the details of your upcoming purchase, or maybe you’re concerned about potential fluctuations in your chosen currency.

A forward contract will let you lock in your rate now, even if you aren’t planning on making your purchase just yet. You’d just pay a small deposit now, and the bulk of your payment at a future date.

When would I use this? If you’ve got a big purchase to make, like property or another investment, and you want to make sure you’ll have a great rate.

Market Orders

Let’s flip the last scenario around. You know you want to make a transfer, but you’re not happy with the current exchange rate. Instead of putting your transfer on hold completely, set up your future transfer now with a market order. Specify your currency amounts and desired rate, and the transfer will initiate once that rate is live.

When would I use this? Got time to spare for your transfer? Making a transfer to or from a more volatile currency? Market orders are ideal for those of you seeking the best possible rate, while time is less of a factor.

What about those other transfer types?

If you’ve been researching money transfer, you might be thinking, “Those aren’t the only types of transfer. Why aren’t you mentioning the other types?”

The three transfers described above are all forms of international money transfer that you can easily make on our platform. These other transfers will move your money to another person, but they differ in whether they’re international or domestic, whether there’s any restrictions on the amount you can transfer, and whether they come with an additional fee.

For example, you may have heard about the following:

  • Bank transfer – This refers to any money transfer that is done through a bank. Banks are trustworthy and reliable, but because they utilize the SWIFT network, bank transfers come with numerous additional fees.
  • Wire transfer – One of the oldest and most widely known varieties of domestic and international money transfer, wire transfer allows you to electronically send funds to another person through banks or other wire transfer providers. Wire transfers go through networks such as the SWIFT network, so while they are speedy and secure, they often come with added fees.
  • Money order – This is a paper document that’s used for making payments, not unlike a check. The main difference is that you specify who will receive the money order and how much they will receive, and both you and the recipient must sign for the order. Money orders are a secure way to make domestic and international payments, but they often have a limit of $1000 per order.
  • Cashier’s check – Like money orders, cashier’s checks are a slightly more secure alternative to regular checks. Unlike money orders, you can make larger payments with cashier’s checks, and many people use them to make a down payment, put down a deposit, or purchase high-cost items like cars or boats. Cashier’s checks function by taking the check amount from the paying individual’s account and depositing it into the bank’s account, and then creating a check that draws directly from the bank or institution. The recipient is guaranteed to receive their money, and transactions can settle quickly.
  • ACH payment – Also known as an ACH transfer, this is a direct deposit transfer that is processed within the United States through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network. While they are quick and easy to manage, they are largely domestic, and would not be the best option for anyone with international transfer needs.
  • Balance transfer – This one’s a bit of a trick—balance transfers aren’t really money transfers. In a balance transfer, you’re transferring outstanding debt on one credit card to a new or different card, typically one with a lower interest rate or other benefits.

How do these other methods compare to Xe money transfer?

Now that you know a bit more about the various types of money transfer, you might be considering what would best suit your money transfer needs.

Here are some of the most important considerations when making a transfer:

  • Speed. Bank, wire, and other transfer types could be delayed by limited hours or holidays. Most online money transfers are completed within the day, and can be initiated 24/7/365.
  • Fees. Banks and other providers will often charge additional fees on top of the initial transfer fee. These fees can add up! When you make an online money transfer, you can trust that you won’t encounter any surprise fees after confirming your transfer.
  • Location & Currency. Not all of the methods listed above facilitate international transfers, or they may not transfer to your country or currency of choice. We conduct transfers to 170 countries in every major world currency.
  • Rates. Not every institution calculates their rates the same way. Our rates come from the live markets and are accurate to the minute, while other institutions may use rates more in their favor than yours.

Now that you know a little bit more about your options, you can choose the type of transfer that best fits you and your needs.

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 multibillion-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

 

 

 

Source

5 reasons why the most qualified candidate does not get the job

08-04-2020 | Treasurer Search | treasuryXL

Kim Vercoulen is recruitment consultant specialized in treasury vacancies for interim and permanent positions. As a recruitment consultant she often experience that the most qualified candidate does not get the job. In her blog below she gives 5 reasons why the ‘perfect match’ is not a matter of course… enjoy!

You may have been in the situation yourself that you read a job description where you find that the requirements match your experience for (almost) 100%.  You get invited for one or two interviews, you think it went great and expect positive feedback. But then.. You receive the call that they will propose an offer to another candidate. You are puzzled and don’t know what you could have done more. As a recruiter I have seen this situation and in this article I will discuss 5 reasons why the best qualified candidate does not always get hired.

1. Interview skills

For starters, getting a job takes a different skill set than doing the job. I see so many jobseekers focused on their previous experience in the field, which of course also is necessary, but getting the job requires you to practise other skills you might not have used in a long time. Skills like how to interview, network and negotiate. Recognize that these are skills that need practice. In a previous article we wrote we give you tips on how to prepare. You can also find a lot of helpful interview tips on the internet.

2. Socially desirable answering

One thing we also see is that people often give socially desirable answers in an interview. They give the answers they think the recruiter wants to hear. This gives the recruiter an unnatural impression and can hurt your credibility. In interviews the feeling you leave your conversational partner with plays a big role, you can imagine that only giving socially desirable answers does not leave them with a good feeling about the interview. They might think you are hiding your true self. That’s why it’s always better too keep your answers honest and authentic.

3. No match with company culture

You can be the perfect candidate on paper but in real life not fit in with the company culture. This could feel as unfair, but for both parties (candidate and company) this is very important in order to make a long lasting match. When you don’t feel at home you will be simply less enthusiastic, less motivated, less productive and will likely end up leaving the company sooner.

4. Lack of enthusiasm

Sometimes we receive feedback from our clients that they think the candidate could do the job very well, but that they did not feel that the candidate was enthusiastic about the company and the job. Do not assume that just because you applied it signals that you want the job. Make sure your verbal as well as your non-verbal communication shows how much you want to be hired. In the end we see that in most cases an employer will pick the enthusiastic though less qualified candidate over the more qualified but tepid candidate. So do not be afraid to explicitly state your enthusiasm for the job.

5. Unrealistic salary indication

Our clients always ask us to introduce candidates with a salary indication to make sure this will not become a dealbreaker in the end of the process. We sometimes speak to candidates who do not know their market value and ask for a too high (or too low) salary based on the market rate. Going too low can lead to underestimation and can result in employers thinking you might not be up for the task, while aiming too high can result in not getting the job because they can’t afford you. Make sure you know your worth before starting with applying by studying vacancies and using online tools. You can always consult us too, we have a good view on the treasury market and can help you with setting a realistic salary indication.

Take advantage with the Treasurer Test

Treasurer Test is the assessment tool for treasurers and it’s integrated in our services. With the Treasurer Test result report you can show your treasury skills at a glance next to your cv and motivation.

Find more info about the Treasurer Test here.

Take a deeper dive into how we integrated the Treasurer Test in our services here.

Author

Kim Vercoulen

 

T: (0850) 866 798
M: (06) 2467 9339
E: [email protected]

From Open Banking to Open Finance: Is GDPR certification the key to succes?

| 03-04-2020 | treasuryXL | Enigma Consulting

PSD2 has now been implemented in Dutch legislation for more than a year. Open Banking is therefore also gaining traction in the Netherlands. In this blog our Partner Enigma Consulting discusses the developments from Open Banking to Open Finance.

Blog is in Dutch

Open banking houdt kortgezegd in dat derde partijen in staat zijn te koppelen met banksystemen. Deze derde partijen krijgen zo toegang tot rekeninginformatie die worden gebruikt om hun eigen diensten te verbeteren. Toegang van derde partijen tot de betaalrekening is alleen toegestaan als aan strikte voorwaarden wordt voldaan. Zo moet de derde partij een vergunning hebben van de toezichthouder (in Nederland: De Nederlandsche Bank) en moeten klanten toestemming hebben gegeven voor het delen van gegevens. Ook moet de derde partij de IT-beveiliging aantoonbaar goed op orde hebben.

Zowel banken als fintechbedrijven hebben inmiddels een aantal vernieuwende oplossingen in de markt gezet waarmee zowel ondernemingen als consumenten meer inzicht en controle wordt geboden over hun betaalrekeningen. Deze oplossingen variëren van de standaard multibank-rekeningoverzichten bij een bank als ABN AMRO tot meer innovatieve toepassingen, zoals bijvoorbeeld de schuldhulpverleningsapp van fintech Buddy. Desalniettemin is de door sommigen verwachte stortvloed aan innovatieve toepassingen tot nu toe uitgebleven.

Van open banking naar open finance

Evengoed, of wellicht juist om die reden, kijken veel betrokkenen al naar de toekomstige ontwikkelingen die open banking mogelijk zullen opvolgen. Het ontstaan van een wereld waarin open finance gemeengoed wordt, is volgens hen aanstaande. Met open finance bedoelt men dan de ontwikkeling waarbij niet alleen toegang tot de betaalrekening mogelijk is, maar waarbij het mandaat zich uitbreidt tot bijvoorbeeld spaarrekeningen, beleggingsportefeuilles, hypotheken en pensioenen.

Zorgen over privacy

In hoeverre open finance daadwerkelijk gemeengoed zal worden in onze maatschappij, is echter nog onzeker. Om een brede adoptiegraad onder het grote publiek te bereiken bestaan namelijk nog enkele significante uitdagingen op gebied van bijvoorbeeld privacy, standaardisatie en tarifering. Vooral de onzekerheid bij consumenten over de effectiviteit van de aanwezige databeveiliging bij derde partijen, vormt een hoge drempel. Zolang consumenten niet zijn overtuigd dat een derde partij de privacy van hun data kan garanderen, zullen zij simpelweg geen informatie willen delen.

Op Europees niveau is bovenstaand vraagstuk ook onderkend. De Europese Commissie (EC) ziet open banking en open finance als een katalysator voor innovatie en wil deze ontwikkelingen daarom stimuleren. Daartoe zijn een aantal maatregelen genomen die moeten garanderen dat een partij die een open finance-dienst aanbiedt een adequaat niveau van gegevensbeveiliging hanteert. Zo is in 2018 de Algemene verordening gegevensbescherming (AVG) ingevoerd, waardoor gegevensverwerkende bedrijven aan diverse voorwaarden moeten voldoen ten aanzien van databeveiliging. Maar hoe weet een consument nou dat een ‘open finance-dienstverlenende partij’ voldoet aan alle AVG-vereisten?

Om de consument hier meer inzicht en vertrouwen in te geven zijn op Europees niveau richtsnoeren opgesteld door het Europees Comité voor Gegevensbescherming (EDPB, European Data Protection Board), het orgaan waar alle Europese privacytoezichthouders onder vallen. Deze richtsnoeren zijn recentelijk ook in Nederland doorgevoerd. De richtsnoeren maken het mogelijk voor bedrijven om een AVG-certificering te verkrijgen. Door het verkrijgen van een AVG-certificaat kan een organisatie aan haar klanten laten zien dat zij persoonsgegevens zorgvuldig verwerkt en beschermt. Het certificaat toont aan dat een product, app of dienst geheel voldoet aan alle voorwaarden op gebied van gegevensbescherming die de privacywetgeving stelt.

AVG-accreditatie en AVG-certificering in Nederland

In Nederland trekken de Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP) en de Raad voor Accreditatie (RvA) samen op bij de verstrekking van AVG-certificaten. Dit doen zij door AVG-certificatie-instellingen gezamenlijk te accrediteren.

De RvA is in Nederland aangewezen als de nationale accreditatie-instantie. Deze organisatie verleent toestemming aan gespecialiseerde organisaties (zogenaamde ‘conformiteitverklarende organisaties’ of ‘certificatie-instellingen’) om andere organisaties te certificeren. Dit gebeurt in allerlei werkdomeinen, zoals de gezondheidszorg, de bouw, transport en ook in de financiële sector. Voordat de RvA een conformiteitverklarende organisatie accrediteert controleert zij of de organisatie voldoet aan alle van toepassing zijnde maatstaven en voorwaarden, zoals ISO-normen en/of wettelijke vereisten. Zo waarborgt de RvA dat de certificaten die deze organisaties afgeven betrouwbaar zijn en werkelijk waarde en vertrouwen toevoegen. Doorlopend toezicht op de naleving van de AVG blijft onveranderd een taak van de AP.

Momenteel leggen de RvA en de AP de laatste hand aan de voorwaarden en eisen ten aanzien van de accreditatievoorwaarden voor conformiteitverklarende organisaties op het gebied van de AVG. Wanneer deze actie is afgerond kunnen certificatie-instellingen die AVG-certificaten willen uitgeven daarvoor een aanvraag tot accreditatie indienen bij de RvA. De verwachting is dat accreditering later dit jaar mogelijk wordt.

Sleutel tot succes?

Een AVG-certificaat zal absoluut een boost geven aan de bereidheid onder het grote publiek om persoonsgegevens te delen met gecertificeerde partijen. Essentieel blijft wel dat de consument een aanzienlijke toegevoegde waarde ziet van de aangeboden ‘open finance’-dienst. Daarnaast kent open finance nog andere uitdagingen die een kwaliteitsstempel alleen niet weg kan nemen. Eerder in dit artikel werd bijvoorbeeld al gerefereerd aan standaardisatiebehoeften en tariferingskwesties.

Gelukkig staan de ontwikkelingen ook op deze vlakken niet stil. Zo beoogt het ‘NextGenPSD2’ initiatief van de BERLIN-groep (een internationaal samenwerkingsverband van Europese banken en andere betaaldienstaanbieders) om een eenduidige API-standaard voor gegevensuitwisseling vast te stellen. Ook zijn zowel gevestigde marktpartijen als nieuwe fintechbedrijven druk doende om verdienmodellen rondom ‘open finance’ uit te dokteren.

Of een gezaghebbend AVG-kwaliteitskeurmerk dé toonaangevende driver voor het succes van open finance zal zijn, dat blijft nog even afwachten. In een wereld waar maatschappelijke bezorgdheid over data privacy onverminderd hoog blijft, zal het certificaat voor menig consument het benodigde vertrouwen bieden om gegevens te delen. Ondernemingen worden zo in staat gesteld om het betaallandschap en de manier waarop wij onze financiën beheren de komende jaren ingrijpend te veranderen.

 

Geert Blom

Senior Consultant at Enigma Consulting

How to Recognize and Avoid Online Fraud Attempts

02-04-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |

It’s safe to say that we all have a lot on our minds right now. Unfortunately, whenever there’s a situation that causes people to feel uneasy and panicked, there will be fraudsters and criminals who take advantage.

We have recently seen a surge in demand for our services, and in that surge there have also been vulnerable customers that have been manipulated by opportunists. In addition, the recent uptick in fully remote and online work has also opened doors for online scam and fraud attempts.

At XE, keeping our customers and their personal information safe is our greatest priority. We want to help you to protect yourself from fraud attempts. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with some of the most common online scams, and read through our tips to keep yourself and your loved ones safe from fraudulent activity.

Phishing emails

Last year, Microsoft reported that phishing attacks were the greatest online security threat by far, having increased by 250 percent since their previous report.

Usually coming by email, these attacks encourage you to click on a link or attachment and download malicious software, which attacks your device and hacks access to your files. You may also receive an email from someone posing as a trusted figure (such as your employer or a reputable company) and asking you to provide sensitive information.

How to handle these: Verify everything. Reach out to the sender or the company and confirm that this email did come from them. It takes just a few moments, but it can have a huge impact.

Banking and online account scams

Take extra caution when reading an email from a bank. Many scammers send emails or texts that appear to be sent from your bank, highlighting a problem with your account. Often, they will request a verification of your details to resolve the problem. Once they have your details…you can imagine the rest.

How to handle these: Call your bank directly to clarify the issue. Never submit your personal details to this email, or to any email. Most reputable providers will not ask you for sensitive information over email, so that should be an immediate red flag.

Online shopping scams

Online shopping was already on the rise, and now that people are taking the majority of their shopping online, scams in this area have become more prevalent. Scams include selling faulty products, attempting to sell a product to gain bank details, and promising goods at a low price (only for those goods to never arrive and the site to close down after taking your money).

How to handle these: Use your head. If it’s a site or store that you’ve never heard of, research the company and see if you can find verified reviews from other customers. Ask yourself: “Does this seem too good to be true?” If it does, then proceed with caution.

Lottery, competition and inheritance schemes

Say you receive emails stating that you have won monetary prizes in competitions you did not enter, or messages from people overseas claiming that you have inherited money. These are just attempts to obtain your personal details.

How to handle these: Ask yourself, “Did I enter a competition? Do I know these people?” As much as we’d like to believe the fairy tales, winning or inheriting money completely out of the blue is not likely to happen. Once again: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Charity scams

Scams that take advantage of good-natured individuals often make a special appearance around the holiday season, but these could be active at any time of the year. Scammers will pretend to work for a charitable cause and may even exploit news of a current crisis. Scams surrounding COVID-19 are already in circulation, and seek to prey on people’s fears.

How to handle these: Do your research. If you plan to make a donation, make sure you know who you’re donating to and what your donation will be used for. If possible, make donations only through reputable organizations’ secure sites.

How can you avoid future scams?

When it comes to avoiding online scams, there are some key precautions that everyone should take. Pass these along to your friends, family, and clients, and take a critical eye in your own online habits.

  1. Read every email carefully. Emails are the most common scam vehicle. One way to check whether the message is from a reputable source is by checking the URL before you click. Extra characters and misspellings could both point to a suspicious link. If you’re still not sure, treat it as you would any other scam email. If it’s a sender who claims to know you, check with them before sending money or information.
  2. Never agree to send money to anyone you have only met online. Sending money online is not something you should take chances on. Don’t send anyone money unless you know them personally and are certain that they are legitimate.
  3. Never make a financial decision based on a phone call you receive from a person posing as a relative of someone in prison. This is a common scam that relies on you panicking and rushing to send money as quickly as possible. Take a second to consider the situation. Odds are, it won’t make sense once you think about it. If you’re still unsure, verify the situation with another relative or friend.
  4. Never share login credentials with anyone online. No matter what they promise to do for you in return. No reputable organization will ask you for this information.
  5. Be wary of unsolicited contact. If you don’t know the person or organization who has just contacted you, be cautious while you verify who they are. Don’t respond or provide them with anything until you know they’re legitimate.
  6. Update your devices. If you haven’t been doing this regularly, now is definitely the time to ensure that all of your devices are updated with the latest security measures.

We hope this information helps you and your loved ones to stay safe online. If you need anything, our team is here to help.

Neville Lacey

Global Risk and Compliance Director at XE

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 multibillion-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.

 

 

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Career calibration meetings with Treasurer Search

01-04-2020 | Treasurer Search | treasuryXL

Due to the current economic circumstances it might not feel like the right time to take a next step in your career.

 

It might however make you think about where you are going in your career and how your next step should look like.
If you are one of those people, don’t hesitate to contact Treasurer Search for an online career calibration meeting.

You can contact Kim Vercoulen directly with below contact details.

Contact person

Kim Vercoulen

 

T: (0850) 866 798
M: (06) 2467 9339
E: [email protected]