How are largest European companies managing their financial risks?

17-10-2019 | Stanley Myint | BNP Paribas

The second edition of the “Handbook of Corporate Financial Risk Management” has just been published by Risk books. The handbook is written with all risk management professionals, practitioners, instructors and students in mind, but its core readership are Treasurers at non-financial corporations. It contains 43 real life case studies covering various risk management areas. The book aims to cover both financial risk management and optimal capital structure and its contents.

Motivation for the book

This Handbook is based on real-life client discussions we had in the Risk Management Advisory team at BNP Paribas between 2005 and 2019. We noticed that corporate treasurers and chief financial officers (CFOs) often have similar questions on risk management and capital structure and that these questions are rarely addressed in the existing literature.

This situation can and should lead to a fruitful collaboration between companies and their banks. Companies often come with the best ideas, but do not have the resources to test them. Leading banks, on the other hand, have strong computational resources, a broader sector perspective, an extensive experience in internal risk management, and the ability to develop and deliver the solution. So, if they make an effort to understand a client’s problem in depth, they may be able to add considerable value.

The Handbook is the result of such an effort lasting 14 years and covering more than 700 largest European corporations from all industrial sectors. Its subject is corporate financial risk management, ie, the management of financial risks for non-financial corporations.

While there are many papers on this topic, they are generally written by academics and rarely by practitioners. If we contrast this to the subject of risk management for banks, on which many books have been written from the practitioners’ perspective, we notice a significant gap. Perhaps this is because financial risk is clearly a more central part of business among banks and asset managers than in non-financial corporations. However, that does not mean that financial risk is only important for banks and asset managers. Let us look at one example.

Consider a large European automotive company, with an operating margin of 10%. More than half of its sales are outside Europe, while its production is in EUR. This exposes the company to currency risk. Annual currency volatility is of the order of 15%, therefore, if the foreign revenues fall by 15% due to FX, this can almost wipe out the net profits. Clearly an important question for this company is, “How to manage the currency risk?”

The book blends real corporate situations across capital structure, optimal level of cash, optimal fixed-floating mix and pensions, which are particularly topical now that negative EUR yields create unpresented funding opportunities for corporates, but also tricky challenges on cost of cash and pensions management

One reason why corporate risk management has so far attracted relatively little attention in literature is that, even though the questions asked are often simple (eg, “Should I hedge the translation risk?” or “Does hedging transaction risk reduce the translation risk?”) the answers are rarely simple, and in many cases there is no generally accepted methodology on how to deal with these issues.

So where does the company treasurer go to find answers to these kinds of questions? General corporate finance books are usually very shy when it comes to discussing risk management. Two famous examples of such books devote only 20 – 30 pages to managing financial risk, out of almost 1,000 pages in total. Business schools generally do not devote much time to risk management. We hope that our book goes a long way towards filling this gap.

Website

We invite the reader to utilise the free companion website which accompanies this book, www.corporateriskmanagement.org There, you will find periodic updates on new topics not covered in The Handbook. Much like the book this website should prove a useful resource to corporate treasurers, CFOs and other practitioners as well the academic readers interested in corporate risk management.

About the authors

Stanley Myint is the Head of Risk Management Advisory at BNP Paribas and an Associate Fellow at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. At BNP Paribas, he advises large multinational corporations on issues related to risk management and capital structure. His expertise is in quantitative and corporate finance, focusing on fixed income derivatives and optimal capital structure. Stanley has 25 years of experience in this field, including 14 years at BNP Paribas and previously at McKinsey & Company, Royal Bank of Scotland and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He has a PhD in physics from Boston University, a BSc in physics from Belgrade University and speaks French, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian and Italian. At the Saïd Business School, Stanley teaches two courses with Dimitrios Tsomocos and Manos Venardos: “Financial Crises and Risk Management” and “Fixed Income and Derivatives”.

Fabrice Famery is Head of Global Markets corporate sales at BNP Paribas. His group provides corporate clients with hedging solutions across interest rate, foreign exchange, commodity and equity asset classes. Corporate risk management has been the focus of Fabrice’s professional path for the past 30 years. He spent the first seven years of his career in the treasury department of the energy company, ELF, before joining Paribas (now BNP Paribas) in 1996, where he occupied various positions including FX derivative marketer, Head of FX Advisory Group and Head of the Fixed Income Corporate Solutions Group. Fabrice has published articles in Finance Director Europe and Risk Magazine, and has a master’s degree in international affairs from Paris Dauphine University (France).

Content:

Introduction

1 Theory and Practice of Corporate Risk Management *

2 Theory and Practice of Optimal Capital Structure *

PART I: FUNDING AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE

3 Introduction to Funding and Capital Structure

4 How to Obtain a Credit Rating

5 Refinancing Risk and Optimal Debt Maturity*

6 Optimal Cash Position *

7 Optimal Leverage *

PART II: INTEREST RATE AND INFLATION RISKS

8 Introduction to Interest Rate and Inflation Risks

9 How to Develop an Interest Rate Risk Management Policy

10 How to Improve Your Fixed-Floating Mix and Duration

11 Interest Rates: The Most Efficient Hedging Product*

12 Do You Need Inflation-linked Debt

13 Prehedging Interest Rate Risk

14 Pension Fund Asset and Liability Management

PART III: CURRENCY RISK

15 Introduction to Currency Risk

16 How to Develop an FX Risk Management Policy

17 Translation or Transaction: Netting FX Risks *

18 Early Warning Signals

19 How to Hedge High Carry Currencies*

20 Currency Risk on Covenants

21 Optimal Currency Composition of Debt 1:

Protect Book Value

22 Optimal Currency Composition of Debt 2:

Protect Leverage*

23 Cyclicality of Currencies and Use of Options to Manage Credit Utilisation *

24 Managing the Depegging Risk *

25 Currency Risk in Luxury Goods *

PART IV: CREDIT RISK

26 Introduction to Credit Risk

27 Counterparty Risk Methodology

28 Counterparty Risk Protection

29 Optimal Deposit Composition

30 Prehedging Credit Risk

31 xVA Optimisation *

PART V: M&A-RELATED RISKS

32 Introduction to M&A-related Risks

33 Risk Management for M&A

34 Deal-contingent Hedging *

PART VI: COMMODITY RISK

35 Introduction to Commodity Risk

36 Managing Commodity-linked Revenues and Currency Risk

37 Managing Commodity-linked Costs and Currency Risk

38 Commodity Input and Resulting Currency Risk *

39 Offsetting Carbon Emissions*

PART VII: EQUITY RISK

40 Introduction to Equity Risk*

41 Hedging Dilution Risk *

42 Hedging Deferred Compensation*

43 Stake-building*

Bibliography

Index

Note: Chapters marked with * are new to the second edition

7 New Register Treasurers

| 15-10-2019 | by treasuryXL | Kendra Keydeniers

Each year a new class starts with the two year RT program at the Vrije Universiteit (VU). That means that every year we can welcome new Register Treasurer (RT) graduates into the World of Treasury.
On October 3, 2019, the VU was proud to announce that they honored 7 new Register Treasurer graduates.

The post-graduate Executive Treasury Management & Corporate Finance programme at the VU has now been running for more than 20 years. The graduated RT’s of 2019 were part of the 21st class.

The RT programme and its benefits

The programme consists of 6 modules. Treasury (Financial) Risk Management and International Cash Management are traditional treasury disciplines. Corporate Finance is part of the Corporate Financial Management and Capital Markets and Funding module. The embedding of the treasury and corporate finance function in corporate organizations is discussed in the Treasury Organization module. An overview of relevant aspects in financial law and fiscal law is given in the Financial and Fiscal Law and Regulations module.

Each module is concluded with an exam. All modules are organized in such a way to allow for sufficient preparation time for assignments and exams.

5 key main benefits of the programme:

  1. Broad perspective on the corporate treasury and finance disciplines
  2. Master level and state of the art
  3. Interactive sessions
  4. Useful career development opportunities in a different setting
  5. Get connected to the treasury community
A career boost for the RT graduates

The main objective of the programme is to teach high-level courses that boost participants’ professional skills, knowledge and expertise in Treasury Management and Corporate Finance. Graduates of the RT programme recognize opportunities for exciting developments, are able to think out of the box and contribute to in-depth discussions with senior management and board members, which will lead to new career development opportunities and boosts job satisfaction.

Take a dive into RT career stories from graduates

The VU has been delivering RT graduates successfully for a few decades. That means that there are hundreds of graduates working, most of them in corporate treasury. How do their careers look like after they graduated? treasuryXL asked some of the RT graduates about their career development and their thoughts about the RT programme. Check it out:

Graduated as a RT and ready for a new treasury challenge?

Being a RT opens doors to new challenges more easily. Are you looking for an interim or a permanent position? Do you want to work in a small business or rather prefer a big corporation? If you want to make a switch in your career and you are open for a new adventure than I would highly recommend to contact our partner Treasurer Search. Treasurer Search is a successful treasury recruitment company, founded 10 years ago with consultants that have experience in treasury recruitment up to 20 years.

Do you have any questions about the RT programme? Are you a RT who want to share your career development via an interview? Or do you have any other related questions or remarks about the RT topic? You can contact me directly via:

Kendra Keydeniers
Community & Partner Manager at treasuryXL

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to reduce your credit risk

14-10-2019 | Marco Lassche |

It is nice to sell your products at a good price. But what if you have delivered goods to your customer, and he is not able to pay? In this article we give you over 15 options, how to reduce your credit risk.

Although a company that you do business with can look very successful and credit worthy from the outside, there are many examples of unexpected bankruptcies.
Credit risk is the probability that your company incurs a financial loss as your counterparty (customer/supplier), cannot meet its contractual obligations.

In this article we give you guidance, how to control and cover your credit risk. We focus on the sales perspective, however it is also applicable on the purchases side; a prepayment to a supplier causes also credit risk.

Ways to control your credit risk:
  • Make a credit check on your counterparty before onboarding, and make sure to keep doing this during the whole relationship. Credit rating agencies like Creditsafe, Graydon, Dunn & Bradstreet make their business out of running credit checks on companies. They also have good tools (risk alerts), to follow the credit worthiness of your counterparty.
  • Transfer your credit risk and insure your counterparty risk to a credit insurer (Atradius, Euler, Coface). In case you trade with unstable countries, do not forget to insure the political risk. If insurance of your counterparty is not possible, this might be already a warning. However it can also be a just established subsidiary, being part of a bigger credit worthy parent.
  • Bank guarantee: the bank of your customer will ensure the payment if the customer is unable to.
  • Execute the exchange (payment vs. property of goods) with your counterparty at the same time or use a trustable intermediary.
Options with the bank:
–    Direct Collection
–    Letter of Credit (LC)In a direct collection as well as in a LC you handover agreed documents to the bank. The biggest difference between direct collection and Letter of Credit: In a collection the bank pays you only, when the customer paid to the bank. In an LC the bank of the buyer pays you when the agreed documents are delivered by the seller. So for goods that are not easily sold to another counterparty, we would advise to go for a LC.Other options

  • Use an escrow account of the warehouse.
    The warehouse releases the goods to the buyer, when they received the payment, and forward the payment to the seller.
  • In case of transport of the goods by ocean freight you can use the shipper to be the intermediary.
    When your sold goods are transported by sea, you can give the release to the shipper to handover the Bill of Lading (property document) to the buyer. Normally this is done after payment of the buyer.
  • Use factoring. You sell your debtor at a discount to a factoring company. Make sure that you cannot be liable for non-payment (non-recourse basis).
  • Ask for a parent guarantee if the counterparty that you trade with is part of a big parent company. This parent guarantee can also be used to get an insurance at your credit insurer.
  • Diversification. Try to limit credit exposure on one customer, one region (concentration ratio’s). Ensure that a non-payment of one not covered counterparty will not put you in any liquidity squeeze and put your company at stake.
  • Give collection responsibility to the sales team. A trader works mainly for its sales bonus. In my opinion, to be eligible for the bonus, the whole order to cash cycle should be fulfilled. What if you give already bonus to a sale, but the invoice is not paid. So give the trader also the responsibility for collection. In this way he will be more critical with onboarding his customers, agreeing on payment terms and fight for the invoice to get paid.
  • Create your own financial buffer; an umbrella for rainy days.
  • Limit the number of payment terms for your customers, and make sure that you keep them within the Terms & Conditions of insurance company.
  • Determine who within the company has the responsibility for the credit risk management and setting the credit limits. Most of the time this is a collaboration between treasury, sales and controlling team, and final responsibility at CFO.

As said, running a business hardly goes without credit risk, but there are a lot of tools that can help you to limit it to an extent that is acceptable.

Please feel free to contact me if you need any further information or assistance in setting up a framework to control your credit risk.

 

 

Marco Lassche 

Founder and Owner of at Bedrijfskostenexpert
Treasurer and Project Manager at Van Caem Klerks Group
treasuryXL Ambassador

What is Treasury? By Marco Lassche

10-10-2019 | Marco Lassche | Kendra Keydeniers

What is treasury?

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “what is Treasury?”. Many people will think about pirates and big see ships that sank deep into the bottom of the ocean including their ‘treasure’. A mystery treasure map will lead the finder to a treasure worth a lot of money. In some way Treasury and Treasure have definitely similarities, it is about money and other valuables.

Find out what Treasury is……

Treasury

Treasury or Treasury Management is the task to manage the firm’s liquidity and mitigate its financial and operational risk, with the goal to safeguard an organizations’ holdings. Let’s make this more specific. In each organization treasury tasks exist, regardless if the organization is big/small, profit/non-profit, nationally operating/ multinational. Although entrepreneurship is always bearing risk, this should be limited to a certain extent in order not to jeopardize the survival of the company. For each company this is different. For a company like Apple with a net profit margin > 20% losing 4% on its FX exposure has a much smaller impact on profitability, than for a WallMart with a net profit margin of 2-3%. In small organizations treasury is mostly done by the CFO or finance department. Bigger organizations have their own treasury departments, controlled by the CFO. In general, the bigger and more international the organization operates, the bigger and more complicated the tasks of treasury get.

3 main Treasury Categories of Tasks

Treasury management, can be divided in 3 main task categories.

  1. Cash & liquidity management (short term):
    a. This is mostly the day-to-day operations. Make sure that payments that are due are being paid in time to the correct account.
    b. Manage your bank accounts in an effective and efficient way
  2. Corporate finance (long term): How do you want to finance your company? What is the best mix for equity and debt, based on the long term scenarios for a company.
  3. Risk management (short & long term):
  • Liquidity risk: the risk that you cannot pay your bills in time (salaries, suppliers)Market Risk (or price risk) is the risk that changes in market prices (e.g. foreign exchange and interest rates), cause losses to the business;
  • Credit Risk is the risk that a counterparty default causes loss to the business;
  • Operational Risk (cyber & security, internal fraud).

Although the basic tasks for treasury remain the same over time, the content of the tasks evolves over time. Due to external factors like technology, regulations or new financial products, some tasks are less time consuming nowadays then they were in the past.

The future treasurer

A treasurer is someone who manages and oversees the treasury side of financial management of an organization. Tasks like bank selection, reconciling bank statements and managing cash flow are typical for a treasurer.

Payments these days can be automatized to a high extent, a TMS (treasury management system) can help the treasurer. However risks in cyber fraud are increasing. Also increased regulations by banks and/or government take more time of the treasurer. In the past a treasurer only went to his own bank for financing, these days there are many other options for financing or reducing financial risks. It is the task fort the treasurer to keep up-to-date with developments, and to be the consultant for the organization on treasury related subjects.

TreasuryXL.com will help you with this by following the latest trends on all aspects of treasury.

 

 

Marco Lassche 

Founder and Owner of at Bedrijfskostenexpert
Treasurer and Project Manager at Van Caem Klerks Group
treasuryXL Ambassador

Our banks are not like theirs (if they even have one)

| 08-10-2019 | by Pieter de Kiewit |

Recently Bloomberg reported about the authorities in Indonesia closing down 826 Fintech startups. My first assumption was this has to do with tax evasion and a very controlling government. Indonesia is most definitely not my field of expertise. Reading the article it struck me that my mindset concerning banking is quite limited and restricted to western standards. And over time I have noticed that I am not the only one. Reason to browse the internet, tell you about my findings and issues this concerning.

Even European banks are not all the same
In The Netherlands the retail banking standard was: banking services are for free and you get a decent percentage on your savings. Furthermore cheques were left in the previous millennium and even my grandmother uses on-line banking. Italian retail banking already came with an invoice long ago and cheques were and still are a standard in Germany. As many Europeans have no regular access to the (mobile) internet, banking on their computer or phone is not an option. One can also take this from the average number of banking offices to be seen in the streets of Amsterdam versus the ones in Bucharest.

Banking differences in the rest of the world
I did not do a comprehensive study but do know that for many of us Europeans a personal credit rating does not very sound familiar. When I lived in Canada I learned that you need a personal credit to get a cheque book. You get your credit rating by having an account where a regular income lands and improve it by leasing a car and pay your credit card bills in time. Without a credit rating no mortgage, a better credit rating results in a lower interest rate.
In some African countries telephone landlines were never installed and the first regular telephone was a cell phone. In parallel, bank accounts were skipped and cash is replaced by credit on this same cell phone. I think all these systems are doing a more or less proper job. Only if you want to cross the border you will need to help.

Problems with inadequate banking services
EY reports that over 200 million SMEs do not have access to banking services putting them in an offside position in the global economy. All this because the regular big banks want to deal with them as if they are a Western company. The Bloomberg article describes a situation where 90% of the Indonesian population has no credit card or access to banking services. Of course this is a facilitator for the black market economy. But also, there are examples where Fintech and loansharking are being combined with all related criminal behaviour and excessive interest rates. And, in a society without banks, what can you do with your savings? I think these are real issues.

Having browsed and learned I don’t think we should aim for a worldwide standard in banking. I hope we can learn from each other and that the banking landscape will be more honest, enabling a fair global economy. With this in mind I think I will have another look at cryptocurrencies introduced by Facebook and other new kids on the block. That is for another blog and by now I think I understand the Indonesian government better.

What are your thoughts and which interesting examples do you see around the world?

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

The impact of PSD2 on payment transactions

| 07-10-2019 | TIS |

This September the new EU directive PSD2 (Payment Services Directive 2) came into force. It is an extension of the Payment Services Directive, which was intended to harmonize the rules for payment products and services. Although this amendment affects every consumer who uses online payment services, and although sufficient notice has been given in advance of the amendment, few people know what the new EU Directive is all about. For this reason, it is not uncommon for bank customers to be confronted with an account blockage after the changeover, when logging into their online bank account, which causes a lot of confusion between banks and customers. As a result, several questions arise:

  • What has changed for the customer as a result of the changeover?
  • Can the new regulation keep the promised security standards?
  • To what extent are companies – especially Treasury- affected?
What is PSD2?

PSD2 is intended to regulate payment services and payment service providers in the European Economic Area (EEA) and throughout the European Union (EU). It aims to make cashless payments more secure, customer data better protected and data transmission over the Internet more reliable. In addition to the changes for customers, who are to experience more security through increased authentication, there are also significant changes for banks. From now on, banks will be obliged to provide third party service providers with access to customers’ account information via a standardised interface (PSD2 API) if the customer gives the consent. For banks, this means that they must surrender a large part of their power of disposal. For customers, this means that they can now make all their payment transactions without having to log into their online bank account. This is convincing for the customers, because specialised fintechs are ahead of banks and offer solutions that allow all your financial transactions – even within different bank accounts – to be carried out with only one application. This is nothing  new in the world of B2B, where corporates use payment solutions with the exact same purpose for years now.

Is PSD2 safe?

A change in the conditions of payment transactions often raises the question of whether it can actually meet the promised security standards. Especially in this case, where customer information is passed on to a third-party service provider. If lacks in security arise, there is a higher risk to become a target for cybercrime, which automatically puts bank customers’ confidential account information at risk. The European Banking Supervision and BaFin are taking it very seriously. In order to make the customers’ choice for the right third-party service provider easier, they provide a directory of reliable, registered and licensed third-party service providers.

Find out what makes TIS particularly safe!
PSD2 for Treasury?

Consumers demand real-time, round-the-clock payment services and this demand is growing. This brings changes in payment transactions that have an impact on the businesses, especially on corporate treasury which looks after cashflow. Most up-to-date account information becomes more crucial for a treasurer. The new PSD2 API interfaces could help, since it enables more direct communication with the bank and access to real-time account information.

About TIS
TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH) is the leading cloud platform for managing corporate payments, liquidity and bank relationships worldwide. The company delivers SMART PAYMENTS to help customers make BETTER DECISIONS.

TIS enables companies to make more efficient, more secure and more cost-effective payment transactions. In addition, TIS enables customers to make better decisions when analysing financial and operational performance based on real-time payment flows. All mission-critical processes related to payment transactions are integrated into a multibank-capable, audit-proof cloud platform. This is a single point of contact for enterprise customers when managing and analysing their payment flows across the organisation. TIS take care of managing various payment formats, communication channels with banks, and ERP-agnostic integration. Offered as Software as a Service (SaaS), the ISO certified TIS solutions are quickly up and running without the complexity and cost of a long IT project.

How to stay ahead of emerging threats

| 03-10-2019 | treasuryXL | BELLIN

Cyber Fraud and Treasury
Company-wide strategies to understand and mitigate cyber fraud risk

Cyber fraud represents a rapidly-evolving threat. It is essential for treasury departments to be aware of the new types of fraud that are emerging because of online technologies. The global nature of cyber crime means every business must make sure that security systems are watertight. Gangs can now conspire to defraud corporations from different countries and jurisdictions across the globe.

Royston Da Costa of Ferguson Group assisted in drafting this immersive white paper titled “Cyber Fraud and Treasury: How to Stay Ahead of Emerging Threats,” which highlights how to prevent cyber fraud and the strategies on combating it. The white paper covers:

  • Cyber fraud consequences
  • Most common types of cyber fraud
  • How to prevent cyber fraud
  • How to respond to cyber fraud

DOWNLOAD WHITEPAPER

Gartner and Blockchain: the Good, the Bad and the…

| 01-10-2019 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL

Last year Gartner, the high-standard research institute, painted a rather realistic scenario for blockchain. In one of its research papers, Gartner stated that its latest technology hype cycle puts blockchain beyond the peak of expectations and is currently sliding down towards the trough of disillusionment stage. They estimated a 5-10 year timescale before it enters the plateau of productivity, or mainstream.

Now a year later, in a recent study Gartner show a more sober picture. They found that most enterprise blockchains have been ‘mistargeted’, and that most of the blockchains in use today will need to be replaced in a couple of years.

This raises a number of questions. According to some commentators, blockchain is having an identity crisis. They state that technology is constrained by assumptions and that technological immaturity is prohibiting efforts from moving beyond the pilot phase. Other say that this is just a normal stage in the development of a new technology?

The bad …..

First the bad news. The report gives a rather sober vision for blockchain technology and its near term development. According to their research that was published last June, Gartner predicts that by 2021, more than 90% of current enterprise blockchain platform implementations will fail or need to be replaced in a 18 months period. This is due to a fragmented blockchain market and ‘unrealistic expectations’ by CIOs.

A May 2019 report by Gartner already predicted that 90% of blockchain-based supply chain initiatives would suffer from ‘blockchain fatigue’ by 2023. Garner’s June research report however has a much broader industry base and should therefore be taken seriously.

Fragmented blockchain market

The blockchain and distributed ledger technology has already become highly fragmented in terms of platforms, standards and offerings. This makes it difficult for companies to push ahead with real-world uses.

Multiple blockchain platforms

The present blockchain platform ecosystem is a very fragmented one. Today CIOs can choose from numerous blockchains available using either private ledger approaches such as R3 Corda, Hyperledger and Digital Asset or public ones such as Ethereum. Each consortium is thereby trying to make their offerings ‘the de facto basis for value exchange and digital asset representation, smart contracts and decentralised applications’. Gartner does not expect that there will be a single dominant platform within the next five years.

Fragmented offerings

The blockchain platform market is composed of fragmented systems and offerings by blockchain providers that often overlap or are being used in a complementary fashion. The blockchain platforms and technologies market is still nascent and there is no industry consensus on key components such as product concept, feature set and core application requirements.

Companies are as a result unable to find an off-the-shelf, complete packaged blockchain solution. Hybrid offerings of conventional blockchain platforms are adding further confusion to justifying a use case. This adds more complexity and confusion, making it that much harder for companies to identify appropriate use cases.

No uniform standards

Blockchain standards esp. for financial services companies are currently fragmented and immature. Standards are critical for corporates esp. in the financial industry, because they are constantly moving assets between clients, partners and other institutions. Fragmented blockchain standards are likely to prevent widespread short term deployment of blockchain and distributed ledger technology in real-world systems. Until consortiums and standards groups come together on several industry standards or de facto standards emerge, the use of blockchain will be limited mostly to proofs of concept and pilot tests.

Implementation issues

No seamlessly integration

To achieve the true potential of blockchain, implementations must be seamlessly integrated with already installed software solutions. However, major software and SaaS providers are not offering blockchain solutions as add-on features to their enterprise solutions. Currently, integrating blockchain platforms with existing systems can cost organizations millions of dollars, which further slows blockchain adoption.

Lack of interoperability

Cross-industry interoperability standards are, and will be critical especially for financial services companies. These blockchain platforms however often use differing implementations, data formats, data interchange and directories, making interoperability among different blockchains difficult across organisations.

Lack of strong use cases

As a result of the above shortcomings there is a lack of strong use cases. Most projects have remained pilot projects, due to a combination of technology immaturity, lack of standards, overly ambitious scope and a misunderstanding of how blockchain could, or should actually help the industry.

Not meeting companies needs

According to Gartner, another major challenge that CIOs and IT decision makers currently face is that blockchain platform vendors often use (marketing) messages that don’t link to a target buyer’s use cases and business benefits. This may add to the confusion around blockchain capabilities and how they augment existing processes. Buyers are still confused as to how these functions are achieved or what benefits blockchain may add compared to their existing processes.

Overestimation by CIOs

 Following from the results of the Gartner 2019 CIO Agenda Survey conducted from April through June amongst more than 3000 CIOs from almost 90 countries and across major industries, there is also a mismatch between expectation and reality about how they perceive blockchain technology.

The survey shows that many CIOs overestimate the capabilities and short-term benefits of blockchain as a technology to help them achieve their business goals, thus creating unrealistic expectations when assessing offerings from blockchain platform vendors and service providers. Even though they are still uncertain of the impact blockchain will have on their business, 60 per cent said that they expected some level of adoption of blockchain technologies in the next three years.

Misunderstandings by CIOs

There are a number confusions about blockchain technology leading to misunderstandings at CIOs. The vast majority of projects focus on recording data seeing it as the main offering of this technology. Many corporates however fail to use major capabilities of blockchain technology, such as decentralized consensus, smart contracts and tokenization.

Another misunderstanding amongst CIOs is their idea that the technology is already mature enough so that it is ready for production use. In fact many platforms however are still in a nascent and immature state far from being ready for large-scale production. Gartner however expects this will change within the next few years. And there is the wrong idea amongst many CIOs that protocols are identical to business applications. A protocol is the underlying technology such as Hyperledger Fabric of R3’s Corda and is invariably applicable to several industries. Applications need to be developed on top of these.

There is also the conviction in may CIOs mind that interoperability between various blockchain platforms is already a fact. Although some platforms talk about interoperability, Gartner finds it ‘challenging to envision interoperability when all the protocols are evolving quickly’.

The good ….

But it is not all bad news we can read in Gartner’s recent research paper. Despite the predicted gloom and the mismatch between expectation and reality, blockchain still has a solid future. Still the underlying technology is attractive and its potential uses cases vary across industries.

Impressive business value added

Although the technology will need constant updating, Gartner also predicts that by 2025, the business value added by blockchain to the industry will exceed $176 billion. More impressive is how this figure may surge to $3.1 trillion by 2030.

More stable applications

The ‘chaos’ in the blockchain solutions market is expected to only be a momentary challenge, ‘one that will pass as the hype-cycle dies down, and leads to more stable, enterprise-wide or rather industry-wide applications’. Within three to five years, many of blockchain’s core technical challenges are likely to be resolved. Given the attractive features of blockchain technology it can really drive interesting projects.

Standards maturity

Though it is very unlikely there will be a single de facto standard at all levels, Gartner expects that fragmentation will collapse and that we are three to five years away until standards mature and settle, resulting into no more than four dominant standards. This may allow for more interoperability among different blockchains.

“It’s unlikely there’ll ever be just one standard, but ultimately [there will be] a couple [of] standards bodies who’ll adjudicate…. Ultimately, there will be one or two standards..,. but no more than four”. Gartner

Blockchain capabilities as an add-on

Software suppliers, meanwhile, will integrate and upgrade their chosen blockchain versions and ensure compatibility with their own new software releases. In the next two to three years, Gartner expects all major ERP and CRM players to offer blockchain capabilities as an add-on feature for their software and SaaS products. These efforts will dramatically reduce the costs of deploying blockchain projects across the financial services organizations and their supply chains.

Transformational business impact

The 2019 Gartner Hype Cycle for Blockchain Business shows that the business impact of blockchain will be transformational across most industries within five to ten years. But these opportunities demand that enterprises adopt complete blockchain ecosystems. Future technology developments and removing remaining obstacles may enable that.

“Making wholesale changes to decades-old enterprise methodologies is hard to achieve in any situation. However, the transformative nature of blockchain works across multiple levels simultaneously (process, operating model, business strategy and industry structure), and depends on coordinated action across multiple companies.” Gartner

More intelligent applications

In the future, more intelligent blockchain applications are expected, in line with Gartner’s predictions. Especially as we move further on the Hype Cycle and past the so-called “Inspired Solutions (phase 2)” by 2022 and get well into “Complete Solutions (phase 3)” form 2025 onwards. And finally reach he Plateau of Productivity – the point at which mainstream adoption takes off.

And the …… way forward for CIOs

Companies working with the ‘myriad’ of blockchains available today should realise it is ‘highly unlikely’ the one they are using now or are planning to use short term will become the industry standard in five years. Corporates therefore need to investigate intensively how to navigate the next blockchain wave best.

Well–founded business plan

Many companies want to be fluent in blockchain before the technology is everywhere. For that they need a well-founded business plan. Those who fail to do sufficient scenario planning, experiment with the technology, and delay consideration of decentralization and tokenization risk significant long-term disintermediation.

Recommendations

Understanding and learning how to leverage the technology to create useful and practical solutions, is of utmost importance. In order to help CIOs in their blockchain journey, Gartner came up with a list of recommendations and valuable advices. CIOs should continue to educate executives and senior leaders about the blockchain opportunities and challenges most critical for business.

CIOs should also be aware of complicated challenges and of a number of impediments when deploying blockchain projects: standards, governance, integration and interoperability. They should therefore pay close attention to these hurdles blockchain projects face. In order to get used to blockchain technology and its applications, it is important for CIOs to continue to develop proofs of concept internally as well as part of market consortiums. By doing this they may learn how to leverage the technology to create useful and practical solutions, to take good decisions.

This Garner Hype Cycle is a very useful tool for corporates to get insight in the scope of blockchain’s transformation, how it impacts various industries as well as may show the current state and evolution of this technology.

 

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

To swap, or not to swap that is the question

30-9-2019 | Marco Lassche |

Cash management in different currencies:
The FX swap, a way to optimize your interest result

Years ago, when I made my first baby steps in the world of Treasury at Bank Mendes Gans, my old teachers Jan Loohuis and Aart-Jan Lensvelt, taught me some good lessons. One of them, that I always used in the companies that I have worked for, is this one.

What if you have temporary an overall negative position in one currency (e.g. -/- EUR 10 mio) and an overall positive position in another currency (e.g. +/+ USD 11 mio)?

Basically you have two easy ways to manage this liquidity position and optimize your interest result. Both ways lead to Rome:

  • Keep the balances in your bank account
  • You swap the balances in different currencies temporary by means of a FX-swap

Option 1: Keep the balances in your bank account
This option does not need much clarification.

  • For your debit balance you pay interest (basic interest +/+ margin)
  • For your credit balance you receive credit interest (basic interest -/- margin

Option 2: The FX swap
In a FX swap you do a trade in your FX trade portal, in which you exchange the bank balances at a spot date (at the spot rate) and you reverse it at a future date (at the forward-rate). You do the trade at the same time, so no FX risk is involved.

Forward FX-rates are being calculated directly from the spot FX-rate and are adjusted for the difference in interest rates between the two currencies.

FX swap visualised

Option 1 or option 2?
When the interest rate difference between the two currencies is more attractive in option 1, you keep your bank balances. When the interest rate difference between two currencies is more attractive in option 2, you swap.

Example
I would like to clarify it by an example in which we have a EUR balance of -/- EUR 10 mio and a
USD balance of +/+ USD 11 mio. We will swap the currencies for 1 month (30 days).

Interest results after 30 days

Option 1) Interest result by keeping balances in your bank account

Total interest proceeds in USD: EUR 2,708 * 1.1000 = USD 2,979 + USD 18,563 = USD 21,542.
Interest rate difference between USD and EUR: 2,35% (2.025% -/- 0.325%).

Option 2) Interest result by swapping balances

Interest result FX swap

At the start date we buy EUR 10 mio, and sell USD 11 mio at the spot rate 1.1000.
At the end date, after 30 days, we reverse the trade as we agreed with the bank:
We sell EUR 10 mio, and buy USD 11,025,770 at the agreed forward rate 1.102577

Our total interest rate difference proceeds is USD 11,025,770 – USD 11,000,000 = USD 25,770.

Conclusion:
In this example the FX swap is USD4,200 more attractive than keeping the account balances like it is. Of course, this is not always the case, but a FX swap can be a good alternative in many cases.

* How to calculate the interest rate difference between two currencies in a FX swap
As previously said, the difference in spot and forward rates, can be explained by the interest rate difference between two currencies, We calculate the interest rate differences as follows:

Forward Rate on annual basis / Spot Rate

As interest percentages are always based on 1 year we multiply the 30 days forward points by 12 to get to 1 year forward points (EUR and USD, calculate 360 days in a year, GBP e.g. 365 days).
The forward points for 30 days: 25.77, which means for one year 12 * 25.77 = 309.24
Forward rate on annual basis: 1.130924

Spot rate: 1.1000

1.130924/1.1000 = + 2,81%

Please feel free to contact me if you need any further information.

 

 

 

Marco Lassche 

Founder and Owner of at Bedrijfskostenexpert
Treasurer and Project Manager at Van Caem Klerks Group
treasuryXL Ambassador

 

 

License application for payment services in 5 steps

| 27-9-2019 | treasuryXL | Enigma Consulting

License applications from DNB: Enigma knows what is required!

If a business processes payment transactions or wants to become an account information service provider (AISP) or payment initiation service provider (PISP), it requires a license from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).

The consultants at Enigma are highly experienced in license applications. Our clients often have widely divergent reasons for applying for a licence. For example:

  • Innovative companies that wish to utilise the opportunities offered by new payment rules for account information services and payment initiation services, such as fintech businesses and accounting software providers.
  • UK-based businesses that have decided to apply for a license in the Netherlands and to serve Europe from here because of the consequences of Brexit.
  • Asian and American companies that wish to use the Netherlands as a base for setting up their worldwide Payment Gateway.
  • Companies that can no longer utilise exceptions that were possible in PSD1 because of PSD2 and are therefore applying for a license to operate as a payment service provider.

We have a multidisciplinary team, which offers the benefit of us being able to offer all areas of expertise required for license applications. The result is an application of which all elements meet the quality criteria of the supervisory body, which means a quicker assessment and granting of a license by the DNB.

You no longer need to be a bank to offer payment services. The Dutch Act on Financial Supervision applies in the Netherlands for the purpose of increasing competition and protecting consumers. This law makes it possible for payment institutions to offer payment services.

The law differentiates between 8 different types of payment service providers.

There are the classic payment service providers and electronic money institutions, but since the introduction of the PSD2 European payment guideline, there are also newer variants of account information service providers (AISPs) and payment initiation service providers (PISPs). Payment services offered include the administration of bank accounts, the transfer, deposit or receipt of funds, or the issuing or acceptance of payment instruments (such as cards).

So when is a licence required for a service? And what are the criteria that must be met?

A successful licence application for each type of payment institution is a question of thorough preparation and adequate quality assurance.

The steps required for an efficient, successful application at a glance:

1. Check whether a licence is required to offer the service

A payment service does not necessarily require a licence. Exceptions include services in which payment is made with a payment instrument with limited options for use. Neither is a license required if transactions take place in cash only and no bank account is involved.

2. If a licence is required, check whether an exemption applies

If step one indicates that a licence is required, check whether exemptions apply. A number of conditions need to be met in order to make use of that exemption. We have listed 3 below.

  1. Payment services are intended exclusively for people living in the Netherlands
  2. The monthly volume is less than 3 million Euros
  3. Asset segregation is managed by means of a trust account, bank guarantee, or comparable guarantee

If the conditions for an exemption appear to be met, then this also needs to be applied for from DNB. This application is also subject to considerable requirements. If these requirements can be met and the application for a licence has been submitted, the DNB will assess whether an exemption should be granted. If so, they will enter the exempted payment service provider into the public register.

3. Prepare the file and make the necessary organisational changes

Having completed the first 2 steps, it is clear that a licence is required and that the service does not qualify for an exemption. In that case, the payment institution must meet various criteria to be able to offer its services. These include:

  1. Demonstrating the reliability and suitability of policy makers
  2. The integrity of the company’s operations
  3. Controlled governance
  4. Surety of the funds
  5. Evaluation of the day-to-day policy makers
  6. Minimum equity and solvency requirements
  7. No Objection certificate

This is about managing operational processes and business risks, such as safeguarding the funds of the payment institution’s clients. Policy and procedures, such as a client acceptance policy, transaction monitoring, a compliance charter, and a procedure for reporting irregular transactions need to be formulated. In most cases, a ‘risk management’ policy needs to be formulated and a risk & compliance officer needs to be appointed.

4. Submit the application to De Nederlandsche Bank

All the supporting documentation for the application then needs to be submitted to the DNB. The application form that must to be completed and signed serves as the basis. The DNB decides whether to grant a licence within three months of receipt of a license application from a payment institution. Note that the three months only start once all the necessary documentation has been received. There are costs involved in applying for a licence from the DNB.

Enigma Consulting’s experience is that the DNB usually asks various questions and that the lead time for a licence application normally exceeds 3 months.

5. Implement the new policy and corresponding procedures in the organisation

When compiling the file, the implementation of specific policy and corresponding procedures in the payment institution is already a big step. Ensure these activities have actually been implemented by the company before the licence is granted. Do not underestimate this process, because depending on the size of the organisation, this step can be moderately to very resource intensive.

Experience

Thanks to Enigma Consulting’s extensive experience of the application procedure and short lines of communication with DNB, they can advise and support you in each step of the application process, whether it involves an application for an exemption, or a licence for a payment services provider, electronic money institution, account information services provider, or payment initiation services provider.

There is also the option of temporary deployment of a risk & compliance officer to share best practice and train your staff internally. Enigma possesses considerable experience in all stages of the application process. They can assist you in compiling the file and in setting up your organisational processes.
Contact Enigma Consulting with no obligation if you would like to discuss your objectives..

Geert Blom
Senior Consultant at Enigma Consulting