Do you want to make better decisions through real-time reporting?

| 05-09-2019 | TIS |

BETTER DECISIONS THROUGH REAL-TIME REPORTING:
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ABOUT CASH FLOWS & CASH POSITIONS

How do strategic professionals decide on the best path to success for their company? The key is in transparency and real-time reporting across company-wide cashflow and liquidity levels, bank, customer and supplier relations and working capital. When cashflow visibility is the lifeblood of your company, you want full control and knowledge. Direct access to insights on profitability and potential business risks allow users to drive better decisions based on solid business intelligence, accessible anytime and anywhere.

SCENARIO
BETTER DECISIONS: Companies now have the power of the Business Discovery Manager – a business intelligence module within the TIS cloud platform. Supplier, salary and treasury payments can be easily analyzed along with cash flows, liquidity and working capital via easy-to-use dashboards and reports. The tool, enhanced through state-of-the-art BI technology, enables users to access all strategic insights in a single, flexible, web-based and multi-bank, multi-ERP capable platform available 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world.

 

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE FACTSHEET HERE

 

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.

 

 

Why Steven decided to explore the World of Treasury

| 02-09-2019 | by treasuryXL | Kendra Keydeniers

Steven de Klein decided to take a deeper dive into the world of treasury and started the RT program in 2014. He graduated as Register Treasurer (RT) in 2017. Before moving into treasury, he studied Business Economics in Nijmegen. His first experience in treasury was a good one, “The field of treasury is much greater than most people expect” said Steven.

Steven is Cash & Currency Manager at Royal Boskalis Westminster NV, a Dutch dredging and heavylift company. With its roots in the Netherlands, Boskalis has over 100 years’ experience in hydraulic engineering, coastal protection and land reclamation. The head office is located in Papendrecht and they have an extensive network of branches around the world. They operate in 90 countries and across six continents, with a versatile fleet of more than 900 vessels and floating equipment. Shares in the company have been listed on Euronext Amsterdam since 1971.

We asked Steven 4 questions about the RT program:

  1. What for you was the main reason to start a career in treasury?

    During my final year at the Radboud University in Nijmegen where I studied Business Economics, I started at a small advisory firm specialized in (corporate) financing. That was my first experience in treasury and it suited me well. Soon afterwards I joined a development & construction company that showed me that treasury was more than just financing and before you know it, you are a ‘treasurer’.

  2. Why did you start with the RT program?

    After working within the same company for a few years I noticed that my learning curve was leveling out. I started to investigate what treasury courses and programs where available and found that the RT program is without any doubt the best and most comprehensive treasury course available in The Netherlands.

  3. How did the education help you in your career?

    Not only did I gain a lot of new knowledge about treasury, but also about related topics such as macro-economics, fiscal law and (hedge) accounting. This helps to connect the dots a lot better when you’re back at your daily job. It also brought me a new network of people, good memories and I even think my current job at Royal Boskalis Westminster NV.

  4. Are you still in touch with your peers?

    Absolutely, during the 2-year program you built a strong relationship with your peers, since you do spend almost a full day per week with them. This is also one of the bigger benefits of the RT program in comparison to at-home studies.

We have more RT stories to share with you. Read the RT story of Bouke, Michel, Jarno, Mathieu and Richard and/or read more info about the RT program here.

The post-graduate Executive Treasury Management & Corporate Finance programme combines two finance disciplines: Treasury Management and Corporate Finance. These disciplines largely overlap and are inextricably connected.

After a successful completion of all required modules, the title of Registered Treasurer (RT) is conferred by the Registered Treasurer foundation.

As of last year the Register Treasurer (RT) program at the University of Amsterdam is taught in English. This is an important change as the program used to be in Dutch.

The course started on 1 September 2019. 

 

 

The Core Benefits of Netting For Corporates

| 29-8-2019 | treasuryXL | BELLIN

Simplify intercompany commerce, minimize fees and elevate visibility

 

Understanding the core benefits of netting

Multinational corporations are familiar with the downsides when involved with intercompany commerce. Growing transaction fees, currency exchange risk, and lack of transparency are common facets that make it difficult for such organizations. Corporations can implement netting to mitigate those downsides and free up valuable time for treasury and accounting departments. This article will shed light on the benefits of netting and why your company needs to consider implementing it.

A brief definition of netting

Netting or “Intercompany Netting” is the process of reconciling and netting intercompany invoices between two parties, resulting in a final payment and netted cashflow. In regard to financial markets, the purpose is essentially to minimize transactions and distinguish remuneration in multiparty agreements. Netting is suitable for various situations, participants, and cycle types. For more information, check out our in-depth guide to netting here.

Bilateral Netting: Two companies reconcile invoices they may owe to each other and one company agrees to pay the other one sum.

Multilateral Netting: Three or more companies netting invoices together and a netting center is used.

Multilateral Netting vs Bilateral Netting

Further Reading: Netting: An Immersive Guide to Global Reconciliation

Macro benefits of netting

Foreign Exchange Risk Mitigation

Multinational companies often perform transactions with their own subsidiaries or with non-group companies. Because of this, companies must keep currency exchange rates in mind. Original invoices are often sent in the originating currency,  which raises the need for either an external exchange service, a bank, or a netting center. With netting, the foreign exchange risk is centralized to the netting center.

It will not only keep existing invoicing procedures intact but avoid the loss of money involved with inflated currency exchange rates when using external exchanges. As mentioned, the FX risk is transferred from individual subsidiaries to the parent company, which is usually more equipped to manage it.

Floating money is wasted money

Cash-in-transit is a thorn in just about everyone’s side. Stagnant approval and processing times can create a chain reaction of risk as that cash is unable to be used. Whether it is bilateral or multilateral netting, keeping invoices to a minimum reduces the amount of money that is stuck in the limbo phase of approvals and processing times.

Increased transparency

Treasurers are able to operate at a high level when they are afforded visibility of cash flows. When subsidiaries make bulk payments, lack of liquidity or financing issues can arise and if company-wide visibility is lacking, it becomes difficult for a treasury department to act accordingly. Bulk payments backload and are concentrated in a short amount of time, cash flow is stretched thin among many of the subsidiaries. A netting system will provide daily reports and monitoring tools that provide cash flow visibility throughout the group.

Netting Vorteil Transparenz

Maximize operational efficiency

Naturally, one of the more prominent benefits of netting occurs on a daily basis. Treasury departments will see a drastic reduction in time spent on transactions and managing foreign exchange risk. From an operational point of view, a netting process simply saves treasurers time and establishes a company-wide process for disputes.

An example of this is with BELLIN clients, who save an average of 2 days of work per month per affiliated company. For an organization of 30 affiliated companies, that’s 60 days per month or 720 days a year. Realized savings typically range from $250,000 to +$1,000,000 on an annual basis.

Manage Disputes

When implementing a netting system, the treasury department is tasked with establishing a protocol for managing disputes. When subsidiaries fail to submit payables, a hitch in the payment process is born. What this causes is the inability for the payee to continue with their daily operation as they wait for receivables. Administrators can establish automated escalation protocols, which will elevate disputes to upper management based on pre-defined time periods. The escalation system leads to both tangible and intangible benefits as it literally resolves disputes through escalation and also provides an incentive for subsidiaries to execute their payables to avoid the unnecessary involvement of management.

BELLIN tm5: a comprehensive netting solution

BELLIN’s intuitive TMS: tm5, has a netting module that reconciles invoices and manages disputes with an ‘agreement-driven approach’.

The ‘agreement-driven approach’ is essentially a self-clearing methodology that utilizes the previously-mentioned: escalation protocol. tm5 automatically matches all receivables against payables and has an embedded dispute workflow for discrepancies. Consequently, the group company establishes group-wide agreements for disputes and will elevate them accordingly. With such an approach, all subsidiaries are involved in the entire process, disputes are mitigated and automatically escalated, and there is group-wide transparency.

BELLIN’s tm5 netting module has an intuitive interface but the key ingredient that makes it shine is that the platform has standardized functionality with the flexibility to meet the needs of all subsidiaries.

Interested in finding out more about whether netting is the right solution for you? Give BELLIN a shout or check out tm5, our intuitive treasury management system.

Author picture ofFlorian Kolb

Florian Kolb
As a Senior Treasury Consultant and Payments Specialist, Florian Kolb is in charge of a number of implementation and process consulting projects focusing on worldwide bank connectivity. He has great experience with SWIFT/H2H connections and complex global payments projects. Before joining BELLIN in June 2016, Florian worked as a consultant in accounting for an IT systems solutions provider. He studied at Verwaltungs- und Wirtschaftsakademie (Administration and Business Academy) in Freiburg, Germany, and is a Certified SWIFT Specialist.

 

How the Treasury QuickScan add value to your business

| 27-8-2019 | François de Witte | treasuryXL |

Do you want to know if you can save a substantial amount of money and/or protect your company against major financial risks? Are you willing to invest time and money in treasury within your organization? 

The Treasury QuickScan can help organizations with just one scan to assess if an additional effort in treasury can be an added value.

The Treasury QuickScan as a solution
SMEs struggle with increasing exposure to cash & liquidity problems, financing needs and risks (currencies, commodities, interest and liquidity).

Moreover, they do not always have a full-fledged Treasury/finance Department in the organization. That does not mean that these organizations cannot save costs or that there are no opportunities for funding, for example. It is not always necessary to set up a separate treasury department in a company to control and manage the treasury.

The Treasury QuickScan aims to bring a solution to these companies. An experienced hands-on Treasurer can do a first scan within the organization.

The objectives to provide to the company are:

  • A diagnosis on his treasury
  • A benchmarking towards his peers
  • The identification of the pain points
  • Some quick wins and an initial business case to determine whether it is worthwhile investing in the treasury (resources, tooling).

A questionnaire for 5 treasury topics
By means of a structured questionnaire, the Treasury QuickScan aims to make a quick scan / diagnosis of the treasury. Down below, we provide you some questions by topic:

  1. Working Capital Management:
  • Do you actively manage your working capital indicators (Days Sales Outstanding, Days Inventory Outstanding, Days Purchases Outstanding)
  • Do you have a credit policy in place?
  • How is your credit control organized?
  • Do you actively manage the payment terms of your suppliers?
  1. Cash and Liquidity Management:
  • Do you all have a visibility on all your cash positions?
  • Who manages the various cash positions daily?
  • Are you sometimes confronted with payments that are not paid due to lack of funds?
  • Do you do daily interbank transfers to settle the debit balances and to invest the excess liquidity optimally?
  • Do you already have an automatic cash pooling?
  • Do you centralize your in- and outgoing payments or consider doing this?
  • Do you have a cash forecasting process in place?
  1. Financing and Bank Relationship Management:
  • Do you experience difficulties in obtaining bank financing?
  • How many banks do you use? Do you need all the banks?
  • Do you ensure that the side business is distributed fairly to banks that grant large credits?
  • Are you monitoring regularly the costs which banks charge to you?
  1. Risk Management:
  • Do you have an overview on your foreign exchange, interest rate and liquidity risks?
  • Can you measure the impact of foreign exchange rate fluctuations on your Profit and Loss account?
  • Do hedge your main risks?
  • Do you have a written policy regarding the risk management?
  1. Organization and Compliance:
  • Which are the current tools in place to manage the fraud and operational risks?
  • Do you apply the 4 eyes principle throughout the company?
  • Do you have an overview of who can sign where on your bank accounts?

A short recap
The Treasury QuickScan does not solve all your treasury issues but will provide you get a mapping of the current situation, the issues, a first set of recommendations and a business case for further investments in treasury.

For organizations without a dedicated treasury department, this Quick Scan can help them to determine how to manage the treasury. This can be done with own resources and/or you can also consider outsourcing some tasks. This can be very helpful for the development of your company.

How to start a Treasury Quick Scan?
Simply send me a mail or give me a call and we discuss the best option for you.

François de Witte

Founder & Senior Consultant at FDW Consult

Managing Director and CFO at SafeTrade Holding S.A.

 

Key findings from the 2019 Treasury Compliance Survey

| 26-08-2019 | TIS |

Spending too much time and energy on compliance issues? You’re not alone. 41% of large companies identified this as their number one concern about the regulatory environment. Join Strategic Treasurer and TIS on August 29th as they reveal the exclusive results to the comprehensive 2019 Compliance Survey.

The 2019 Compliance Survey polled treasury and finance practitioners on their experiences, practices, and perspectives regarding a broad variety of compliance and bank account management operations. The survey captured both the macro and micro elements of the compliance landscape that are impacting treasury, identified how new regulatory developments are being accounted for, and gained insight to the various technologies and strategies leveraged by organizations for managing compliance on an ongoing basis. This session will cover highlights from the survey and include commentary from respected industry leaders as to what this means for you.

Register here!

Date: 29th August 2019

Timing: 11:00 AM EST

 

 

 

 

 

 

Understand Banking Asset & Liability Management

| 23-8-2019 | treasuryXL | Financial Training Hub

The management of Assets & Liabilities, known as ALM, is key to potential success of banks. The ALM strategy is set by the Board of Directors that has to decide about different financial activities in connection with two risks: interest rate and liquidity risk. This interactive course introduces you to Asset & Liability Management and the world of finance. Several workshops are included. This training is available for English and Dutch groups.

Key Takeaways

This training will learn you:

1. Yield curve impact on Asset & Liability Management
2. Gaps as basis to determine ALM exposure
3. Duration to manage the ALM mismatch
4. The use of interest rate swaps to change equity at risk
5. Basel regulation impact on capital management
6. How the new liquidity ratio’s will affect ALM

Who can do this course

The course is suitable for people that (want to) work in the financial sector. It is not necessary for participants to have specialized finance experience or education. (Duration: 1 or 2 days depending on participants experience)

Program

This training is a mix of presentations, discussions and workshops.
Topic overview:

  • Introduction of assets & liabilities of financial institutions
  • Bank risks in general
  • Specific bank risks
    − Interest rate margin and risk
    − Liquidity risk: why?
  • Reading the yield curve
    − Short and long term interest rates
    − Forward rates
  • Gap analysis to measure ALM exposures
  • (Modified) Duration for interest risk management
    − Money Duration
    − Basis Point Value
    − Equity at risk and supervisor minimum requirements
    − Interest rate swaps and ALM
  • Basel Supervision on risk management
  • Capital requirements in general
  • Liquidity ratio’s workshop: NSFR and LCR

MORE INFO HERE

 

Can you still see your banker as a trusted advisor?

22-08-2019 | by Pieter de Kiewit | treasuryXL |

Is your banker a trusted advisor or just another sales representative?

The times that you, entrepreneur or CFO, could just accept the advice of your banker is over. Understand that your banker expects you to have more knowledge than before. Do know there are alternatives. And do not forget that your banker has a target (hard or soft), just like others selling products or services.

When I accompanied my father to meet his doctor, it was clear we are of different generations. He listened and accepted, I was looking for dialogue and had questions. The attitude my father showed towards his doctor, I often see with CFOs and owners of smaller businesses. Is this a problem? Where does it stem from? Should relations change?

Your relationship with your banker has changed

Decades ago there was a knowledge gap between what bankers and entrepreneurs knew about financial markets and products. The number of local banks was limited as were funding sources. The interest was higher than it is nowadays (not too hard with current rates). All this led to a power imbalance between banks and their clients. You had to listen to your banker and accept. In those days bankers showed a different attitude than they did later. I often hear remarks about the former ABN boss Jan Kalff, he apparently was trusted like a medical doctor. I am afraid the bankers’ oath does not make current bankers a similar Jan Kalff.

Over time bankers and their clients have, together, changed their relationship. Starting with the one between banks and large corporates with treasury teams. These increasingly bigger teams gained knowledge and opened relations with alternative banking partners. On top of this, banks started rewarding their employees increasingly in an Anglo-Saxon way with an aggressive connection between performance and bonus. Treating your banker like a doctor was not appropriate anymore. Between large corporates and banks a new equilibrium was reached.

Between smaller organisations and banks a lot went well, regretfully not everything. One of many examples is that in The Netherlands sales of derivatives was done wrong in two obvious ways. First, clients bought products without understanding what they bought (and did all bankers really understand?). Second, bankers did not sell these products because their clients needed them to increase their bonus. A lot has been written about this.

Regretfully, a lot of entrepreneurs and also their auditors think they have full understanding of banking products and costs. I have seen too many treasury experts prove them very wrong. This new equilibrium has not yet been set.

An important extra development that has an impact on this topic is that banking services substitutes are being offered. Facebook can facilitate your payments, you can buy currencies cheap from Privalgo and there is a wide variety of extra funding sources coming up. All these solutions do not (yet) have an established market presence.

New banking relationship management

This is not a call for bank bashing. We do not bash the car sales guy for trying to sell a car. I do want to invite you to consider threating your banker as you would like any other supplier. Always remember he has a sales target. Understand that bankers have to balance their oath with this target. On top of this they see many of their colleagues being let go. For them these are no easy times.

Find out if you have the expertise to have a balanced meeting with your banker. Can you oversee your risks, do you understand the products and do you really know what you pay your bank? I have had more than one meeting with a banker in which I learned that banks themselves often do not know what they make on their clients. The amount mentioned on your bank statement about their costs does not cover everything your bank earns on you. Do you know the spread they take on your FX deals, the margin on insurance products? They and you often do not know the product alternatives and their rates. You can get low threshold expertise or send your employees to get relevant education or have them visit events. The expertise is available.

Times are changing

Changing relationships with your bank are only a problem if you ignore the change. The banks did not ignore and have changed. In my opinion these changes are good. Bear in mind that corporate treasury is not rocket science. Spend the time on this topic it deserves. Times are changing, so keep an eye on what is happening. It will save you cost, create opportunities and help you avoid risk. Good luck and drop me an email if you have questions.

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

Transform Intercompany Trade with Multilateral Netting

| 19-8-2019 | treasuryXL | BELLIN

Legacy tools yield legacy results

Too many international companies are manually reconciling and netting intercompany invoices. These companies may lack a clear and structured workflow for this process, leading to a host of potential risks and issues along the way including:

  • High volume of intercompany transactions
  • Too many invoice and expense disputes
  • Shadow bookkeeping
  • Lost productivity
  • High bank fees and fx costs

According to a recent Deloitte poll of finance professionals, reconciliation is the biggest intercompany hurdle. With only 9.2% of finance professionals saying their organization has a holistic, efficient, and clear intercompany reconciliation process, there is a clear need for a solution.

When asked what poses the greatest challenge to the implementation of intercompany accounting:

  • 21.4% of participants claim disparate software systems are their biggest challenge
  • 16.8% claim intercompany settlement
  • 16.7% said complex intercompany agreements
  • 13.3% said transfer pricing compliance
  • 9.4% said FX exposure

Introducing a multilateral netting solution

With a centralized multilateral netting solution, companies can boost profit and productivity by gaining global visibility and control, automating processes, settling disputes locally, and reconciling and netting transactions seamlessly.

Average BELLIN clients savings with our multilateral netting solution:

  • 2 days of work per month
  • $250,000 to $1,000,000 on an annual basis from banking and FX fees

Average industry savings figures:

  • 15% year over year growth
  • 50% labor cost reduction
  • €13 saved per invoice through automation
  • 1hr of labor saved per day

Would you like to learn more about BELLIN’s multilateral netting solution? Just reach out to BELLIN for a tm5 demo, or visit tm5 page.

Embracing technology to deliver value from treasury

| 16-08-2019 | TIS |

Join Giancarlo Laudini, SVP Global Sales & Marketing Operations, TIS and Ernie Humphrey, CEO, 360 Thought Leadership Consulting to discover what fuels career success in treasury in today’s world. We will discuss the evolving role of technology in treasury success, how to leverage technology it your advantage, and how to embrace business partnering to impact decisions across the enterprise.

 

Register here!

Date: 11th September 2019

Timing: 5 PM CET

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Bouke decided to explore the World of Treasury

| 15-08-2019 | by treasuryXL | Kendra Keydeniers

 

Bouke Weijmans graduated as Register Treasurer (RT) in 2014. Bouke has a strong interest in process optimization and building treasury departments from the start. He currently works at Aalberts Industries as a Cash and Treasury Manager.

Aalberts Industries is a Dutch manufacturer that engineers mission-critical technologies for ground-breaking industries and everyday life.

We asked him 7 questions about the RT program:

 

  1. What was your main reason to start a career in treasury?

    Actually I rolled into the field of treasury when working at Flow Traders. During my study business administration at the VU I always believed I would develop my self in the field of process optimization. About 6 months after I joined Flow Traders the person in charge of treasury left the company and I was asked to pick up the role.

  2. Why did you start with the RT program?

    Eager to learn more about my new role in treasury I started looking for opportunities to develop myself. As a former VU student I found following classes of the RT program was the best way for me to do this.

  3. What are key words that you would use to describe the program?

    The program is small scaled and interactive, which allows active discussion between teachers and students touching issues treasurers run in during their day to day work.

  4. Which topics covered were most interesting?

    I was still a little green in the world of treasury when I started. Therefore, the topics about treasury, cash management and corporate finance where really useful.

  5. What surprising elements did the program hold that you did not expect?

    I liked the fact you also get schooled in the field of fiscal law. It gave me a better understanding how transfer pricing works and what implications this can have for a company.

  6. Are you still in touch with your peers?

    I’m not in active WhatsApp groups, however the world of treasury is quite small and you run into each other from time to time. It’s always nice to catch up at such occasions.

  7. Did following the program influence your relation with your family, friends and/or colleagues?

    Following and preparing classes takes some time and planning which means sometimes you have to say no to social events. This can be difficult from time to time but no permanent harm has been done.

We have more RT stories to share with you. Read the RT story of Michel, Jarno, Mathieu and Richard and/or read more info about the RT program here.

The post-graduate Executive Treasury Management & Corporate Finance programme combines two finance disciplines: Treasury Management and Corporate Finance. These disciplines largely overlap and are inextricably connected.

After a successful completion of all required modules, the title of Registered Treasurer (RT) is conferred by the Registered Treasurer foundation.

As of last year the Register Treasurer (RT) program at the University of Amsterdam is taught in English. This is an important change as the program used to be in Dutch.

The course will start on 1 September 2019. Why wait? Apply today!