5 steps for optimizing payment transactions

| 13-09-2018 | TIS | treasuryXL |

They are one of the most important economic transactions and since all times have provided us with order and structure, but at the same time they have been a nuisance, because they are equally complex and essential. They come in the form of cash payments, semi-cash payments and non-cash payments, with the latter definitely at the forefront. But in order to organize payment transactions optimally, there are a few things that need attention.

In this article you will find out everything on how to renew your payment transactions, making them more transparent, simpler and more secure. At the same time, you can keep up with digital transformation.

Step 1: Getting an Overview

Regarding innovations in payment transactions, there are many items that require attention. For this reason, it is important to get an initial overview of the current payment transactions situation and a breakdown of the complexity of the factors contained in this term. You should be able to answer questions regarding current payment formats, including abroad, bank communication and possible bank connections before you start making any changes. You should also take into consideration your own payment transactions, in order to recognize weaknesses and potential improvements. Only then will you know if there is still potential for optimization and where the innovation process needs to start.

Step 2: Setting Goals

As is the case with successfully mastering any task, it is important to first set goals in advance and to monitor the results to be achieved. In this way, you prevent inaccurate or unwanted results and a lengthy change process. In order to define your goals, you should compare and consider the potential connections to the bank, systems and formats which are to be used in the future. Moreover, an initial conceptional model of the potential new banking landscape should be developed.

Once the first two steps have been carefully considered, it is down to the nitty gritty: making better decisions.

You can read the full article on the website of Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH.

 

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Treasury is dead. Long live treasury?

| 11-09-2018 | Eurofinance | treasuryXL |

 

If Global Business Services models can do a better job at HR, procurement, networks, IT and data analytics, why doesn’t it just take over treasury? At some firms, it’s already happening.

Shared services are again all the rage as companies search for the short-term wage arbitrage of offshoring. At the end of 2016, Warner Music Group announced the creation of a new US centre of excellence for Shared Services in Nashville, Tennessee, to aggregate its US Accounting Operations, Cash Management and Recorded Music Rights Administration. In June 2016, Eltel announced its intention to establish a new Global Shared Services centre in Poland later this year. The decision has now been taken to locate the centre to Gdansk. The centre will provide all Eltel businesses globally with support services in the field of finance, human resources and procurement. And Nestlé, as part of an ongoing programme of structural cost saving, has recently set up two more SSCs, one in China and one in Portugal taking the total to nine.

Initially, treasury is in control of the outsourcing of its functions. The creation of one or more shared service centres is driven by a corporate desire for lower-cost, higher efficiency processes. Treasurers’ solution has been to centralise treasury operations and to outsource non-strategic treasury processes.

Typically, this process starts with streamlining bank account structures, bank account management and pooling mechanisms, often by moving to a single banking partner. This eliminates manual processes, creates greater cash visibility and gives treasury access to real-time information, allowing it to develop better cash forecasting and insights into the underlying businesses. Standardisation is achieved through the adoption of ISO standards or the creation of company-wide process templates.

The full article written by Simon Brady can be read on the Eurofinance website.

 

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Reminder Event: TOMORROW’S EUROPE: Uncertainty and unprecedented opportunity

| 10-09-2018 | Reuters | treasuryXL |

Join this dynamic discussion where a panel of economic, geopolitical and business experts will explore what ‘Tomorrow’s Europe’ may look like.

Europe is at a crossroads. It faces many challenges – from globalisation and geopolitics, to the impact of new technologies and trade agreements. But change also brings great opportunities for the brave and adaptable. Above all, innovation, entrepreneurship and investment will be the foundations of future prosperity. And businesses – as the main creators of jobs and growth – have a pivotal role in determining what ‘Tomorrow’s Europe’ will become.

Our expert panel will discuss

  • What will drive economic growth?
  • What are the geopolitical factors that lie ahead?
  • Which businesses and markets will bring investment to the region?
  • What will propel innovation and competition?
  • How new regulations and a post-Brexit trade landscape will shape the decades to come

All this, and much more, up for debate at the Axica, Berlin on 19 September 2018.

Agenda

6:30 pm: Arrive and sign in
7:00 pm: Welcome and introductions
7:10 pm: Panel discussion
8:00 pm: Audience Q&A
8:30 pm: Networking drinks reception

Meet the Speakers

(Additional panellists to be announced shortly)

Özlem Bedre-Defolie

Associate Professor of Economics, ESMT

Özlem Bedre-Defolie is an associate professor (with tenure) of economics at ESMT Berlin. Her research has been published in leading Economics, Marketing and Industrial Organization journals, including American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Theory, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Marketing Science, International Journal of Industrial Organization.

Ferdinand Fichtner

Head of Department, DIW Berlin

Dr. Ferdinand Fichtner is Head of the Forecasting and Economic Policy Department at DIW Berlin. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cologne and wrote his dissertation thesis about the effects of monetary integration on economic welfare. He is one of the leading German experts on macroeconomic policy, with frequent appearances on national and international media and close connections with German and European policy makers.

Josef Janning

Head of European Council on Foreign Relations, Berlin Office

Josef Janning joined the European Council on Foreign Relations in April 2014 as Senior Policy Fellow in the Berlin Office. Josef has published widely on European Affairs, International Relations, EU foreign and security policy, German foreign and European policy as well as global affairs. On these issues he also is a frequent commentator with German and international media.

Panel Moderator: Vanessa Cuddeford

Vanessa Cuddeford is a journalist and presenter with 15 years’ experience. She anchors and reports for the BBC and Reuters, regularly presenting news, arts and business programmes for international broadcasters.

This event is for:

Business leaders / senior executives / entrepreneurs

For more information or if you want to register for the event visit the events website.

 

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Testing Treasurers for Integrity

| 06-09-2018 | by  Pieter de Kiewit |

Last month Dutch newspapers published about two convictions that made me further think about the combination of treasurers and integrity. In the Vestia case, derivatives fraud within the largest social housing corporation of The Netherlands, the treasurer and broker were sentenced to time in jail. With ABN Amro, staff was being let go for falsifying signatures in mortgage documentation. The severity of the two cases is very different, but integrity of staff was relevant. Could these cases have been prevented? 

In the development of the Treasuer Test (https://www.treasurersearch.com/blogs/3/s66ebd-getting-ready-to-launch-the-treasurer-test!), one of the most asked features is an integrity test of the testee. The development partners have scanned the market for the availability of such a test and received very mixed messages. Some parties offer questionnaires that pretend to measure this personality trait, others say it cannot be measured at all. Between these two there are service provider that do full day assessments, not just questionnaires, and claim good results. We have pondered on the subject and decided not to include this element in the test.

In recruitment we rely on past behaviour when wanting to make a statement on integrity. Reference checks and screening of documents by companies that offer private-investor-like services will bring the most solid results in my opinion. In The Netherlands one can ask for a “verklaring omtrent gedrag (VOG)” at the municipality that report about criminal behaviour. That would be proof something is not good, not proof things are good.

All in all it is a tricky subject. One thing one can be sure of: the candidate that lacks integrity will not inform you about this. Furthermore one can ask if integrity is solely in the person or that an environment can create non-integrity. Perhaps pushing for results and at the same time doing the right thing is a hard task. I would like to read about your thoughts about the subject.

 

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

African countries open for blockchain acceptance

| 04-09-2018 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL

Even though Africa did not get a lot of attention in the press when talking about blockchain and its acceptance on this continent for long, that is fundamentally changing. Did you know that last year African countries had the highest number of online searches for “blockchain” and “bitcoin” last year. This especially goes for Ghana and South Africa. And did you now that a growing number of blockchain events and conferences have been organised throughout the continent.

There are various developments on the African continent that indicate the growing interest for blockchain. We are seeing some impressive inroads on the use of blockchain in various African countries. In those countries local tech startups have taken up blockchain technology to counter many of the economic and political issues that exist within the continent today.

In this blog I will be diving somewhat deeper into why it may be important for Africa to use blockchain, what are the main use cases and what blockchain initiatives, experiments and projects have been launched both by governments, financial institutions and companies.

Why blockchain in Africa?

To date, blockchain adoption has been sporadic across Africa, but that is changing. Studies have found out that blockchain technology could solve a number of fundamental political and societal challenges facing Africa.

One of the main pulls of blockchain technology in Africa is that it is decentralized, and transparent, leading to many possible use cases based on combating corrupt political and voting systems. In South Africa (but also in other African countries), where corruption is undermining the image of Africa’s most advanced economy, blockchain could play an important role. By implementing blockchain’s “tamper-proof” record of transactions in both the public and private sectors, one could combat fraud and corruption across the whole region.

Blockchain technology through social media based models could also contribute to a more open and inclusive economy. This opportunity is particularly relevant for Africa, where a large portion of the population is excluded from the formal economy, because they can’t open a bank account, don’t have a birth certificate, passport, driver’s license, etc. Blockchain may help to overcome many of these challenges.

Foreign aid and charity donation do not (yet) reach its full potential. Less than 40% of charity money reaches the intended beneficiary in Africa. But also the use and distribution of medicines and food by the many NGOs is far from optimal. Using blockchain could make these streams much more transparent.

And there are many other economic and financial areas including agriculture, where African countries are behind Western countries, in which blockchain can help Africa accelerate into the future.

Read the full article of our expert Carlo de Meijer on LinkedIn

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

TREASURY INDIA SUMMIT

| 28-08-2018 | CFO Engage | treasuryXL |

Treasury’s strategic role continues to expand as it takes on more responsibilities, collaborates with an increasing array of business units, advises senior management and becomes heavily involved in making capital allocation decisions.

Treasurers’ skill sets are increasingly in demand to provide analytical rigor and advise corporate leaders and boards of directors on how to best optimize corporate liquidity and ensure holistic risk management. To meet growing demands for their time and advice, treasurers have to ensure highly effective and efficient treasury operations in order to fulfill their traditional roles while also meeting the requirements of the “new” treasurer. Companies that embrace this transition into a broader role for treasury and take advantage of treasury’s analytical and risk management capabilities will have an opportunity to make better strategic decisions in an increasingly uncertain business environment.

CFO Engage brings to you Treasury India Summit- a platform for thought leaders in the house of treasury to exchange ideas and network with industry peers.

Why Attend?

  •  Learn how to improve performance by seeing exactly how someone else did it
  •  Hear case studies, lessons learned, and strategic advice from leading treasury management
    teams to identify approaches that work for your company
  •  Network with your ecosystem: Connect and build longterm working relationships with industry peers
  •  Benchmark your performance: Assess strengths, uncover areas for improvement, and keep up to date with the industry.
    Also, identify key IT strategies that generate tangible business value
  • Get new ideas: Engage in live demos and casual discussions, and learn about partner innovations and predictions of things
    to come, to get a fresh perspective and valuable ideas to apply to your business

Treasury India Summit is brought to you by CFO Engage and is an exclusive platform for Treasury professionals from India’s largest and most influential companies. They are brought together to collaborate on the most pressing issues globally. For more information about the event please visit the event’s website.

PGO Treasury and Corporate Finance (RT) will start shortly – only a few places left

| 27-08-2018 | VU Amsterdam | treasuryXL |

In previous blogs we informed you about the post graduate education treasury at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. This will be the first year that the program will be in English. As in previous years, a nice mix of treasury experts with different professional backgrounds will start in September. The VU informed us only a few places are left.

KEY FACTS ON THE PROGRAM

The postgraduate executive programme Treasury Management & Corporate Finance combines two finance disciplines Treasury Management and Corporate Finance. These disciplines largely overlap and are even inextricably connected.

This postgraduate executive program is running now for more than 20 years at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. It is an unique program in The Netherlands and even abroad.

As from September 2018 the program will be given entirely in English in order to connect to the increasingly larger community of non-Dutch speaking finance professionals in The Netherlands.

The completion of this postgraduate executive program is rewarded by the title Register Treasurer. This title is well known and well recognized by the community of treasury professionals.

The curriculum is organized in 6 modules which each cover a clear sub discipline in Treasury management and Corporate Finance. Each module comprises of 6 lecture days on Thursday (starting at noon until 20:00). It is an intensive and efficient program which lasts for 1.5 years.

The postgraduate executive program Treasury Management & Corporate Finance is strategic partner of the Dutch Association Corporate Treasurers (DACT).

Partners of the program are KPMG, Orchard Finance, PwC and Zanders Treasury & Finance Solutions. Senior affiliates lecture in the program.

If you want more information about the program you can contact de Vrije Universteit.

 

 

Global Political Risks

| 23-08-2018 | ICC Consultants | treasuryXL |

In deze blog worden de internationale politieke ontwikkelingen geanalyseerd die impact kunnen gaan hebben op de financiële markten en de mate waarin. De visie van ICC Consultants is gebaseerd op een groot netwerk binnen de wereldwijd toon-aangevende researchhuizen en 40 jaar ervaring in de financiële markten. Deze blog bevat gedeeltes van het totale rapport. Het volledige rapport kunt u downloaden middels de weblink onderaan deze blog.

 

Brengt Turkse torpedo stieren aan het zinken?

Turkije ligt onder vuur van de financiële markten. Turkije is ook een van de grotere spelers in het uitdijende kamp van staten die zich meer en bewegen in autoritaire richting. Vijfenvijftig jaar geleden zag JFK al in dat een geheel liberaal-democratische wereld er (voorlopig) niet in zat. Hij wilde dan in elk geval zeker stellen dat in de wereld plaats was voor een vreedzaam bestaan van zowel liberale democratieën als andere vormen van bestuur naast elkaar. Na de Koude Oorlog ontstond in alle Westerse euforie even het idee dat de kapitalistische democratie niet meer te stoppen was. Deze overtuiging is (vooralsnog) gelogenstraft door o.a. China en Rusland…

Welvaart in ruil voor je mond houden

In veel van die landen – inclusief China, Rusland en eigenlijk ook Turkije – gold en geldt de impliciete afspraak tussen overheid en volk van sterke economische groei in ruil voor politieke passiviteit. Dat is de vriendelijke manier om het te beschrijven, want veelal zal een regime het natuurlijk niet accepteren als het volk af wil van deze constructie (zoals we de laatste jaren al vaker hebben gezien). Leiders in deze landen zijn  er ook niet gerust op: in de afgelopen vijf jaar zijn in meer dan tien procent van de landen in de wereld politieke wisselingen van de wacht geweest als gevolg van (onvrede over) corruptie….

Uiterst kwetsbaar model

Het is de vraag of de wereld zoals JFK die zei voor ogen te hebben – waarin democratische en autoritaire landen in relatieve vrede naast elkaar kunnen bestaan – stand kan houden in dit tijdsgewricht. Leiders als Trump, Poetin, Xi Jinping en Erdogan plaatsen steeds meer vraagtekens bij de door het Westen vormgegeven wereldorde.  Deze leiders worden in de kaart gespeeld door de uit de bocht gevlogen vormen van kapitalisme die je zou kunnen aanduiden als winner-takes-all-capitalism, groeiende ongelijkheid, stagnerende of dalende reële lonen en grote culturele maatschappelijke veranderingen…

Le Trente Glorieuse is niet meer

De periode tot ruwweg de  jaren zeventig wordt veelal aangeduid als Le Trente Glorieuse: een periode met – vooral in het Westen – de prachtige combinatie van hoge economische groei,  toenemende productiviteit, stijgende reële lonen, sterke technologische vooruitgang en de gestage uitbreiding van de  verzorgingsstaat /sociale vangnetten.  In feite was het een tijd waarin efficiëntie, gelijkheid en volledige werkgelegenheid veelal samengingen. Die periode is duidelijk voorbij, wat tot veel onvrede onder bevolkingen leidt, tot de draai richting populisten en tot een meer naar binnen gekeerde opstelling….

Loper uitgerold voor beren

Vanuit politiek oogpunt zijn wel voldoende aanknopingspunten voor bears. De groei wordt bedreigd door identiteitspolitiek, het ondermijnen van instituten die de veiligheid en economische groei de afgelopen zeven decennia hebben geholpen en protectionisme en andere initiatieven die internationale productieketens en andere vormen van globalisering in gevaar brengen.

In Europa werd na de verkiezingen in Nederland en Frankrijk in de eerste helft van 2017 gedacht dat het populisme op zijn retour is. Niets lijkt minder waar: in bijvoorbeeld Italië, Oostenrijk, Hongarije en Polen leiden populisten regeringen, in Zweden staan rechts-populisten op de eerste plaats in de peilingen en in Duitsland zijn ze nummer twee…..

Oorlog op vele fronten

Dergelijke ontwikkelingen hoeven niet van vandaag op morgen tot paniek op de markten te leiden, maar ze zaaien wel de zaden voor verdere verzwakking van groeipotentieel. Tot nu toe werd het meest gevreesd voor de gevolgen van een handelsoorlog, maar de combinatie van handelsconflicten, geopolitieke waaghalzerij en rollen van de spierballen en de weaponizing of finance is juist de grote dreiging. James Mackintosh – columnist van de Wall Street Journal – wees er al op dat handelsoorlogen weliswaar niet goed zijn voor de economische groei, maar dat ze zelden een recessie inluiden of de groei echt hard raken. Dat in tegenstelling tot financiële crises die een lange lijst van economische slachtoffers hebben achtergelaten……

Het volledige rapport dat geschreven is door Andy Langenkamp, politiek analist bij ICC, kunt u downloaden op de website van ICC Consultants.

 

Reminder Event: INTERNATIONAL TREASURY MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 26-28 Sept @ EUROFINANCE

| 20-08-2018 | Eurofinance | treasuryXL |

Join the global treasury community at EuroFinance’s  27th International Treasury Management conference on 26-28 September 2018. This year, we look at how to prepare treasury for the future – because it is no longer enough to just deliver on treasury’s core responsibilities.

New technology, business model disruption and unprecedented compliance, regulation and geopolitical issues will change the profession beyond recognition. Treasury needs to react and adapt.

  • Discover which tech is relevant to you and how to future-proof your treasury
  • Hear how to be proactive, work with the rest of the business and keep treasury relevant
  • Learn how others are seizing the opportunity to review everything from staffing to structures

This fresh new programme is based on over 1,000 interviews and discussions with treasury professionals around the world. It will deliver cutting-edge content, real-life case studies and thought provoking big picture sessions.

Network with an unparalleled senior audience of 2100+ delegates from over 50 countries. Find out what to expect here: https://bit.ly/2Nv8RI3

For more information or if you want to register for the event visit the events website.

 

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PGO Treasury and Corporate Finance (RT) @ Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

| 14-08-2018 | VU Amsterdam | treasuryXL |

PGO Treasury and Corporate Finance (RT) will start shortly – only a few places left

In previous blogs we informed you about the post graduate education treasury at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. This will be the first year that the program will be in English. As in previous years, a nice mix of treasury experts with different professional backgrounds will start in September. The VU informed us only a few places are left.

In this link you can read more about the program and see a short youtube posting about corporate treasury.