Making the most of excess cash: The optimal balance between safety, availability and profitability

| 9-3-2017 | Pieter de Kiewit | TreasuryXL|

We came across this article from our expert Pieter de Kiewit in co-operation with a candidate on De Kiewit Treasurer Search and thought it interesting enough to share it with you.

To get inflation to its target of close to 2%, the ECB has launched an unprecedented package of measures. It cuts borrowing costs, expanded its QE programme and reduced bank deposit rate into negative territory. Interest rates are expected to remain at present low levels for an extended period of time. Great for those who need to borrow money, but depressing for the return on savings or excess cash.

Many commercial banks effectively already charge a negative interest rate on checkable deposits. They charge fees in excess of interest payments (if any). The new Basel rules may involve certain costs or risks, some banks may choose to pass these to their customers. Regulatory shift will have wide-reaching implications on cash pooling, cash deposits (distinction between operating and excess cash deposits) and Money Market Funds (liquidity fee and redemption gates will be imposed). The Basel Committee postponed the meeting scheduled for Jan. 8 on new capital standards. The good news is that it will take some time (2018/2019) before new regulations become fully operational.

Many companies now hold larger cash balances due to their growing sensitivity to the economic cycle and continued need for operational funding. Excess cash is a luxury and isn’t always a problem. However, keeping it on the book is often not the answer for a company’s long term health. Excessive non-earning cash balances create opportunity costs and decrease the rate of return on equity and the firm’s value.

What are your options after minimizing the cash balance in non-interest-bearing accounts? Each business has its own goals and financial outlook. The best thing to do with excess cash is manage it appropriately in line with strategic objectives and for the best risk-adjusted return possible, without sacrificing liquidity. You can sit on it, use it to buy property or assets, or invest it in commercial paper, money market funds, other mutual funds, bonds or stocks—or some combination of these things. Whatever you may choose, the process of investing excess cash should be integrated in overall cash management, with the same fundamental principles of keeping risk low and having the right amount of cash on hand for short-term and long-term needs.
Companies tend to have very low appetites for risk when it comes to investments. It’s not their business. Their primary objective is capital preservation and maintaining liquidity, and yield is third on the priority list.

Are you looking for investment solutions spanning a range of currencies, risk levels and durations, designed to suit specific operating, reserve and strategic cash management needs? Whatever your investment goals may be, a treasurer might be able to assist you in making the right decision with your excess liquidity. If hiring a treasurer is one step to far for your organisation, you might want to consider a Flex Treasurer. TreasuryXL can bring you in contact with treasury professionas of different disciplines.

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit

Owner at Treasurer Search

 

Fintech Recruitment Considerations

| 3-3-2017 | Pieter de Kiewit |

Last week one of my clients started an unscheduled brainstorm session about recruitment for Fintech companies. We ended up having quite an interesting discussion. Within Treasurer Search we see an increase in assignments in this market, both permanent as well as interim. I would like to share the result of the discussion and what our experience taught us so far.

Fintechs are interesting beasts. They are a mixture of innovations in marketing, technology and finance. Very often they are relatively small, flexible and extremely entrepreneurial. Their ownership, funding and organisation structure are non-standard. Finally Fintechs were able to avoid the regulators but do know they cannot escape them forever. The easiest examples of this are the PSD2 introduction and fiscal authorities zooming in on Bitcoin. What will be the exact consequences? Joop Wijn being recruited by Adyen might be a smart response to this.

From a job content perspective, recruitment in Fintech is quite straightforward: we are looking for skills in software, in regulations, new business development and marketing. Where it gets tough is combining skills with a start-up mentality. If you have this mentality, why be an employee and not start your own company? And does the personality of somebody being excellent in a team of five also match when the team is growing much bigger? This often leads to constantly shifting requirements and creative recruitment. I need more personal interviews because the cv is often not the proper predictor of success. All this makes my position more challenging and appealing. Using on-line personality assessments really does add value in processes like these.

I want to wrap up with a remark about bankers making the transfer to Fintech. From a skills perspective they are a good match and often served the proper clients. Hurdles they have to overcome are working within the mentality of a small company, with little support and a very diverse number of tasks. Together with a non-banking remuneration and a non-banking work-life balance the number of hurdles is too high for many of them .

What successful Fintech recruits did you see recently?

 

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

 

How about these Fintechs?!

| 9-2-2017 | Pieter de Kiewit | treasuryXL

In August 2016 our expert Pieter de Kiewit wrote an article about Fintechs and we thought it might be interesting to publish it on treasuryXL. Since then Fintechs have become a major subject in the financial world. What has changed since the article was written? Are the new solutions a reality now? What further developments do you see? Please feel free to share them with us.

 

In the late ’70s Sony introduced the Walkman. My marketing professor told me that, without market surveys, Sony hit the jackpot. Everybody wanted to have one. Snapchat, my niece, who is 17, understands what they offer, started in May 2012, the company was recently valued at $22 billion. This is beyond what my headhunter brain can digest.

Yahoo was bought by Google for a fraction of what the company was valued at a few years ago. In august 2016 Randstad Holding bought Monster (Monsterboard in The Netherlands) for €400 million. A decade ago Monster, then a multi billion $ company, told everybody they would dominate the recruitment industry forever and they tried to buy every available recruitment company.

How about these Fintechs? The market potential is huge, new solutions will pop up that will change our everyday life. In my opinion it is an extremely diverse group of companies. This market is extremely fragmented and in my perception many Fintechs have, in my perception, a hard time reaching their potential clients. What I notice is that the language of the Fintechs is not the language of the clients they want to sell their business to. The language they do speak is the capital raising language. When this capital staff is hired, product offerings are developed as well as marketing material. The banking industry observes, invests, initiates and wonders what to do. Companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and others join in this Fintech jungle. Who will dominate in a few years, I can not predict.

Perhaps I am cynical, but I do not see any Snapchats or Yahoos. I hope this will change, because I think, next to banks, there is room for more innovative financial services companies. There are many good ideas out there. I wait for a finance Monster to step up and change market dynamics. Later on we will see if a Randstad will step in and if they will have a sustainable future. Time will tell…

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

 

Do you want to read more articles about FinTech on treasuryXL?

B2B Fintech: Payments, Supply chain finance & E-invoicing guide 2016

Uitgelicht: Fintech – investeringen in financiële innovatie fors toegenomen.

Will the European banks strike back?

 

Interesting transfer Joop Wijn from ABN to Adyen

| 16-1-2017 | Pieter de Kiewit |

Joop WijnLast Thursday I attended a very interesting breakfast meeting about PSD2, organized by Alexander Huiskes of EY with support from DNB. I will write about this in a separate blog. Not being up-to-date on my Financieele Dagblad reading, I was surprised by the question what my opinion is about the transfer of Joop Wijn from ABN Amro to Adyen. I replied to my best knowledge, digested the question and decided upon this blog.

Not being involved at all, I think there are two aspects in this transfer: industry developments and his strategic career management. Fact is that Joop Wijn surprised us before with career changes from banking into politics and back.

We all know banks have to rethink their place in the value chain and their proposition. New services appear and replace traditional banking services. Also traditional services are executed better or cheaper by new suppliers. Adyen , as a payment services provider, offers a perfect example of these developments. Risk management within Fintech gets, just so, increasing attention. Topics like anti money laundering, authentication, fraud and hacking should be addressed. Not only because regulators want this but of course clients see this as essential. My first thought was that Joop Wijn is too senior, as board member of ABN, to be responsible just for risk. As risk management is essential, I can understand Adyen aims this high and Joop accepted.

From a strategic career perspective I have two assumptions. The first is that one of the motivators of Joop might be the impact he can have. Not being considered as chairman of a Dutch bank stops his career advancement, thus the possibility to increase his impact. Being responsible for a strategic topic within a global market leader in a growing market, might be more appealing. The second assumption is that he made a reshuffle of what is important. I often see this with candidates with a longer track record. This move might enable him to change his priorities.

Perhaps he will inform us about the above, perhaps he will keep this to himself. Fact is, it is an interesting career move.

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

Loopbaan in treasury: een doodlopende weg?

 | 6-1-2017 | Pieter de Kiewit |

man-op-weg Het blijft een terugkerend thema als meerdere treasurers samenkomen of als ik over loopbaanplanning spreek: is blijven in treasury een recept voor vastlopen in je carrière? Bouw je door op hetgeen je hebt bereikt of doe je een stap terug/opzij om er weer twee vooruit te maken? Zonder uitputtend te willen zijn zal ik veel genoemde reacties beschrijven.

Zeker een doodlopende weg!

Gemiddeld genomen maken academisch opgeleide treasurers sneller carrière dan collegae die niet naar de universiteit gingen. Zij zien hun studiegenoten parallel starten in accounting, control of audit en hiërarchisch gelijk met hen opgaan. Tot de treasurer het plafond bereikt en de anderen stappen blijven maken. De treasurer ontdekt dat hij niet wordt betrokken in zoekprocessen voor andere financiële beroepen waarvoor hij wel in aanmerking wil komen. Op een DACT bijeenkomst van enkele jaren geleden gaf 80% van de treasurers aan, volgens eigen inschatting, te kwalificeren voor de positie van CFO. Persoonlijk vind ik dat dit wel getuigt van enige zelfoverschatting. Feit is wel dat treasures gemiddeld genomen smallere skills in de financiële discipline hebben maar ook bijvoorbeeld in peoplemanagement. Veel van hen komen in een situatie waar ze geen gevoel voor de business kunnen opbouwen. Feit is dat veel eindverantwoordelijk treasurers momenteel al lang in hun functie zitten. De weg lijkt dood te lopen!

Doodlopende weg is onzin!

Voor elke treasurer die lang op dezelfde stoel zit, is er wel één die een doorgaat met loopbaanopbouw. De belangrijkste assen waarlangs dit lukt zijn de functionele en de branche as. Functioneel verbreedt treasury zich nog steeds. Traditioneel zijn balansfinancieringen en geldlogistiek dominant, momenteel zijn werkkapitaal, project, trade finance en treasury technologie sterk groeiend in onze portfolio. Bij het verder volwassen worden van de discipline hoort ook de meer branchespecifieke treasury. Albert Heijn, de Gemeente Amsterdam en de BAM kunnen tegenwoordig specifiekere eisen stellen aan de treasurers die zij aannemen. Verder is er een grote groep die, al of niet in het kader van een management traineeship, een tour door treasury maken. Deze laterale stappen of stappen vooruit kunnen overigens over het algemeen alleen binnen dezelfde onderneming worden gemaakt. Maar komen zeker wel voor! Het afdwingen hiervan vergt vaak wel bewuste planning, bijvoorbeeld in opleiding of in relatiemanagement.

Mijn mening?

Mijn mening is dat het gedeeltelijk een semantische discussie is. In de top van een organisatie zijn minder stoeltjes te verdelen dus ook voor andere disciplines geldt de doodlopende weg. Ik zie dat er voor elke 9 controllers 1 treasurer is en dat deze treasurer minder loopbaankansen heeft dan elk van de controllers. Treasurers zouden, als ze willen, harder kunnen klagen. Anderszins zie ik dat een aantal, vooral jonge, mensen meer hiërarchiegedreven zijn en pas later ontdekken hoe belangrijk de inhoud van het werk voor hen is. En de aantrekkelijkheid van treasury wordt door een meerderheid van mijn gesprekspartners gezien. Het is een mooi vakgebied! Mijn mening is dat, ondanks de realiteit van de huidige arbeidsmarkt, ieder die een goede volgende stap in zijn treasury loopbaan zoekt, deze kan vinden.

Ik sta open voor brainstormsessies!

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

Intern with Treasury Experience

| 23-12-2016 | Pieter de Kiewit | De Kiewit Treasurer Search | sponsored content |

handshake-2 Turning a career into a new direction, this is a topic often discussed in meetings I have with applicants. The obvious reason for many is that they are between jobs and are forced to rethink their professional ways. Others just realize that their goals, objectives and priorities have shifted and that their job has become less meaningful and rewarding to them. They may be looking for a complete career change or they have experience in related industries and are looking to bring those skills to a different environment. Either way the technical skills of the career changer will often not perfectly match the job requirements.

Benefits for the candidate

Based upon input from many I have decided to start a pilot in which Treasurer Search will facilitate the exploration of an internship of experienced candidates. The benefits for the candidate will be obvious. Exploring the new field and gain experience and skills to make them more marketable with the end goal of getting hired fulltime. Interns are also valuable for employers in terms of both today’s workload and tomorrows workforce.

Benefits for your organisation

The additional manpower can relieve some (temporary) working pressure to accomplish immediate objectives or can be useful to finally start a long-planned project. Without knowing, the skill set gained in a different type of organisation might be applicable to yours. Hiring someone as an intern is the most effective way to evaluate their potential as a fulltime employee. The candidate will gain experience within the company without the pitfall of training a new hire, only to find out they’re not compatible with the organization. An intern can enhance perspective and bring fresh new ideas on organizational issues.

Internships can be a win-win-situation. Setting up an internship program meets both needs simultaneously.

About the internship

Applicant and employer start an internship project that is obviously beneficial for both:

The employer explores how the knowledge and skill set of the intern can deliver results;
The intern learns about a different than his previous working environment and proves he can contribute;
The internship project is defined before the start:

Will it be a “work along” or “change project”:
How long will the project be? The maximum should be 3 months, we are not aiming to create substitutes for regular positions;
Who will the intern report into?
What will be the working hours?

Agreement internship

Before the start of the project an agreement will be signed including:

The above mentioned project definition;
Coverage of legal (liability, confidentiality) and fiscal aspects);
A small reimbursement / salary connected to the previous point;
The willingness of the employer to coach and act as a referral;
A short notice period in case a “real” position arises;
This agreement can be directly between intern and employer. It is also possible Treasurer Search facilitates by taking over the pay-rolling or a ZZP agreement will be put in place;
Only in the case of pay-rolling Treasurer Search will invoice during the project. In case the intern enters into a labour agreement, Treasurer Search will send an invoice. The placement fee will be 20% of the base salary (in the labour contract).

If you want further information about this initiative or want to know about specific candidates or organisations involved, you can contact me.

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

Afscheidsrede van Professor Theo van der Nat

| 5-12-2016 | Pieter de Kiewit |

2ce3f92Mijn eerste ontmoeting met Theo zette de toon voor al onze verdere contacten. Het was aan het einde van de DACT Treasury Beurs 2009 in Noordwijk. Velen waren al gestart met hun weekend, ook de standhouders waren al aan het afbreken. Ik was net gestart met mijn onderneming. Theo en ik raakten in gesprek. De mooiste gesprekken in mijn vak zijn met mensen met een passie. Dat ik hier te maken had met de Nederlandse treasury goeroe was me al snel duidelijk. Hij leidde me langs de belangrijkste topics in treasury in die tijd. De Register Treasurer opleiding bleek één van zijn passies. In ons beider enthousiasme hebben we serieus onderzocht of ik de studie zou oppakken. Voor alle betrokkenen was het goed dat dat plan niet is doorgezet en dat de kwaliteit van alumni hoog blijft.

Het bijzondere aan Theo is dat hij een aantal kwaliteiten heeft die je meestal niet in één persoon ziet. Zo is hij wetenschapper, ondernemer, docent en bankier. Het aantal potten dat hij gelijktijdig op het vuur heeft is altijd bewonderenswaardig, zijn ideeën onbegrensd. Agendamanagement wordt daarin weleens lastig. De consequentie is dat alleen de hele goede en belangrijke meetings overblijven. Onze gezamenlijke initiatieven, bijvoorbeeld rond de voorganger van www.treasuryxl.com, bleken in deze werkwijze terecht te worden “afgetest”. Prettige en goede gesprekken waren het fundament van betere plannen. Meestal op bijzondere tijden en plaatsen.

Op 9 december houdt Theo aan de VU zijn afscheidsrede voor de universiteitsgemeenschap, studenten, alumni en de treasury community. Ik hoor natuurlijk niet bij de organisatie, maar ben er wel bij en kan me niet voorstellen dat hij vanaf dan uit beeld is.  En natuurlijk verheug ik me, waarschijnlijk met vele aanwezigen bij de rede, op doorlopende contacten.

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

Why seems TMS market leadership to be a relay race?

| 23-11-2016 | Pieter de Kiewit |


geen-naamThe number of treasury management software brands I read about in resumes since 1996, the year of my first treasury placement as a recruiter, has continuously grown. In other markets market dominance has been more stable, BMW, Microsoft and Calvé have been able to keep long market leadership. What is so different in the TMS market? Without comprehensive research I can think of the following reasons.

TMS technology reasons

Technology is moving forward very quickly. Solutions are often based upon the possibilities new technology offers and not developed based upon client needs. Different backbone technology often comes with other providers, hence other TMS suppliers.

Integration after take-over

There is a number of small solutions that grew to be successful over time. The founders of the companies that offer these solutions often choose to sell after a number of years. This because they are technology driven and cannot handle the marketing and operational hassle. Or the other way around: after successful sales they have to build a better product and do not have the technological staff. Or they just want to cash. The bigger companies that take over are not capable to absorb the smaller without losing the warm connection with the clients. Service and flexibility go down, prices go up. Sales staff is demotivated after a setback in remuneration. Support does not know the application. The clients go to the next supplier.

Marketing reasons

Last but not least, successful start-ups that work with partners in various countries are not able to share the wealth of success. Discussion over equity, profit sharing and ownership are often deal breakers. In this market there is not one dominating expansion strategy that has been the success formula: own staff is not strong enough or too expensive, partner sales is often not based upon enough commitment or lacks a proper contractual basis.

What do you see in the market of TMS suppliers?

Pieter de Kiewit 

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

Impressions after the DACT Treasury Fair 2016

|16-11-2016 | De Kiewit Treasurer Search, Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH, Cashforce |

talk

 

DACT Treasury Fair 2016, organised by the Dutch association of treasurers, is the most important annual treasury event in the Netherlands, where you can share treasury best practices, learn about the impact of latest trends and exchange experiences in a relaxed and informal environment.

After it closed its doors we asked four experts to give us their impression:

 

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit  –  Owner of  Treasurer Search

Pieter de KiewitWhen you have time for only one treasury event in The Netherlands per year, you should go to the DACT Treasury Beurs in Noordwijk.
For me and I think many others the Treasury Beurs 2016 was a continuation of a successful concept. I particularly enjoyed the masterclass by Professor Boot. He was able to include recent events, of course the election of Donald Trump, in his lecture giving me food for thought. An other aspect that was obvious is the increase of technology providers present. I think end users understand each separate solution but placing them in a bigger overview is not an easy task. One can also see that channel management is an issue for tech providers. Some of them make the connection to end users directly, others cooperate with sales partners or consultants. There is no standard. My final observation is that the current venue, Hotels van Oranje, will limit a further increase of the number of visitors. A luxury problem for the DACT, will we meet in Noordwijk again?

Jörg Wiemer – CSO Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH

The DACT event in the Netherlands was again a great opportunity for the TIS team to discuss the latest treasury trends, technology and challenges with the audience.

“Coming to Noordwijk is always a nice chance to meet with some of our existing customers here in the Netherlands as well as to network with other treasury professionals. The themes and painpoints are often similar, such as risk and fraud in treasury being a common topic this year. This allows us to gain a good feel for the marketplace as well as introduce our contacts to each other as part of the overall community,” says Jörg Wiemer, CEO of TIS.

The TIS team of corporate payments professionals looks forward to continuing the conversations started at this premier event in the Netherlands during the weeks to come.

Cashforce
logo-cashforceVoor Cashforce was het de eerste editie van de DACT Treasury beurs. Als Belgische onderneming die steeds meer klanten in Nederland bedient, was dit natuurlijk de plaats bij uitstek om bestaande contacten aan te halen en nieuwe relaties te ontmoeten. De borrel op donderdagavond vormde de perfect setting om polshoogte te nemen van de zogenaamde ‘hot topics’ in treasury. Relevant voor Cashforce waren vooral de verhoogde interesse in Cash Flow Forecasting. Ook vrijdag was een boeiende dag, met veel nieuwe contacten en interessante sessies. Cashforce is er volgend jaar zeker opnieuw bij op de DACT!

 

 

Hans de Vries – Sales Consultant PowertoPay

hansdevriesLast Thursday night proved to be a great starting point for this year’s Dact event. A lot of delegates joined this meet and greet session at a perfect location for freely discussing the state of affairs. The next day offered a great variety of interesting items to be discussed like Block Chain, Brexit, alternative financing options, bank agnostic developments like CGI MP and of course the Notional Pooling evolution. Good thing was to have these new developments explained not only by the vendors but also by the corporate treasurers involved which resulted in lively discussions with delegates. During the breaks and afterwards we had the chance to discuss these items and of course the position of PowertoPay with quite a number of delegates we met in and around our stand.

 

 

Consider a treasury intern!

| 31-10-2016 | Pieter de Kiewit |

As you might know, I play an active role in the development of the Minor Treasury Management at the Hogeschool Utrecht. This is the second year this program is organized for Bachelor students, not only from Utrecht but also schools from other parts of The Netherlands.

I contribute in three aspects: informing students about why they should choose this minor, describe the relevant labour market to the students who chose the program and connect them with the market. Both guest lecturers as well as internship counselors found their way into the program through my mediation.

As far as I can oversee the Hogeschool Utrecht is currently the only higher education institute in The Netherlands with a structural focus on treasury. All other active in this field offer post graduate / evening study programs. In our recruitment we hardly see young graduates with thorough knowledge of corporate treasury.

In this blog I want to invite you to hire an intern. Perhaps they can offer the solution for the project where you do not know if you want to hire a consultant, ask a colleague or do it yourself. Interns ask surprising questions and present solutions you did not think about. Their recent classes taught them about theories you never heard of before. They can help you tackle projects and you can help them prepare for the treasury labour market. Win-win.

Did you ever hire a treasury intern? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below!

Editorial note

  • The internship for students of the Minor Treasury Management at the Hogeschool Utrecht will start February 2017 and will last for 20 weeks;
  • It is a full-time internship: the students will work for 4 days at your office and can work one day a week on their thesis, other structures can be discussed;
  • They prefer that students take the internship on their own, but in pairs may be negotiable.

 

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search