Management of Large Treasury Teams

| 11-2-2019 | by  Pieter de Kiewit |

Last month I was contacted by one of our clients -we found many staff members for them- about the organisation of the treasury team. The team has over 10 employees and recently has undergone extensive changes. We both know there is not one way to set up a team and after a short brainstorm, we decided it might be a good idea to gather her peers for a round table meeting. What can we learn from each other?

Last Friday a small group of treasury people managers, each of their teams has 10 members or more, gathered for a two hour meeting. The expected topics were team structure, hierarchy, job titles and the profile of the ideal treasury team member. Our hypothesis was that there are certain standards most of us can apply to optimize our treasury teams.
After a brief introduction it became quickly clear there were more than enough topics, two hours was not enough. And the aforementioned standards might exist but this meeting did not result in making them very clear. This in line with a previous blog I wrote about the shape and size of treasury teams. The following observations dominated the meeting:

  • The size and structure of a treasury team depends on questions about the company like: is it a HQ treasury or treasury hub?, what is the geographical footprint of the company?, what is the primary process of the company?, what is the maturity of the company as a whole and the willingness to invest in support functions?
  • Technology has an increasing impact on corporate treasury. Cloud and other solutions enable outsourcing, although the following remarkable statement was made: “if you can outsource it,  you can automate it”. One of the participants told exciting initiatives using robotics;
  • Substantial time was spent on HR aspects like how to deal with Millenials, age versus IT literacy, hiring the ambitious and unstable candidate versus the stable non-ambitious one and how do you screen to hire the proper candidate (see also our blog about the Treasurer Test).

The variety of topics, the different points of view and approaches applied by treasury managers is inspiring. As was the energy and enthusiasm of all participants. Together with them I will decide how we will proceed. Let me know if you want to join this initiative!

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

 

Bank independent payment platforms, ING and Cobase the new kid on the block?

| 22-1-2019 | by  Pieter de Kiewit |

With layman’s eye I follow what is happening in treasury and technology and am intrigued by the entrance of Cobase, owned by ING, in the market for bank independent payment platforms. This is not a new market with competitors like TIS, Serrala (formerly known as Hanse Orga) and PowertoPay.

If I understand the concept well, these platforms were build to make life easier for treasurers and other financials. The idea is to connect many bank accounts from different banks in one system, and this system into the company’s ERP. The system enables outgoing payments entered in the format of the ERP system, no adjustments needed, with one token to authorize. This way one can avoid using all the various authentication methods and payment formats different banks force upon users. Incoming payments through these platforms can streamline reconciliation. Security, clear information and efficiency are obvious advantages.

MNCs often work with many banks because there are only a few (some say no) banks that offer global coverage. Also many companies do not want to rely on the services of only one bank. Ending and starting cash management relations with banks is easier with an independent payment platform: a plug and play system creates a stronger negotiation position. So cost saving can be possible.

Now Cobase, fully owned by ING, enters the described market. Exciting news, but also a bit puzzling:
• Will clients, that already use a platform, switch to Cobase and put all their banking eggs in the ING basket?
• Will other banks, competitors of ING, be willing to cooperate in building the Cobase solution?
• If ING, or a competitor is present in (most of) the countries a company works in and this company is willing to work with only one bank, why use Cobase?
• And is Cobase planning to extend its services to other Treasury Management Software solution, thus entering the market of Kyriba, Bellin, IT2 and others?

From the side-line I will follow what will happen. I look forward to seeing your input. What do I overlook? I will keep you up-to-date,

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit

Owner of Treasurer Search

 

 

Wat is corporate treasury?

| 20-12-2018 | by  Pieter de Kiewit |

Uw hypotheek, creditcard, vakantiegeld en lopende rekening hebben equivalenten voor bedrijven, ze worden beheerd door corporate treasurers. De titelvraag, of variaties, is er een die ik nogal vaak moet beantwoorden, vaker nog rond de feestdagen wanneer ik mijn familie ontmoet. Er is nooit één pasklaar antwoord, in mijn huidige strategie verbind ik privé met een zakelijke view. Misschien kunt u (expert in het veld of de leek) me laten weten of deze verklaring voor u werkt.

U hebt op het moment een betaalrekening, spaarrekening en misschien nog een andere rekening. Je betaalt de huur, boodschappen en een biertje. U gebruikt een bankpas of creditcard, contant geld, een cheque, PayPal of betaalt misschien op een andere manier. U zorgt ervoor dat alleen u en de mensen die u vertrouwt toegang hebben tot uw geld.

Corporate treasurers bouwen en onderhouden een bankinfrastructuur die betalingen mogelijk maakt. Ze denken na over wie betalingen mag doen (vaak zijn zij dat), wie kan autoriseren (geen persoon die de betalingen uitvoert zijnde niet de cash manager), welke bank te gebruiken en potentiële andere betaalkanalen.

Je hebt een hypotheek of een persoonlijke lening zodat je een huis kunt kopen of kunt betalen voor boodschappen, terwijl aan het einde van je looncheque de maand nog niet ten einde is. Corporate treasurers vinden fundingsoplossingen/financieringsoplossingen voor hun bedrijf, zij hebben een breder pakket producten beschikbaar zoals kredietfaciliteiten, obligaties of nieuwe aandelen.

Je voelt fluctuaties in rente en valuta wanneer je de grens overgaat naar een ander valutaland, Uw hypotheek komt met rente, op uw betaalrekening en creditcard wordt met valuta marges gewerkt. Zowel valuta’s als rente zijn variabel, financiële markten zijn niet stabiel. Velen van ons accepteren deze veranderingen gewoon. Corporate treasurers denken na over deze risico’s en beheren ze: ze denken na over de valuta’s in commerciële contracten, over de duur en prijs van verschillende financieringsproducten en over het beheersen/beheren van de risico’s, bijvoorbeeld met behulp van derivaten.

Natuurlijk is de bovenstaande beschrijving een te eenvoudige beschrijving van de situatie. Treasurers hebben veel andere taken en de complexiteit is veel groter dan een standaard huishoudelijke situatie. Verder wil ik benadrukken dat treasurers geen boekhouders of controllers zijn: ze verzenden of ontvangen geen facturen en schrijven het jaarverslag niet. Ze beheren de feitelijke risico’s en geldstromen.

Ik hoop dat je dit jaar je familie beter kunt informeren over de baan. Geniet van de vakantie!

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit

Owner of Treasurer Search

 

YOU CAN BE ONE OF THE LAST PEER GROUP MEMBERS!

| 13-12-2018 | by  Pieter de Kiewit |

“Under 20% of the treasury population completed a formal treasury education. And over 50% of decision makers in the recruitment of treasurers does not know about the discipline.” We are one of the launching partners of the Treasurer Test that can bring an objective measurement that can tackle problems resulting from the described issue. Others are the Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam), the University of Applied Sciences of Utrecht, software & assessment developers and law experts.

Key element of the test is the comparison with peer groups. These groups are defined by number of years of experience in treasury of its’ members. Our role as launching partner is asking 100 relevant peer group members that will create the benchmark that future testees will be compared with. Peer group members do not pay the €595 the test will cost when ready, but only €1,21. We carefully invited most, but there are still a few places left, especially in the group with under 9 years’ experience. If you are interested, please contact Roy Baaten, the community manager of treasuryXL at [email protected]

When the number of 100 is reached, reports will be sent out and the Treasurer Test is ready for use. We expect a lot. At Treasurer Search we will use the test in our committed searches and many other situations, when relevant. First expectation is to further improve the match making process. Also in choosing education, coaching, outplacement, team formation and salary benchmarking the test can come in handy. Perhaps even showing a CFO about the complexity of the discipline can be done. There is a peer group “no treasury experience”.

We look forward to the analysis that can be made after a bigger group of people completed the test What will we see in the correlation between age, education level, nationality on one hand and treasury skills level on the other? We expect to further contribute in raising the level of corporate treasury and hope you will join us.

For more information about the Treasurer Test please visit the Treasurer Test Blog page.

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

 

Treasurer Test, you can be one of the last peer group members!

| 22-11-2018 | by  Pieter de Kiewit |

“Under 20% of the treasury population completed a formal treasury education. And over 50% of decision makers in the recruitment of treasurers does not know about the discipline.” We are one of the launching partners of the Treasurer Test that can bring an objective measurement that can tackle problems resulting from the described issue. Others are the Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam), the University of Applied Sciences of Utrecht, software & assessment developers and law experts.

Key element of the test is the comparison with peer groups. These groups are defined by number of years of experience in treasury of its’ members. Our role as launching partner is asking 100 relevant peer group members that will create the benchmark that future testees will be compared with. Peer group members do not pay the €595 the test will cost when ready, but only €1. We carefully invited most, but there are still a few places left, especially in the group with under 9 years’ experience. If you are interested, please contact Roy Baaten, the community manager of treasuryXL at [email protected]

When the number of 100 is reached, reports will be sent out and the Treasurer Test is ready for use. We expect a lot. At Treasurer Search we will use the test in our committed searches and many other situations, when relevant. First expectation is to further improve the match making process. Also in choosing education, coaching, outplacement, team formation and salary benchmarking the test can come in handy. Perhaps even showing a CFO about the complexity of the discipline can be done. There is a peer group “no treasury experience”.

We look forward to the analysis that can be made after a bigger group of people completed the test What will we see in the correlation between age, education level, nationality on one hand and treasury skills level on the other? We expect to further contribute in raising the level of corporate treasury and hope you will join us.

 

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

 

Real and fake risk control – Treasurers and recruiters benefit and suffer

| 25-09-2018 | by  Pieter de Kiewit |

As owner of a small company I have been listening to people complaining about regulatory and compliance affairs for a long time. 2018 will be the year these affairs have a substantial impact on my business and now I can understand the complaints. Both treasurers, recruiters and, I expect, many others in our society, struggle finding the balance in correcting what goes wrong and the hassle of too many rules. Some simple examples: 

  • ING is punished hard for money laundering and I suspect just so. The rules are in place but not applied. My assumption is that target setting beats following the rules;
  • Some large corporates nowadays hire recruitment outsourcing parties that do the procurement of my services. One of them required me to inform them about the payrolling of my staff because: “in Bangladesh there is child labour and we want to prevent you make the same mistake”;
  • One of my clients is a subsidiary of an international conglomerate and decided to implement the services of a new cash management bank. The project has been on hold because the HQ of the conglomerate and the bank cannot agree upon the know your customer (KYC) regulations, much to frustration of all involved;
  • GDPR is implemented, also to control the power of large internet firms. Of course these regulations also apply to my business but did any of you read my new privacy statement or actually read cookie statements? Bureaucracy rules!

I think 99% of us know what is the right thing in 99% of the cases. This is what our parents taught us. That does not mean we will do the right thing. In the current situation, regulators want to solve issues by creating new rules. I am happy that applying the rules with consequences, as with ING, is being done increasingly. I think the structural solution does not lie in more rules.

Hopefully we can all start a dialogue about what is right and act upon it. Customers and clients, family members, colleagues, countries, teachers and students. Not blindly following the rules, but following them because we understand and agree. I am aware that this sounds might sound soft and is not possible in all situations. With many of our clients we cooperate successfully based upon a few bullet points in an email. That’s the way I like it.

Will you share your thoughts?

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

 

 

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

 

Getting ready to launch the Treasurer Test!

| 07-08-2018 | by  Pieter de Kiewit | treasuryXL |

Roughly 60% or more of the hiring managers we work with does not have experience in corporate treasury. Less than 20% of people working in corporate treasury received extensive professional treasury education. The rest did not. How can we measure whether a candidate has the knowledge to be able to do the job? Currently this is done, also by us, by looking at their experience: screening CV’s, checking references, etcetera. I think there is room for more thorough measuring.

After talking with many experts the idea of the Treasurer Test arose. We created a group of enthusiasts and started building. The core of the group consists of:

  • academic treasury experts of VU University (Vrije Universiteit) Amsterdam, responsible for the Register Treasurer Program, and The University of Applied Science (Hogeschool) Utrecht, organizer of the Minor Treasury Management;
  • assessment psychologists with a degree in test development;
  • IT experts using software and methodologies also used by dozens of international universities who can build an on-line assessment environment;
  • treasuryXL, their and our network of corporate treasurers as well as professional bodies.

Within a month we will start with the first test of a new and I think exciting measurement tool. It combines measurement of treasury knowledge & skills with a Big 5 personality test. The results of the treasury part of the test are presented both with absolute scores, as well as with a peer group comparison. Peer groups are formed upon experience: up to two years, three to eight and over nine. The results of the personality test are compared with a general population as well as the treasury population who already did the test. This way we can make statements like “he didn’t answer a lot of questions correctly on the topic cash management but others with less than 2 years’ experience score even worse” or “she is an introvert in comparison to general population but in comparison to other treasurers she is quite extroverted”.

We are close to asking the first peer group to do the test and expect a larger scale introduction around October 2018. treasuryXL will be the home of the Treasurer Test. I am quite excited about this project and think it can all help us in making career / recruitment decisions, choose proper education and shape treasury teams. There is a lot more to tell about the project, I will keep you updated and am available for questions or input.

On behalf of Team Treasurer Test,

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

 

Heeft u een bankkosten strategie?

|23-07-2018 | by  Pieter de Kiewit |

Als niet-benoemd ambassadeur van het corporate treasury vak wil ik een lans breken voor de bewustwording over bankkosten. In mijn beleving wordt hier te weinig aandacht aan gegeven met onder andere als consequentie grote risico’s, te hoge kosten en onnodige afhankelijkheid van de huisbank. Een les die we, denk ik, allemaal wel hebben geleerd intussen is dat we niet moeten kopen wat we niet begrijpen. Laat me een paar voorbeelden geven.

Sinds de Vestia bom barstte is er veel gebeurd rond het thema derivaten. Niet alleen grote organisaties bleken deze bankproducten te hebben afgenomen. Soms werden ze aangeschaft omdat er klakkeloos werd geluisterd naar een bankier (die werd beloond voor het zoveel mogelijk verkopen). Soms omdat er werd verwacht dat de rente zou stijgen, terwijl hij verder daalde, met grote kosten tot gevolg. Soms goed doordacht en volledig terecht. Deskundigen met enig begrip van het Uniform Herstel Kader verdienen nu een goede boterham met de reparatie van de derivaten chaos.

Tot op heden kopen veel ondernemingen hun vreemde valuta bij hun huisbank zonder te vragen naar transactiekosten en het verschil tussen aan- en verkoopkoers. Men gaat ervan uit dat de bankier de oprechte adviseur is en negeert dat hij wordt beloond op marge omzet. Intussen zijn er diverse partijen die betere koersen bieden, wat mijns inziens niet direct betekent dat ze de betere partij zijn.

Het laatste voorbeeld dat ik wil benoemen is dat iedereen begrijpt dat een piano vervoeren geld kost maar dat men niet beseft dat een betaling doen, oftewel geld vervoeren, ook met een prijs komt. Mogelijk wordt dit veroorzaakt omdat retail banken in Nederland van oudsher geen kosten aan hun klanten berekenden voor het aanhouden van een rekening courant, terwijl dit in het buitenland wel de standaard is.

Hoe hiermee om te gaan? Vanzelfsprekend kan ik hier niet uitputtend over zijn. Een goed begin is nadenken welke financiële producten uw organisatie afneemt: financiering, cash management en risk oplossingen. Heeft u ze daadwerkelijk nodig, wat kosten ze en waarom worden ze afgenomen bij een specifieke partij. En let wel, kosten overwegingen hoeven niet de dominante te zijn. Gemak, expertise en, ook al klinkt het onzakelijk, het goede gevoel zijn ook belangrijk. Boerenverstand is een goed startpunt en van daaruit kan overwogen worden expertise in te kopen. Dat kan zeer laagdrempelig (zie de Flex Treasurer) tot en met zeer hoogwaardige consultants. Sommigen bieden hun diensten no-cure, no-pay aan.

Ik nodig u uit om kritisch te zijn en stel mijn netwerk graag tot uw beschikking.

 

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search

 

 

Highlighted partner: Treasurer Search

| 3-7-2018 | treasuryXL |

Over the last two years treasuryXL built a community with and for corporate treasurers and all interested in the profession. Starting from the Netherlands our network expands into surrounding countries and we cooperate with more and more partner organizations. In the summer months we will present the most prominent ones.


Treasurer Search

In 2009 Pieter de Kiewit founded Treasurer Search after an international career of 15 years in consultancy and management of two prominent recruitment companies. In the first he learned about executive search of, amongst others, group treasurers of listed firms. In the second he was responsible for building a number of international subsidiaries of the Dutch market leader in the mid segment recruitment market. The German the most prominent one. Approaching 40, he decided to continue as entrepreneur.

Treasurer Search finds candidates for interim assignments and permanent positions. From graduate level to group treasurer of a listed firm. Clients are headquarters of large corporates, international treasury hubs, treasury consultants, non-profit organizations and some companies in financial services. In the Netherlands and increasingly international: recent recruitment has been done in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Switzerland. Job types include cash & treasury operations management, risk, corporate & project finance, treasury IT and treasury control.

By now, Team Treasurer Search holds 6 members, 3 of them recruitment consultant. With their niche market approach they invest in thorough job content expertise and a very warm network. Over 90% of the placed candidates already had a meeting with Treasurer Search before the assignment was landed where he or she started in. The team is stable, something the recruitment industry is not known for.

Having a keen interest in what’s happening in treasury and knowing not each contact with a candidate and client can be about job openings, Treasurer Search takes a proactive network role. Most often as a courtesy Treasurer Search connects people with expertise with those seeking treasury knowledge. For this team members are in constant contact with educators, professional bodies and other suppliers of treasury solutions. All this makes Treasurer Search an obvious partner of treasuryXL.

For more information check out:

Pieter de Kiewit
[email protected] / +31 6 1111 9783

Pieter de Kiewit

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search