Meet our Expert | 8 questions for Patrick Kunz, the Passionate Treasurer

01-03-2022 | Patrick Kunz | treasuryXL | LinkedIn |

 

We are happy to interview treasuryXL expert, Patrick Kunz.

With Patrick’s impressive career within the World of Treasury, you can really say that he lives and breathes Treasury.

Patrick is performance driven. He is an open minded, outgoing, rational person who is comfortable communicating and convincing on all levels of management.

Patrick is owner of Pecunia Treasury & Finance with several independent treasury and finance consultants and founder of treasuryabonnement.nl. Furthermore he owns an online FX trading and payment platform with a connection to a big FX broker.

Patrick has worked with both international corporates from all fields of business as well as national non-profit organisations.

We recommend to visit Patrick’s LinkedIn profile to see his stunning career and activities. But first….

We asked him 8 questions, let’s go!

INTERVIEW

 


1. How did your treasury journey start?

During my study at Maastricht University I knew I wanted to work in the “world of finance” and more specifically trading or investment banking. In my 3rd year of university I got the opportunity to work as an intern for a Swiss Investment bank in Zurich which was a great first experience into wealth management and client exposure with high net worth clients. It also showed me that the client comes first, even though the client was not always right. This made me wonder if it was more fun on “the other side” at the buy side. It slightly frustrated me that a bank would not always provide the best solution.

 

After graduation I left on a trip around the world backpacking for 1,5 years. Enjoying ultimate freedom and fun before starting a career. When I came back to the Netherlands I applied for treasury roles at multinationals and landed my first job as cash & treasury manager at the German multinational Metro Group (the wholesaler, not the Dutch free newspaper). This was the start of my treasury career which until now I would never leave.

 

2. What do you like about working in Treasury?

It’s the core of a company. In the end its all about the money. Independent on what products you are selling and how you are selling them. Cash in vs Cash out. Without cash a company has a problem. Cash is king and profit is an opinion so in my opinion managing cash is very important and therefore fun. The more complex the more fun. Managing a multinational company with hundreds of bank accounts in different currencies around the global; finding the optimal treasury setup and solutions is great fun. Lastly, treasury teams are smaller compared to accounting or controlling, which make the lines shorter and the team tighter.

 

3. What is your Treasury Expertise and what expertise gives you a boost of energy?

I started in cash management and FX trading which are great basic skills for every treasurer. My first company also had very short treasury lines and I quickly was involved in global treasury solutions, financing solutions and group companies corporate finance. When I moved on to my second role as group treasurer of a regional housing association, I also got exposure to interest rate derivatives and guarantee management. Afterwards when I started my own consultancy and interim management company 8 years ago I got to do the full spectrum of treasury. So without arrogance I can say in treasury I have done it all. The last years I am doing a lot of TMS/Payment hub implementations, which I enjoy doing. After finishing an implementation it is nice to look back and compare the old way of treasury processes and the new and see how it improved after a couple of months. Very rewarding.

 

4. What has been your best experience in your treasury career until today?

Building a treasury from scratch is most rewarding and fun to do. 2 years ago I got the opportunity to build the treasury role at the Dutch born AEX company Takeaway.com. There were treasury processes in place but scattered in different departments. Also some of them were sub-optimal. My role was to bring them together and optimize them. Besides increasing the reporting and importance of treasury to management this also brought significant cash savings on bank and FX costs. A couple of months into the rule, the merger/acquisition of Just Eat was approved and the integration with the existing treasury team in London could start, making the team suddenly 400% bigger. After 5 months my work was far from finished but it was time to hand it over to the existing/new team. Looking back what was done in this short time this was one of my greatest experiences in treasury. And a great company to work for.

 

5. What has been your biggest challenge in treasury?

Nowadays: Opening a company bank account in a short timeframe without difficult KYC questions, especially for companies with difficult or complex structures. I was with a client last year, a scale-up, that moved fast in several countries in Europe. Treasury processes needed to be implemented from scratch in each country while operations was much further ahead but legal and treasury still needed to start. Working with this fixed go live we had to make sure we could receive payments from day 1 onward. In one country we were actually live on day -1 with no room for error. Stressful but successful.

As a consultant I sometimes face tight deadlines or difficult projects that need to be delivered but are dependent on other stakeholders. That is not always easy but this gives me energy to make it happen.

 

6. What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learned as a treasurer?

You can go fast on your own but you go far together. Sounds cliché but it is especially true in treasury as the treasury department is dependent on data from other departments to make it function. You cannot run risk analysis if you have no exposure data. Same for FX. Doing cash flow forecasting? You need data from procurement, AR and FP&A.

Also visibility and transparency is key. Even the other financial departments accounting and controlling sometimes see treasury as this special people that they have no idea what they are exactly doing. Make sure they understand (and vice versa) what each department does and how you can work together and what data can be shared. Also to avoid duplicating work. So leave the ivory tower and go out there and collaborate.

 

7. How have you seen the role of Corporate Treasury evolve over the years?

The speed and amount of information has increased and is increasing. Also the complexity of treasury departments. Luckily also the solutions available to manage them has improved. Next to swift solutions we now see advanced TMS solutions or payment hubs that can be implemented within a couple of months giving you full visibility. A treasurer nowadays needs some tech skills to be able to understand the information to implement the TMS or hub. Because the tool will be only be as good as it is being used; garbage in is garbage out. During the many implementations that I have done I have learned a lot about technical connections (sFTP, h2h, API), information exchange formats, XML file types, swift messages etc. This knowledge now helps me a lot in implementations and supporting the IT department determining the information needs and sources.

 

8. What developments do you expect in corporate treasury in the near and further future?

Instant payments are a big thing in treasury which is cool but will not necessarily bring much added value to the treasury. Instant information processing is more important especially in e-commerce. Clients expects instant service. If they pay online they expect to get the service or goods asap. Treasury can help with this by connecting their PSP’s or bank information to their systems. Not necessarily linking the payment to an invoice which is an accounting reconciliation process. More importantly linking the positive acknowledgment (the customers has paid) to the sales. Customers start demanding this more and more and treasury has to adapt to this instant world. This means more automation.

Clients also demand more payment options, some of them are not available at banks. This means that treasurers will have to move away from the traditional model of banking partners for cash management but to a more hybrid model of cash at bank, cash in transit at PSP’s, virtual credit cards, wallets etc. Maybe even crypto or CBDC deposits/balances. This will all add to the complexity of the cash and risk management.

 

Isn’t treasury the best department to be in? 😊 I already get excited saying this.

 

Get in touch with Patrick
Click here for his Expert Profile

 

Join Patrick and experts from Kyriba and Deloitte at the Panel Discussion: How Can Treasurers Overcome Today’s Security Challenges?

When? March 9
Start: 4.00 pm CET

Register here

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Kendra Keydeniers

Director Community & Partners, treasuryXL

Crypto Transactions & Corporate Treasury

28-02-2022 | treasuryXL | ComplexCountries | LinkedIn |

CompleXCountries has yet to meet a corporate treasurer who wants to transact in crypto currency, but we are speaking to many who are responding to commercial or regulatory initiatives and having to establish processes and procedures for doing so. This panel discussion between Damian Glendinnig, John Laurens, and Simon Jones explores the new risks and challenges that corporate treasurers face and suggests how they might respond.

WEBINAR ALERT | Connectivity – The Key to the Future and Digital Transformation

24-02-2022 | treasuryXL | TIS | LinkedIn |

Date: Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM CET

Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM ET

Taking a look at a dictionary, connectivity in computing is described as “the ability of systems, platforms and applications to be connected to each other”.

But what does this mean for payments in particular and how can you benefit from it?

Register today for this webinar and hear Erol Bozak, CPO, Jacques Yana Mbena, Head of PreSales Europe, and Jonathan Paquette, VP Solutions US, talk about:

  • What are the differences between integration and connectivity?
  • What types of connectivity are there and why is there such complexity?
  • How to simplify connectivity in order to achieve growth and change
  • Real-life examples of how TIS connects clients to providers and banks
  • How TIS can help your company to achieve growth and change in the Digital Age

 

We are very much looking forward to meeting you online: Register here.

Effective Finance & Treasury in Africa event run by EuroFinance | London

23-02-2022 | Eurofinance | treasuryXL |

 

If your company operates in Africa or is thinking about it, then join us at Effective Finance & Treasury in Africa on March 23rd in London. Now in its 9th year, this intimate event brings together more than 150 senior corporate treasury professionals from leading multinationals – all involved in markets across the continent.

With peer-to-peer learning and knowledge-sharing more important than ever before, join other treasury leaders to debate the key issues, share success stories and gain practical guidance on how to overcome your shared challenges.

From treasury technology to managing liquidity risks, financing strategies, FX, payments and more, the concise 1 day agenda will provide all the information you need to redesign your treasury operations for cost and efficiency, power innovation and support business growth.

Speakers include:

Jan Beukes, Group treasurer, MultiChoice Group Ltd

Omofolake Fawibe, Head of finance, IBS, Danone SA

Ricky Brink, Treasury professional, Siemens SA

Titus Owoeye, Head finance, Fan Milk West Africa

Gain all the tools you need to succeed in Africa in 2022 and beyond.

 

Registration is open – find out more and register now.

 

 

 

7 Cash Management Trends for 2022

16-02-2022 | treasuryXL | Nomentia | LinkedIn |

While the show must go on and treasury and finance teams had a busy life at the start of the year, it’s time to take a look at the ever rapidly changing cash management trends of 2022.

While PWC has predicted that the top priorities for CFOs in 2022 will be advanced cash and liquidity management, technology and digital innovation, fraud and cybersecurity, and business partnering, we also internally discussed what trends we see emerging during the new year.

 

1. Digitalization of the processes continues

A year ago, this time, we commissioned a Forrester study, ‘Successful Businesses Excel At Cash Management’, to discover how top decision-makers see the state of cash management. We were ready for some interesting findings but what we found was even more interesting than what we expected.

Clearly, during the past years, a lot has changed as finance and treasury teams had to adjust to the new reality that the global pandemic has brought on all of us. While digitalization has been on the agenda of everybody for some time, it’s been time to speed up the transformation.

While the digital transformation has started in many enterprises already years ago, the work continues to reap the benefits of cloud-based cash and treasury management technology to improve organizational flexibility, cash management processes, and security.

Better digitalized processes do not only make the life of employees easier, but companies can also untap hidden cash, inject accurate forecasting into decision making while improving their day-to-day treasury and finance operations with automation.

While last year enabling home working and ensuring business continuity was a significant driver, for sure, we are moving towards a world where the next items on the cash management wish list will climb up the priority ladder.

 

2. Payment solution for cash flow efficiency

Payments are the core of every business process, but compliance is often the main driver for many to improve existing processes. It’s often the same when companies adopt a payment tool for their global payments to improve the efficiency of their global B2B payments. Having a single tool allows more control over how payments are processed, approved, and released to the banks.

Payment efficiency is also the first step for many other cash management priorities, such as better liquidity management and cash visibility

In the process of setting up a payment solution, the hardest part of working with ERPs, existing TMS, and multiple banks is also tackled and can be utilized for implementing new solutions along the way.

Adapting a tool for payment tool can also make centralized user rights management easier.

 

3. Security is an unavoidable topic

When we are talking about payments, we must discuss security. During last year, financial fraud cases have been making headlines globally. For compliance, organizations must have the basic security measures in place, but finance and treasury are departments that need more advanced risk mitigation capabilities to tackle financial crime and fraudulent attempts to safeguard the company’s funds and financial stability. To tackle security concerns, partnering up with the information security team and finding the right vendors can provide you with the necessary precautions.

Companies are starting to utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning for catching suspicious fraudulent activity or to spot manual errors.

As all companies could be subject to financial crime, investing in fraud prevention should be a no-brainer. It’s almost like insurance for minimizing the risk of an actual incident.

 

4. Outsourcing bank connectivity

You will rarely meet someone that would say that bank connectivity is not a challenge. Yet, it’s something that everybody must have in place. In the Forrester study, 76% of the respondents believed that bank connectivity for fetching statements and intraday material is valuable for their treasury and cash management activities.

Connecting to banks is a challenge due to the different communication protocols and file formats. When banks make changes on their end, the existing connectivity should reflect on that too.

This is only part of the challenge. On the other end, there should be a connection to ERP systems (like SAP or other) or to a TMS to fetch all the accounts payable data instantly. This requires working with another communication protocol and another data format.

Between the two different data formats, there must be a data mapping to make sure that the communication between the bank and the organization works flawlessly.

It is challenging enough to set up a bank connection with a single bank. Imagine doing this process with multiple banks

That’s why most organizations are opting for bank connectivity as a service where companies like Nomentia have already over 10 800 bank connections established and expertise to take care of the rest.

Ps.: We have also created a cool video on how easy it can be to outsource the management of your bank connections:

 

5. We are saying goodbye to spreadsheets

Let’s be honest, cash forecasting with excel is challenging:

  • It’s easy to make an error
  • It’s undocumented – if the owner of the spreadsheet leaves the company, it may take some time to understand the logic behind it
  • There is no audit trail for compliance

Two of the main reasons that are holding back companies from purchasing a solution for liquidity management is the cost and the perception that it’s easy to create cash flow forecasts with spreadsheets and that is how it’s been always done. However, the trend is shifting and more companies start to realize that an actual liquidity management tool would have more benefits.

Using a tool for liquidity makes collecting forecasts and actuals automated and the data can be collected from multiple source systems to help to understand the organization’s current, past, and future liquidity positions to optimize cash flows and FX positions to optimize internal and external funding.

Liquidity management software today is extremely user-friendly and intuitive to use so that users can create reports easily to create accurate reports.

 

6. Reconciliation for all

Comparing bank statements against your accounting to make sure the amounts match each other is not too difficult for small firms where their clients and cash flows come from fewer sources and banks. In enterprises, reconciliation may not be so straightforward. In our Forrester survey, 61% of decision-makers say it’s challenging or very challenging to reconcile payments.

Thus, we expect that automation of the reconciliation process will be the star of 2022 so that organizations can streamline the process for faster month-end closing.

 

7. Alignment between treasury, finance, and IT

According to finance executives, the lack of alignment is the top barrier to better cash management. This is something that at Nomentia we’ve been experiencing firsthand. In a recent interview with TMI, Jukka Sallinen, Nomentia’s CEO said the following:

“Lack of collaboration between different functions within the organization is one of the significant hurdles. There should be more roadmapping and alignment between treasury, finance, and IT. Many solutions provided by software vendors have grown into do-it-all monolithic systems. That, unfortunately, often leads them to be mediocre at best and none of the three departments is entirely happy to work with them. In addition, while there has been lots of talk about open banking and standardization to improve the efficiency of cash management processes, most of these promises have remained unfulfilled.

I believe treasurers want more flexible and fast solutions that can solve their specific challenges and integrate well with their core treasury management system (TMS) and other systems. While it is obviously everyone’s responsibility to look at the big picture, maintaining the growing number of systems and surveying the providers’ landscape is often left to IT. Greater collaboration would be preferable.”

Setting up new solutions, bank connections, or improving security requires cooperation between the different stakeholders and in 2022 they will need to strengthen their alliance for actualizing the strategic benefits of cash management.

 

Cash Management tools are becoming more democratic

Cash management solutions becoming more accessible for businesses of all sizes. As it’s time to digitalize treasury and finance, there are affordable options available for anybody for all the solutions mentioned above. A payment factory, liquidity management, or reconciliation can be easily implemented for a fair price tag in almost any business. The trend has been moving from one-size-fits-all solutions to a hyper-modular approach: you take the solution that you need and integrate it into your existing solution stack so that you can pick the best solutions from different vendors.

Of course, implementation of new cash management solutions will require cooperation and alignment between different departments, prioritization, as well as finding the right strategic vendor that can support the organization’s finance and treasury roadmap.

 

 

The four expectations of Currency Management Automation

14-02-2022 | treasuryXL | Kantox | LinkedIn |

With FX volatility intensifying and exposing companies to even greater currency risk, treasurers & CFOs are faced with many challenges as they look to step up their FX risk management strategy. The key to this is currency management automation, but what are the critical problems an automated solution needs to solve to become a worthwhile tool in your treasury kit?

Click on the image above for the corresponding episode of CurrencyCast

The four main expectations of currency management automation for CFOs and treasurers are:

  1. The need to improve time management
  2. To remove operational risks
  3. To improve the efficiency of treasury operation
  4. To place themselves in a position to make a strategic contribution in terms of enhancing the value of the firm

Challenge 1: Improving time management

According to the 2021 HSBC Corporate Risk Management survey, 55% of treasurers say FX risk management takes up most of their time; and 44% find that automation frees up time. Throughout the FX workflow, members of the finance team manually execute many tasks. These are repetitive, time-consuming and add little value. The French have a wonderful expression to define those tasks: they call them chronophage — literally, they eat away your time. With more time at their disposal, treasurers could focus on more value-adding activities, such as improving and fine-tuning their forecasts.

Challenge 2: Removing operational risks

Throughout the FX workflow, operational risk is omnipresent. Operational risk is the risk that inadequate or failed internal processes can pose to your business. Take spreadsheet risk. From the moment an FX rate is sourced for pricing purposes to the budgeting process, and all the way to the cash flow moment of the post-trade phase, dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of spreadsheets circulate across the enterprise, magnifying the risk of manual data input error.

A recent Citi Corporate Treasury survey showed that 80% of FX risk managers remain reliant on Microsoft Excel. In our conversations with CFOs and treasurers, we noted that often, a handful of people or even sometimes a single individual is in charge of executing most –if not all– the tasks of FX risk management across the entire enterprise. These enterprises can often comprise of subsidiaries, each with its own set of currency pairs. This is the very definition of key person risk.

Taken together, spreadsheet risk and key-person risk are part of operational risks that can cause serious damage to your FX risk management strategy.

Challenge 3: Improving the efficiency of treasury operations

According to this same Citi Corporate Treasury survey, efficiency gains in treasury is the number one expectation of technology. There is a myriad of ways in which the efficiency of treasury operations can be improved in FX risk management.

Consider most Treasury Management Systems (TMS) shortcomings, even those with FX capabilities. Looking at the FX workflow, most TMS are incapable of proactively helping risk managers execute their tasks. Why though?

(a) They lack a robust rate feeder that allows the business to price with the forward rate when forward points are in favour or ‘against’.

(b) They are adequate for balance sheet hedging, but they fail to capture the type of exposure needed in cash flow hedging (e.g. forecasted exposure for individual campaigns/budget periods in static hedging; forecasted exposures for sets of campaigns/budget periods linked together for layered hedging etc. ),

(c) They lack the level of automation –during the cash flow moment of the post-trade phase of a hedging program– needed to efficiently handle the adjustment of hedges to the underlying cash flows.

Challenge 4: The need to make a strategic contribution in terms of enhancing value

HSBC’s survey showed that only 23% of treasurers see themselves as ‘best-in-class’ when it comes to FX hedging. With FX risk firmly under control thanks to a family of automated hedging programs and combinations of hedging programs, CFOs and treasurers would be in a position to:

(a) Diminish the variability of corporate performance
(b) Secure and enhance operating profit margins
(c) Improve the competitive position of the firm
(d) Make more efficient use of invested capital by boosting the sales/capital ratio and by minimising the amount of capital that needs to be set aside for collateral and margin requirements

Improving time management and removing operational risks are the most visible, the most tangible expectations of currency management automation, but they might not be the most important ones. Much more important for your company is to be in a position to improve the efficiency of Treasury operations and to make a strategic contribution towards enhancing the value of the firm.

Corporate Treasury: 3 ways to prevent fraud risk in one-time vendor payments

09-02-2022 | treasuryXL | Aico | LinkedIn |

Manual payments are somewhat of an outlier among corporate treasury payments. These one-time vendor transactions to companies or private individuals whose details are not in your ERP system pose a significant risk of fraud. They are challenging to track and easy to manipulate in an enterprise environment. This makes them a target for auditors, who want to clearly see you have monitored all points in the payment process where data can be altered. Changing the payment details or falsifying invoices are just a couple of mishandling examples, leading to massive fraud cases like these.

There is, however, a transparent and secure way to handle these payments as quickly and efficiently as the typical accounts payable invoice automation process.

Let’s look at three preventative solutions to reduce the fraud risk.

1. Enforce approval workflows: The four-eye principle.

Much of payment fraud originates in transferring small sums to non-existing vendors, rather than large payments. It makes such transactions much harder to identify and match over a long period.

The so-called four-eye principle is one of the cornerstones of a preventative approach to fraud management and internal controls in general. Having no means to enforce payment approval workflows across the group’s companies with little to no visibility into initiated payments is a challenge many enterprises struggle with.

A software solution to enforce systemic payment approvals is essential. And so is the ability to easily customise these workflows and apply them to the whole company group in line with your internal and external compliance guidelines.

You may want to enforce one or two-step payment approvals based on value or frequently recurring IBAN details. A mandatory requirement to add an attachment of supporting evidence is another possibility. These are just some examples of how a modern software solution like Aico can help you minimise fraud risk effectively.

2. Secure PAIN file creation and bank transfers.

A holistic approach is essential for effectively implementing internal controls against payment fraud. Eliminating 90% of a leak in your boat still leaves you at high risk. So, payment approvals alone will make it harder to start a fraudulent payment, but they won’t secure you from trickery further down the process.

Once one or more people have approved the payment, it will be sent to the bank in a PAIN (payment initiation) file format. The data in the approved payment request should be identical to the one in the PAIN file. Eliminating any possibility to create or alter the PAIN file manually is the single most effective protection in this part of the process. So ideally, PAIN file creation and transfer to the bank should be fully automated.

In the case of the Aico Manual Payments software solution, the system will create the PAIN file automatically in the background using the master data of the approved payment request. Once approved, the PAIN file goes automatically to the bank for the payment without any further human interaction.

3. Automate journal postings.

Verifying the execution of the payment and accounting for it in a compliant way is the last, but not least, important part of the safe payment process. Just as we want to ensure the bank receives the approved payment document, it is equally important to match the returning bank statement with the original payment order.

And once again, an automated process is the safest solution. In fact, at this point, we can also securely manage the accounting by automatically creating and posting a journal entry into the ERP system. Automation here saves us time and ensures that subsequent journals are posted to the correct accounts with the right value matching the master data of the initially approved payment request.

Is it possible to take one more step to safeguard this process?

In addition to the smart workflows and powerful automation, the Aico Manual Payments solution will also archive the entire activity log and documents related to the specific payment. This extra mile of effort will significantly simplify the audit process and help to identify any irregularities.

About Aico

We help enterprises simplify financial close and record-to-report (R2R) accounting processes. The result is less manual work and faster period-end financial reporting with the assurance of compliance and data accuracy.

Our software platform includes solutions for the key R2R processes – Account Reconciliation, Closing Task Management, Journal Entries, Intercompany Invoicing and Manual Payments.

Unique real-time integration to multiple ERP systems brings increased automation levels and reduces IT system complexity to our customers.

With teams and a network of partners across EMEA, we deliver high-complexity projects for enterprises with a global footprint.

Visit aico.ai for more information about Aico.

Visit Aico resource library for eBooks and webinars on R2R and financial close best practices.

Join us on LinkedIn.

Accepting Crypto Currency In Corporate Treasury

03-02-2022 | treasuryXL | ComplexCountries | LinkedIn |

As more treasuries will have to start accepting crypto, whether it be an emerging market like El Salvador, for digital assets, NFTs and other goods that are sold in the metaverse. This report explores the experiences of treasurers in setting up their systems to accept crypto currency.

This report is based on two treasury peer calls chaired by Simon Jones and was compiled by Monie Lindsey.

This report is based on two treasury peer calls chaired by Simon Jones and was compiled by Monie Lindsey.

The full 14-page detailed report is available to subscribers in our Report Library.

To find out about subscriptions and other value-added services, please make an enquiry.

Chair’s Overview

Following the CompleXCountries call ‘Accepting Bitcoin in Corporate Treasury – Lessons from El Salvador’, (Report Summary Here), the CXC community clearly did not see this as a one off.  The necessity to accept Bitcoin & Crypto may become a reality for more Treasurers, but the path is far from being very clear. The purpose of this call was to share experiences and challenges, and learn from the various solutions Treasurers are putting in place if they have to accept crypto currency to support their businesses.

The session was extremely insightful and even if a Corporate is not accepting Crypto now, this report required reading for the Treasury community.  It is a challenge that will increasingly become more common as corporations drive more digital sales channels.   The regulated Crypto exchanges have seen significant growth over the last few years and the ability to exchange fiat for crypto and back to fiat has become widely available in the marketplace.

We posed the questions: Is this something that they have had to deal with or are going to have to deal with in the future? El Salvador was the first newsworthy case but on this call we gained insight to how it is becoming more mainstream in digital businesses and therefore becoming far more common for corporates around the world.

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Definition. “A unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible.” Collins Dictionary, who picked ‘NFT’ as their word of the year 2021.

To summarise the key learning points:

  • Consumer businesses are targeting digital native consumers who are increasingly buying NFTs as collectibles or to demonstrate their alignment with a brand or product. This client base expects to be able to buy or trade NFTs in exchange for crypto assets that they might have accumulated from investments.
  • The marketplace and blockchain the NFT is issued on, will determine the crypto asset that can be used to buy the NFT, e.g. Ethereum or stable coins on the Ethereum blockchain.
  • Coinbase was the exchange of choice for the Corporate Treasurers who took part in this call, primarily because they are publicly listed and regulated in many markets around the world.
  • KYC & Onboarding procedures were no different for Coinbase than for opening a bank account at a relationship bank, it still took weeks, not days.
  • Some Treasurers allow NFTs to be purchased via a crypto currency, but immediately convert back to fiat currency, via the exchange provider, both to avoid volatility and because of uncertainty over the accounting, legal and tax implications of holding crypto currency.  Bitcoin was not widely used, as it was deemed to be more open to money laundering concerns by the exchanges.
  • Crypto Exchange commission continues to be quite expensive and is not as tight as fiat currency exchange.
  • Accepting Bitcoin seemed limited to only El Salvador, where it is legal tender in addition to USD. (Corporates are required to accept BTC in payment should their client require it.)  Other countries may follow.
  • Anti-Money Laundering controls continue to be top of mind and it’s important to make sure the NFT auction houses, marketplaces and collecting exchanges are able to trace the origin of coins to protect their corporate clients.

Conclusion:  Highly insightful session, brings home the reality that as more businesses issue and sell digital assets like NFTs online for their products & services, it will be a requirement to accept crypto coins.  No longer are crypto-assets like bitcoin just for speculative investment, but they are becoming the instrument of choice for some digital native consumers to use for purchases.  Understanding the digital product & services strategy at a Corporate and the implications that might have for a corporate treasurer is fast becoming a necessity to supporting the business.

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Conference “Toekomst Betalingsverkeer” 31 March 2022 Amsterdam | Discount 20%

02-02-2022 | treasuryXL | Kendra Keydeniers |

 

Euroform will host the 22nd edition of the Conference “Toekomst Betalingsverkeer” on Thursday March 31, 2022 at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam.

“Toekomst Betalingsverkeer” is a major event in the Payment Business with round table sessions, keynotes and more.

PAYMENT TRAFFIC EXPERIENCED A MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT OVER THE LAST YEAR

Payment trends accelerated during the corona pandemic. Due to the dynamic market conditions, both supply and demand changed rapidly.

  • Payments are becoming increasingly seamless, embedded and contextual;
  • More and more technological possibilities are becoming apparent. This also entails risks. Therefore, improving cybersecurity remains essential to guarantee security;
  • Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can help detect and prevent security breaches. Customer verification can serve as an extra layer of security;
  • To offer customers an optimal, easy and fast payment experience, more and more integrated payments are being used;
  • Platforms are also becoming more popular. They see an opportunity to broaden their offer with opportunities around investing and cryptocurrency.

Many steps have already been taken to promote innovation and digitization within the payment system.

What important developments can we expect in the future of payment systems? Together with other payment professionals, you will dive into the conversation around this topic.

At the event there is plenty of room to network and learn from each other. Inspire and challenge each other, exchanging knowledge, experience and ideas are key.

What can you expect?

Discussions and Keynote sessions about the following three important topics:

  1. Regulations, Reality
  2. Embedded: The New Payments Behavior
  3. Acceleration Towards New Money

Furthermore,

  • Expand your professional network with the attendance of 300 + strategic payment experts
  • Over 10 C-level speeches with topics like: Digital Transformation in Banking, FinTech, NextGen customer, New PSD2 Business Models, Blockchain Impact and Artificial Intelligence
  • 20 round table sessions: EID, PSD2, Instant Payments, Cybersecurity, Cryptocurrencies, Data-Driven Business Models
  • Plenty of networking opportunities with Drinks & Bites

Program and Speakers

You can see an overview of all the speakers of 2022 here.

To take a deeper dive into the full program you can view and download the agenda here.

Join the event with a discount and register exclusive via treasuryXL

The registration fee to attend the event is € 849,00 per attendee.

We are happy to provide our readers with a 20% discount on your registration fee.

Make sure to use this exclusive link to register with a discount.

I wish you a great event!

 

 

 

Kendra Keydeniers

Director, Community & Partners
treasuryXL

 

 

 

Nomentia Now Available in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace

01-02-2022 | treasuryXL | Nomentia | LinkedIn |

Microsoft Azure customers worldwide now gain access to Nomentia to take advantage of the scalability, reliability and agility of Azure to drive application development and shape business strategies.

HELSINKI, Finland — February 1, 2022 — Nomentia, a leading European provider of cash and treasury management solutions, today announced the availability of Nomentia Bank Connectivity as a Service in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, an online store providing applications and services for use on Azure. Nomentia customers can now take advantage of the productive and trusted Azure cloud platform, with streamlined deployment and management.

 

“Adding Nomentia to Microsoft Azure Marketplace will help IT departments achieve desired connectivity between banks and internal systems, faster than ever before” Anna-Lisa Natchev, Chief Growth Officer of Nomentia

 

“Nomentia is addressing some of the major challenges treasury, finance and IT teams are facing during the digitalization and transformation of treasury and finance processes. We not only take care of ERP integrations, but also offer unrivaled bank connectivity-as-a-service across the market. Adding Nomentia to Microsoft Azure Marketplace will help IT departments achieve desired connectivity between banks and internal systems, faster than ever before. Using Nomentia’s bank connectivity-as-a-service can significantly reduce IT burden and ensure treasury and finance departments can start building better processes to improve operations, data output quality, security and compliance assurance,” says Anna-Lisa Natchev, Chief Growth Officer of Nomentia.

“Through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, customers around the world can easily find, buy, and deploy partner solutions they can trust, all certified and optimized to run on Azure,” said Jake Zborowski, General Manager, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp. “We’re happy to welcome Nomentia’s solution to the growing Azure Marketplace ecosystem.”
The Azure Marketplace is an online market for buying and selling cloud solutions certified to run on Azure. The Azure Marketplace helps connect companies seeking innovative, cloud-based solutions with partners who have developed solutions that are ready to use.

About Nomentia

Nomentia is a category leader within European treasury and cash management solutions. Nomentia’s mission is to provide unparalleled cloud treasury and cash management solutions for and with our customers. Today, Nomentia is solving the challenges of modern treasurers and cash managers across 2,000+ businesses in over 80 countries, processing more than 800 billion euros annually. Nomentia solutions specialize in global payments, bank connectivity-as-service, cash-forecasting and visibility, bank account management, financial process automation, treasury workflows, FX risk, in-house banking, and trade finance. For more information, visit www.nomentia.com.

 

For more information, press only:

Anna-Lisa Natchev, Nomentia, Chief Growth Officer, +358 50 413 0704, [email protected]

Barbara Babati, Nomentia, Head of Marketing, +358 40 762 3356, [email protected]