Miltenyi Biotec standardizes corporate payments and bank management with new payments platform

| 10-11-2020 | TIS |

Globally operating biotech company consolidates its banking landscape and creates more transparency and security in finance and international payments with TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions).

Walldorf, November 10, 2020. Miltenyi Biotec, headquartered in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, has selected the TIS payments platform to manage all its bank accounts, bank statements, payments and conduct detailed financial analyses. The decision for TIS was made after thorough market observation. Its usability, high security standards, and effective SAP integration clearly stood out.

Miltenyi Biotec has grown steadily in recent years, especially in international markets. The company was founded in 1989 in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, and specializes in products and processes for cellular research and cell therapy applications. Today, it has more than 3,000 employees worldwide, with 700 employees in research and clinical development. Miltenyi Biotec distributes its products through direct sales in 28 countries. The company’s ongoing growth, increasing number of affiliates, banking partners and accounts led to a need to standardize the company’s finance processes and to make them more efficient.

Besides accounts and payments consolidation, the company also wanted to make its payment processes more professional. In Germany, payment processes were structured with the Treasury Management System. Internationally, however, subsidiaries and affiliates used SAP and other ERP systems for payments and connected to banks via different online banking tools.

Daniel Pier, Group Leader Treasury at Miltenyi Biotec: “For our renewed banking landscape we looked for a centralized payments platform to make international payments more transparent and secure. With TIS, we can automate and standardize payments and monitor the processes from group treasury whenever necessary. For us, the core value of this solution is to enable us to follow closely the company-wide liquidity status at the push of a button.”

Jörg Wiemer, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at TIS: “For fast growing companies, it is especially important to manage resources efficiently and meanwhile also ensure security and transparency in corporate payments and liquidity management. With its effective SAP integration and extensive bank connectivity, TIS offers powerful benefits to its customers. We are happy to welcome Miltenyi Biotec, a leading innovator in biomedical research and cellular therapy, to the TIS community.”

About TIS

TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH), founded in Walldorf, Germany in 2010, is a global leader in managing corporate payments. The Financial Times named TIS as one of “Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies” for 2019 and 2020. Offered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), the TIS solution is a comprehensive, highly-scalable, cloud platform for company-wide payments and cash management. The TIS solution has been successfully used for many years in both large and medium-sized companies, including Adecco Group, Hugo Boss, Fresenius, Fugro, Lanxess, OSRAM and QIAGEN. More than 25% of DAX companies are already TIS customers.

Your world of Payments. ONE Login.

https://www.tis.biz

Press contact

Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH

Liang Fang

Altrottstrasse 31

69190 Walldorf

Germany

If you want to know more about TIS, visit www.tis.biz

Read the complete press release also here

 

Partner Interview Nomentia | Best-of-breed cash & treasury management solutions

10-11-2020 | treasuryXL | Nomentia |

It has been a crazy year for OpusCapita with a lot of positive changes. OpusCapita recently joined forces with Analyste and merged into Nomentia.

Nomentia is a Nordic powerhouse for global cash management. By believing in a world in which businesses can make the right decisions no matter how unpredictable the times are, their SaaS-based platform offers solutions for cash forecasting & visibility, global payments with bank connectivity, reconciliation, in-house banking, guarantees, and FX dealing. Nomentia currently serves 2,300+ clients in over 100 countries processing more than 200 billion euros annually.

AN INTRODUCTION TO…

 

Meet Jukka Sallinen , Deputy CEO at Nomentia.

Jukka is a cash management domain expert with a strong hands-on background from international and complex payment factory and SWIFT projects. Previously Jukka had been working in various R&D roles, focusing on bank and ERP integrations and security topics.

” We are the bridge between finance and treasury ”

 

 

We asked him 9 questions. Let’s go!

INTERVIEW

1. Nomentia, what is the core business and what is its mission??

Our vision is to create solutions that make the life of modern CFO’s and Treasurers easier. We provide best-of-breed cash and treasury solutions that are the bridge between Finance and Treasury. Best-of-breed means that we focus on challenges that matter for modern CFO’s and treasurers to stay ahead of the curve and help their business to prosper.

We solve the challenges that professionals face in their daily work:

End-to-end & total visibility of cash flows is ever important. By visibility we of course mean visibility to cash flows, bank accounts, payments and future cash flows. But today, visibility is also more and more a risk & compliance related challenge. To whom I am going to pay? How do I mitigate the risk of fraud? Another visibility challenge is the whole topic of working capital where cash & liquidity forecasting & analytics solutions will play a role.

While visibility could be classified as internal challenge an example of external challenge Treasurers are facing is financial crime which is globally a trillion-dollar industry. Payment fraud and cybercrime faced by corporates remains significant and growing problem. To fight back corporates are mitigating these risks by harmonizing bank connectivity & payments into a centralized payment hub.

Finally, finance organizations seeking for return of investments from their Treasury or Finance solutions typically look increasing automation and efficiency in financial processes. Automating & harmonizing bank statement processing and accounts receivable reconciliation (automatic matching) holds typically largest savings potential.

By focusing on these challenges that matter to modern CFO and Treasurers, Nomentia is different. Monolithic finance and treasury systems are not quick and flexible enough to face the challenges of today and thus remain largely un-used.

2. OpusCapita recently formed a new company together with Analyste. What was the main reason for this? 

There is a growing need for choosing best-of-breed cloud solutions to solve particular business challenges today’s organizations are facing, which cannot be addressed by traditional monolithic tools. And treasury and finance organizations are no different. We are in a journey to create a leading cloud native cash management company as one.

3. What constitutes this Nordic powerhouse?

We took the best practices of both companies and combined them into one integrated solution for Finance and Treasury professionals. Nowadays, companies need multiple tools and systems. Is anyone convinced that the trend would go backwards? I mean look at your mobile phone. More apps keep coming and we as consumers add more. As business consumers we don’t want to be different, right?

A modern company needs a sales and customer relationship management, marketing automation tools, billing systems, project management tools, HR systems and various business solutions – and Finance & Treasury are no different. Often at some point we fall into the trap of looking for one platform to solve all challenges. But there never will be one, because we cannot possibly know everything a platform needs to solve to adapt in changing business environment. You end up using only small fraction of such monolithic platform with a very high price tag or building very customized solutions.

4.You talk about best-of-breed, what does it mean and what is the customer benefit?

Now, what does this mean for treasury and cash? A one-for-all solution would be a single solution to solve all your finance & treasury & cash management issues. That at least used to be sort of IT’s dream come true. One can clearly see benefits such as having less systems to integrate or less business partners to deal with. Also, commonly heard argument is to claim you would have “all the data at your hand in one place” which often shrinks into a mere sales argument.

While choosing best-of-breed companies can build network of integrated products and solutions. Benefits are often ones like paying and implementing only what you really need, much quicker implementation time and thus quick payback time, more standard features and no customization and vendor locking. Even the integration – a classical tarpit in IT projects – is often surprisingly simple because best of breed providers works very well together

Treasury or Finance is not an island. It is not the treasury that really is changing but the world around it. How companies are purchasing goods, sales are becoming digital, buying journey shifting to marketplaces and technology and software connecting everyone and concerning almost any business will sure keep changing the work that needs to be done by Treasury and Finance teams. Our claim is that networks and best-of-breed is more adapted to change.

5. How does the customer journey look like from start till end? And how long does a project take?

This really depends on the customers and their needs and how their internal processes look as well. We adjust to our customers’ needs.

6. Can you give us an outlook on the product developments that are scheduled?

The most important achievement is that we’ve now released our first versions from next generation Nomentia products that are based on a modern cloud architecture. We have been working on for the last four to five years to come up with the next generation – which is by the way already fifth generation if we look how our products have evolved from 80’s. Our customers should expect a whole new user experience from all our applications as many modules have not only got a completely new front end in HTML5 but a backend and business logic as well.

One of the new developments our customers should be looking carefully is that we are bringing better productized analytics capabilities to our next generation product as we speak. With analytics capabilities we mean payment behavior analytics and statistics, performance analysis and working capital related key performance indicators.

7. What has been your best experience in your career at OpusCapita, now Nomentia?

Next spring shall mark me already fifteen years in the company. Both OpusCapita and Analyste had gone such an exciting journey first as an independent company and then as part of larger enterprises, and finally again independent but together. It’s hard for me to rank all the memories I’ve collected with such a fantastic team and individuals that have participated into this journey. However, I still do remember with warmth some of the early development projects that helped us to become more international, such as joining to SWIFT Lite 2 program as global early adopters in 2013. And of course, winning the hearts of first global customers for the new service back then.

I’ve always got inspiration from challenging projects, working with new technology, and working to productize something that no one has done before. I feel that our employees at Nomentia are in a privileged position, since we work with such an exciting customer base and deliver software for so critical processes.

8. What has been the biggest success story of OpusCapita, now Nomentia, so far?

Although both Analyste and OpusCapita  have their roots in early 80’s we’re truly living the moments of biggest success right now. The company has never been filled with such a talented people, have such great solutions, and finally a market position to grow and create a European (or rather global) Fintech success story.

9. The year is 2025, what have been the OpusCapita/Nomentia successes over the last years?

The world of CFO and Treasurer is changing probably faster than never. Our five-year plan is obviously to grow significantly, which means double-digit revenue growth year-on-year. Much of our growth comes from international markets where I would expect us to cement our positions in several new markets as a viable and market leading choice of a modern CFO.

We will be significantly larger and stronger European Fintech company than we are today. When it comes to successes, I believe it is all about the journey rather than single events. We must work hard every day to win our customers hearts, and to have an atmosphere where employees find it exciting to wake up every Monday and be a part of our success story. Work hard, learn something new every day, and do it with a smile, and the journey will reward you.

 

treasuryXL announces collaboration with Treasury Delta

| 5-11-2020 | treasuryXL | Treasury Delta | VENLO, The Netherlands, November 5, 2020 – treasuryXL, the community platform for everyone who is active in the world of treasury, and Treasury Delta, an Irish FinTech company, which has brought to market an innovative platform that uses digital technology to connect companies, banks and treasury management […]

Read more

Kyriba Webinar: Modernising Global Corporate Payments to Prevent Fraud

04-11-2020 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

These last few months have highlighted that Payments Fraud continues to be a major problem, with fraudsters quick to leverage the global pandemic, with the amounts involved considerable.

In this session Kyriba’s Paul Simpson will be joined by Helen Alexander from SWIFT and James Bushby from MasterCard, to explain what institutional payment fraud is, with a specific focus on the technology and processes that treasury and finance teams can employ to minimise risk.

In particular, the agenda will follow:

  • What institutional payment fraud is and the internal processes and technology to consider, with SWIFT
  • How a payment hub mitigates against Fraud for Corporates, with Kyriba
  • Introduction to how MasterCard is helping fight Financial Crime

Register your place by filling in the form to your right and we will be in touch!

Date:

November 12th, 09:30- 10:30 (CET)

Contact:

Is a Letter of Credit (L/C) a dying product?

| 13-10-2020 | Ger van Rosmalen | treasuryXL

In this blog , Ger van Rosmalen explains why you need to ask for a Transferable Letters of Credit when your bank doesn’t want to increase credit limits but even want to lower credit limits.

This blog continues in Dutch language…

Is een Letter of Credit ( L/C) een uitstervend product? Nog steeds worden wereldwijd door importeurs en exporteurs risico’s afgedekt met L/C’s. Als ik kijk naar de afgelopen jaren met het toenemende aantal bedrijven dat ik mocht helpen met het structureren van L/C deals dan ben ik ervan overtuigd dat L/C’s het bedrijfsleven nog lange tijd zullen helpen om de kloof tussen onbekende importeurs en exporteurs financieel te dichten. Ja, er zijn alternatieven en daar moeten we onze ogen niet voor sluiten maar deze zijn (nog) geen gelijkwaardige vervanging voor deze in mijn ogen uitstekende betalingsinstrumenten.

Transferable Letters of Credit

Bijzondere aandacht verdienen daarbij de Transferable Letters of Credit. Een speciale vorm van een L/C die uitkomst biedt als de bank kredietlimieten niet wil verhogen of zelfs verlaagt. Je doet bijvoorbeeld mooie deals met een prima winstmarge, maar je bank beweegt niet mee.

Stel je verkoopt een machine aan een klant, en die machine koop jij weer bij een producent. Hoe kun je een dergelijke deal structureren zonder dat het ten koste gaat van je beperkte werkkapitaal? Een Transferable L/C kan hier uitkomst bieden.  Je ontvangt een Transferable L/C van je koper voor een machine ter waarde van EUR 100.000. Je koopt de machine bij een producent voor EUR 90.000 en die vraagt zekerheid van betaling. Het L/C dat je hebt ontvangen kun je overdragen naar de producent voor EUR 90.000 die op dat moment zekerheid van betaling krijgt. Als de producent heeft geleverd zal de financiële afwikkeling als volgt plaatsvinden: de documenten voorgeschreven in het L/C worden door de producent via zijn bank bij jouw bank aangeboden. Zijn de documenten goed, dan mag de bank de inkoopfactuur vervangen door de verkoopfactuur en zal de marge op jouw rekening achterblijven.

Klinkt simpel, toch is het dat niet, want er gelden belangrijke spelregels. De in- en verkoop condities moeten naadloos op elkaar aansluiten dus inkoop in EUR dan ook verkoop in EUR, verkoop op CFR basis dan ook inkoop op CFR basis. De goederen mogen evenmin bewerking ondergaan. Hier moet je even voor gaan zitten, maar het maakt deals mogelijk die je anders misschien moet laten lopen. Hoewel het een bancair product is, bieden banken het in mijn ogen te weinig aan als alternatief voor kredietverlening. Soms omdat de bank er weinig of geen ervaring (meer) mee heeft of het niet wil doen omdat de exporteur hier niet veel ervaring mee heeft en de bank daarom een reputationeel risico denkt te lopen.

Conclusie

Met een goed onderbouwd verhaal kun je dergelijke L/C transacties heel goed gebruiken om jouw groeidoelstelling te realiseren, met comfortabele zekerheid van betaling.
Mijn advies is om expliciet te vragen om een Transferable L/C en neem niet te snel genoegen met een afwijzing.

TradelinQ Solutions kan je daar heel goed begeleiden. Neem vrijblijvend contact op voor meer informatie.

 

 

Ger van Rosmalen

Trade Finance Specialist

 

 

KYRIBA Global Summit

| 07-10-2020 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

We are excited to invite you to the first ever Kyriba Global Summit, a free virtual event bringing together treasury, finance and IT teams from around the world to discuss their successes and the latest innovations in cash management, payments, bank connectivity, FX risk management and working capital management.

Hear successes and stories of transformation from some of the most recognized companies in the world with a globally diverse group of speakers.

REGISTER HERE

About Kyriba

Kyriba empowers CFOs and their teams to transform how they activate liquidity as a dynamic, real-time vehicle for growth and value creation, while also protecting against financial risk. Kyriba’s pioneering Active Liquidity Network connects internal applications for treasury, risk, payments and working capital, with vital external sources such as banks, ERPs, trading platforms, and market data providers. Based on a secure, highly scalable SaaS platform that leverages artificial and business intelligence, Kyriba enables thousands of companies worldwide to maximize growth opportunities, protect against loss from fraud and financial risk, and reduce costs through advanced automation. Kyriba is headquartered in San Diego, with offices in New York, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai and other major locations. For more information, visit www.kyriba.com.

TIS and Orchard Finance strengthen their partnership

| 06-10-2020 | TIS |

Both companies see huge opportunities with continuous growth in the BENELUX region.

Walldorf, October 6, 2020 – TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH), a leading cloud-based platform for corporate payments, and Orchard Finance Consultants BV, a leading, independent Dutch consultancy organization in the field of Debt Advisory, Treasury and Staffing, announced today that they have extended their partnership agreement.

Aderito Duarte, Senior Sales Executive BENELUX from TIS: “We are very happy about the collaboration with Orchard Finance and we believe the partnership will further strengthen our positioning in BENELUX to serve the best interest of our customers in treasury and corporate payments.”

Ariane Hoksbergen, Practice Lead Treasury Technology from Orchard Finance, is very excited about the prospect of the partnership: “Orchard Finance is expanding its ecosystem with selected knowledge and technology partners and TIS is one of our technology partners in the field of bank connectivity solutions for corporate treasury. We look forward to strengthening our collaboration!”

About Orchard Finance Consultants BV

Orchard Finance is a leading, independent Dutch consultancy organization in the field of Debt Advisory, Treasury and Staffing. We offer advisory, project management and (temporary) staffing services, tailored to the needs of our clients. Since the start in 2003, we have grown substantially, due to long-term partnerships with customers and well performing employees. Call us today and discover what we can do for you.

https://en.orchardfinance.com/

About TIS

TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH), founded in Walldorf, Germany in 2010, is a global leader in managing corporate payments. The Financial Times named TIS as one of “Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies” for 2019 and 2020.  Offered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), the TIS solution is a comprehensive, highly-scalable, cloud platform for company-wide payments and cash management. The TIS solution has been successfully used for many years in both large and medium-sized companies, including Adecco Group, Hugo Boss, Fresenius, Fugro, Lanxess, OSRAM and QIAGEN. More than 25% of DAX companies are already TIS customers.

Your world of Payments. ONE Login.

https://www.tis.biz

Press contacts

Orchard Finance Consultants BV

Ariane Hoksbergen

Tower Athens – 5th floor

Bisonspoor 3002 – A601

3605 LT Maarssen

The Netherlands

Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH

Liang Fang

Altrottstrasse 31

69190 Walldorf

Germany

 

If you want to know more about TIS, visit www.tis.biz

Read the complete press release also here

Nomentia – the new Nordic powerhouse for global cash management

| 30-09-2020 | treasuryXL | OpusCapita |

OpusCapita and Analyste join forces

Two leading cash management providers have joined forces to form a new company. OpusCapita and Analyste have merged to create Nomentia – a Nordic powerhouse for global cash management.

”This is a natural step in our journey. Combining forces will improve our offering to our customers, increase our capacity, speed up innovation, and enable us to offer solutions to our customers on a global scale”, says Mikko Soirola, the CEO of Nomentia.

The new company is owned by Providence Strategic Growth (‘PSG’), and Verdane – a North European growth equity investor – will own a minority stake alongside the companies’ management teams. The merger was announced on June 29, 2020.

While the name is new, the companies are not. Founded in the mid 1980s, OpusCapita and Analyste have brought cutting edge Nordic Fintech to the world for over 35 years. Nomentia has a strong heritage of innovation and trust with an average customer lifecycle of over 11 years.

“Our passion is to modernize payment automation and cash management processes and provide clients with the best solutions and tools. We will be able to combine best practices from both companies and create an extensive pool of experience from over 2.300 customers, which will allow for much wider best practice sharing”, says Mikko Soirola.

“We are proud of our Nordic heritage and innovation that we have continuously delivered to the cash management community for over 35 years. Our new brand and visual identity are a salute to our roots, while demonstrating that we have the courage and ambition to be different. From this moment, the name Nomentia shall stand for the Nordic powerhouse for global cash management. We combine best-of-breed solutions from both OpusCapita and Analyste in our cash management portfolio and are looking forward to take this to the world”, states Jukka Sallinen, Deputy CEO Nomentia.

About Nomentia

Nomentia is a Nordic powerhouse for global cash management. We believe in a world in which businesses can make the right decisions no matter how unpredictable the times are. Our SaaS-based platform offers solutions for cash forecasting and visibility, global payments with bank connectivity, reconciliation, in-house banking, guarantees, and FX dealing. We serve 2,300+ clients in over 100 countries processing more than 200 billion euros annually. Cash is king!

Media contacts

Mikko Soirola, CEO Nomentia, [email protected] +358 40 703 0553

Jukka Sallinen, Deputy CEO Nomentia [email protected] +358 40 590 6144

Wiebke Arendt, [email protected], +358 458731636

Partner Interview Series | More than a decade of Treasurer Search proudness

22-09-2020 | treasuryXL | Treasurer Search |

Treasurer Search is founded in 2009. Treasurer Search recruits candidates for both permanent and temporary treasury positions in industry, trade, services and non-profit. They recruit treasury professionals of all levels, from young graduates to senior treasury professionals, for positions including corporate treasurer, cash manager, treasury controller, treasury consultant, treasury analyst, assistant treasurer and group treasurer.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

 

Pieter de Kiewit, Treasury Aficionado, Recruitment Consultant and Owner of Treasurer Search. His market focus is the BeNeLux and Germany, his clients are mainly corporates, non-profit and consultancy organizations. Pieter holds an MSc. in Organizational Science and has over 25 years experience in international recruitment. In many ways he contributes to the Treasury Community by connecting people, companies, education and events.

We asked him 11 questions and 2 bonus questions. Let’s go!

 

INTERVIEW

1. Can you tell us about Treasurer Search and its mission and vision?

In our vision the professional field of treasury will further evolve and serve a broader group of organizations. It is our mission to listen to treasurers, business and HR leaders and make robust matches taking everybody’s interest into account.

2. What was the main reason to start with Treasurer Search in 2009?

For me as a person, my first professional choice was recruitment. In 2009 I worked in the recruitment industry for 15 years in various roles with two international market leaders. I decided I wanted to recruit in a way that suited my clients, candidates and me best. And that an own organisation was the best structure to do so. Already early in my career I searched group treasurers and liked the job type in so many ways. With the expert combination of both recruitment and treasury, I think we can optimize our added value best.

3.  How would you describe your company in 3 words?

Results, expertise, authentic

4. Can you take us with you into your company culture? How would you describe it?

We take pride in what we do, want to show our added value and like our job. We are Dutch, direct, informal and also very much interested in you and what keeps you busy. We are here to stay and want to build long lasting relationships. And we are not afraid to try or even initiate something new.

5. What is, in your perception, the biggest benefit for clients and candidates to work with Treasurer Search?

Understanding the recruitment industry is not hard. What sets us apart from other executive search firms are our treasury expertise which enables us to dig in deeper. And our long lasting relationships. 90% of the candidates we find a position for, we had prior contact with. Over 50% of our revenue is repeat business and we are still growing. Clients like us because we find better candidates, quicker for a fair, market level fee.

6. What has been your biggest challenge since the start of Treasurer Search? And how did you deal with it?

Our USPs are stability and treasury expertise combined with recruitment skills. People who combine these aspects are few. We have taken steps not only forward but also back because new colleagues realized after a while that their motivation did not match the mission of Treasurer Search. By now we have a stable team and cautiously continue moving forward. In recruitment for our own organisation we spent even more time in informing potential colleagues.

7. What is the best learning experience you ever had as business owner of a treasury recruitment club?

The treasury community is an interested and intrinsically motivated group of people. Always willing to brainstorm and join. In order to channel positive input into plans that bring us the results we strive for, we cannot lose focus. That brings best results. Over time I better learned to avoid distractions but are not done learning.

8. In the last 10 years, what are the main differences in the world of treasury & recruitment?

Too many to make a comprehensive list. What strikes me most in treasury is that the professional level of treasurers is going up. Treasurers are nowadays educated at a higher level, better communicators and continue to invest in treasury education. Treasury is getting the platform it deserves.
Also recruitment is constantly changing. The success of a new hire will never be an exact science but we try to avoid risk. New insights and technology in our field resulted in www.treasurertest.com. In my opinion a perfect example of recruitment new style.

9. How do you see the future of the function of treasury?

I hope and expect treasurers will be able to increase their impact. In large corporates they will be able to contribute in strategy, mitigate risk better and save cost. In mid-sized organizations they will find their spot in the CFO team where they are currently not always. The impact of treasury technology cannot be overestimated, one blog is not enough to describe that topic.

10.  How important is treasury in times like these? In times of COVID19….

The cliché “profit is an opinion, cash a reality” is currently felt stronger than ever. The treasurer that cannot show his added value in these times might not be in the right position.

11. Tell us, 10 years from now, what does Treasurer Search look like?

Predicting the future in these times is more daunting than ever, we just celebrated our first 10 years… I hope 10 years from now we can still show stability, treasury and recruitment expertise. Furthermore I hope clients who currently do not have a treasurer are happy we found one for them and also many more clients who are not based in The Netherlands enjoy our services.

BONUS QUESTIONS

What makes you happy in your work?

Results. See that my colleagues are happy in their job and help candidates and clients moving forward.

What are you most proud of in your career at Treasurer Search?

That clients call us again because they like the candidate they hired through us before. That candidates are happy in their job we found them, and for a long time. That we created an organization with employees that like coming to work to a job that pays mortgages and children’s shoes. That the treasury community knows us and knows how to find us.

Partner Interview Series | XE the world’s trusted currency authority

15-09-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |

XE provides a comprehensive range of currency services and products, including their Currency Converter, Market Analysis, Currency Data API and quick, easy, secure Money Transfers for individuals and businesses. They leverage technology to deliver these services through their website, mobile apps and over the phone.

We will take a deeper dive into the market, XE businesses and the future of FX.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

Wybe Schutte is head of Business Development Europe at XE.com. Wybe’s career has always centered around international business development and managing relationships. Within XE.com both play an important part as globally we XE is the trusted partner of many business in helping them manage & mitigate the risk that is associated with dealing with multiple currencies, be this through simple rate regulation or looking at high level currency risk management & hedging solutions.

We asked him 10 questions. Let’s go!

 

INTERVIEW

1. Can you tell something about XE and its mission?

At Xe, we live currencies. Most people know Xe from the currency converter, however we also provide international money transfer services for business for over 25 years.  Xe’s Business Solutions supports company’s that have an exposure to foreign currency, supporting them to safeguard profit margins and improve cashflow through quantifying the FX risk they face and implementing strategies to mitigate it. So that our clients can focus on their core business and do not have to worry about their FX.

2.What kind of FX risk types exists and how does XE deal with it?

We look within each business to see where the currency risks are, and whether these can be offset. For example, any sales made in Euros could be offset against Euro costs. If there is still an exposure this is where products such as Forward Contracts can be considered in order to provide protection against the risk. Currency risk can be divided into three types: Transactional Risk, when a business deals in a country that differs to their base currency; Transnational Risk, when a business has an asset or liability overseas on their balance sheet, and Economic Risk where a movement in the exchange rate can give a business a competitive advantage when competing for a particular market.

3. How can you measure the different types of FX risk?

FX Risk can either have a negative or positive impact on a business’ bottom line. If you look back over the last 10 years you can understand what the potential impact could be in the most extreme, least extreme and average scenarios over your given timeline.

This can be done by looking at the high & low points of the market and a business’ FX exposure. This step helps companies to understand what the impact of the net exposure can have on the bottom line.

4. What are the most common critical FX problems that businesses have?

Businesses that have a transactional exposure to the currency markets can differentiate between committed and forecasted exposures. A committed exposure is when the price for a good or service in a foreign currency is known and contracted. Therefore, any movement in exchange rate has a direct impact on their profit or cost unless hedged. A forecasted exposure is when a business looks to the period beyond the committed period to see what their requirements may be. Confidence levels into forecasted periods can vary largely and it is normally the case that the further out a business forecasts, the lower the confidence levels.

5. How can businesses protect their bottom line against the currency markets?

There are a number of key stages that a business can look to follow in order to mitigate FX volatility. Firstly, Identify the type of risk, quantify the risk elements, and then look to build a strategy and agree the implementation process. These stages will allow you to decide the products that are most suitable, so you can then move to market timing and execution. Lastly, you should look to review, revise and adjust your approach on a regular basis. It is important to remember that it is not about market speculation but about mitigating your risk.

6. What is, in your perception, the biggest benefit of a working Foreign Exchange strategy?

Given the ever-uncertain world in which we currently live in, finance departments and treasury centres could be looking to build a strategy to deal with currency fluctuations, which over time could have a considerable impact on your company’s bottom line. A structured approach to foreign exchange risk can enable your business to make strategic planning decisions, rather than attempting to respond to day-to-day developments in the market.

7. Do you experience differences in FX before COVID19 and the time we live in now? What are the differences?

There has been significant movements in the currency markets during the Covid19 period and there are still many factors that influence the daily rates. During these uncertain times our clients are looking for certainty and stability. And although price is always important, other key factors like security and credibility became more important. Naturally each of our clients has been impacted very differently and we have worked with them to provide the solutions and flexibility they needed. We have welcomed many new clients from new geographies? as they were growing, and we supported existing clients that were growing or adapting their business models to suit the changing market.

8. The market is always changing, how does XE stay top of mind of the latest developments in the currency world?

We work closely with our clients to continuously understand their needs and adjust accordingly. Our expert Dealers keep a close eye out on the market. Understanding the movements, resistance levels, and key economic & political updates that can influence the market so that our clients do not have to worry about that. Xe also works closely with our sister companies and parent company Euronet Worldwide.

9. How does the future of FX look like in your perspective?

The near future could be set to weather extraordinary levels of balance sheet expansion and recession, potentially leading to a longer stimulative/expansionary monetary policy which could in turn depress currency rates of the countries that bear them. Near to medium term impacts of this could include a lack of major economic expansion as capital returns are often negative when factoring inflation. This may mean that we see a re-composition of FX strength toward commodity-based currencies (CAD/AUD/NZD) and alternative safe havens (CHF). However, we could see this shift in the longer term as public debt, in particular, becomes more tenable and attractive at such low interest rates and could invite broader investment for countries and to a degree private industry.

We have witnessed ample FX market volatility from an increased reliance on a more narrow data core. Inflation and interest rates and also public debt and balance sheet expansion narratives are having the most impact on rate movements. With this in mind; where much of the corrective forces required are formed around policies related to these key issues, it appears that volatility could behere to stay for at least the coming 6-12 months and beyond.

10. What has been your best experience ever in the world of currencies?

Supporting a scale-up with their complex FX requirements and enable them to grow their business in a short period of time by eliminating the FX risk and provide significant costs savings along the way.

 

About XE

At XE, they live currencies. XE provides a comprehensive range of currency services and products, including their Currency Converter, Market Analysis, Currency Data API and quick, easy, secure Money Transfers for individuals and businesses. They leverage technology to deliver these services through their website, mobile apps and over the phone.

Last year, XE helped nearly 300 million people access information about the currencies that matter to them and over 350,000 people used XE to send money overseas. Thousands of businesses relied on XE for information about the currency markets, advice on managing their foreign exchange risk or trusted XE with their business-critical international payments.

International Payments & FX Risk management for business

XE Business Solutions can help safeguard your profit margins and improve cashflow through quantifying the FX risk you face and implementing unique strategies to mitigate it. We provide a comprehensive range of currency services and products to help you access competitive rates with greater control.

At XE, they share the belief that behind every currency exchange, query or transaction is a person or business trying to accomplish something important, so XE works together to develop new and better currency services that put their customers first.

XE is proud to be part of Euronet Worldwide (Nasdaq: EEFT), a global leader in processing secure electronic financial transactions. XE is part of the Money Transfer Division of Euronet and is the unification of HiFX and XE.com.

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