Helping Hand: Using Cashforce to Manage Growth Through M&A

24-08-2021 | treasuryXL | Cashforce

How one treasurer used Cashforce technology to improve forecasting and support growth.

When one treasurer saw that his team was getting too bogged down managing the company’s dozens of bank accounts across 25 entities, he sought out an automated cash management system, but he had a concern: the company is continually growing through mergers and acquisitions, and in the past, new accounts made everything muddy.

  • The process of integrating a new entity and any accounts it brings along can be cumbersome—and who knows if their ERP would even be compatible with the automated solution he chooses?
  • He said that Cashforce, a cash forecasting and working capital analytics solution that can work with multiple ERPs, was the answer. “Cashforce’s ability to take feeds from multiple ERP systems was big.”

New accounts, new problems. 

Before turning to Cashforce, the treasurer had significant capital committed to grow the business through acquisitions. He only had two or three people managing this aspect, and he said the company’s TMS offered little assistance.

  • “Cash is our lifeline,” he said. “To me, the most important thing is knowing how much cash we have and where it is.
    • “We’re not over-leveraged, but we’re leveraged,” he said, so finding a cash management solution that provides quick access to every detail was crucial.
  • But the treasurer said his company doesn’t expect accounts that come with newly acquired companies to work with its preexisting ERP system. Cashforce, which can take data feeds from new ERP systems, was the key.
  • “We needed a cash management solution that integrated with our current ERPs and future ERPs to be able to feed data into the tool,” he said.

Feel the force.

Because Cashforce can take those inputs, the treasurer said it could work. But would it actually save enough time, and free up cash through efficient management of working capital? The solution, he said, had four clear advantages that made cash forecasting “a lot more accurate” in just six months:

  1. Ease of use, with data visualization tools that teams can use without having to dig into reams of numbers.
  2. The ability to drill down into the data into transaction-level detail.
  3. The ability to take these now automatically generated data-driven insights to management instead of spreadsheets.
  4. The ability to view daily bank positions.

Feel the force. 

Because Cashforce can take those inputs, the treasurer said it could work. But would it actually save enough time, and free up cash through efficient management of working capital? The solution, he said, had four clear advantages that made cash forecasting “a lot more accurate” in just six months:

  1. Ease of use, with data visualization tools that teams can use without having to dig into reams of numbers.
  2. The ability to drill down into the data into transaction-level detail.
  3. The ability to take these now automatically generated data-driven insights to management instead of spreadsheets.
  4. The ability to view daily bank positions.

Bonus: data literacy.

 An added “unofficial” benefit of Cashforce that the treasurer added was change management—the opportunity to get a once data-hesitant team to embrace the possibilities offered by analytics.

  • Though he wasn’t intending on using Cashforce to manage credit and collections, through encouraging his team to dig into the data, “one of the biggest advantages is I got my C&C manager to give me a much more accurate forecast.

 

 

How to Start Avoiding Payment Fraud from Happening

| 18-08-2021 | treasuryXL | Nomentia |

It’s 2021 and even with advancing technologies and AI detecting fraudulent behavior, payment fraud remains an ever-present Risk for any company.

The other day we met with someone who has recently been a target of Payment Fraud and is now implementing a payment factory in order to reduce the risk. We wanted to take a look at how we approach the subject with our solution. Having the right software in place is important, sure but it goes beyond technology.

Let’s start with the Software, Nomentia’s Cash Management solution has several mechanisms in place that protect you against fraud.

Here’s a Quick list

  • First of all, our software creates a single point of managing all payments. We talk a lot about centralizing, and this is just that. Our product brings all these payments into a single view. If we think of a typical case, a company might upload some payments to internet banks, some to a service bureau, use host-to-host connections for others and maybe even run some payments via SWIFT. That creates at least 5 times X channels where payments are executed. This means all payments can’t be seen from one view, which already makes it impossible to detect fraudulent or suspicious payments. But in addition, those 5 times X channels also mean 5 times X places where user rights need to be maintained and controlled.
  • This brings us also to the second point; our software comes with a comprehensive user and user rights management. Our software creates a clear structure and visibility as to who has rights to which companies and accounts and what kind of user roles they are having. We create visibility and an easy way to maintain those rights.
  • When payments are transferred from one source system such as ERP, payroll and the likes to our cloud, files cannot be altered. This creates additional security measures that protect companies from attacks.
  • Lastly, we have created capabilities to set up straight forward approval flows that ensure a segregation of duty into the way payments are done, within the users’ approval limit. Approval limits can be set for each user when working in different roles for multiple companies.

Those are the things that come built into our software. But it’s important to highlight one key fact, most fraud attempts have a human factor and that’s why it’s important to look beyond the software and take a critical look at the processes. As a matter of fact, despite all the noise about external risks, fraud and theft are more likely to be committed by an internal actor than an external actor (Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center).

In other words, if you focus on validating data for possible fraud, you probably should take steps to minimize the possibility of fraud in the first place. Otherwise, proverbially speaking, it’s winter (Northern Finland winter for that matter) and you are going out in shorts and with wet hair.

Apart from controlling user access rights, we would like to share some more tips and ideas that can help to mitigate the risk of fraud.

  • Payments that are made from ERP but rejected by the bank cannot be modified by all users. In practice this means when a payment is made from the ERP system but rejected by the bank, it bounces back where users need to review the failed payment, before sending it to the bank. Fixing the payment data on ERP master data instead of manual adjustments. This would highlight and prevent for example internal fraud attempts.
  • Consider working with your system admins to install payment templates that your end users can use. This decreases the risk for fraud and error by limiting the manual work of filling in information.
  • Make use of the full audit trail that we provide. You can see the whole lifecycle of a payment from its creation to its reconciliation, including by whom and which changes were made, who has approved and sent the payment.
  • Create clear rules on manual payment creation. We enforce a 4-eye approval flow before sending it. In manual payments, there might be a reason to have more than 2 persons approval. If you are having SSC’s in use or even multiple SSC globally. Use the standard 4-eye approval flow locally but have additional approval from another SSC to reduce the internal actor.

These are a few ideas from our side. We are always happy to hear more ideas and feedback on how we can together create safe payment processes.

DOWNLOAD PAYMENT FRAUD E-BOOK

 

 

Strength in Numbers: A Community-Based Approach to Fighting Digital Payments Fraud

11-08-2021 | TIS |

This article provides a modern review of the tactics used by cyber criminals to target enterprises with fraudulent schemes and also evaluates the primary methods used by companies for defending against digital payments fraud. This is followed by an introduction to TIS’ innovative Payee Community Screening (PCS) solution, which addresses payments fraud on a global scale by curating a community-based network of trusted beneficiaries, vendors, and bank account information that enterprises can use to verify the legitimacy of their outbound payment instructions.

Enterprise Payments Fraud in 2021 is More Elaborate & Subversive than Ever Before

Within the past year alone, thousands of finance and treasury practitioners across the world have learned through bitter experience that digital payments fraud is rarely orchestrated by your average, everyday criminal.

Rather, the vast majority of today’s technology-oriented attacks, particularly those that target large enterprises, are led by sophisticated, well-funded, and innovative fraudsters.

In many cases, these software-savvy perpetrators are working on behalf of state-sponsored actors or underground “black-hat” organizations. And because these groups are well-organized and well-funded, they can provide members with the latest technology and training. Ultimately, this has led to rapid digital innovation within the criminal underworld, and subsequently to a growing frequency of highly-orchestrated payments fraud attacks against the corporate environment.

Consisting primarily of software hacks or malware attacks, many of the most prevalent forms of fraud in existence today involve numerous layers of subterfuge and deception, which is necessary for bypassing the various security controls that organizations have in place. Common examples include the use of cleverly disguised Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes, “Man-in-the-Middle” tactics, invoicing fraud, and the use of ransomware or other forms of “system takeover” fraud.

But of course, enterprises are not entirely helpless in defending themselves.

What Payment Security Tools Does a Modern-Day Treasury Group Utilize?

If you’re operating in a role with direct access or authority over an enterprise’s outbound transactions, you could probably name a broad number of tools at your company’s disposal for detecting and preventing payments fraud.

Some quick examples?

When initially establishing internal payment protocols, most companies will require clear segregation of duties between each stakeholder in the payment process. This includes dual or multi-user approval controls for executing, reviewing, and approving payments. Other standard security components, such as the use of encrypted Wi-Fi networks or VPNs, help restrict access to the enterprise’s digital software to only trusted sources. IP safe-listing tools provide even greater control over who can access these internal systems. As users log in, configuring multifactor authentication (MFA) tokens to be used in conjunction with standard usernames and passwords is another effective technique that prevents unauthorized users or personnel from accessing payment systems via stolen credentials. Biometric versions of these MFA tokens, such as fingerprint or retinal scanners, may be leveraged for even greater security. And finally, user auditing software is often adopted by companies to help monitor the activity of various personnel within their payment systems in order to detect suspicious activity, such as a login attempt from an unknown IP address, at an odd time of day, or from an obscure world region.

Treasury Payments Security

When all combined together with regular employee testing and training, these various security techniques have proven very effective for combating most forms of digital treasury and payments fraud in existence today. And in the years ahead, these tactics are expected to remain as core features of most enterprise’s fraud prevention strategies.

However, suppose that the criminals targeting your organization are not launching direct attacks against your internal payment systems or architecture, but instead decide to infiltrate the operations of your suppliers and partners.

Their reasoning?

Although your enterprise might have the appropriate defenses in place for preventing direct hacks and internal breaches, are your controls just as effective at identifying anomalous activity that is perpetrated through the guise of a trusted vendor?

For a surprising number of enterprises today, the simple answer is no.

Successful Fraudsters Learn How to Operate Outside the Purview of Enterprise Visibility

Although many of the fraud attacks that garner widespread media attention are those that result in millions or billions of losses in a single swoop, these are not the only types of attacks that organizations should be worried about.

In reality, many of the attempts perpetrated by criminals are not targeting billions of dollars. Instead, they focus on extracting smaller amounts of funds over time, often by disguising their activity through the lens of normal business operations.

Take, as an example, fake invoices submitted by criminals that are designed to mimic one of the thousands of vendor or supplier payments that a global enterprise makes every month.

Usually, vendors are submitting invoices to enterprises via email, an online e-commerce platform, or via an ERP system. Subsequent payments are then delivered from the enterprise to the various recipients whose invoices have been approved, usually as an account-to-account transaction that goes directly to the bank account listed in the invoice.

However, suppose that a criminal is able to infiltrate the email account, e-commerce platform, or payment system used by one of your vendors. And over time, the criminal monitors the activity and communication that occurs between this vendor and your enterprise and learns how to mimic the workflow, presentation, and delivery of new invoices for payment.

In this scenario, the criminal knows that your company is receiving hundreds, if not thousands, of new invoices from a variety of vendors every day. They also know the average dollar amount of each invoice delivered by particular vendors, as well as the frequency and timing of their submissions. And if an email account or e-commerce platform has been hacked, they have also probably been studying the language and messaging that the vendor uses to correspond with you.

After taking time to evaluate these invoicing and communication processes, the criminal will create a falsified invoice using the same email address or payment platform that you’re familiar with. The invoice will probably be for the same amount and to the same beneficiary that you’re used to paying, but with a slight variation to the underlying bank account details.

The typical result being?

Unless you are actively tracking and inspecting the vendor records, bank account numbers, and beneficiary details for EVERY payment initiated by your enterprise to your global network of partners and vendors, then catching these attempts will be incredibly difficult.

But if your company cannot catch this errant invoice the first time, then what is going to stop the criminal from submitting numerous invoices over and over, or even going on to target other vendors within your network and duplicating the process on a broader scale?

It might sound like an Ocean’s 11 heist on paper, but in reality, these types of attacks occur all the time. In fact, a single instance of invoice fraud cost Amazon nearly $20 million in 2020. Other forms of fraud, such as BEC schemes, cost a combined $12.5 billion for organizations in the same timeframe, and these numbers are not decreasing over time.

Instead, they are continuing to rise.

Introducing a New Way to Quickly Identify Suspicious or Fraudulent Payment Details

Although subversive types of fraud attacks like the invoice example above are difficult for large companies to identify, suppose there were a way to quickly scan all vendor and supplier payments in real-time against a global library of beneficiary and bank account data?

Going a step further, what if you could also scan outbound transactions being delivered to first-time vendors against a community ledger of payments data in order to verify that the underlying account details and remittance info have never been flagged as suspicious or fraudulent by other enterprises?

With this functionality, the threat of fraud being perpetrated through more obscure and subversive channels become much easier to identify, and they go a long way in protecting your enterprise against attacks that spawn through exposures related to your partners, vendors, and suppliers.

This suite of tools is exactly what TIS is now providing enterprise clients with our innovative Payee Community Screening (PCS) solution.

Developed in direct response to a noted increase in invoice and BEC fraud, TIS’ PCS network works by aggregating payments data across our trusted community of global enterprises and bank partners. As new payments are submitted by various enterprises through TIS, this module compares the underlying beneficiary and bank account information against a comprehensive record of all other transactions executed through the system, including those made by other enterprises in the network.

In practice, this validation process effectively protects against four fundamental threats:

  1. If you are making payments to a new beneficiary or bank account for the first time, an alert will be generated by the system warning you that an additional review of the information is recommended.
  2. If you are making payments to a beneficiary which is completely unknown to other members of the PCS network, then the payment is flagged and a review workflow is initiated.
  3. For new vendors that you are paying for the first time, if the invoice and payment details do not match what other enterprises in the network have used to pay the vendor (i.e. a different bank account number was provided to your enterprise than what was provided to other enterprises in the network), then the payment is flagged and a review workflow is initiated.
  4. If the beneficiary or bank account details provided in an invoice ever match with a known criminal, sanctioned, or otherwise fraudulent party, the payment is automatically flagged and a review workflow is initiated.

In this way, by inspecting every outbound payment initiated by your enterprise in real-time against a global library of payments information, enterprises can strengthen their security controls by accessing a much broader pool of data and information than what is available in-house. To date, TIS’ network has managed over 11 billion payments globally across 11,000+ banks and 15 million+ distinct beneficiaries, which makes our library of payments information virtually unparalleled in the market. And now with the addition of PCS to our solution suite, we can better protect our enterprise clients from fraud by confirming the validity of every outbound transaction they are attempting to make.

TIS Payee Community Screening

In an environment where subterfuge and deception are a criminal’s main assets, these community screening techniques are essential for ensuring that fraudsters cannot bypass your controls simply by infiltrating those of a different company within your network. They also ensure that as soon as fraudulent or suspicious payment info is identified by one enterprise, the data can be quickly shared across all other enterprises in the network for purposes of quickly halting subsequent payments to that account or beneficiary.

For TIS’ enterprise clients, these tools are already becoming a pivotal component of their core security structure, and we are excited to continue deploying the solution across more global enterprises in the months and years ahead.

Learn More About How PCS Can Bolster Your Treasury & Payments Security

Although no single tool should ever be relied upon to defend against all forms of fraud, it is strongly recommended that enterprises making hundreds or thousands of vendor payments every day undergo a thorough evaluation of their payment controls. More specifically, treasury and AP teams should take time to analyze whether the threat of invoice or BEC fraud leaves them exposed, especially if a vendor or supplier within their network is compromised.

For enterprises that identify gaps, we invite you to learn more about how TIS can help.

For more information about TIS’ PCS tool, the associated benefits, and the technical aspects associated with its architecture, download our latest factsheet. You can also request a meeting with one of our payment experts or learn more about the other security-related components of our solution suite.

Stay vigilant, stay safe, and as always, thank you for reading.

About TIS

TIS is reimagining the world of enterprise payments through a cloud-based platform uniquely designed to help global organizations optimize outbound payments. Corporations, banks and business vendors leverage TIS to transform how they connect global accounts, collaborate on payment processes, execute outbound payments, analyze cash flow and compliance data, and improve critical outbound payment functions. The TIS corporate payments technology platform helps businesses improve operational efficiency, lower risk, manage liquidity, gain strategic advantage – and ultimately achieve enterprise payment optimization.

Visit tis.biz to reimagine your approach to payments.

 

Partner Interview Series: Ramon Helwegen of EcomStream, specialized in optimization of online payment solutions

10-08-2021 | treasuryXL | EcomStream |

treasuryXL are delighted to share the interview with Founder and Managing Director of EcomStream, Ramon Helwegen.

EcomStream is an independent consultancy and is specialized in optimization of online, omnichannel and marketplace payment solutions, and optimization of checkout flows.

Meet Ramon

treasuryXL are delighted to share the interview with Founder and Managing Director of  EcomStream, Ramon Helwegen. Ramon has over 20 years of experience in E-Commerce, Online Payments and IT Managed Services outsourcing at organizations such as: Verizon, GlobalCollect (Ingenico e-payments), EMS (ABN AMRO/Fiserv) and Newgen.

Ramon has then founded EcomStream in 2017. A consultancy specialized in adding value by assessing the client’s checkout and payment solution, to sell more and pay less. For online, omnichannel and marketplace businesses.

International corporates (B2C & B2B) and Twinkle100 is the main target market. Clients include: Bax Music, Kwantum, Leen Bakker, Staples Solutions and vidaXL.

Let’s wait no longer and take the deeper dive with Ramon and his personal story about EcomStream. We asked him 8 interesting questions, let’s go!

INTERVIEW

1. What is the main goal of EcomStream?

EcomStream has been founded in 2017 and provides optimization services in the field of payment and checkout for online, omnichannel and market places. Both functionally and from a cost perspective. The goal is to provide clients the opportunity to sell more at lower costs.

Many times a client is not fully aware of optimization features that can be provided by their existing providers. This is often low hanging fruit. I also make sure that clients get value for money by benchmarking and renegotiating their rates and fees. Furthermore I’m often asked to optimize the end-to-end checkout flow to make sure the risk of drop offs is reduced to a minimum, and conversion is optimized.

2. Why are clients choosing for your services?

Assurance. Clients never have to worry again about having the best deal and set-up regarding cost and conversion, and often the service is performed on a no-cure no-pay basis.

3. What would be the biggest benefit for clients when working with EcomStream?

The payment market is very dynamic and todays knowledge gets outdated quickly. With EcomStream clients have access to up-to-date knowledge and expertise, just when they need it, and are assured of having the best deal (costs and features) with their providers at all times.

4. What client profile benefits from your services?

Rule of thumb says that most value can be generated for clients in online, omnichannel or market places, who have established mature volumes for a few years already. Clients within the Twinkle250 rankings or large corporates in B2B with direct distribution models would benefit greatly. But frankly, every merchant is very welcome to have a chat to see where I can help.

5. What is the common ground between treasury and EcomStream?

Many of the decision makers that I work with are from treasury departments. However not every treasurer understands payments, fintech, checkout and conversion as much as they would like to. Treasurers are often challenged by other stakeholders in the company to come up with cost savings or additional features, or they are pro-actively looking for opportunities to improve their KPI’s. I’m there to help them and to deliver.

6. What has been your biggest challenge with EcomStream so far?

When managing your own business you don’t have the luxury where you can rely on a large established corporate, with an enormous historical track record, that backs you up. This can be challenging. Especially when getting trust and commitment from the stakeholders and decision makers at a client side, it is your own performance that counts, for each and every project, time and time again.

7. What has been your best experience since the start of EcomStream?

First of all the strength lies within the fact that EcomStream operates an independent business model. I only work for merchants, so there are no projects taken onboard for providers or other parties in the value chain. There is never a conflict of interest but always a full commitment to the merchant.

Furthermore, I’m very pleased that I have received quite some positive work references from clients. Together with an explanation of the merchant business case, these are showing on the website.

8. What will the future hold for EcomStream?

Direct (online) distribution models are getting mainstream more and more. For B2C companies but also for B2B. Often these companies originate from traditional business models and evolve towards digital / omnichannel companies with business challenges they were not aware of before. EcomStream is there for them to unlock opportunities in the field of payment and checkout optimization, so they can sell more at lower costs.

Contact EcomStream directly

Curious to know more? Ramon Helwegen is happy to tell you more about EcomStream and his experience. Contact him directly via ramon@ecomstream.nl.

 

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Are You Still Thinking About Virtual Accounts or Already Implementing POBO and COBO?

| 04-08-2021 | treasuryXL | Nomentia |

Companies are increasingly focusing on harmonising their banking landscape to obtain better visibility of Cash balances, to mitigate Fraud Risks and to improve automation and security in their treasury processes.

In a world where the next fraud attempt is lurking around every corner, no company wants to create processes with different banks, tokens, and user lists for each of their different local entities. With this harmonisation, companies start to rethink their processes, and this naturally leads to in-house banking, including POBO and COBO. This is because the question soon arises as to why, for example, not all euro payments should be handled from one account, if that were possible within the regulatory context.

Setting up an in-house bank doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of several steps taken to centralise an organisation’s cash management. The six steps are:

  1. Managing corporate bank account structure. You can read more in our bank connectivity guide.
  2. Harmonising and centralising payment process. It’s also a way to mitigate the risk of payment fraud. You can read more in our payment fraud ebook.
  3. Streamlining internal payments. This is a logical next step after managing your corporate bank account structure.
  4. Establishing POBO.
  5. Establishing COBO.
  6. Centralising control over financing.

Today we would like to focus on POBO and COBO. They are the ultimate goals of a payments project because they create transparency and make cash management processes more efficient and automated. This sounds great, right? So why, then, aren’t all organisations just setting up POBO and COBO and calling it a day?

Moving from disparate processes, tools and a varied (if you want to be positive) banking landscape to a centralised treasury doesn’t happen easily. Companies might even feel hesitant about implementing on-behalf-of structures because their set-ups are too complicated. That’s an interesting point and I’d like to stress that the more complex a company is in its cash management or enterprise resource planning (ERP) structures, the more they will benefit from an on-behalf-of set-up.

Increased control, transparency, and efficiency

In the POBO model, the subsidiaries process the payment data in their systems according to internally harmonised processes, and the group treasury decides on the most cost-efficient payment method and banking connection. The group treasury is able to centralise cash outflows, which significantly enhances the safety of and control over the payment process.

COBO and POBO make it possible for the group to reach the highest level of independence from banks and maximise cost efficiency.

The benefits of POBO and COBO can be summarised into increased control, transparency, and efficiency. But there are also challenges associated with on-behalf-of structures that need to be evaluated before setting them up.

Where there’s a benefit there’s a challenge

POBO is possible for most payment types, but some are regulated in such a way that they cannot be completed by the on-behalf-of method. This is often related to tax or salary payments. Legal restrictions specific to each country can make it difficult to set up POBO and companies need to assess whether the benefits they will gain are worth the effort. There is no one true answer for all companies; it really depends on the level of complexity they are facing.

Another reason why companies might feel hesitant about implementing POBO is because they use multiple ERP systems. If that is the case, the mere idea of POBO is simply far too complicated. To be honest, when we hear that ‘excuse’ we see it as a challenge, and it makes us happy. Because this then means we can talk about payment factories –especially our payment factory solution. We can create a process that makes it possible for all entities to pay with internal bank accounts as payments-on-behalf-of. I’d even go so far as to say that the more ERP systems a company has, the more benefits it will get from POBO.

When it comes to COBO, the main challenge is that companies are dependent on their buyers to know what to collect from whom. Companies need to retrieve all accounts receivable (AR) information and maintain an overall view of account balances. In some countries that might be relatively easy, as invoices generally have a reference number. But that’s not the case in all countries. It comes back to identifying incoming payments correctly. For example, this can be achieved by matching payments to open invoices. A solution for automatic bank account reconciliation would be able to automatically match incoming payments based on information provided, for example in the message to the right AR account. We took a closer look at the topic in this blog post about how an in-house bank with modern matching solves the COBO challenge.

That said, of course, it’s not an easy task to create on-behalf-of structures, but it’s something that organisations will greatly benefit from if done correctly.

 

 

 

Refinitiv Corporate Treasury Data Insights | July 2021

27-07-2021 | treasuryXL | Refinitiv |

Andrew Hollins, Director of Corporate Treasury Proposition at Refinitiv, brings you the July 2021 round-up of the latest Corporate Treasury Data Insights.

  1. The stability of the dynamic spread between USD LIBOR and its recommended replacement SOFR raises questions about whether corporate treasurers will gain much more benefit from credit sensitive rates over and above SOFR.
  2. Under pressure from inflation, what impact on financial markets could a move in the dollar index bring?
  3. Central banks, including the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, are exploring a central bank digital currency. What benefits would this bring the central banks?

Corporate Treasury Charts of the Month

Sources: USD LIBOR administered by ICE Benchmark Administration; SOFR administered by Federal Reserve Bank of New York

The dynamic spread between USD LIBOR and its recommended replacement SOFR mostly reflects the credit risk of large banks. This spread has remained stable at 13-14bps over the last few years and did not change materially during the COVID-19 related market volatility in H1 2020.

The stability of this spread, particularly during periods of stress, raises questions whether credit sensitive rates such as BSBY and Ameribor provide meaningful benefits over and above SOFR to corporate treasurers.

Tell me more

On 17 March 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) announced it selected Refinitiv to publish its recommended fallback rates for cash products. Following extensive engagement, Refinitiv plans to launch prototype USD fallback rates in August 2021 and production rates in the autumn. Find out more about Refinitiv’s LIBOR Transition and Replacement Rate solutions.

LIBOR Transition Event: why does the USD cash market need fallback rates?

With the major banks expected to stop using USD LIBOR as a reference in the vast majority of new derivatives and cash products by the end of this year, the race is now on for market participants to accelerate their LIBOR transition programmes in order to ensure the ongoing and efficient functioning of financial markets.

In a recent webinar a panel of experts from Refinitiv, the LSTA, Wells Fargo and the U.S. Federal Reserve discuss the USD cash market and the need for fallback rates.

The Big Conversation: The two biggest risks for markets

Inflation may be the headline grabber at the moment, but it is the impact on bond yields and the U.S. dollar that really matter. If they don’t move, markets can tolerate higher inflation.

So far, bond yields have responded well to the inflation scare, but a move in either direction by the dollar could now be a problem. Discover analyst expectations for bond yields and the US dollar and assess the associated market risks.

U.S dollar index. Corporate Treasury Data Insights | July 2021

Data on the Data: the rise of central bank digital currency

Major central banks around the globe have taken steps towards identifying a framework for building a central bank digital currency (CBDC). A CBDC would be a new risk‑free digital form of currency issued by a central bank, which performs all the essential functions of money.

Major central banks around the globe, including the Bank of England and the European Central Bank (ECB), are exploring the common principles and key features for building a CBDC.

In this new episode of Refinitiv’s Data on the Data, Sachin Somani, Global Director of the Central Banking Customer Proposition at Refinitiv, outlines the desire for central banks to develop their own digital currency to complement their existing offerings, reduce the reliance on coins and notes, and compete with private coins in the crypto space.

 

Watch: The Rise of Central Bank Digital Currency – Data on the Data | Refinitiv

Refinitiv Corporate Treasury Newsbeat

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5 Post-Pandemic Trends Corporate Treasurers Should Pay Attention To

26-07-2021 | treasuryXL | Gtreasury |

Corporate treasurers have manned a vital lookout position for their enterprises throughout the pandemic, navigating oft-tumultuous and unpredictable economic shifts. As businesses now inch closer to more normal operations, expect treasury to continue to fulfill a role of heightened intra-organizational visibility while adapting to new realities for what’s required from their job.

Here are the five trends treasurers can expect to play out in 2021, as a post-pandemic world appears closer across the horizon:

Treasury must continue to deliver accurate cash visibility and forecasting.

For many businesses hit hard, a waning pandemic will – hopefully – bring sales and production back to pre-pandemic levels. Organizations will continue to require frequent and accurate-as-possible cash forecasting to guide effective decision-making throughout this period of recovery. Treasury teams may continue to be called upon to deliver forecasts as often as weekly or daily; even as conditions stabilize, I think it’s unlikely that quarterly (or monthly) forecasts will be the norm. To facilitate this increased frequency, treasurers will increasingly pursue appropriate technologies fit for rapid-fire forecasting, particularly in the area of AI-based tools.

By and large, treasurers surveyed from the pandemic’s onset proved quite accurate in foreseeing a drawn-out pandemic recovery timetable – and the lingering impacts that have indeed since occurred. The data shows they’ve also proven effective in leading their companies to make strategic preparations accordingly. Those deft approaches ought to continue through the end of the pandemic while undergoing iterations to adapt to changing circumstances as necessary. In many ways, the outcome each company can expect is rooted in the capabilities and foundation for success that treasury teams have already implemented.

If treasurers aren’t yet equipped with the automation and treasury management systems necessary to match their cash reporting workloads, their organizations will be more vulnerable to shifting circumstances. Corporate treasurers in this position face compounding limitations: spending all available bandwidth on completing manual cash reporting processes leave no resources to implement new automation. To avoid or escape this cycle, treasurers should work with software and service providers to rapidly realize the automation they require.

Treasury must become more efficient.

Many treasury teams have become leaner over the course of the pandemic. At the same time, the cash forecasting and risk assessment that treasury provides has been crucial for enabling companies to maintain vital liquidity. That function will remain essential throughout the pandemic’s aftermath.

To accomplish more with less, treasury teams should pursue solutions that increase their efficiency via broader automation and smoother integrations. The pandemic has also driven the shift to distributed workplaces, which will persist going forward. Facilitating efficient distributed workforces will require treasury systems to be able to deliver continuous remote access to information, seamlessly and in real-time. Treasury teams that have digital automation projects in development ought to expedite those efforts now, and then release new features in stages where possible. The value of optimized processes and automation cannot be understated for corporate treasury in the post-pandemic environment.

As the pandemic subsides, merger and acquisition activity will rise.

Enterprises will have low-cost access to cash and equity as the pandemic wanes, which many will tap to pursue mergers and acquisitions. Treasurers will conduct the critical work of assessing the cash positions and risk profiles of potential merger partners and acquisition targets while ensuring the necessary liquidity to complete these transactions.

Treasurers must prioritize preparedness for benchmark rate reform.

LIBOR continues to be a moving target but is due to be replaced with new benchmark rates after 2021. Corporate treasurers are well-advised to prepare for this transition sooner than later, realigning all standing loans and contracts to the new rates. Those companies that aren’t yet on pace for a smooth transition will need to accelerate their work in this area.

Well before the deadline, treasurers should review all loans, credit, and investments tied to LIBOR, and arrange replacement rates and fallback provisions with lenders and servicers. Similarly, all new contracts will need to include appropriate fallback provisions. The new benchmark rates will also require treasurers to train and become experts in their new operating environment.

Singular platforms able to seamlessly integrate data and technologies across treasury ecosystems will be all the more valuable.

Treasury and risk management systems able to integrate cash, payments, risk, fraud, ERP, BI, and additional capabilities on a single platform are crucial to eliminating friction in payments and data workflows. Treasurers can discover vast benefits by using systems that unite the universe of fintech solutions they rely upon. Treasurers should vet and select solution ecosystems able to automate bank transfers, deliver simplified connectivity to banks and accounts across the globe, and transfer information along with payments. Those able to drive accurate decision-making, ease new feature implementation, improve treasurers’ user experiences, and provide strategic enhancements also deserve treasurers’ attention. The right technology strategy will open the door for treasurers to far more easily introduce valuable new capabilities and efficiencies.

Make no mistake about it: for corporate treasurers and the systems and processes they oversee, the aftermath of the pandemic necessitates maintaining vigilance and continuing to optimize practices.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michele Marvin
Global VP, GTreasury

Michele Marvin is a VP at GTreasury, a treasury and risk management platform provider. Prior to joining GTreasury in 2019, Marvin has held leadership roles at several large technology companies, including most recently at Flexera and Zebra Technologies.

 

 

 

2021 Treasury Technology Survey Report from GTreasury Shows Key Trends Affecting Treasury Modernization Across Organizations

22-07-2021 | Gtreasury |

The first-of-its-kind, in-depth global report details how far along treasury and finance teams are in digital transformation, the technologies they are most excited about, and where resistance remains.

CHICAGO – July 22, 2021 – GTreasury, a treasury and risk management platform provider, and Strategic Treasurer, which delivers consulting services for treasury management, security, technology, and compliance, today announced the release of the 2021 Treasury Technology Survey Report.


The comprehensive 50-question survey across myriad facets of treasury technology deployment, opinion, and planning drew responses from hundreds of treasurers, treasury analysts, and other treasury and finance professionals from around the world and across industries.

Highlights from the 2021 Treasury Technology Survey Report include:

  • Significant growth anticipated. Payment factories, treasury aggregators, and TMS solutions are expected to realize 35-45 percent growth over the next two years.
  • APIs are becoming must-have capabilities. Seventy-three percent of corporate treasury groups indicated that APIs are critical to their current processes. Machine learning capabilities are also drawing outsized focus from treasurers further along in their modernization initiatives.
  • The gap between cash forecasting importance and reality is high. While cash forecasting is very important to 84% of treasurers, only 38% indicate they are performing at a high rate of accuracy.
  • Fraud prevention gains a heightened focus. Thwarting fraud is a top focus for 77% when considering the application of new technology in product development. Treasurers also report high demand for incorporating automation into fraud prevention processes.
  • Resistance to formats remains. Comparing legacy formats to newer and more enriched formats like XML, treasurers showed surprisingly high levels of resistance to adoption.

“Across continents and industries, treasurers are grappling with how best to transform their treasury technology stack to make processes more efficient and effective, and to drive visible value within their organizations,” said Pete Srejovic, Chief Technology Officer, GTreasury. “This survey provides a unique window into what excites and frustrates treasurers right now, and how the industry is approaching transformation in a quickly-moving ecosystem. This is a must-read report for treasury and finance professionals.”

The 2021 Treasury Technology Survey Report collected responses from March through April 2021, with 50+ questions and 250+ respondents. The full survey with all results and data is available for free download here.

Additionally, a webinar offering analysis of the report’s findings and featuring Srejovic and Craig Jeffery of Strategic Treasurer is available here.

About GTreasury

For more than 30 years, GTreasury has delivered the leading digital Treasury and Risk Management System (TRMS) to corporate treasurers across industries. With its continually innovating Software-as-a-Service platform, GTreasury provides customers with a single source of truth for all their cash, payments, and risk activities. The TRMS solution offers any combination of Cash Management, Payments, Financial Instruments, Risk Management, Accounting, Banking, and Hedge Accounting – seamlessly integrated, on-demand worldwide and fully secured. Headquartered in Chicago with offices serving EMEA (London) and APAC (Sydney and Manila), GTreasury’s global community includes more than 800 customers and 30+ industries reaching 160+ countries worldwide.

About Strategic Treasurer

Strategic Treasurer provides consulting services for treasury management, security, technology and compliance. Corporate clients, banks and fintech providers throughout the world rely on their advisory services and industry-leading research. Strategic Treasurer is headquartered in Atlanta, with consultants based out of Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and Washington D.C. To learn more, visit strategictreasurer.com.

 

 

The Art of Selecting Suitable Treasury Technology

| 21-07-2021 | treasuryXL | Nomentia |

Many Corporate Treasury functions are aware of the importance of utilizing technology to deliver improved efficiency and control in their treasury operations. This is being driven by the increasing pace of regulatory change, continuously evolving business models, volatile economic conditions, and fast-growing technological developments. Also, treasurers are recognizing the benefits of a strategically focused ‘smart treasury’ – one that utilizes the latest technology to be more integrated, automated, and optimized; adding value to the business.

However, as the treasury technology landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, many organizations find it difficult to successfully adopt this technology, either because their entry point is not clear or because they had previously made the leap and are now struggling to keep pace with the evolution. There are a multitude of options and considerations for those looking for the right solutions, which are important to understand before deciding on what is right for an organization.

We have outlined below some key insights and considerations when selecting suitable technology solutions.

Develop a treasury technology roadmap

Your roadmap should consider essential functional requirements that must be satisfied immediately – current hot topics include improved cash visibility, robust and accurate cash forecasting, a more efficient payments and receivables process, and fraud prevention. All of these areas are ‘must-haves’ for many organizations, so the first building block for the roadmap is finding a solution that can satisfy them.

However, alongside considering your immediate needs in your roadmap it is also important to plan for the future. To do this, you must look at the internal and external drivers of change for your business and how the treasury will need to support that.

An example of an internal driver could be where accelerated geographical growth is expected, and therefore treasury will be required to rapidly connect with new banks, set up new accounts, and adopt new currencies. This comes with challenges around dealing with country-specific requirements for payment formats and new types of bank connectivity, so your chosen technology solutions should be capable of adopting these easily.

Similarly, for external drivers you can look at the current markets you operate in and identify any expected developments in payments and banking initiatives. Current examples of external drivers for those operating in the Nordics and Europe include the P27 Nordic payments initiative or PSD2 electronic payments services regulations. Once again, your technology solutions should be chosen to ensure you are able to keep pace with these changes.

Self-hosted versus SaaS solution

We find that a number of treasuries have had historic on-premise solutions which have not always kept up to date with the developments in functionality and the market. As a result, treasurers have had to establish a number of in-house workarounds which are costly and complex to maintain.

To improve upon this, most technology companies now provide a solution that is delivered as software-as-a-service (SaaS), a deployment method that comes with several benefits.

SaaS solutions are hosted in the ‘cloud’ and hence there is no need for the organization to manage technical matters such as maintaining appropriate servers, backups, etc. Because the solution is managed in the cloud by the vendor, there is no longer a need for users to manually upgrade their solutions and perform the associated regression testing – upgrades are tested and deployed by the vendor on a regular basis, ensuring all organizations using the solution are using the latest version containing the latest functionality. Over the past years, we have seen an increasing number of solutions being offered as a SaaS solution and can see this as a trend that will continue to dominate in the future. You should also consider your organization’s overall IT strategy as it is critical to ensure you are aligned with this.

All-in-one versus best of breed

Over the years we have seen significant shifts in the treasury technology market with innovative and specialized Fintech solutions driving advancements in the market. These applications are often focused on specific areas of functionality rather than covering the broad set of requirements a treasury function may have. They are often meant to be complemented by other platforms to form a suite of treasury applications that cover all requirements.

Hence, the key consideration for an organization is whether to opt for an ‘all-in-one’ TMS or to deploy a stable of ‘best of breed’ solutions. An all-in-one TMS comes with clear benefits such as a single platform to handle all treasury transactions/processes and fewer interfaces to monitor and maintain.

However, for some organizations the all-in-one TMS comes at a significant initial and ongoing cost commitment when their requirements aren’t as broad compared to the functionality on offer. Although many of the vendors of all-in-one TMSs allow organizations to choose which modules of the platform they utilize for a reduced license fee, it is often not the case that if you are only using 50% of the functionality you will be paying 50% of the price. A much more palatable solution comes in the form of best-of-breed solutions, which deliver a more flexible technology landscape utilizing specialized systems that may address the many unique requirements of a treasury function, at a lower cost than the all-in-one TMS. Previously the use of multiple platforms was not favorable due to difficulties that could be faced such as technical integration and reporting. However, the rising use of digital APIs has improved the way systems interface with each other. Also, data-warehouses coupled with BI solutions has enabled reporting based on data sourced from a variety of platforms.

Typically, when implementing a new system you will sign a license agreement for a minimum 5-year term, so it is important to ensure you have considered the suitability of the technology partner(s) and the functionality to support you in your digitalization over many years. During the selection process, it is important to perform an analysis of partners and vendors focused on their experience, innovation roadmap, development track-record, reliability, and support model. These are attributes that will demonstrate to you that the vendor is able to support your business not only now but also in the future, as your operations and the demands placed upon the treasury function change as your business grows and evolves.

Final comments

One size does not fit all treasury functions, as each organization’s treasury remit and activities will drive the appropriate solution or solutions.

 

Are you leaving Money on the Table with your Checkout and Payment Solution?

12-07-2021 | treasuryXL | EcomStream |

Benchmarking your checkout and Payment solution is worth the effort. There are often areas for improvement that are relatively easy to execute or implement.

In 2018, EcomStream has assisted a number of online entrepreneurs, large and small, by benchmarking and optimizing their payment solution and checkout. This results in an improved customer experience and lower costs, sometimes up to 50% cheaper.

In optimization processes the checkout and payment solution is often seen as a functionality with little or no conversion uplift opportunity. Wrongly!

Studies from Baymard Institute show why in this final phase of your sales funnel, where visitors should just go through checkout and payment, they are leaving your site. It also shows what you can do about it.

The Payment solution is often overlooked in optimization projects. “Don’t fix if it ain’t broken” you sometimes hear. Many entrepreneurs are therefore already happy when their online payment solution functions properly and provides basic functionalities. There have been many developments in this area in recent years that make it easier to migrate from a payment service provider and there are considerable savings opportunities thanks to increased competition. You can compare the payments market with the market of energy suppliers but it is far less transparent. Competition is fierce and it is worthwhile to compare, renegotiate or migrate.

Let EcomStream do a benchmark assessment of your checkout and payment solution. You will be amazed by the findings. In the area of customer experience but also with regards to contractual terms and rates. A meaningful agenda item for your next optimization meeting or contact EcomStream now