| 08-04-2021 | treasuryXL | Treasury Delta |

treasuryXL are delighted to share the interview with CEO and Founder of Treasury Delta, Padraig Brosnan.

Treasury Delta is an Irish based FinTech company that has brought to market a platform that has effectively digitised a corporate treasury RFP project between corporates, their advisors and banks/TMS vendors.

Meet Padraig

treasuryXL are delighted to share the interview with CEO and Founder of Treasury Delta, Padraig Brosnan.  Prior to setting up Treasury Delta Padraig worked in banking and in corporate treasury for two of Ireland’s largest corporates namely; Bank of Ireland and ESB.  He holds a Masters Degree in Investment and Treasury from Dublin City University and is the ‘Fin’ of Treasury Delta.

During his corporate career Padraig was amazed at how technology was changing day-to-day activities and how more and more tasks were being automated.  He saw a major opportunity and decided to set up Treasury Delta to solve these problems using digital technology.

Let’s wait no longer and take the deeper dive with Padraig and his personal story about Treasury Delta. We asked him 9 questions, let’s go!

INTERVIEW

1. Treasury Delta is somewhat of a unique FinTech, what motivated you to set up the company?

Yes we have been described as a unique FinTech as we are doing something very niche. As it’s a marketplace type platform there are multiple users namely; corporates, banks, TMS vendors and treasury advisory firms. There were a number of motivating factors for me to set up the company and I guess the primary one was around the international opportunity and the potential to scale the business. Like a lot of startups identifying the problem is the easy part, building a solution and bringing it to market is the hard part. Thankfully we’ve achieved this and we’re now entering a new chapter in our journey.

2. What is the market perception of the business model as it’s hard for startups to sell into corporates?

I carried out a lot of primary market research with corporate treasurers, some of whom have invested in Treasury Delta, and bankers in advance of any development work and the consensus view was very positive. At the time some of these people compared the concept to FXall and 360T and understood the problem we were attempting to solve i.e., long and arduous RFP project. This was great validation and each corporate had different views on how they could use the platform, why there would be a business case and also how they could use it for other complex treasury transactions they undertake on an ad-hoc basis e.g., refinancing, project finance. Some bankers viewed it as a lead generating platform as they would be getting the opportunity to bid for new business.

3. Who benefits from using the platform?

All users of the platform will benefit from an operational efficiency perspective as we’ve removed serval manual processes on the customer journey. With respect to the three end users the following key benefits arise;

• (i) Corporates: Each corporate receives a bespoke solution depending on their treasury need so that they can obtain the most competitive offers from the marketplace.
• (ii) Banks/TMS vendors: The platform acts as a lead generator as well as providing the vendors with very valuable data analytics on a corporates overall banking and treasury requirements.
• (iii) Advisory firms: The platform can be used by a treasury advisory firm on behalf of their clients in order to simplify and streamline the process.

4. Every corporate has specific banking and treasury requirements so how flexible is the platform?

We knew from the outset based on primary market research that selling into this market segment required a dynamic platform. We now have a very adaptable platform so that we can cater for each corporate’s specific requirements. Unfortunately, a few years back we had to start again on the development which was a very costly lesson for the company. Although this certainly delayed our progress we stuck to our guns and persisted during some really difficult times. It is our intention to invest heavily into our technology so that we can make the lives of the users of the platform as easy as possible when it comes to embarking on complex treasury related transactions.

5. Why is the Dutch market one of Treasury Delta’s target markets?

We have a very close relationship with The Netherlands as a few years ago Treasury Delta was selected by Startupbootcamp (SBC) for their FinTech accelerator programme in Amsterdam. They subsequently invested in the company and it also attracted a few Dutch private investors. At the time we needed the funding, usual chicken and egg scenario, to progress the business and SBC really took us under their wing. They too saw the opportunity and encouraged us, advised us and most importantly believed in Treasury Delta. We were their first Irish FinTech on the programme and were in good company as there were ten FinTech’s from all over the world like the U.S., Israel and Russia. SBC also opened doors into their partner network and helped us get some use cases which proved invaluable to our development.

6. Covid has impacted most businesses over the last year, how has it affected Treasury Delta?

Covid has changed people’s lives in a big way both on the domestic and professional front. It has adversely impacted on several business models and how we go about our work in this new world. From Treasury Delta’s perspective it actually underpins our business model for developing a platform that connects all the various counterparties involved in a treasury/banking transaction. Most people have embraced digital channels like Zoom and Microsoft Teams to communicate and we see Treasury Delta playing a role in this space when it comes to corporates interacting with their various treasury counterparties.

7. Some might say Treasury Delta is disintermediating the market. Is that a fair statement?

Our core theme is all around collaboration within the corporate treasury ecosystem so that we can make users lives a lot easier when it comes to carrying out treasury related RFP projects. Corporates can use Treasury Delta directly themselves and manage the entire process from start to finish with their banks/TMS vendors however, a fair percentage of corporates we’ve engaged with to date require an independent view on the analysis especially when it comes to decision making. This is one of the key reasons why Treasury Delta is collaborating with advisory firms and why it’s our preferred route to market.

8. As a startup founder in FinTech what has been your biggest learning?

There has been several lessons learned, especially on the tech front, prior to our time with SBC. If I had to do it all over again I would have outsourced the development to a commercial technology company. It’s the week of The Masters this week and I often compare the startup world to golf when I’m talking to our team and investors. It’s all about grinding out a result when the going gets tough, stay positive and always look forward to the next tee box!

9. How do you see the business evolving over the next few years?

Like any successful startup there’s been several lessons learned which is all par for the course. Right now, our sole focus is on a niche part of corporate treasury i.e., cash management and TMS selection. As we get our model working we see corporates using the platform for any complex treasury transaction they need to undertake e.g., refinancing. Over the next few years, we intend to raise more capital and invest into technology so that we can move down the value chain on the demand side i.e., mid-sized corporates and then ultimately SMEs.

Let’s contact!

If you want to hear more about Treasury Delta and see a demo of the platform please reach out to: [email protected]