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College Tour International Cash Management 2019

| 04-11-2019 | treasuryXL | Vrije Universiteit

The treasurer’s professional environment is changing rapidly. Alongside the classic management of capital flows, treasurers are confronted with ever-increasing legislation. In addition, fintechs and cryptocurrency offer solutions which compete with traditional banking services. The International Cash Management module of the RT programme covers these topics extensively, clustered in several units. The Cash Management Fundamentals unit includes working capital management, liquidity forecasting and liquidity management. In addition, the structure of international banking is covered in detail. The role of correspondent banking, the principles of international payments and the main payment systems are examined in depth. In this context, the module also deals with the information technology which businesses require to create the interface with banking payment systems. Naturally, this covers the latest technological developments, including blockchain. The module also expands on netting and cash pooling techniques, the relationship with financial institutions and the organisation of an international treasury department. An overview of the legal and fiscal aspects is also included. Case studies are used to supplement the extensive practical knowledge provided.

Course Content

Management Account Structures: pooling Techniques, cash pooling, netting, tax and accounting impact
Working Capital Management: cash conversion cycle, working capital management, short term finance
Trade & Commodity Finance: identifying trade risks, trade instruments, trade finance solutions
Payment Services: payment instruments, collection instruments, clearing, bank connectivity
Relevant regulatory environment: Basel III, PSD2, bank relationship management
Cash flow forecasting methods
Treasury Management Systems: overview, treasury functions and evolution, selection of a treasury management system, implementation
Fintech: Payment innovations, Blockchain, Crypto currency

Course features

Primarily, the course gives an overview of this treasury
discipline, focussed on everyday practice and the latest
developments in this area. Sessions are interactive and
delivered by lecturers active in this field. There is an
opportunity to put knowledge sharing into practice with
the help of a game and case studies.

Exam/exemption

There will be an end-of-module examination. Participants
passing the examination will receive a certificate. This
certificate counts towards an exemption when enrolling
for the post-doctorate Treasury Management & Corporate
Finance programme; course language – English.

Coordination and lecturers

Professor Wilko Bolt (DNB) and Professor Herbert Rijken
(VU) will be the key lecturers for this module. Other lecturers will
include Rolf Michon and Nanno van der Werff.
Sybrand de Groes is responsible for the coordination of
this module. Maximum number of participants: 25

Admission requirements

The course is at Bachelor level. It is assumed that you
have work experience in the field of cash management.

Tuition fees & registration

The tuition fees are € 3,950. If there are enough places,
non-DACT members may also participate. The tuition
fees for non-members are € 4,750.

Send an email to [email protected] if you wish to register.

Location

VU Universiteit, Hoofdgebouw, Agora Zalen Complex,
De Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam.

Course schedule

The course includes 8 double lectures (2 x 2 hours) each
week on Thursdays, starting Thursday 14 November 2019,
ending on Thursday 16 January 2019 (note: the lecture
planned on Thursday November 14, 2019 will be organized
in De Leeuwenhorst in Noordwijkerhout where the DACT
Treasury Fair will be held). Lectures are from 15:30 –
17:30 hours and 18:15 – 20:15 hours, including a meal.
The examination date is on Thursday 23 January 2020.

DOWNLOAD COLLEGE TOUR LEAFLET

The Core Benefits of Netting For Corporates

| 29-8-2019 | treasuryXL | BELLIN

Simplify intercompany commerce, minimize fees and elevate visibility

Understanding the core benefits of netting

Multinational corporations are familiar with the downsides when involved with intercompany commerce. Growing transaction fees, currency exchange risk, and lack of transparency are common facets that make it difficult for such organizations. Corporations can implement netting to mitigate those downsides and free up valuable time for treasury and accounting departments. This article will shed light on the benefits of netting and why your company needs to consider implementing it.

A brief definition of netting

Netting or “Intercompany Netting” is the process of reconciling and netting intercompany invoices between two parties, resulting in a final payment and netted cashflow. In regard to financial markets, the purpose is essentially to minimize transactions and distinguish remuneration in multiparty agreements. Netting is suitable for various situations, participants, and cycle types. For more information, check out our in-depth guide to netting here.

Bilateral Netting: Two companies reconcile invoices they may owe to each other and one company agrees to pay the other one sum.

Multilateral Netting: Three or more companies netting invoices together and a netting center is used.

Multilateral Netting vs Bilateral Netting

Further Reading: Netting: An Immersive Guide to Global Reconciliation

Macro benefits of netting

Foreign Exchange Risk Mitigation

Multinational companies often perform transactions with their own subsidiaries or with non-group companies. Because of this, companies must keep currency exchange rates in mind. Original invoices are often sent in the originating currency, which raises the need for either an external exchange service, a bank, or a netting center. With netting, the foreign exchange risk is centralized to the netting center.

It will not only keep existing invoicing procedures intact but avoid the loss of money involved with inflated currency exchange rates when using external exchanges. As mentioned, the FX risk is transferred from individual subsidiaries to the parent company, which is usually more equipped to manage it.

Floating money is wasted money

Cash-in-transit is a thorn in just about everyone’s side. Stagnant approval and processing times can create a chain reaction of risk as that cash is unable to be used. Whether it is bilateral or multilateral netting, keeping invoices to a minimum reduces the amount of money that is stuck in the limbo phase of approvals and processing times.

Increased transparency

Treasurers are able to operate at a high level when they are afforded visibility of cash flows. When subsidiaries make bulk payments, lack of liquidity or financing issues can arise and if company-wide visibility is lacking, it becomes difficult for a treasury department to act accordingly. Bulk payments backload and are concentrated in a short amount of time, cash flow is stretched thin among many of the subsidiaries. A netting system will provide daily reports and monitoring tools that provide cash flow visibility throughout the group.

Maximize operational efficiency

Naturally, one of the more prominent benefits of netting occurs on a daily basis. Treasury departments will see a drastic reduction in time spent on transactions and managing foreign exchange risk. From an operational point of view, a netting process simply saves treasurers time and establishes a company-wide process for disputes.

An example of this is with BELLIN clients, who save an average of 2 days of work per month per affiliated company. For an organization of 30 affiliated companies, that’s 60 days per month or 720 days a year. Realized savings typically range from $250,000 to +$1,000,000 on an annual basis.

Manage Disputes

When implementing a netting system, the treasury department is tasked with establishing a protocol for managing disputes. When subsidiaries fail to submit payables, a hitch in the payment process is born. What this causes is the inability for the payee to continue with their daily operation as they wait for receivables. Administrators can establish automated escalation protocols, which will elevate disputes to upper management based on pre-defined time periods. The escalation system leads to both tangible and intangible benefits as it literally resolves disputes through escalation and also provides an incentive for subsidiaries to execute their payables to avoid the unnecessary involvement of management.

BELLIN tm5: a comprehensive netting solution

BELLIN’s intuitive TMS: tm5, has a netting module that reconciles invoices and manages disputes with an ‘agreement-driven approach’.

The ‘agreement-driven approach’ is essentially a self-clearing methodology that utilizes the previously-mentioned: escalation protocol. tm5 automatically matches all receivables against payables and has an embedded dispute workflow for discrepancies. Consequently, the group company establishes group-wide agreements for disputes and will elevate them accordingly. With such an approach, all subsidiaries are involved in the entire process, disputes are mitigated and automatically escalated, and there is group-wide transparency.

BELLIN’s tm5 netting module has an intuitive interface but the key ingredient that makes it shine is that the platform has standardized functionality with the flexibility to meet the needs of all subsidiaries.

Interested in finding out more about whether netting is the right solution for you? Give BELLIN a shout or check out tm5, our intuitive treasury management system.

Florian Kolb
As a Senior Treasury Consultant and Payments Specialist, Florian Kolb is in charge of a number of implementation and process consulting projects focusing on worldwide bank connectivity. He has great experience with SWIFT/H2H connections and complex global payments projects. Before joining BELLIN in June 2016, Florian worked as a consultant in accounting for an IT systems solutions provider. He studied at Verwaltungs- und Wirtschaftsakademie (Administration and Business Academy) in Freiburg, Germany, and is a Certified SWIFT Specialist.

Transform Intercompany Trade with Multilateral Netting

| 19-8-2019 | treasuryXL | BELLIN

Legacy tools yield legacy results

Too many international companies are manually reconciling and netting intercompany invoices. These companies may lack a clear and structured workflow for this process, leading to a host of potential risks and issues along the way including:

High volume of intercompany transactions
Too many invoice and expense disputes
Shadow bookkeeping
Lost productivity
High bank fees and fx costs

According to a recent Deloitte poll of finance professionals, reconciliation is the biggest intercompany hurdle. With only 9.2% of finance professionals saying their organization has a holistic, efficient, and clear intercompany reconciliation process, there is a clear need for a solution.

When asked what poses the greatest challenge to the implementation of intercompany accounting:

21.4% of participants claim disparate software systems are their biggest challenge
16.8% claim intercompany settlement
16.7% said complex intercompany agreements
13.3% said transfer pricing compliance
9.4% said FX exposure

Introducing a multilateral netting solution

With a centralized multilateral netting solution, companies can boost profit and productivity by gaining global visibility and control, automating processes, settling disputes locally, and reconciling and netting transactions seamlessly.

Average BELLIN clients savings with our multilateral netting solution:

2 days of work per month
$250,000 to $1,000,000 on an annual basis from banking and FX fees

Average industry savings figures:

15% year over year growth
50% labor cost reduction
€13 saved per invoice through automation
1hr of labor saved per day

Would you like to learn more about BELLIN’s multilateral netting solution? Just reach out to BELLIN for a tm5 demo, or visit tm5 page.

The Role of Netting in Cash Management

|13-8-2019 | treasuryXL | BELLIN

Increased cash flow efficiency, faster cash allocation and optimized FX management

Cash management is every company’s bread and butter. Considerably fewer companies make use of netting, despite its many advantages for cash management.

Netting supports companies in making their cash management more efficient and less costly by:

Boosting cash flow efficiency,
Consolidating invoices and enabling faster cash allocation,
Allowing companies to better calculate their FX exposure and hedge it strategically.

Cash management

Through cash management, companies ensure they can always meet their financial obligations. It allows them to allocate the required liquidity to the right entity, at the right time, in the right currency. For treasury to achieve that, all incoming and outgoing payments as well as account balances and forecasts must be visible. With access to complete and up-to-date information, treasury can monitor processes, plan liquidity based on forecasts and strategically manage cash in different currencies.

Netting

Companies that have implemented netting offset cash flow obligations between two parties and consolidate them to a net payment. Most companies use netting for balancing intercompany trade flows. However, it is also possible to integrate other parties as netting participants. Using internally-agreed conversion rates, companies can engage in cross-currency netting.

More information on netting: Netting: An Immersive Guide to Global Reconciliation

Videos on Reconciliation and Netting and Cash Management

The impact of netting on cash management

Netting takes a specific proportion of all cash flows and places them within the framework of a dedicated and structured process. This process, the netting run, is repeated at regular intervals. It can be divided into four steps:

Data import
Data is imported from the ERP system to the netting system.
Data reconciliation
The netting system automatically matches and consolidates submitted payables and receivables based on pre-defined parameters and creates a netting statement.
Data sharing
Once data has been matched and invoices consolidated, the netting center communicates the net amount to every netting run participant. It can be issued in their currency of choice.
End of cycle
The netting center makes one single payment to participants with a positive balance. Participants with a negative balance make one net payment to the netting center.

netting run

Netting boosts cash flow efficiency

By offsetting payables and receivables, netting reduces the number of transactions. In turn, this reduces cash-in-transit. And reduced cash-in-transit and minimal transactions make for reduced efforts when it comes to procuring liquidity, interest burden and payment processing.

In addition, the schedule of the netting run means payments are made on a specific date: instead of having to monitor countless different dates, treasury can lean back and wait for the end of the netting cycle.

Netting makes the lives of cash managers much more linear: they can plan accurately and allocate the exact amounts of required funds to accounts. This means that the company can keep floating assets to a minimum. Netting lends structure to complex processes and ensures opitmal allocation of cash flows.

Netting accelerates cash consolidation and allocation

All transactions between two parties result in accounts receivable for one company and accounts payable for the counterparty. The respective journal entry must show a zero balance. However, without a structured process in place, consolidation efforts are often far from straightforward. The different parties pursue different interests – either receivable- or payable-driven.

A good netting process seeks agreement between the parties and allows them to clarify any disagreements within a structured and automated framework. Agreement-driven netting encourages participants to submit accurate data. This makes for a much faster reconciliation process and makes it possible to automate several steps of the netting cycle. A speedy reconciliation process is followed by swift payment processing – directly in the system and with one click – and makes for greater efficiency.

Faster consolidation has a positive impact on cash flows. At the same time, netting saves treasurers valuable time when it comes to monitoring invoices. Conversely, accountants no longer need to waste hours matching invoices. On average, time savings amount to 1-2 man-days per month per entity. For a group consisting of 10 entities, this equals 10 to 20 days per month and 240 days per year – a full-time position that can be dedicated to other tasks that add real value to the company.

Netting saves time

Netting optimizes FX management

Netting makes it easier for companies to manage their FX exposure, i.e. to optimize their FX management.

The payment terms defined as part of the netting cycle govern the timeframe between issuing an invoice and paying it. Companies that use cross-currency netting also set internal conversion rates for the currencies in question that apply to the respective netting cycle.

Having defined dates and rates, treasurers gain insight into an entity’s hedging requirements for a specific time period and can consolidate this sum to one hedging transaction. The netting center also defines the settlement price that is used to convert each entity’s FX payments to the respective settlement currency. This creates implicit hedging. The netting center can post and settle the transactions for each netting run participant without impacting the FX result. Entities transfer their actual currency exposure to the netting center, where it can be hedged strategically.

How netting optimizes FX management – an example:

As part of a monthly netting cycle, a company defines a payment term of 30 days. An entity issues and posts an invoice in March, which is paid in April. In February, the netting center defines the FX rate for March, and the March rate is identical with the settlement price for April. The netting center has complete visibility of currency requirements and can hedge the FX exposure centrally. Transaction and conversion costs are reduced to a minimum.

Netting FX-Management

Netting and cash management in a nutshell:

Netting is a powerful tool for companies to optimize their cash management. Netting lends structure to offsetting cash flows and puts them into a clearly defined timeframe, the netting cycle. This has the following benefits:

Very precise account planning
More efficient cash flows
Faster consolidation
Option to automate processes
Speeding up of the cash allocation process
Visibility of FX requirements
Strategic FX hedging

Interested in finding out more about whether netting is the right solution for you? Give BELLIN a shout or check out tm5, our intuitive treasury management system.

Big tech vs Fintech vs Banks – in international payments

| 09-07-2019 | by Patrick Kunz |

This title makes it sounds like it’s a fight. To be honest: it is! The market for international payments is huge and its lucrative. In a McKinsey report the 2018 market size for payment revenues was close to 2 Billion. Not strange everybody wants a slice of that.

Fintech & Banks

Traditionally the market for international payments was dominated by banks. Recent years and technological advancements has shown that banks are slow to adapt to new technology and market requirements. In some cases it still takes days to transfer money from Europe to Asia, while an email, FB message or picture can be send in seconds. Fintech has tried to fill the gap with innovative tech solutions that solve these problems. Often these companies are lean and mean and adapt to market changes much quicker than the big stable banks. They provide cloud solutions, link to every bank possible and make you more bank independent. Lately we have seen consolidation in the fintech market where players are merging, growing or being taken over by banks. Some banks have started their own fintech. But often fintech only solved a part of the problem and is build on the existing (bank) infrastructure. Banks are also working on innovation: instant payments, swift GPI and PSD2 api’s are helping the customer paying faster and easier. These initiatives are great but have taken years to be implemented.

Bigtech

Then there is a third group of players: big tech. These are the google, facebook and alixpress of our world. These are traditionally IT companies who have a big client base but these companies where not involved in payments (yet). Their edge is size, market access and fast adoption. What happens if they enter the market for payments? Are they likely to win? Look at Alipay, massively successful in China but growing immensely outside Asia to. Why ? because it is easy to use, innovative, low cost and probably most importantly connected with an existing service of the bigtech (alixpress – shopping). The company provides the full customer journey: shopping for product and paying the goods in the most easy way without moving away from the website. Not only via desktop but also via mobile. On the go they make it possible to pay by scanning a QR code, in a grocery store or in a cab. Who needs cash OR a debit card, you only need your mobile phone and an app! Why was this successful? Because the existing customer base was already there they just vertically integrated into the customer journey; easier for the customer and therefore extra revenue for Ali. But also more power for Ali.

Stablecoin Libra

Looking at Facebook and their Stablecoin Libra. Digital currency, unregulated, not based on the traditional banking/payment infrastructure. There are big and significant differences with Bitcoin but the idea is the same: sending and receiving money worldwide in an instant as digital currency. There should be no speculation on the Libra-Rate as the rate of exchange is based on a basket of currencies (EUR, USD, JPY etc). Similar to the old tech Special Drawing Rights from the IMF. So what makes libra different to bitcoin and the other coins? I am not going into the technical differences as that is beyond my scope and would bore you. The main difference is the easy of adoption. New to bitcoin and want to use it: you have to open a wallet, trading account and learn have to transfer the BTC to somebody and the receivers also needs a wallet; a barrier for most. Using Libra will be much easier as it is just an extension of the services of Facebook. Libra potentially has 2,4 billion users (the number of facebook accounts). This is a big competitive advantage. Compared with smart marketing (facebook knows that) and combining it with existing products there is a big potential. Sending money to your facebook friends in Australia or Japan? No problem: in-an-instant via Libra. Besides facebook it is also supported by other big players like Visa, Spotify, Paypall, Mastercard, Vodafone. Is there a future without Libra ? And how many facebook users are there without an bank account. There are 2,4 billion facebook users and 1,7 billion people without a bank account in this world. The reach is already huge so there is low barrier for adoption.

The Battle

Does this mean bigtech will be ‘winning’? In my opinion hard to say. That battle is being fought the coming years. Don’t forgot the power and influence of regulator and governments. Digital payments are unregulated and unknown and could influence the power of governments and the whole banking infrastructure of money regulation, central bank money creation and some even fear de-stabilization of the monetary system as a whole. Regulators could stop/limit the quick steps forward by bigtech.

The coming years will be exiting to see the technological advancements in the battle for payment revenue. The winner will be the consumer; easy of paying will increase further and more importantly the speed will increase. Paying how we want and within a blink of an eye, and this worldwide, will be the new standard within several years.

Patrick Kunz

Treasury, Finance & Risk Consultant/ Owner Pecunia Treasury & Finance BV

ACT CASH MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE

| 31-1-2019 | treasuryXL |

The 15th edition of the ACT Cash Management Conference takes place on 12 February 2019 in London.

The ACT’s flagship cash management event of the year provides a unique opportunity to share best practice, hear practical case studies from leading corporates and network with fellow cash management and treasury professionals.

Programme

The payments landscape: keep up to date with the latest changes in payments innovation and regulation:

the latest regulatory changes and payment fraud (panels)
cross-border payments, the New Payments Systems Organisation (breakout sessions)
setting up a payments factory (best-in-class case study)

Cash management evergreens: lack of control and visibility remain the top cash management challenges for treasurers. Discuss key questions such as:

what really makes good cash management? (panel)
cash pooling structures and trapped cash (breakout sessions)
how to get cash forecasting right from the beginning (best-in-class case study)

The bigger picture:look beyond day-to-day cash management and listen to frank discussions on:

the profitability of cash management products from a bank’s perspective (panel)
designing an optimised liquidity portfolio (breakout session)
the future of cash management innovation (panel)

For more information or if you want to register for the event visit the events website.

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Reminder: Masterclass Cash Management

| 27-11-2018 | treasuryXL

Op 6 december 2018 organiseert Alex van Groningen een masterclass Cash Management. Hoe spoort u verborgen cash op en hoe speelt u het vrij? Richt een effectief cash management systeem in en optimaliseer het bedrijfsresultaat, het werkkapitaal en de liquiditeitspositie.

Hoe spoort u verborgen cash op en hoe speelt u het vrij?

Cash management expert Eva Borstlap onthult aan de hand van diverse actuele casussen (o.a. Blokker) maatregelen die met beperkte actie een groot positief effect op zowel de effectiviteit, het rendement als de liquiditeit van de organisatie hebben.

Onderwerpen

De essentie van cash management: wat is het wel en wat is het niet
De relevantie van een gezonde focus op cash
Financiële besturing; samenhang tussen de operationele-, investerings- en financieringsactiviteiten en hoe deze te meten (oa EVA/NPV, futures en SWAPS)
De essentie van werkkapitaal en waarom pure sturing op werkkapitaal niet zinvol is
Theorie vs praktijk; waarom is de praktijk weerbarstig (Blokker casus)?
De directe relatie tussen cash management met de operationele processen en de verborgen cash die in elke organisatie aanwezig is

Voor wie?

Dit programma is specifiek ontwikkeld voor (assistent) financial- en business controllers, financieel managers en andere financiële professionals die nieuwsgierig zijn hoe zij zelf een concrete bijdrage kunnen leveren aan het genereren van extra cash.

Programma

09:30 – 10:00 uur | Introductie

Introductie en verwachtingen deelnemers
Waarom de focus op cash essentieel is
Een wandeling door een Jaarrekening; relatie tussen resultaat en cash

10:00 – 11:00 uur | De essentie van Treasury

Groepsopdracht rondom het thema ‘resultaat en cash’
Theorie: De essentie van Treasury en de relatie met de operationele de bedrijfsprocessen
Welke rol kan/moet een financial hierin spelen?

11:00 – 11:15 uur | Koffie en thee pauze

11:15 – 12:30 uur | Financiële besturing: theorie en praktijk

Theorie: wat is de financiële besturing van een organisatie (operationele-, investerings- en financieringsactiviteiten)
Welke parameters en risico management zijn relevant (oa de werking van Futures, NPV, EVA, Swaps)
Theorie vs praktijk; waarom de theorie niet altijd werkt (case ABNAMRO)

12:30 – 13:00 uur | Lunch

13:00 – 15:00 uur | Verborgen cash in het werkkapitaal

De essentie van werkkapitaal; waarom het vooral geen ‘finance feestje’ is
Methoden om werkkapitaal eenvoudig en snel te kunnen beoordelen
Inzoomen op de verborgen cash in de operationele bedrijfsprocessen
Waar zit de cash ‘verstopt’?

15:00 – 15:15 uur | Koffie en thee pauze

15:15 – 16:00 uur | Opsporen van verborgen geld & Blokker

“Het opsporen en vrijspelen van verborgen cash” in de eigen praktijk
Introductie Blokker; Wat is er aan de hand; een wandeling door het Jaarverslag

16:00 – 16:45 uur | ’Hunt for cash programma’ Blokker (Case)

Interactief spel om te ervaren voor welke dillema’s een bedrijf als Blokker staat en waarbij de theorie en alle genoemde ervaringen in de praktijk worden gebracht

16:45 – 17:00 uur | Samenvatting, evaluatie en afsluiting

Bel voor meer informatie of een offerte met Ivo ten Hoorn op 020 639 0008.

Is cash still king?

| 11-06-2018 | by Patrick Kunz |

All treasurers and most financials know the statement “cash is king”. I do not have to explain the meaning; it is best for a company to have cash above any other forms of (accounting) income. Not talking about the problems of not having any cash. Having cash makes a company stronger and opens possibilities to use this cash (dividends, M&A) and cash is also needed to pay the bills.

However, since several years we are living in a world where interest rates are negative. So it costs money to own cash. It is suddenly costly to be a bigger king. This has some implications for companies and treasuries.

Active cash management

Because it is expensive to have and hold cash it is important for treasurers to know where all the cash is and what the position is. Only holding the cash and doing nothing means that the cash balance will decrease because of negative interest. It therefore makes sense to look into options to reduce the cash level. This does not necessarily mean spending the money!

Several options include:

Compensating negative cash balances with positive cash balances, also between different currencies (fx swaps)
Repaying loans
Paying dividends
Paying suppliers earlier to receive a discount

Of course above options are examples and depend on the specific company. Most important aspect in doing above actions are the cash flow forecast. The actions you are taking now have an impact on your future cash position so if some actions are good for now they should also be beneficial in the future situation. Simulations and forecasting software can help with this. For example a simulation on your credit lines, changing interest rates and changing payment terms can be very interesting.

Floors and term

If you are with your bank for a long time there is probably nothing agreed about negative interest rates on your cash as this was not foreseen by banks 10 years ago. This gives you an opportunity to negotiate with the bank on your term for having cash. Some possibilities I have seen with my clients:

Floors in the interest rates. This does not necessarily have to be 0% floor
Thresholds: for example the first 10 mln no negative interest charge
Combinations of above
Spread between credit and debit amounts; a lower spread is often better.

Invest

Another option to reduce the interest charge on your cash is to invest the money. This is a sensible topic as most treasurers are risk averse. The more return is expected the higher the risk associated to the investment. Cash at a bank is considered fairly safe (given the cash is divided over several banks with a good credit rating and depending on the amounts). Furthermore the liquidity of the investment is important. Cash is readily available. If you invest the money it first has to exchanged or transferred to cash which can take time or can have an impact on the return. Most treasurers are prudent on investments and/or internal rules do not allow these.

Cash is still king

Overall looking at above cash is still king. For every company it is better to have cash then to be short on cash. However, having too much cash can hurt a company too as the return on cash balances is very low and in most cases negative. In these times the value of a treasurer looking at the cash balances and optimizing it uses (and return) is big. So does your company not have a dedicated person looking at the (excess) cash and the optimization of the cash now and in the future (cash forecasting) then it might be the time to a assign somebody on this task. In most cases the return on this person if positive (even though the interest rate is negative).

An external treasurer or flex treasurer can be of help too.

Patrick Kunz

Treasury, Finance & Risk Consultant/ Owner Pecunia Treasury & Finance BV

Does technology actually help you improve your cash management?

| 31-5-2018 | Nicolas Christiaen | Cashforce |

It is a question that many companies have been asking themselves for the past few years. Innovative, dedicated technologies may be very exciting, but the question remains: Are they worth the investment?

We believe the answer is yes, but understanding the technology & its shortcomings are key to exploiting its full potential. Companies that are missing today’s “FinTech train” might find themselves in precarious situations in the future. They risk becoming relatively less productive and might lack insights that their technology-driven competitors will have. This is certainly true when it comes to Cash & Working Capital Management. Technology is definitely an asset in today’s world, as it can help us driving value from working capital. Interconnectivity has risen significantly, with the surge of in-house banks, cash pooling, POBO, ROBO, etc., forcing treasury departments to keep up with the pace and find ways to manage complex treasury set-ups. On top of that, the number of transactions has grown to such a level that only high-level calculations can be done by humans. Technology helps companies to deal with this magnitude of data and reduces complexity by bringing visibility in companies’ cash flows.

Also, the surge of centralization (look at the number of centralized treasury teams) reduced the number of double tasks and improved the efficiency of Treasury Operations. However, at the same time, keeping treasury connected with the business is becoming the new challenge. In this continuous paradox, technology will prove helpful in connecting both worlds.

However, we need a good understanding of limits & shortcomings of technology too. Today’s systems are capable of calculating expected outcomes & action plans based on a set of parameters. However, technology is not smart enough yet to take into account all parameters (like macro-economic parameters, unexpected events, changes of policies) & and most of all human (= irrational) behavior.

There is a legitimate drive towards using technology, as complexity rises, as is the need for more transparency. Two interesting evolutions are simultaneously taking place: Niche players are betting on making the technology smarter, whilst corporates are getting better at smartly using that technology. There is no reason to believe this will stop in the near future.

Nicolas Christiaen

Managing Partner at Cashforce

Grensoverschrijdend betalingsverkeer is (eindelijk!) aan het verbeteren

| 20-03-2018 | Bas Kolenburg |

In mijn vroegere rol als Corporate Treasurer waren grensoverschrijdende betalingen, zowel binnenkomend van een klant of uitgaand naar een leverancier, een regelmatige bron van ergernis:

Het is een langzaam en weinig voorspelbaar proces dat meerdere dagen in beslag kan nemen en over vele schijven verloopt met correspondentbanken etc. ;
Het is een erg duur proces;
Je kan maar moeilijk interveniëren als het proces eenmaal is opgestart;
Het proces is weinig transparant wat betreft doorlooptijd en er is geen bevestiging dat het bedrag op de juiste bestemming is aangekomen.

De afgelopen jaren zijn er in het internationale betalingsverkeer veel vernieuwingen geweest. Deze veranderingen hadden echter vooral betrekking op het SEPA-gebied. Met de introductie van SEPA is het onderscheid tussen een betaling binnen Nederland of binnen het SEPA gebied, mits in Euro, vrijwel verdwenen. Bovendien is valuteren niet meer aan de orde en dienen banken betalingen snel op de rekening van de begunstigde bij te schrijven. Maar als we kijken naar betalingen in andere muntsoorten dan de Euro of betalingen buiten het SEPA gebied dan zijn de verschillen erg groot. Daar tariferen en valuteren banken de transacties nog wel degelijk.

Daarom is er vanuit SWIFT een initiatief gestart dat moet zorgen voor een inhaalslag om ook grensoverschrijdend betalingsverkeer naar een hoger level te brengen: het Global Payments Initiative (SWIFT GPI).

SWIFT GPI streeft ernaar (uiteindelijk) alle hiervoor genoemde ergernissen in het betalingsverkeer op te heffen/te verminderen, om te beginnen met de volgende kenmerken in fase 1 (dat inmiddels sinds januari 2017 live is):

1. Snellere – same day- verwerking van de betaling.
Waarbij dus geen valutering meer wordt toegepast.
2. Transparantie van kosten.
Dus duidelijkheid over alle ingehouden kosten door banken in het gehele proces
3. Transparantie van het proces via tracking en tracing.
Door het toevoegen van uniek E2E (end-to-end) tracking nummer aan de betaling is er de mogelijkheid om een betaling van begin tot eind te volgen en te zien waar de betaling zich bevindt. Een betaler krijgt ook een bevestiging wanneer het geld op de rekening van de begunstigde is bijgeschreven. Hierbij blijft de omschrijving die de klant de betaler aan zijn opdracht meegeeft intact, dus zijn er geen aanpassingen van de tekst in de keten.

De voordelen van dit initiatief voor de Corporate Treasurers zijn talrijk:

• Minder settlement tijd van de inkomende en uitgaande betalingen;
• Betere en meer betrouwbare cash flow management;
• Meer inzicht in de kosten die worden gerekend voor grensoverschrijdende betalingen;
• Minder FX risico;
• Zekerheid voor betalers en ontvangers.

Op dit moment zijn al circa 150 banken wereldwijd aangehaakt bij dit initiatief en de verwachting is dat de meeste banken vanwege de klantbehoefte, zich snel willen gaan aansluiten. Daarbij geldt wel dat banken zelf aan kunnen geven in welke muntsoorten ze deze dienstverlening gaan ondersteunen.

In fase 2 (die is gepland voor 2018), zal SWIFT GPI nog meer functionaliteiten toevoegen:
1. De mogelijkheid om een betaling direct te stoppen
En dat ongeacht waar in het proces de betaling zich bevindt, bijvoorbeeld in geval van fraude of een dubbele betaling.
2. Het bijvoegen van documenten met betalingen
Documenten zoals bijvoorbeeld facturen en compliance documenten kunnen dan worden bijgevoegd en hoeven dan niet meer (zoals nu) via e-mail en andere handmatige acties naar elkaar te worden doorgestuurd.
3. Het invoeren van een “payment assistant”

Hiermee moeten bedrijven geholpen worden om alle gegevens die nodig zijn voor een grensoverschrijdende betaling nog beter aan te leveren zodat een transactie snel en efficiënt door de keten gaat. Bij Nederlandse banken zit in de huidige applicaties overigens al veel features die afdwingen dat klanten de opdrachten zo volledig mogelijk aanleveren.

In een volgende fase wil SWIFT GPI ook nieuwe technologieën, zoals Blockchain, verkennen waarbij uiteindelijk het doel is om de kosten voor de grensoverschrijdende betalingen verdergaand te reduceren.

Al met al is dit een erg positief initiatief van SWIFT om het grensoverschrijdend betalingsverkeer (eindelijk) naar de 21e eeuw te brengen. Nu is het zaak ervoor te zorgen dat zo veel als mogelijk banken zich hierbij aansluiten want als de bank van je tegenpartij niet aan dit initiatief meedoet blijven grensoverschrijdende betalingen een bron van ergernis.

Bas Kolenburg

Senior Consultant at Enigma Consulting