Tag Archive for: finance

Spring Summit 2019 Treasury Management & Corporate Finance VU

| 28-3-2019 | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |

On Thursday evening, 11 April 2019, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s postgraduate  Treasury Management & Corporate Finance programme will host the annual Spring Summit. This year’s theme is the programme’s mission: training academic professionals.Vincent Almering of Interfoods and Peter de Vries of Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) will talk about how the Treasury Management & Corporate Finance programme added value to their careers. They will also present results of the research they conducted during the programme: on hedging volatility in dairy markets and financial management at EBN, respectively.

Don’t miss this lecture! Mark your calender: 11 April 2019, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Participation is free of charge.
Register here

We look forward to seeing you at the Summit!

LOCATION:

VU Amsterdam, Alma Hall, OZW Building, 10th floor, De Boelelaan 1109, Amsterdam

PROGRAM

16.45 hrs.Welcome

17.00 hrs. Introduction Herbert Rijken

17.30 hrs. Peter de Vries – Financial management at EBN

18.00 hrs.Vincent Almering – Hedging volatility in dairy markets

18.30 hrs. Epilogue Herbert Rijken

19.00 hrs. Drinks

REGISTER

You can register here

CONTACT

Myrthe Scholze
020-598 2171
[email protected]
VU/Treasury

 

Why is e-invoicing not the same as a PDF?

| 6-9-2017 | PowertoPay – Unified Post | Sponsored Content |

When they hear e-invoicing, companies often think that this is sending invoices by e-mail. However, e-invoicing is more than that. Not only sending the invoice is part of this, but also the electronic booking, payment and collection of the money belongs to this process. Electronic invoicing leads to a major save of costs. For the sender, but especially for the receiver. Since e-invoicing is digitalizing invoicing for the sender as well as the receiver, a PDF-invoice is not seen as electronic invoicing.

When receiving a PDF the receiver still has to, with or without the help of OCR software, manually put data into a systems or he has to correct it. In the case of e-invoicing, the receiver gets all the data electronically which can be automated with their accounting systems. Manual input is not necessary anymore and the control of the content of the invoice can be automated.

Automated

When a sender decides to do e-invoicing instead of just sending a PDF, there is a world of benefits for the entrepreneur. First of all, e-invoicing is like registered post but then faster. You always know for sure that the invoice is received and you’re always being informed about that. Since the payment period usually starts at the moment the invoice is registered, the e-invoice can shorten the payment period with a couple of days.  Without intervention of the post or post rooms or other internal departments, the e-invoice lands directly into the financial system of the receiver. Reminders can be sent automatically and payment options can be built into the invoice or reminder. E-invoices can be simply archived digitally which makes them easy to find and this way they’re always accessible within the organization. With e-invoicing you are ready for the future. It’s only a matter of time until receivers don’t want to receive invoices any other way. The (Dutch) government even made e-invoicing (so not PDF’) mandatory as from the 1st of January.

E-invoicing Method

Paper invoices and PDF invoices via e-mail are most of the time directly exchanged between two parties. Of course this is the case with e-invoices. In this so-called two-corner model, two parties make arrangements on the e-invoice format they use and about the technical connection. However, there are a lot of different formats in the electronic invoicing world and that variety has a function. A format (invoice standard), often reflects the specific needs of a sector or collaboration. Every sector has its own order and invoice process, that one format can even be undesirable.

Billing Service Provider

In the three-corner model, a Billing Service Provider (UnifiedPost) takes the burden away for both the sender and the recipient in the invoice process. The sender that uses its own sector standards, the billing service provider makes sure that the invoice gets to the receiver in their correct format. Preferably electronic, but e-mail or post are also optional. Another advantage for the sender is that there is only one technical link that should be realized with the billing service provider. The billing service provider is taking care of different links on the receiver-side. By translating different formats, the billing service provider is making sure that the receiver receives all his invoices electronically the same way and that the authenticity and the integrity of the invoice is determined the right way. Billing service providers have got a large network and make agreements with (large) accounting systems.

Simple with great advantages

By using an billing service provider, companies can easily exchange electronic invoices directly with many providers from different sectors and suppliers. This requires one link (one-time setup) between the accounting system and the platform of the service provider. Small companies can also use a webportal for sending and receiving e-invoices.

If you want to read more about the services of PowertoPay or about e-invoicing please click the following link:

Learn more about e-invoicing with these facts and figures. 

 

PowertoPay – Unified Post

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Succesful breakfast session at Proferus

|21-6-2017 | Proferus | treasuryXL | Sponsored content |

We reported earlier that Proferus BV, Amsterdam organised a breakfast session, the first of a series, dedicated to CFOs, Senior Cash Managers and Treasures, this time focusing on Cash Flow Forecasting. The session has taken place yesterday and we want to share a short impression with you.

In their first session Proferus focussed on sharing best practices aound the topics cash forecasting strategies, direct vs indirect approach, the need for cash flow forecasting and forecasting software from CashForce. Nicolas Christiaen,  founder of CashForce gave real life examples of how CashForce is deployed to help companies efficiently deploy cash force forecasting for treasury management.

During the meeting there was a livley discussion about the need of cash flow forecasts and the difference between the direct and indirect method. Ideas were shared as well as experiences and practical examples. The presentation of the cash forecasting system of Cashforce by Nicolas Christiaen was well received and very interesting.

The breakfast session had a good attendance and positive reactions! Proferus already started to plan and organize the next meeting!

If you want to know more about the breakfast session you can download their presentation: [button url=”https://www.treasuryxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Presentatie-liquiditeitsplanningen-Proferus-1-2.pdf” text=”View presentation” size=”small” type=”primary” icon=”” external=”1″]

treasuryXL & Proferus BV

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The changing training requirements of banks

| 26-5-2017 | Michiel van den Broek | treasuryXL |

 

Some time ago Treasurer Search published an article of our expert Michiel van den Broek. We believe that the topic of changing training requirements is still relevant – for banks and maybe even in a broader context.
Michiel van den Broek writes: Needless to say that the changing processes and services at banks are driven by the rapid information technology developments. This shift also impacted number and composition of bank staff.

Training

During years of training bank staff, I experience a growing demand for financial basic knowledge, for example:

  • What are core activities of banks and how do these generate different types of income.
  • What are the characteristics of various financial products such as equities, forwards and interest rate swaps.
  • How do I calculate the settlement amount of a financial transaction.
  • What determines the value of a bond.
  • What risks do banks run and how to manage risk.
  • How is the processing of financial transactions structured.

Sufficient financial basic knowledge contributes to better communication and understanding that enhances development & implementation of IT projects. Another important advantage is the lower operational risk: fewer errors, faster identification and problem solving due to better awareness and understanding.

Training online

At the same time I experience lower popularity of traditional training, such as self-study or classroom programs. There is more demand for interactive and easily accessible training via live online classrooms that that can offer next possible advantages:

  • More flexible scheduling.
  • Missed lessons can be viewed (all classes are recorded).
  • Easy access: no need for a training location.
  • Highly interactive.
  • Lower costs.
  • Higher frequency, more participants.

The improved software and increased internet speed reinforce the trend towards live online classrooms.

The changing training requirements at banks is therefore both content and form. There is more demand for financial basic knowledge through online facilities.

 

 

Michiel van den Broek

Owner of Hecht Consult

Long term or short term debt – your choices

|18-5-2017 | François de Witte |

You might visit this site, being a treasury professional with years of experience in the field. However you could also be a student or a businessman wanting to know more details on the subject, or a reader in general, eager to learn something new. The ‘Treasury for non-treasurers’ series is for readers who want to understand what treasury is all about. Today our expert François de Witte will explain de difference between long term and short term debt.

One of the main tasks of the treasurer is to ensure that the company has the required funds to operate. The treasurer will usually contact the banks for this funding. They can also extend long term loans (LT) or short term loans (ST).

Raising short term debt has several advantages, because it is more flexible, there is a lower cost due to the lower margin (smaller risk profile than long term debt) and usually lower interest, funds can be raised quickly and usually, you can repay your debt without penalty.

However, there are some drawbacks. The required repayment comes quicker than for LT loans, there can be potential difficulties in renewing short term loans, and it will be more difficult to combine ST debt with a fixed rate interest.

For this reason, many corporates take up long term loans. It helps them to improve the financial structure (better liquidity ratio). During the term of the credit facility, there is no renewal risk, and long term loans can be taken up with fixed or floating interest. Many banks will see long term loans as a prerequisite to finance fixed assets and investments.

In that case, the corporate will have to accept a higher price on these loans, a longer set up time and a possible prepayment penalty in case there is a fixed interest rate during the long-term loan.

Financing policy

The classic financing policy aims to match the maturity of the financing with the maturity of the assets. Under this policy, long term assets will be financed by long term loan, and short term assets by short term loans. An area of concern are the working capital needs. Are these to be considered as long term assets as short term assets? Usually the uncompressible part of the working capital need is considered as a long-term asset, whilst the fluctuating part (including the seasonal requirement) is considered as short term asset.

Some companies use a more aggressive financing policy and chosse short term financing to finance all the working capital needs, which can be risky. Others are more conservative and use long term loans to finance also the fluctuating part of the working capital needs.

Bank Financing versus bonds or Commercial Paper financing

Usually midcorporates and smaller corporates will use bank financing, also for the long-term financing, because it is easier to be set up. There is no need to have a complex prospectus or to ask for an external rating and there are less disclosure and reporting requirements. In addition, there is more flexibility in the repayment schedule, and it will be easier to negotiate a floating rate.

However larger corporates, those with an external rating or a large name recognition, will also consider bond or Commercial Paper financing. The bond financing will allow for longer term maturities, and the possibility to lock in the interest rate for longer periods. Bonds and commercial papers enable a diversification of funding sources, and can be traded in the market. In addition, there is no obligation provide side business to the lenders.

Bond financing

The world’s bond market can be divided into two broad groups:

  • The domestic bond market (issued in a country by resident issuers)
  • The international bond market (issued in a country or in the international markets by non-resident issuers). These also include the Eurobonds

Different bonds

The most common bonds are the straight bonds. In this case, the issuer issues securities for a fixed term with an annual or semi-annual interest payment at a fixed rate.

Example: Issuer A issues on 10/6/2017 EUR 100 Million debt at 6 % for 7 years.  In this case, the bondholders are entitled to receive an annual interest rate of 6 % (also called the coupon) on the 10th June of each year from 2018 until 2024, and the full reimbursement of the loan on 10/6/2024.

We also see quite frequently the issuance of Floating Rate Notes. This is a medium term or long term bond with a coupon based upon a floating rate based on a benchmark rate (e.g. Euribor or Libor) plus a “spread” based upon amongst others the credit quality of the issuer.

Zero-coupon bonds that do not foresee for periodic interest payments, but for the full reimbursement of the capital and interest at the final maturity of the bond.

Convertible bonds can be exchanged later or with another instrument, mostly shares.  The coupon is usually lower because of the option granted to the bondholder.

Public bonds are bonds issued by a bank syndicate through a public offering with prospectus. These bonds are focusing both on the retail and on the professional investors. They also must comply with the specific requirements for the prospectus, which sometimes needs to be submitted beforehand to the competent authorities for approval.

A private placement (or non-public offering) is a bond issue through a private offering, mostly to a small number of chosen investors. Private placements have less heavy constraints in term of prospectus.

Since 2000, the global bond markets size has nearly tripled in size. Today it is worth more than $100 trillion

(Source: Bloomberg, June 2016).

François de Witte – Founder & Senior Consultant at FDW Consult & Flex Treasurer

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More articles of this author:

Treasury for non-treasurers: Short term loans from a treasury perspective

Working capital management: Some practical advice on the optimization of the order to cash cycle

Management of bank mandates – EBAM – A lot of challenges

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Short term loans for financing your company

|11-5-2017 | François de Witte | treasuryXL

You might visit this site, being a treasury professional with years of experience in the field. However you could also be a student or a businessman wanting to know more details on the subject, or a reader in general, eager to learn something new. The ‘Treasury for non-treasurers’ series is for readers who want to understand what treasury is all about.
Our expert François de Witte tells us more about an important task of a treasurer: funding, namely short term loans.

Background

One of the main tasks of the treasurer is to ensure that the company has the required funds to operate. The treasurer will usually contact the banks for this funding. The banks can extend secured or unsecured credit facilities. These can be long term or short term. In the current article, we will cover the unsecured short term loans.

Overdraft lines

The most flexible credit line is the overdraft loan: when providing an overdraft facility, the bank authorizes the company to go below zero on its account up to a certain amount. Overdrafts can be a good way to borrow  money for a short period of time. For example, if you don’t have enough money in your current account to cover your outgoings, and are uncertain about when your accounts receivables will be collected, you can negotiate with your bank an overdraft limit. If in that case, you have say 1 million Euro of expenses you can pay them, even if your account balance goes below zero. Once you will collect the accounts receivables, the overdraft position will be settled.

Usually the banks charge in case of use of the overdraft facility an interest rate based upon the internal rate of the bank plus a margin, and in some cases an overdraft fee charged on the total amount of the facility.

Having an overdraft can act as a useful buffer to cover your peak cash needs. It is the most flexible loan, because, in case you have cash inflows, they can be immediately used to reimburse the facility. However if the cash need is more structural,  overdrafts are not a very effective way of borrowing, because they may come with a higher rate of interest than some other loans such as the short term advances.

Short term advances

When you have a more structural cash need for a certain period of time, it can be useful to consider short term advances or straight loans. In this case, the bank will extend a short term advances (straight loans) facility.

When the client wishes to utilize this facility, he will ask for a drawdowns amount made available for an agreed upon period at an agreed upon rate. On the required date, the bank will make the amount available, e.g. 1 million Euro, on the account. At the maturity of the short term advance, the borrower needs to repay the advance and the interest. The interest is usually calculated on a benchmark, e.g. Euribor or Libor plus a margin.

The client determines the timing of the drawdowns. Advances are usually extended in the framework of a credit line, although in some cases, the client can just ask a punctual advance to cover a specific need.

Short term advances are less flexible then overdrafts. If you have a short term advance of say 1 million Euro for 1 month, and 15 days later you receive a large collection of say over 1 million, you cannot reimburse your short term advance, and will hence during the last 15 days pay interest on your short term advance, without any or almost any remuneration on your current account. For this reason, we recommend to use short term advance for long(er) term cash needs.

Conclusion

Overdraft facilities are the most flexible loans, but are quite expensive. If you have long(er) term cash needs, it might be useful to consider straight loans, as they are usually less expensive.

There exist many other solutions to finance the short term needs of your business, such as the financing of accounts receivables and factoring. This will be covered in a separate section.

 

François de Witte – Founder & Senior Consultant at FDW Consult & Flex Treasurer

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Autorisaties en bevoegdheden vastleggen – ook noodzakelijk voor het MKB

| 5-5-2017| Jan Doosje |

 

Helmi van Bergen van Juridiqua heeft onlangs een interessant artikel gepubliceerd over autorisaties en procedures rondom autorisaties. Vorig jaar heb ik een artikel voor TreasuryXL geschreven betreffende autorisaties en procedures met betrekking tot cash en treasury management. Ik zie het artikel van Helmi van Bergen in het verlengde hiervan.

“Bureaucratische” regels

Het is mij bekend dat veel bedrijven in het MKB wars zijn van al teveel bureaucratische regels. Echter, als deze “bureaucratische” regels (lees: autorisaties) helder en kernachtig zijn geformuleerd, geformaliseerd en ook gecommuniceerd zijn levert dit ook (of wellicht vooral ook) in het MKB veel rust in de bedrijfsvoering op.

Door een goede implementatie in de (financiële en logistieke) systemen hoeft het werken met autorisaties overigens ook niet te leiden tot een uitbreiding van indirecte kosten het is eerder te verwachten dat er efficiënter gewerkt kan worden (minder discussies en minder onduidelijkheden). Het argument van hogere kosten kan m.i. gemakkelijk weerlegd worden en is dus geen excuus om procedures en autorisaties niet vast te leggen.

Autorisaties

Zowel eigenaren/directie als de medewerkers kunnen veel winnen bij het invoeren van autorisaties en een autorisatietabel. Geen discussies of onzekerheden bij de medewerkers of iets al dan niet mag of voor welk bedrag er (bijvoorbeeld ) een verplichting aangegaan mag worden. Het is uiteraard aan de ondernemer zelf om te bepalen in hoeverre hij zijn staf- of lijnorganisatie het vertrouwen wil geven om zaken zelfstandig op te pakken, uiteraard ook afgezet tegen zijn ‘risk appetite’ en financiële draagkracht.  Voor veel werknemers zal het een verrijking van hun werkzaamheden betekenen, de organisatie spreekt (impliciet) vertrouwen uit en dat werkt veelal enorm motiverend.
Voorwaarde is wel dat er voldoende waarborgen in de procedure zijn opgenomen waaruit blijk dat functionarissen hun bevoegdheden niet te buiten zijn gegaan en dat er, naast beloning, ook “straf” gegeven kan worden als bevoegdheden worden overschreden.

Vanuit oogpunt van certificering helpt het ook als procedures formeel worden vastgelegd en ook blijkt dat er navolging aan wordt gegeven alsmede controle op bestaat. De organisatie heeft meer grip op het proces en heeft meer zekerheid dat doelstellingen op de juiste manier worden behaald.

Ook de accountant zal over het algemeen blij worden van een juist ingevoerde procedure en autorisatietabel. Dit geeft een goed beeld over de mate van professionaliteit van de organisatie.

Conclusie

In aanvulling op het artikel van Helmi van Bergen concludeer ik het volgende:

Het vaststellen van procedures en vastleggen van autorisaties is ook voor het MKB erg belangrijk vanwege de volgende redenen :

  • Het schept helderheid in de organisatie over de taken, verantwoordelijkheden en bevoegdheden.
  • Daar deze helderheid ontstaat er meer grip op de organisatie, de controle neem toe.
  • Implementatie gaat niet gepaard met hogere kosten, het is eerder de verwachting dat er efficiënter gewerkt kan worden
  • De ondernemer dient zelf te bepalen in welke mate hij het vertrouwen aan de medewerkers wil geven, mede ingegeven door zijn eigen ‘risk appetite’ en financiële draagkracht
  • Implementatie ondersteunt het MKB bij het verkrijgen of behouden van (bijv.) ISO-certificaties
  • Een accountant zal positief oordelen bij het inzien van een op juiste wijze geïmplementeerd en nageleefd systeem van procedures en autorisaties
  • Implementatie kan een enorme boost geven aan de motivatie van medewerkers vanwege het (impliciet) gestelde vertrouwen
  • Naast implementatie dient er periodiek gecontroleerd te worden of op een juiste wijze gewerkt wordt
  • Bij overtreding van autorisaties of afwijking van procedures dient duidelijk te zijn welke sancties hier vanuit de organisatie aan gesteld worden.

Vraag die nog beantwoord dient te worden in welke mate de vastgestelde autorisaties ook in het Handelsregister vastgelegd dienen te worden.

Ik hoop middels deze blog extra input gegeven te hebben aan het artikel van Helmi van Bergen.

Jan Doosje

Jan Doosje

Owner of Fimterim Advies & Consultancy

 

 

 

 

Meer artikelen van deze auteur:

Basisprincipes van interne beheersing op het gebied van treasury – Deel I

Basisprincipes van interne beheersing op het gebied van treasury – Deel II

 

Blockchain and the Ripple effect: did it ripple?

|24-4-2017 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL

Our expert Carlo de Meijer has published an interesting article about a blockchain initiative that we want to share with you. We have slightly shortened the original article about Ripple.

 

Who is Ripple?

Have you ever thrown a stone in still water of a river or a lake. I did! The effect is rippling the water in a way that can be followed outwards incrementally. It might be this effect that the founders of Ripple, the payments blockchain network had in mind when choosing the name for their project. Did it ripple?

San Francisco based Ripple is seen as one of the most advanced distributed ledger technology (DLT) companies in the industry, which focuses on the using of blockchain-like technology for payments.

In just four years, Ripple has established itself as a key player in the fast-growing distributed ledger technology world. Since 2013, the Ripple Protocol has been adopted by an increasing number of financial institutions to “[offer] an alternative remittance option” to consumers. Especially the years 2015 and 2016 marked the expansion of Ripple, with the opening of an office in Sydney (April 2015) and the opening of European offices in London (March 2016 ) and in Luxembourg (June 2016).
In June last year, Ripple obtained a virtual currency license from the New York State Department of Financial Services, making it the fourth company with a BitLicense. As of 2017, Ripple is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, after Bitcoin and Ether.

What is Ripple?

Ripple is a financial real-time gross settlement solution, currrency exchange and remittance network using distributed ledger technology. Released in 2012, it purports to enable “secure, instant and nearly free global financial transactions of any size with no chargebacks”.
Ripple is built upon a distributed open source Internet protocol, consensus ledger and native currency called XRP (ripples) enabling (cross-border) payments for retail customers, corporations, and other banks.
The Ripple Protocol, described as “basic (settlement) infrastructure technology for interbank transactions”, enables the interoperation of different ledgers and payment networks and brings together three aspects of modern payment solutions: messaging, settlement and FX management. It allows banks and non-bank financial services companies to incorporate the Ripple Protocol into their own systems, and therefore allow their customers to use the service.

The protocol enables the instant and direct transfer of money between two parties. As such the protocol can circumvent the fees and wait times of the traditional correspondent banking system. Any type of currency can be exchanged including USD, euros, RMB, yen, gold, airline miles, and rupees.
“Ripple simplifies the [exchange] process by creating point-to-point and transparent transfers in which banks do not have to pay corresponding bank fees.” Chris Larssen, former CEO Ripple

The Ripple company also created its own form of digital currency dubbed XRP in a manner similar to bitcoin, using the currency to allow financial institutions to transfer money with “negligible fees and wait-time. One of the specific functions of XRP is as a bridge currency, which can be necessary if no direct exchange is available between two currencies at a specific time. For example when transacting between two rarely traded currency pairs. Within the network’s currency exchange, XRP are traded freely against other currencies, and its market price fluctuates against dollars, euros, yen, bitcoin etc.

Did it Ripple?

Growing adoption by banks
Ripple has experienced a growing adoption by banks. Many financial companies have subsequently announced experimenting and integrations with Ripple. The first bank to use Ripple was the online-only Fidor Bank in Munich, which announced the partnership early 2014. Fidor Bank would be using the Ripple protocol to implement a new real-time international money transfer network.
Since then a host of major banks have adopted Ripple to improve their cross-border payments, and many have completed trial blockchain projects. These banking institutions – including Santander, UniCredit, UBS, Royal Bank of Canada, Westpac Banking Corporation, CIBC, and National Bank of Abu Dhabi, among others – view Ripple’s payment protocol and exchange network as a valid mechanism for offering real-time affordable money transfers.

Some recent developments in the Ripple network

The real uptake of Ripple however started to take place in 2016 and continued during the first quarter of 2017.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (February 2017), Axis Bank (January 2017), SEB (November 2016), Standard Chartered (September 2016), and National Australia Bank (September 2016) are the latest banks to join Ripple’s blockchain-powered network for cross-border payments. And more banks will get on the Ripple bandwagon during 2017. Ripple says its network now includes 12 of the top 50 global banks, ten banks in commercial deal phases, and over 30 bank pilots completed.
“Banks and their customers have been hearing about the promise of blockchain technology to enable real-time cross-border payments. Now, some of the most innovative and successful banks like NBAD are making this a reality by offering Ripple-enabled payments to their entire customer base, and in doing so, paving the way to make 2017 the year we see broad commercialization of blockchain take hold globally.” Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple

Further Rippling: enlarging the network

Global Payments Steering Group
Last year September Ripple created the “first: interbank group for global payments based on distributed financial technology. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Santander, UniCredit, Standard Chartered, Westpac, and Royal Bank of Canada have joined as founding members of the network, known as the Global Payments Steering Group (GPSG). CIBC will also join the GPSG as a new member.
“The creation of GPSG is significant because this represents the first time that major banks have formulated policies to govern the transfer of money across borders using blockchain,” Donald Donahue, GPSG chairman.

GPSG aims to use Ripple’s technology to slash the time and cost of settlement while enabling new types of high-volume, low-value global transactions. The group will oversee the creation and maintenance of Ripple payment transaction rules, formalised standards for activity using Ripple, and other actions to support the implementation of Ripple payment capabilities.

R3CEV
Last year October R3 and twelve of its blockchain consortium member banks – including Barclays, NAB, Nordea, Royal Bank of Canada, Santander – have trialled Ripple’s Digital Asset XRP, to tackle the costs and inefficiencies of interbank cross-border payments. Ripple says XRP has the “fastest” settlement speed, settling in about five seconds or less.
“The prototype paves the way for a major overhaul of how banks process and settle cross border payments”. David Rutter, CEO of R3

Banks traditionally provision liquidity for cross-border payments by holding various currencies in local accounts with correspondent banks around the world. But these ‘nostro’ accounts are costly because banks have to fund them, trapping capital. Ripple argues that this can be fixed by instead using a digital asset – such as its XRP – which provides liquidity on demand.
Ripple’s network was trialled in R3’s lab and research centre, making markets for fiat currencies using XRP and then completing authenticated payments without multiple nostro accounts. The trial introduced XRP to test the feasibility of reducing or retiring the use of current nostro accounts for local currency payouts.

Ripple Innovations

In the meantime a number of important innovations were announced in the Ripple offering.

Ripple Validator Node
Global IT company CGI announced it is the first commercial enterprise to implement the Ripple Validator Node. Ripple validators are servers that confirm Ripple’s distributed financial technology transactions on the network. The CGI-hosted Ripple Validator Node provides banking clients with a trusted network partner for Ripple’s distributed financial technology that settles international and domestic transactions in real-time.

Smart Token Chain
Smart Token Chain (STC), a blockchain specialist in the FinTech sector, has completed its first full Smart Token transaction across the Ripple Network. Using Ripple gives STC universal access to a wide range of partners and customers without having to physically craft a digital relationship with each one. STC is leveraging Ripple’s open, neutral platform, called “Interledger Protocol” to move payments globally across different ledgers and networks.
Leveraging the Ripple platform with new Smart Token solutions is accelerating the move toward the launch of a truly useful blockchain and smart contract implementation, which has great potential for making global exchanges of value fast, affordable and highly secure. It also provides a well-documented audit trail that will make dispute resolutions more efficient and less frequent.

Ripple’s new cost model

Ripple created a cost model, designed specifically to help banks understand their cost structure and how Ripple can help them overcome current inefficiencies. With Ripple’s new cost model, banks can easily enter transaction volume and operational metrics to receive a custom cost analysis. The cost analysis breaks down cost to a per-payment level, for both a bank’s current system and if it were to use Ripple. By using this model banks can easily estimate the efficiency gains it could achieve using Ripple for international payments.
XRP Incentive Program

The XRP incentive program is designed to accelerate the use of XRP as a universal bridge currency by creating deep and liquid markets at the outset of being listed on digital exchanges. The program is funded by Ripple and will be operationally managed by exchanges for their liquidity providers.

Global financial institutions are increasingly looking for solutions to consolidate the liquidity tied up with the nostro accounts required to fund their overseas payments. Digital assets such as XRP allow for banks to fund their payments in real-time, and in the process, cut down their dependency on nostro accounts.
As a bridge currency, it can enable liquidity concentration around fewer currency pairs, making cross-border payments more efficient. As evidenced by R3’s trial with XRP for interbank cross-border payments, the use of Ripple and XRP can enable both cost-cutting and revenue opportunities for participating institutions.

BitGo makes XRP more accessible
Ripple’s efforts to build an active ecosystem around its XRP digital asset has been boosted by a deal with virtual currency processor BitGo. Under the programme, BitGo will provide multi-signature security, advanced treasury management and additional enterprise functionality for XRP, which will be integrated into the BitGo platform this year.

The Rippling goes on!

Ripple plans to enlarge the number of exchanges trading XRP. Working with a greater number of exchanges to list XRP is an important step to serve the growing demand for global payments in major and exotic currency corridors. Ripple has previously commented that by using its network and XRP as a bridge asset, banks can save up to 42% on interbank international payments.

“This cost-saving frees up capital to generate revenue opportunities, including new product offerings for high-volume, low-value payments and access to new corridors”, claims Ripple.

The Ripple effect goes on!

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

Waarom ongevraagde biedingen waardevol zijn

| 17-3-2017 | Victor Macrae |

 

Unilever en Akzo Nobel hebben een resoluut ‘nee’ uitgesproken tegen de ongevraagde biedingen van buitenlandse opkopers. Publiek en overheid hebben verontwaardigd gereageerd over verkwanseling van het Nederlandse erfgoed. Maar de ongewenste avances hebben een groot voordeel: de door de acquisitiekandidaten voor de toekomst geplande strategie wordt nu versneld uitgevoerd. Hierdoor wordt de waarde die in de bedrijven zit al eerder ontsloten.

Unilever

Unilever heeft veel geïnvesteerd in haar merken en in duurzaamheid. Verkoop van de onderneming stond nooit ter discussie. Sterker, Unilever is zelf een bedreven bedrijven-opkoper. Hiermee is Unilever echter ongewild een ideale overnameprooi. Door de stabiele cash flow kan een overname met goedkoop vreemd vermogen worden gefinancierd. Vervolgens kan flink in de kosten worden gesneden. Beide krikt het rendement op eigen vermogen flink op.

Rendementsverbetering in plaats van alleen duurzaamheid

Er was al enige tijd gemor onder Angelsaksische aandeelhouders dat Unilever teveel aandacht zou besteden aan duurzaamheid in plaats van aan het verhogen van aandeelhouderswaarde. Het bestuur van Unilever heeft na de bieding aangekondigd haar focus te verleggen naar rendementsverbetering. Akzo Nobel reageerde met de mededeling dat het overweegt de divisie Specialty Chemicals van de hand te doen. Volgens de Raad van Bestuur van Akzo Nobel lag deze stap al in de planning, maar is het door de omstandigheden versneld.

Stap voorwaarts

Zowel Unilever als Akzo Nobel heeft als reactie op de ongewenste avances een sprong voorwaarts gemaakt door zelf het heft in handen te houden en de toekomstige strategie nu al versneld uit te voeren. De aandeelhouders kunnen deze stap duidelijk waarderen: beide aandelen werden na de toelichting van de RvB beloond met een flinke koersstijging. Wellicht een hint voor andere Nederlandse ondernemingen: als u een versnelling in de uitvoering van uw eigen strategie te weeg wil brengen, doe dan net alsof u een ongevraagd overnamebod heeft ontvangen.

Victor Macrae

 

Victor Macrae

Owner of Macrae Finance





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