Tag Archive for: interest

Interest payments – How to calculate the days

| 07-03-2018 | Lionel Pavey | treasuryXL | LinkedIn

When entering into a financial transaction you need to be aware of the settlement dates. If you have a contract that states that you must pay on the 1st day of every month what do you do when that date is a non-working day? Furthermore, to be able to calculate the interest owed on a loan, you also need to know what the denominator is – the number of days in a year for the particular product and contract. When a payment cannot take place on a particular date – because it is not a recognised business day, you need to know the convention that the bank uses to adjust the payment date. Here is an overview of the most commonly used business day conventions (which determine how non-business days are handled) and calculation bases.

Business day conventions | Modified Following

Preceding – the first preceding day that is a business day
Following – the first following day that is a business day
Modified Following – the first following day that is a business day, unless the days falls in the next calendar month, in which case the date will be the first preceding day that is a business day

Furthermore reference will be made to the applicable currency calendar for determining non-working days. For EUR this would mean TARGET, for GBP this would mean London, for euro USD this would mean London and New York.

Calculation basis

Actual/360 (Money Market) – the coupon payment is calculated using the exact number of days in the period divided by 360. The start date is included in the calculation, but not the last day.

Actual/365 (Fixed) – the coupon payment is calculated using the exact number of days in the period divided by 365. The start date is included in the calculation, but not the last day

Actual/Actual (ISDA) – the coupon payment is calculated using the exact number of days, with the portion of days belonging in a non-leap year divided by 365 and the portion of days belonging in a leap year divided by 366. The start date is included in the calculation, but not the last day.

Actual/Actual (ISMA) – the coupon payment is calculated using the exact number of days divided by the length of the year, where the length of the year is equal to the number of days in the coupon period multiplied by the number of coupon periods in the year.

30/360 (Bond basis) – the coupon is calculated over 30 days for every full calendar month and the actual number of days for the remaining fraction of a month, divided by 360.

30/360E (Eurobond basis) – the coupon is calculated on the basis of a year of 360 days with 12 30-day months, unless the end date is the last day of February, which is not lengthened to a 30-day month.

Coupon calculation conventions

Adjusted – Interest is calculated on the effective payment date adjusted for the business day

Unadjusted – Interest is calculated on the theoretical payment date, regardless of the effective payment date.

If you are interested to know what the effect of these changes can be on a coupon payment and calculation, please contact us for more detailed information.

Lionel Pavey

 

Lionel Pavey

Cash Management and Treasury Specialist

 

European Parliament backs Withdrawal Agreement

| 30-1-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |

Following a debate in Brussels yesterday evening, The European Parliament backed the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement put forward by Boris Johnson. This was approved with by staggering 621 votes in favour, with 49 against. A major milestone in the Brexit agreement which was somewhat already expected, following news last week that it cleared the committee stage. This bodes well for the UK to leave 11pm Friday evening. Following this result, the debate did become slightly emotional with Farage taking his chance to rub it in the face of the European politicians, triggering Parliament’s Vice-President Mairead McGuiness to turn off his microphone stating ‘put your (Union Jack) flags away, you are leaving.’ Not everyone was so cold with the likes of Ursula von der Leyen stating that the British MPs ‘wit, stubbornness and charm’ will be missed.

In terms of UK data, Mark Carney will announce whether or not the UK will cut its interest rate. A decision which has left markets unsure on which way it’s going to go, with a 50-50 split between raising and dropping rates. This will be Carney’s final rate decision and will be sure to affect the markets. The Quarterly Inflation Report is also due out and may be the deciding factor on the rate cut which the markets will be looking out for come 12:00 GMT.

US

The FED decided to leave interest rates unchanged at the much expected range of 1.5% – 1.75% leaving a rather muted market reaction. Other US Data out today is Gross Domestic Product figures which comes out at 13:30 today with a consensus at 2.1%, the same at the previous quarter. In other news, the Greenback has continued to benefit as a safe-haven currency with the uncertainty surrounding the Cornovirus.

At the time of writing:

GBPUSD – Trading above 1.29 at 1.2994

GBPEUR- Trading above 1.1 at 1.1792

EURUSD- Trading above 1.10 at 1.1018

The figures are based on the live mid-market rate, correct as of 08:30 GMT on 30/01/2020, and are provided for indicative purposes only. Live mid-market rates are not available to consumers and are for informational purposes only. The rates we quote for money transfer can be selected via the page on our website ‘Live Money Transfer rates’.

Source

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

Deciding when to make an international payment and at what rate can be critical. XE Business Solutions work with businesses to protect bottom-line from exchange rate fluctuations, while the currency experts and risk management specialists act as eyes and ears in the market to protect your profits from the world’s volatile currency markets.

Your company money is safe with XE, their NASDAQ listed parent company, Euronet Worldwide Inc., has a multibillion-dollar market capitalization, and an investment grade credit rating. With offices in the UK, Canada, Europe, APAC and North America they have a truly global coverage.

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Foreign bank accounts, how to include them in your cash pool

| 21-06-2016 | Jan Meulendijks |

janmeulendijksSignificant balances on your foreign bank accounts which are really of better use in the country where your operation is? Include them in an automated cash pooling scheme so that all your funds are available in The Netherlands and no more unnecessary interest is paid!

There are a number of reasons why you maintain bank accounts in other countries (I will explain the advantages of that in my next paper), but once this is the case, you need to control them in the most efficient way and at minimum costs.

Dutch banks who offer international cash management solutions have several tools to achieve this:

1. International Balance Reporting

The banks where you hold your accounts report them daily automatically into your multi-bank internet banking tool (e.g. Access Online from ABN AMRO); balances as well as transactions. With this tool you can also initiate local or cross border payments from this account.

Most ERP-systems can reconcile this account information automatically into your general ledger.

2. Cross Border Zero Balancing (CBZB)

In case your foreign accounts are held with subsidiaries of your Dutch bank, the balances can be automatically swept (daily) to your central cash pooling account in The Netherlands or be supplied with funds in case of shortage.

3. Multi-Bank Cash Concentration (MBCC)

In case your accounts are held with foreign partner-banks of your Dutch bank the alternate MBCC system can be used to achieve the same effect.

Now, once you have the Balance Reporting part in place plus one or both options CBZB and MBCC, not only all account information is made available to you on a daily basis, but also the balances are swept automatically daily into your central cash pooling account in the Netherlands!

Results:

  • Automated reconciliation of account-information in your General ledger; no more loss of time/personnel processing data
  • Interest optimisation (your use of bank credit is reduced with the balances that otherwise are in your foreign accounts)
  • No manual handling

Setting up such an international cash management scheme involves some paper work and time (most of that at your bank’s side) but once it has been set up it is a major cost and trouble saver which you wish you had had 10 years sooner!

 

Jan Meulendijks

 

Jan Meulendijks

Cash management, transaction banking and trade professional