Tag Archive for: interview

Partner Interview Series | XE the world’s trusted currency authority

15-09-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |

XE provides a comprehensive range of currency services and products, including their Currency Converter, Market Analysis, Currency Data API and quick, easy, secure Money Transfers for individuals and businesses. They leverage technology to deliver these services through their website, mobile apps and over the phone.

We will take a deeper dive into the market, XE businesses and the future of FX.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

Wybe Schutte is head of Business Development Europe at XE.com. Wybe’s career has always centered around international business development and managing relationships. Within XE.com both play an important part as globally we XE is the trusted partner of many business in helping them manage & mitigate the risk that is associated with dealing with multiple currencies, be this through simple rate regulation or looking at high level currency risk management & hedging solutions.

We asked him 10 questions. Let’s go!

 

INTERVIEW

1. Can you tell something about XE and its mission?

At Xe, we live currencies. Most people know Xe from the currency converter, however we also provide international money transfer services for business for over 25 years.  Xe’s Business Solutions supports company’s that have an exposure to foreign currency, supporting them to safeguard profit margins and improve cashflow through quantifying the FX risk they face and implementing strategies to mitigate it. So that our clients can focus on their core business and do not have to worry about their FX.

2.What kind of FX risk types exists and how does XE deal with it?

We look within each business to see where the currency risks are, and whether these can be offset. For example, any sales made in Euros could be offset against Euro costs. If there is still an exposure this is where products such as Forward Contracts can be considered in order to provide protection against the risk. Currency risk can be divided into three types: Transactional Risk, when a business deals in a country that differs to their base currency; Transnational Risk, when a business has an asset or liability overseas on their balance sheet, and Economic Risk where a movement in the exchange rate can give a business a competitive advantage when competing for a particular market.

3. How can you measure the different types of FX risk?

FX Risk can either have a negative or positive impact on a business’ bottom line. If you look back over the last 10 years you can understand what the potential impact could be in the most extreme, least extreme and average scenarios over your given timeline.

This can be done by looking at the high & low points of the market and a business’ FX exposure. This step helps companies to understand what the impact of the net exposure can have on the bottom line.

4. What are the most common critical FX problems that businesses have?

Businesses that have a transactional exposure to the currency markets can differentiate between committed and forecasted exposures. A committed exposure is when the price for a good or service in a foreign currency is known and contracted. Therefore, any movement in exchange rate has a direct impact on their profit or cost unless hedged. A forecasted exposure is when a business looks to the period beyond the committed period to see what their requirements may be. Confidence levels into forecasted periods can vary largely and it is normally the case that the further out a business forecasts, the lower the confidence levels.

5. How can businesses protect their bottom line against the currency markets?

There are a number of key stages that a business can look to follow in order to mitigate FX volatility. Firstly, Identify the type of risk, quantify the risk elements, and then look to build a strategy and agree the implementation process. These stages will allow you to decide the products that are most suitable, so you can then move to market timing and execution. Lastly, you should look to review, revise and adjust your approach on a regular basis. It is important to remember that it is not about market speculation but about mitigating your risk.

6. What is, in your perception, the biggest benefit of a working Foreign Exchange strategy?

Given the ever-uncertain world in which we currently live in, finance departments and treasury centres could be looking to build a strategy to deal with currency fluctuations, which over time could have a considerable impact on your company’s bottom line. A structured approach to foreign exchange risk can enable your business to make strategic planning decisions, rather than attempting to respond to day-to-day developments in the market.

7. Do you experience differences in FX before COVID19 and the time we live in now? What are the differences?

There has been significant movements in the currency markets during the Covid19 period and there are still many factors that influence the daily rates. During these uncertain times our clients are looking for certainty and stability. And although price is always important, other key factors like security and credibility became more important. Naturally each of our clients has been impacted very differently and we have worked with them to provide the solutions and flexibility they needed. We have welcomed many new clients from new geographies? as they were growing, and we supported existing clients that were growing or adapting their business models to suit the changing market.

8. The market is always changing, how does XE stay top of mind of the latest developments in the currency world?

We work closely with our clients to continuously understand their needs and adjust accordingly. Our expert Dealers keep a close eye out on the market. Understanding the movements, resistance levels, and key economic & political updates that can influence the market so that our clients do not have to worry about that. Xe also works closely with our sister companies and parent company Euronet Worldwide.

9. How does the future of FX look like in your perspective?

The near future could be set to weather extraordinary levels of balance sheet expansion and recession, potentially leading to a longer stimulative/expansionary monetary policy which could in turn depress currency rates of the countries that bear them. Near to medium term impacts of this could include a lack of major economic expansion as capital returns are often negative when factoring inflation. This may mean that we see a re-composition of FX strength toward commodity-based currencies (CAD/AUD/NZD) and alternative safe havens (CHF). However, we could see this shift in the longer term as public debt, in particular, becomes more tenable and attractive at such low interest rates and could invite broader investment for countries and to a degree private industry.

We have witnessed ample FX market volatility from an increased reliance on a more narrow data core. Inflation and interest rates and also public debt and balance sheet expansion narratives are having the most impact on rate movements. With this in mind; where much of the corrective forces required are formed around policies related to these key issues, it appears that volatility could behere to stay for at least the coming 6-12 months and beyond.

10. What has been your best experience ever in the world of currencies?

Supporting a scale-up with their complex FX requirements and enable them to grow their business in a short period of time by eliminating the FX risk and provide significant costs savings along the way.

 

About XE

At XE, they live currencies. XE provides a comprehensive range of currency services and products, including their Currency Converter, Market Analysis, Currency Data API and quick, easy, secure Money Transfers for individuals and businesses. They leverage technology to deliver these services through their website, mobile apps and over the phone.

Last year, XE helped nearly 300 million people access information about the currencies that matter to them and over 350,000 people used XE to send money overseas. Thousands of businesses relied on XE for information about the currency markets, advice on managing their foreign exchange risk or trusted XE with their business-critical international payments.

International Payments & FX Risk management for business

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

At XE, they share the belief that behind every currency exchange, query or transaction is a person or business trying to accomplish something important, so XE works together to develop new and better currency services that put their customers first.

XE is proud to be part of Euronet Worldwide (Nasdaq: EEFT), a global leader in processing secure electronic financial transactions. XE is part of the Money Transfer Division of Euronet and is the unification of HiFX and XE.com.

Visit XE.com

Read XE blogs

Partner Interview Series | A deeper dive with Paul Simpson from Kyriba

01-09-2020 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

In the upcoming weeks, you will get inspired by the treasuryXL partner interviews. Each interview will be different, the only thing we can recommend: Learn, Discover and Enjoy!

The first interview to start with is Kyriba where we will take a deeper dive into their recent hosted webinar about Mitigating Fraud With a Corporate Payment Hub.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

 

Paul Simpson is Strategic Payments Director at Kyriba who also was one of the presenters during the webinar in July.

We asked him 9 questions and 3 bonus questions. Let’s go!


INTERVIEW

1. Can you tell us about the Corporate Payment Hub and your specific role?

My role is to promote the Kyriba Payment Hub, to make customers and prospects aware that we also have a powerful payment module. Often people think of Kyriba for TMS, but we have far more to offer, for example an anti-fraud solution in addition to payments. As part of my role at Kyriba, I look at the constantly changing payment landscape to inform treasurers and finance teams of these changes, whether that’s regulatory or technological. The Kyriba Payments Hub detangles what I call the “ERP payment spaghetti”, streamlines global bank connectivity and format transformation, whilst providing companies with real-time fraud detection. This can also accelerate ERP cloud migration projects.

2. What is the core issue the Corporate Payment Hub aims to address and how does it differentiate it from the other players in the market?

Essentially a payment hub gives our clients a single, consolidated point of access across bank accounts, giving the ability to set up payments, define different payment types and provide notification of pending approvals. Kyriba provides this visibility by consolidating payment streams from different systems – ERPs, finance, treasury, legal, capital markets and decentralised teams, thus transforming dis-aggregated processes into a single source of record for all outgoing payments, all done with built-in fraud detection. We also, uniquely, support and maintain a “bank” of over 45,000 bank formats in-house via our bank formats team. This allows the payment hub to transform payment data into bank-specific file formats and connects directly with global banks via multiple protocols, including host-to-host, SWIFT and regional networks. Other providers build each bank format for each customer at a high cost and development time. The Kyriba payment hub is designed to work across different ERP solutions, whereas ERP systems will not work across other instances.

3. Can each ERP work with the Corporate Payment Hub also when you work with multiple ERP’s located in different countries?

Absolutely. The Kyriba payment hub is designed to work with multiple ERP systems across different countries.

4. What are the most common fraud scams that businesses are dealing with?

Fraudsters are trying to use the current crisis to their advantage. With people working from home, for example, they may attempt to ask finance to make payment to a new bank account – knowing the sign off process is not as robust as it was when teams were all together in the office.

5. What’s the difference in Fraud Scams before COVID19 and the time we live in now?

We have research that shows the number of fraud scam attempts is up by nearly a 1,000 times since Coronavirus. The finance sign-off process for making payments are defragmented as people are working from home. This is where the Kyriba payment hub can bring standardised workflows, sign-off and approvals together to help eliminate fraud

6. What critical elements of Fraud are often overlooked by businesses?

Businesses fail to use AI and machine learning in addition to rule-based technology and processes to reduce fraud. This is a key component of the Kyriba Payment Hub

7. What has been the best experience of one of your customers working with the Corporate Payment Hub?

We are able to cut the time and cost of a customer migrating their ERP solutions to the cloud, as we can handle all the payment connectivity and formats etc “out the box”, thus saving the company many 100,000s of Euros, and 6 months or more in time, whilst also providing and standardising work flow sign off processes etc.

8. What is, in your perception, the biggest benefit of a working with the Corporate Payment Hub?

True, real-time visibility of all payments, from all systems, in one place with enhanced fraud protection and built in work flow.

9. What is your best fraud prevention advice for businesses?

Prevention is always better than cure! I always preach this. Always use combined workflow and AI / Machine learning technology together – the best of both worlds.

BONUS QUESTIONS

Have you ever experienced a fraud scam yourself? If yes, how did it impact you?

I have never experienced a fraud scam myself, the protection I had in place alerted me to a potential scam and I took action.

How are you defending yourself against payments fraud?

Every payment has to be checked via a rule and AI/Machine Learning process.

How does the future of fraud prevention look like in your perspective?

Fraudsters are getting more sophisticated, with only 6% of Corporates using machine learning/AI, they need to use the latest technology or be left behind and suffer fraud.

About Kyriba

Kyriba is the global leader in cloud treasury and finance solutions, delivering mission-critical capabilities for cash and risk management, payments and working capital solutions.

Kyriba empowers CFOs and their teams to transform how they activate liquidity as a dynamic, real-time vehicle for growth and value creation, while also protecting against financial risk. Kyriba’s pioneering Active Liquidity Network connects internal applications for treasury, risk, payments and working capital, with vital external sources such as banks, ERPs, trading platforms, and market data providers. Based on a secure, highly scalable SaaS platform that leverages artificial and business intelligence, Kyriba enables thousands of companies worldwide to maximize growth opportunities, protect against loss from fraud and financial risk, and reduce costs through advanced automation. Kyriba is headquartered in San Diego, with offices in New York, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai and other major locations.

Visit Kyriba

Recap of the first ‘Meet the Expert’ interview series and full overview

| 04-08-2020 | by Kendra Keydeniers |

A couple of months ago, we started the ‘Meet the Expert’ interview series with experts from the treasuryXL community with different treasury expertise.

Treasury needs to deal with an increasing availability of alternative financial products, intensifying risk management requirements, regulatory and compliance constraints.

What do our experts think about this rapidly growing movements within the treasury world? What developments do they expect in the future? What opportunities do they see?

We interviewed 10 experts over the last 10 weeks and asked them about their treasury career, experiences, the future of treasury and of course how COVID19 impact treasury from their perspective.

Did you miss an interview? No worries, here is a full overview of the ‘Meet the Expert’ series:

 

 

 

Bertus van de Kamp

Senior Business Consultant & Cash Management Specialist

read interview

 

 

 

 

 

Wim Kok

International Business Consultant & Trade Finance Specialist

read interview

 

 

 

 

 

Aastha Tomar

FX & Derivatives | Debt Capital Markets | MBA Finance | Electrical Engineer | Sustainability

read interview

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Ringeling

Corporate Treasury, Corporate Control and Banking

read interview

 

 

 

 

 

Olivier Werlingshoff

Cash- and Treasury management

read interview

 

 

 

 

 

Ger van Rosmalen

Trade Finance Specialist

read interview

 

 

 

 

 

Francois De Witte

Owner at FDW Consult | Sr. Project Manager at Gaming1 | CFO at Safetrade Holding

read interview

 

 

 

 

 

Arnoud Doornbos

Interim Treasury & Finance | Consultant | FX & Interest Derivatives | Treasury Outsourcing| Risk | Fintech | TMS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vinzenco Masile

Treasury Expert/Credit Risk Manager

read interview

 

 

 

 

 

Arnaud Béasse

Debt Management Specialist

read interview

 

 


A big thank you to everyone that worked with me on this series, to everyone that selflessly shared their knowledge and experience with all of us! You guys rock.

If you’ve enjoyed our series so far, don’t worry, this is just the beginning! We are looking into more perspectives to share with you later this year when we will start the second ‘Meet the Expert’ interview series.

Take care and thanks for reading,

Kendra Keydeniers
Community & Partner Manager at treasuryXL

Meet our Experts – Arnaud Béasse

28-07-2020 | Arnaud Béasse | treasuryXL

Welcome to the 10th and last (for now) interview of the ‘Meet the Expert’ series. This time we interviewed our brand new Expert Arnaud Béasse. Arnaud is founder of the advisory firm Arts+Brands and an expert in Debt Management. He started his career as Regional Financial Controller, cumulating the responsibility for IT.

Arnaud has more than 17 years experience in Banks focusing successively on Structured Asset Finance, Corporate Banking, DCM and in Multinational Corporates for their Energy and Metals trading and Project Finance. He created Arts+Brands to expand his entrepreneurial spirit by advising small ventures and start-ups (Fintech, Biotech, IT) for their Fund Raising and Finance strategy and also by getting involved in the daily operations.

Arnaud is fluent in English, German and French and is used to work in international, multi-cultural and virtual teams environments.

We asked him 11 questions, let’s go!

How did your treasury journey start?

During my first assignment as a regional financial controller, I have been immediately confronted to a complex consolidation of cash streams from different emerging countries with different currencies and regulations. Finding secure and systematic solutions has been challenging but also interesting and fun. This was the beginning of my treasury discovery, from which I moved then to asset finance, project finance, trade and export finance and later to the complete « corporates and markets » solutions offered by a large European bank.

What do you like about working in Treasury?

I find the central role played by treasury in supporting a business very motivating: it manages all financial resources a business needs to generate returns. Perfect understanding and anticipation of the needs (planning) and an accurate analysis of the resources available (controlling) are therefore essential. I also like the necessity of combining short term priorities like cash management and long term planning like investments.

What is your Treasury Expertise?

Capitalising on my long banking and large corporates experience, I have acquired a strong knowledge of all kind of debt solutions associated with credit, regulatory, compliance competencies. I have specialised in Debt Management, Fund Raising, Asset Finance, Leasing, Cash Flow Management, Trade and Export Finance and Project Finance. I am currently focusing on Sustainable Finance to support firms aligning their finance resources with their commitments towards the environment.

What’s the most important factor in debt management?

The starting point of debt management is a careful analysis and control of the cash flows. Borrowings need to align with the business cycle of the company and eventually its equity profile. Once the needs of each business line and the corresponding cash flow generation are consolidated, the adequate debt structure can be designed with a mix of junior to senior, short term to long term solutions and a calibrated interest rates structure.

What has been your best experience in your debt management career until today?

I remember a dramatic situation occurring during a local currency crisis in an emerging country, where we had arranged a large equipment finance. The debt repayment plan did not anymore match with the borrower’s cash flow generation and we were heading straight to a default situation. After long and numerous discussions, we managed to get transferred a large position on natural resources the company was owning but not operating and structured it in a way that the majority of risks were covered, the credit committees and respective boards were satisfied and ultimately the borrower managed to earn additional profit. I admit there is a part of luck in this experience but getting from this desperate situation to a point where all parties were so happy has been my most fulfilling experience so far!

What has been your biggest challenge in your career?

I consider the toughest challenges in a company are almost always linked to human resources management and termination of assignments. But if we remain within the treasury topic, my biggest challenge so far has been to accept a board decision not to conclude an M&A transaction, whereby all indicators (profit, risk, market position, further opportunities) were very favourable for the group and I had worked for more than one year on the case. Some months later, upon publication of the yearly results, it became clear why the project was rejected!

What is the most important lesson that you have learned as a treasurer?

Along the various experiences I had with treasury, the most important lesson might be to always seek the most simple and straight forward option. There are many ways of hedging a currency position, improving the average interest rate of a pool of debt facilities, leverage the value of an asset, optimise the return of positive cash position. But the risk and time associated to it can rapidly be disproportionate to the purpose and the size of the original transaction. Treasury shall normally create value, not necessarily profit!

How have you seen the role of Corporate Treasury evolve over the years?

Obviously, the role of Corporate Treasurer has become more and more complex. Treasury needs to deal with an increasing availability of alternative financial products, intensifying risk management requirements, regulatory and compliance constraints. But at the same time, the emergence of digital treasury platforms and integrated cash management systems are making the steering of treasury much easier and more accurate.

The coronavirus is undoubtedly an unprecedented crisis. In general, can you elaborate on the impact this virus has on treasury from your perspective?

Treasury is between a rock and a hard place: as a consequence of the crisis, sales are dropping and cash flows are missing but the financial obligations (debt, salaries, rents, supply, …) remain and the access (if not the availability) of financial resources become difficult. For treasurers who had a prudent cash flow management with enough resources to bridge the gap, it has been a confirmation for their risk management strategy. For others with more lean structure, it is, in the best case, a very stressing moment trying to find last minute and costly (not only in terms of interest rates) funding solutions. Some businesses, which have bet on a very tight business model, will probably be restructured. The crisis will certainly lead corporates to adopt more careful models with sufficient reserves and flexible organisations but also postponed or reduced investments.

What developments do you expect in corporate treasury in the near and further future?

The main trend is definitively the further digitisation of the treasury functions, offering more reliable, more secure and faster execution of the transactions: payments, cash management, trading, trade and export instruments, guarantees, etc. As the execution of transactions will be more and more automated and integrated in the supply chain systems, treasurers will shift their focus on analysing and planning for the financial resources in order to formulate strategies.

Another interesting trend for the treasurer is the further development of the non-banking debt market. This shall broaden the borrowers’ horizon, balancing again the bargaining power in favour of the corporates and generating even more tailor-made/OTC debt solutions.

What is your best advice for businesses without a Treasurer?

Running a business without a treasurer can only be considered for small businesses. For standard operations, managing the daily needs with modern digital tools will always become easier, even if substantial support shall be required during the implementation of a system. Once the system is running, the daily treasury tasks can be integrated in the accounting and finance agenda.

However, as soon as operations get more complex (investment, take-over, international development, restructuring…), the support of a specialist remains essential, be it for a limited period of time like part-time or ad interim…

 

 

Arnaud Béasse

 

 

 

 

Does your business need support in Treasury or a Treasury QuickScan?

We have treasurers available, go to Rent a Treasurer for all information.



Meet our Experts – Vincenzo Masile

21-07-2020 | Vincenzo Masile | treasuryXL

Welcome to interview #9 of the ‘Meet the Expert” series. This time we interviewed our Expert and Treasury Specialist Vincenzo Masile. He is an experienced international finance manager who lived and developed his career in Italy, The United Kingdom, Switzerland and The Netherlands. Currently, he lives in Amsterdam, and enjoys working with people from different countries.

His fields of expertise are:

We asked him 11 questions, let’s go!

1. How did your treasury journey start?

Back in 2008 I was working as a credit manager for a large US agricultural commodities, ADM, at their cocoa operations in The Netherlands and I was asked to spend six months in Switzerland at the newly created treasury hub.

2. What do you like about working in Treasury?

I enjoy the variety of the tasks and the communication with the different company stakeholders.

3. What is your Treasury Expertise?

Cash Management, People Management, Project Management, FX, Reporting, Banks Relationships

4. Do you have examples of risk mitigation, creation of opportunities and/or cost savings?

I was the PMO of a hedging project at Netapp for the EMEA region back to 2012. Cost savings opportunities were identified improving the process accuracy on Oracle 11 and simplifying the reporting to corporate.

At Affidea I changed the cash flow forecast reporting moving from a fully manual version to a partial automated version. This change generated time saving and more accuracy.

5. What has been your best experience in your treasury career until today?

On April this year I completed an eighteen months assignment at Affidea B.V., a Dutch pan-European medical healthcare and I worked mainly from their finance ops in Budapest and occasionally from their holding office in Amsterdam.

It was a very interesting and valuable experience.

6. What has been your biggest challenge in treasury?

Lack of cash visibility especially at country level has been one of the biggest challenges I had to face to.

7. What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learned as a treasurer?

A treasurer has a watchdog role over all aspects of financial management and indeed cash will be always the King!

8. How have you seen the role of Corporate Treasury evolve over the years?

Treasury evolved from a traditional finance role into a business enabler supporting the company growth. In that respect effective communication & collaboration across different areas of business is the key.

9. The coronavirus is undoubtedly an unprecedented crisis. In general, can you elaborate on the impact this virus has on treasury from your perspective?

My view here is that treasurers should take the following steps going forward:

  • Cash flow management:  This is even more critical as we move beyond COVID-19
  •  Determine cash availability: Enables informed decisions around liquidity and cash flow, debt, FX exposures and payment priorities
  •  Scenario testing: Ensures understanding of preparedness for shocks
  •  Engage with relationship banks: Opportune time to partner with banks to fast track digital adoption of tools that provide visibility, efficiency, fraud control etc.
  •  Digitize manual processes: Ensures enhanced controls are put in place where manual payments remain – to mitigate cyber and fraud risk
  •  Monetize inventory: Inventory may be temporarily surplus to requirements because of demand gluts or supply chain disruption

10. What developments do you expect in corporate treasury in the near and further future?

Technology will play a major role in the future and this can be only beneficial to corporate treasury. Payments platforms, Fintech, Trade finance blockchain solutions, outline that the future is already here.

11. What is your best advice for businesses without a Treasurer?

It depends on the size of the company but generally speaking I strongly recommend to have on board a treasurer.

 

 

Vincenzo Masile

Treasury Expert/ Credit Risk Manager

 

 




 

Does your business need support in Treasury or a Treasury QuickScan?

We have treasurers available, go to Rent a Treasurer for all information.



Meet our Experts – Interview François de Witte

07-07-2020 | François de Witte | treasuryXL

After having worked for more than 30 years in banking, our expert François de Witte launched his own consultancy activity, FDW Consult, specialized in finance and treasury consulting. From 2014 to 2016, he was also Solution Partner Treasury & Finance at USG Professionals. Since then he took up several assignments, including one in the automotive sector with Ginion Group and with Ibanity, part of Isabel Group in the area of PSD2 and open banking. He currently is Senior Project Manager Treasury at Gaming1 (part of Ardent-Group). He is also co-founder and CFO of SafeTrade Holding. Key areas of expertise:

We asked him 11 questions, let’s go!

1. How did your treasury journey start?

My roots are not really in treasury, because I have spent 30 years in banking with ING. Mid-2013, I made a major career move to treasury & finance. I could thereby leverage on the expertise I acquired in both Corporate Banking and Payments & Cash Management.

2. What do you like about working in Treasury?

The diversity of topics and people with whom you are in contact. The treasurer monitors the cash & finance, and is in the frontline of the circulatory system of the company. In addition, in view of the technology developments and the globalisation, treasury is a fast moving discipline,

3. What is your Treasury Expertise?

Based upon a gap analysis, during the first couple of years, I strengthened my expertise in the other areas of treasury by self-training. I also started training in some subject matters, at the university and at other training organisations, and this is a good way to keep yourself updated on the latest developments.

4. Do you have examples of risk mitigation, creation of opportunities and/or cost savings?

I have done quite a number of consultancy assignments. In one of them, thanks to a complete review of the processes, including also the business, we managed to gain some 10-15 days working capital management. In another project, we reviewed the account structure and the bank lines and could generate substantial savings. During a treasury scan, I was able to identify foreign exchange risks, which had not been spotted by the management.

5. What has been your best experience in your treasury career until today?

In my current assignment, we have selected a TMS-solution (Kyriba) and are currently finalising the implementation. Simultaneously we created a cash pooling and an In-House bank and streamlined the processes.

6. What has been your biggest challenge in treasury?

When starting in treasury, I did not have experience on the field, and needed to switch from a banker’s approach to a corporate approach. If you want to be successful, you need to also have operational experience. I have spent at the start quite a lot to train myself and to get up to speed in treasury.

7. What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learned as a treasurer?

Cash is and remains king. It is very important to make the management aware of the importance of cash, even if a company is in a cash-rich position.

8. How have you seen the role of Corporate Treasury evolve over the years?

The Treasurer is becoming a business partner of the whole group. As a treasury, you get a good transversal view of the business flows. This is very nice because you are in the cockpit of the finance department.

9. The coronavirus is undoubtedly an unprecedented crisis. In general, can you elaborate on the impact this virus has on treasury from your perspective?

The COVID crisis was a wake-up call. It reminds us that it is important to keep the focus on cash and working capital management. It also highlighted the importance of good well-balanced banking relationships. During the last years, some corporates did not put the right attention to this.

10. What developments do you expect in corporate treasury in the near and further future?

Cash will remain dominant. In addition, we have the automation enabling to work more efficiently. I also see AI (Artificial Intelligence) as enabler, e.g. for cash forecasting. Blockchain will also add value in some areas, such as documentary trade.

11. What is your best advice for businesses without a Treasurer?

 Even if you do not have the critical mass to justify a treasury department, give it the right attention. Try to understand the drivers of your cash generation and to identify the risks. I would also recommend to invest in a treasury management scan.

 

 

François de Witte

Founder & Senior Consultant at FDW Consult

 

 

 

 

Does your business need support in Treasury or a Treasury QuickScan?

We have treasurers available, go to Rent a Treasurer for all information.



Meet our Experts – Interview Ger van Rosmalen

01-07-2020 | Ger van Rosmalen | treasuryXL

Our Expert Ger van Rosmalen has over 45 years of global Trade Finance expertise (Letters of Credit, Documentary Collections, Bank guarantees) mainly working for international banks. In addition, he is also frequently asked to conduct trainings for companies like EvoFenedex and Vesting Finance, as well as for Chambers of Commerce, and Professional Higher Education programs. His drive is to assist companies with Trade Finance solutions. To help companies to achieve their business objectives through a better understanding of profitable Trade Finance solutions and instruments, and to promote efficient cooperation between Sales, Finance and Logistics. Get to know him better:

We asked him 11 questions, let’s go!

1. How did your Trade Finance journey start?

My first job started 46 years ago at the Letter of Credit Department of a Dutch bank. I applied for the job of junior and when I answered the question of the HR manager “do you have bank blood?” with YES he hired me.

2. What do you like about working in Trade Finance?

Not one day, not one transaction is the same. I like to be challenged, finding solutions, be creative but always within the guidelines of compliance/AML rules. Assisting customers to close their deal. Education and training of Trade Finance solutions so customers understand the risk before signing a contract.

3. What is your Trade Finance Expertise?

I have a lot of knowledge and expertise in the field of Letters of Credit and Bank guarantees. How to apply those instruments, explain to people with different levels of Trade Finance knowledge about these products and how to be able to understand the risks and to avoid or exclude certain risks.

4. Do you have examples of risk mitigation, creation of opportunities and/or cost savings?

Risk Mitigation in Trade Finance can be the use of “confirmed” Letters of Credit, it means (if possible) that the bank of the exporter is taking over the (country/bank) risk of a foreign unknown bank. If the exporter can fulfill the conditions of the Letter of Credit his risk is his own bank. Creation of opportunities is my passion, drive and reason for being is this business for such a long time.

5. What has been your best experience in your Trade Finance career until today?

The change of UCP500 to UCP600 (Rules for Letters of Credit) was a big improvement for companies dealing with L/C’s. It is not that black and white anymore. My experience is how companies adapted to these new rules if you take them through these rules. People felt more confident in using these instruments and will be used for some time. Since UCP600 is already in force from 2007 it is expected that new rules are on their way. I hope my very best experience is yet to come when new rules will be launched. Trade has evolved and rules should adopt to that.

6. What has been your biggest challenge in Trade Finance?

My biggest challenge is every day being able to convince people to use these well established instruments.

7. What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learned as a Trade Finance expert?

To trust my instinct. Some deals are too good to be true or I just miss the logic of the transaction. My instinct has let me down only once in 46 years.

8. How have you seen the role of trade finance expert evolve over the years?

On the Sales side of the Trade Finance Expert I noticed corporates appreciate direct contact with an expert who has all the knowledge of Trade Finance from a sales perspective as well a from a operations perspective. You have become their trusted advisor in this field.

9. The coronavirus is undoubtedly an unprecedented crisis. In general, can you elaborate on the impact this virus has on Trade Finance from your perspective?

The use of Trade Finance instruments will be more important now that we are facing the Corona crisis, which will force exporters to look for other sometimes forgotten alternative solutions. High tech innovative solutions such as FinTech or Block Chain is still under construction and exporters do not have the time to investigate those solutions. They need to generate turnover and need quick available products such as Letters of Credit to support their business. I embrace those new techniques but that will not have my priority the coming period of uncertainty. People tend to say Letters of Credit are old fashioned, time consuming and too much risk. I disagree if you understand what is expected of you as exporter. If you know how to communicate with your buyer and your bank you will experience the comfort of those almost forgotten products. It is imperative that you understand and educate yourself in this field or hire experts to support you.

10. What developments do you expect in corporate trade finance in the near and further future?

It will depend on how the financial world will be able to join forces and create workable solutions. Not several small groups of banks developing their system so still fragmented but one solution workable for all parties involved in Trade Finance. If you look at the Bank Payment Obligation (BPO) it is the example how we missed the opportunity to develop one unique system. Corporates dealing with different banks and other counterparts needed several systems offered by different banks or other parties. If suppliers of the Fintech or Blockchain solutions are learning from the BPO adventure they now have the opportunity to change the world of Trade Finance significantly. Digitalisation of Trade Finance is the future whether that will be the near future or somewhere in the future is the challenge of all parties involved.

11. What is your best advice for businesses without a Trade Finance expert?

In my opinion you cannot rely on knowledge outside your company only. It will make you vulnerable. Outsourcing is not the magic word. Educate and train yourself and your staff so you understand the impact of your decisions and take responsibility.

 

 

 

Ger van Rosmalen

Trade Finance Specialist

 

 

 

 


Does your business need support in Trade Finance, Treasury or a Treasury QuickScan?

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Meet our Experts – Interview Olivier Werlingshoff

23-06-2020 | Olivier Werlingshoff | treasuryXL

Our Expert Olivier Werlingshoff specializes in the following fields:

His focus is to help the business improve their working capital and cash management processes to release trapped cash, to reduce costs and to be “in control”. Get to know him better:

We asked him 9 questions, let’s go!

1. How did your Treasury journey start?

After working at banks as cash management consultant for several years I was asked to set up a treasury department at a corporate.  The company was a combination of retail, real estate and development and active in the whole of Europe. Besides the set up of a new department they also wanted to optimize different working capital processes and increase the cash awareness. Coming from banks this was a total different environment. Instead of telling companies how to optimize their working capital, I had to do it myself together with different departments. My sales experience helped me to increase the internal cash awareness and to promote optimization of working capital processes.

2. What do you like about working in Treasury?

Treasury is the oil in organizations where all cash related departments comes together. By optimizing those processes you can get a grip on your cash, decrease risks and release trapped cash.

3. What is your Treasury Expertise?

Operational cash management, liquidity forecast (direct- indirect), risk management, (international) bank account structure,  cash pooling, working capital optimization.

4. Do you have examples of risk mitigation, creation of opportunities and/or cost savings?

Yes, a lot of cost savings examples and also release of trapped cash. Decrease bank transfer pricing, introduction of new payment methods to increase the turnover, implementation of cash pools and optimize working capital processes to release trapped cash to mention a few.

5. What has been your best experience in your treasury career until today?

By showing the benefits of treasury to colleagues by increasing the cash awareness. By doing so, new ideas comes out of the organizations itself and are more easy to implement.

6. What has been your biggest challenge in treasury?

The implementation of a new payment system in a complex organization. You have to focus on stakeholder management and get the operational department behind you with support of the board members.

7. What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learned as a treasurer?

Treasury is a supporting function. You have to help other departments and the CFO to achieve their targets.

8. The coronavirus is undoubtedly an unprecedented crisis. In general, can you elaborate on the impact this virus has on treasury from your perspective?

In a lot of sectors the sales dropped due to the Corona lock-down. Companies need to have a clear view on their cash and be able to pay their invoices on time. Forecasting is more than ever very important and key to be able to forecast funding needs on time.

9. What is your best advice for businesses without a Treasurer?

Not all companies need a dedicated treasurer. Controllers need to have more focus on cash related items and risks (liquidity, FX, Interest and audit). Furthermore it will be good for controllers to focus more on forecasts instead of the reporting of past activities.

 

 

Olivier Werlingshoff

Owner at WERFIAD | Working Capital | Cash Management |

 

 

 

 


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Meet our Experts – Interview Michael Ringeling

16-06-2020 | Michael Ringeling | treasuryXL

Meet our Expert Micheal Ringeling, an experienced Treasurer with a unique combination of corporate treasury, corporate control and banking expertise. A solid base in finance (Stork, TenneT) and banking (ABN AMRO Bank) contributed to his specialisation in treasury. Being hands on, trustworthy and creative with a can-do mentality, Michael worked as independent interim treasurer in the past nine years for various companies like TNT, Vion, TomTom and Unit4.

Knowing all the ins and outs in the world of treasury, he will hit the ground running and provide efficient and effective solutions on every operational and strategic level in the following areas:

Treasury and Cash Management

  • Cross border cross currency cash pooling, efficient banking infrastructure
  • Finance agreements
  • Intercompany loans, in house bank and intercompany netting
  • Interest rate and foreign exchange (FX) risk management and deal execution (hedging)
  • Treasury policies
  • Cash flow forecasting
  • Establish an optimal relationship between organisation and financial institutions

Treasury Control

  • IFRS, financial instruments and disclosures in the annual report
  • Alignment between Treasury and Control.

We asked him 11 questions, let’s go!

1. How did your treasury journey start?

I started my career in controlling and worked as a corporate controller for the national high voltage grid operator in the Netherlands (TenneT) when the finance director asked me if I would be interested in arranging a bridge loan facility for the acquisition of a company. The answer was obviously yes and that is how my treasury journey started.

2. What do you like about working in Treasury?

The interaction with various people in the business, managing liquidity and funding, finding smart solutions to optimise payment processes, deal with foreign exchange risks. In short, all different aspects of treasury that contribute to the company’s success.  

3. What is your Treasury Expertise?

I am an experienced treasurer with a unique combination of corporate treasury, corporate control and banking expertise.
Finance agreements, Liquidity management, Cash pooling, Efficient banking infrastructure, Intercompany loans, In house bank and intercompany netting, Interest rate and FX risk management, Deal execution, Treasury policies, Cash flow forecasting, IFRS, Financial instruments and disclosures in the annual report and establishing an optimal relationship between organisation and financial institutions are the core of my expertise.

4. Do you have examples of risk mitigation, creation of opportunities and/or cost savings?

For multiple companies, I have advised and executed numerous FX, interest rate and commodity hedges, mitigating the underlying business risks. I have arranged finance agreements enabling companies to pursue new business growth opportunities and implemented cash pools, optimising the cash positions and reducing finance costs.

5. What has been your best experience in your treasury career until today?

I would say the entire journey is one big experience.

6. What has been your biggest challenge in treasury?

Being an interim treasurer, every assignment has its challenges that need 100% attention. The biggest one was a time critical refinance to safeguard business continuity.

7. What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learned as a treasurer?

As a treasurer you are responsible for safeguarding one of the most valuable assets: cash. So be trustworthy at all times, communicate and make sure to always have access to sufficient liquidity.

8. How have you seen the role of Corporate Treasury evolve over the years?

Yes and no. The most important role of a treasurer is safeguarding liquidity. That has not changed much since the concept of money was invented in ancient history. What did change is that we no longer need well armored knights to physically protect the cash. Today’s defense mechanisms are more and more about automation, digital security and regulatory frameworks.

9. The coronavirus is undoubtedly an unprecedented crisis. In general, can you elaborate on the impact this virus has on treasury from your perspective?

Disruptive events like the COViD-19 crisis increase focus on business continuity. Protect your people and your liquidity! Many companies obtained additional (stand-by) credit facilities to make sure sufficient liquidity is available should the business be negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Cash is king again.

10. What developments do you expect in corporate treasury in the near and further future?

Increasing importance of automation, digitalisation and regulatory frameworks to safely operate corporate treasuries.

11. What is your best advice for businesses without a Treasurer?

Contact treasuryXL and call me.
Most small and mid-size companies will not have a full-time treasurer on board. That does not mean they don’t have treasury risks. Think about finance agreements and their terms and conditions, interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, payment processes, electronic banking, bank guarantees and bank relationships. Some of these can be efficiently managed by the controller or finance director. However, some treasury topics can be handled better by a specialist. Ad interim, part-time, on a project basis or in an advisory role to support the finance director. Interested in how I can support? Please contact me, I’m just one phone call or email away.

 

 

 

Michael Ringeling

Treasurer

 

 

 


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We have treasurers available, go to Rent a Treasurer for all information.



Meet our Experts – Interview Aastha Tomar

09-06-2020 | Aastha Tomar | treasuryXL

Aastha Tomar has joined treasuryXL at the beginning of 2020 as expert and already published 3 great blogs:

Aastha has been responsible for setting up of Treasury teams for her organizations from scratch and has been a founder member of FX Treasury in a Bank. Being in front office role throughout her career has made her indispensable for her organizations due to her business development and stakeholder management skills. She has single handed led transactions to the tune of USD 5Bn.
Aastha is an Electrical Engineer and master’s in finance, both from premier institutes in India. Her inquisitiveness to learn something new and accept challenging work is responsible for her stints in Software development, Investment banking, Banking and Entrepreneurship.
In her free time Aastha loves to write blogs/ articles on various topic ranging from leadership, life experiences and sustainability, her latest love.

 

We asked her 9 questions, let’s go!

1. How did your treasury journey start?

My first exposure to how Treasury actually works was quite early during my internship in my MBA. I was lucky enough to do internship in one of India’s largest Corporate Treasury. It was then I decided that I want to make my career in Treasury. Therefore my career choices after MBA were always made while keeping in mind that I have to move towards being a corporate Treasurer.

2. What do you like about working in Treasury?

Treasury is a very fascinating department, there doesn’t goes even a single day where you don’t learn something new. Every day brings a new aspect to the profile. You have to be on your toes always to be up the curve which is the best part. You are always on top of what is happening in the world and how it is impacting the business. You can always make a positive impact on organisation’s bottom line by being always ready with action of any kind of impact.

3. What is your Treasury Expertise?

I have worked in Corporate finance, fixed income financing through loans and capital markets and have worked in FX Treasury which included risk management, interest rate risk management and FX risk management.

4. Do you have examples of risk mitigation, creation of opportunities and/or cost savings?

I was responsible for ISDA negotiations where we always made sure that default covenants for the counter party are strict and always made sure that the covenants are adhered to and did frequent monitoring for the same. This always kept us informed and saved us from any shocks from covenants default which in turn would have led to default in the derivatives done with the counter party.

5. What has been your best experience in your treasury career until today?

I was the founder member of Treasury in my previous organisation. I joined the organisation before the bank was formed. The initial few months were very demanding as it involved infrastructure set up, documentation, informing corporations about our bank.  After much hard work and after few months I cracked one of the biggest deal for that year for my bank. It was such a nice experience where all your efforts which you put in finally bore fruit.

6. What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learned as a treasurer?

Time is for essence for a Treasurer, we have to take actions swiftly and seamlessly. Each day is different and bring new challenges therefore a Treasurer should be ready to face them  . Always think out of the box- what new products can be used, how to make most use of technology, how make a team which is self motivated and work towards a common goal.

7. The coronavirus is undoubtedly an unprecedented crisis. In general, can you elaborate on the impact this virus has on treasury from your perspective?

The corporations with strong risk management approach, with clear understanding potential risk on business through risk evaluation tools, such as sensitivity analysis, shall be the best place during the current scenario. They would have their foreign currency exposure hedged to an optimum limit, sufficient cash to work with and therefore, during these times, would be able to direct their efforts to improve operational efficiency, carry out M&A evaluations  rather than trying to learn swimming after being thrown in the waters. Business Continuity Management came into play and the organisations which has BSM only in theory in their policy books took lot of time to adjust to the new normal. Thus, COVID 19 brings additional responsibility of treasury towards ensuring corporations not only survive but thrive during the new normal.

8. What developments do you expect in corporate treasury in the near and further future?

One thing has been proved that there is no running away from the Technology. You may be in finance field but you got to know the technology as well. The major development which now will take place will be to reduce as much human intervention as possible in the working of Treasury which will make sure that if at all any such scenario is faced in future work can go on without much impact.

9. How have you seen the role of Corporate Treasury evolve over the years?

I answered this question in my article “The Missing Part of a Treasury Job Description“:

” Gone are the days when a Treasurer was just involved in risk management and ensuring liquidity. In current scenario of news going viral each action creates a ripple effect. As famous Jane Goodall once said : “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make”. A Treasurer has to take an active role in policy making and lead her organization towards sustainability and protecting consumers  ”

 

Aastha Tomar

FX & Derivatives | Debt Capital Markets | MBA Finance |
Electrical Engineer | Sustainability

 

 



Does your business need support in Treasury or a Treasury QuickScan?

We have treasurers available, go to Rent a Treasurer for all information.