Tag Archive for: risk management

Treasurers to be the strategic super-heroes for their CFO

|3-4-2017 | GTNews | Lionel Pavey | Udo Rademakers |

Treasurers to be the super-hero for their CFO? We found this article headline on GTNews.com so intriguing that we asked our experts Lionel Pavey and Udo Rademakers to comment on it. According to the article the role of the treasurer has to be re-evaluated due to the fact that deal-making (figures of mergers and acquisitions have increased) is high on the global agenda. Traditionally treasurers focussed on informing the C-Suite and the board and integrated systems and processes after decisions about a deal were made.  Treasurers started to address this issue, which led to a new role of the treasurer, in fact a much more strategic role. The treasurer was no longer a risk manager, but also a ‘business change enabler ‘.  GTNews states: ‘The treasurer who opens this door is truly aligning themselves to the needs of the chief financial officer (CFO).They’ll be a superhero.’

Expert Lionel Pavey added some valuable information on the 4 different stages of a M&A proces.

Targeting

  1. Examine the different methods of payment – cash, debt, equity
  2. Discretely ascertain interest rate levels if using debt
  3. What are the effects of additional debt on the existing bank covenants and financial ratios
  4. Complete takeover or just buying a business unit or division?

Negotiating

  1. Examine the cashflow forecast of the target
  2. Examine any documentation on outstanding loans
  3. Existing pledges – Letter of Credit, Bank Guarantees, financial contracts, contingent liabilities
  4. Outstanding debtors, creditors, taxes etc.

Closing

  1. Detailing the bank accounts
  2. Either merging the bank accounts or creating new accounts at the time of closing
  3. Agreeing all bank balances and outstanding claims
  4. Receiving detailed cashflow forecast for the first 2-3 months after closing date
  5. Combining the new cashflows with the existing forecasts
  6. Arrange any agreed financing

Integration

  1. Close all existing facilities and services that will be no longer used
  2. Ensure the new data is present in the book keeping system
  3. All counterparties are informed of new bank accounts
  4. All authorized personnel have access to new banking systems

Expert Udo Rademakers states:
The posting at gtnews.com  points out where treasurers could add value in M&A activities. Unfortunately, in too many cases, treasurers had been brought into M&A transactions rather late: at a stage where the acquisition already had been concluded and where the treasurer only gets involved in “getting the deal done”.

As pointed out in the article, this is often a missed chance for the company and also for the treasurer of not adding more strategic value. Apart from that, the sooner the treasurer gets on board, the better the company can prepare for this kind of rather complicated transactions. It enabled the treasurer as well to act on a tactical level in order to support the M&A transaction in a cost efficient and well documented way.

What strategic value could the Treasurer bring?

  1. value the target company or the combined entity as a whole based on CF projection models
  2. evaluate the capital mix (cash, debt, equity)
  3. evaluate borrowing capacity/credit lines (low risk, best price)
  4. evaluate the country risk
  5. creating the funding flow overview and analyze this (timing of transactions)
  6. evaluate credit- and forex risk (natural hedging possibilities, consider to pay as much as possible from     “restricted countries” in order to decrease your restrained cash)

If the treasurer has been on board for the strategic part, he is well informed and able to manage the tactical part systematical as soon as the effectuation of the transaction takes place.

The treasurer needs to arrange (if applicable):

  1. temporary limit increase with banks
  2. forex transactions (increase of in- and external limits if needed)
  3. time critical payments to agencies, funding parties, seller, capital injections etc. : validate account information, prepare correct timing of the flow (cut off times, correct payment details and descriptions, etc.)
  4. documenting of all transaction in a systematic way and liaise with all in- and external parties involved.

Especially in high demanding environments where one transaction takes place after the other, mistakes will be made and processes might not be well documented. Obviously this could lead to higher risk and additional costs and lots of additional (correcting) work afterwards. Having a well prepared, skilled treasurer on board could avoid this.

Hence the comparison with a superhero…

Conclusion

Involve the treasurer from the first step
Draw up a detailed project plan for M&A and ensure that it is signed off by Board of Directors
Implement project plan for every M&A
Identify all costs linked to M&A
Highlight any cost savings and/or efficiencies

Lionel Pavey

 

Lionel Pavey

Cash Management and Treasury Specialist

 

 

 

Udo Rademakers

Independent Treasury Consultant & Interim Manager

 

 

 

 

Managing treasury risk: Liquidity Risk (VI)

|13-3-2017 | Lionel Pavey |

There are lots of discussions concerning risk, but let us start by trying to define what we mean by risk. In today’s article I will focus on liquidity risk. Many companies have very significant credit needs and this needs to be formally addressed with a credit analysis procedure in place. In my former articles I dealt with risk management, interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, commodity risk and credit risk. See the complete list at the end of today’s article.

Liquidity risk comes in 2 distinct forms – market liquidity risk and funding liquidity risk.

Market Liquidity Risk

This relates to assets and potential illiquidity in the market and, as such, can be considered a market risk. In a normal functioning market it is always possible for market participants (buyers, sellers, market makers and speculators) to find each other and negotiate a price for their transactions. Assuming that the transaction is of a normal market size, there should be no dramatic change to the price of the asset after the transaction.

At the time of a crisis, participants could be absent from the market, making it difficult – if not impossible – to trade an asset. Sellers are left frustrated as there are no opportunities to sell the asset they are holding and vice versa for buyers. This can occur due to a financial crisis, changes in legislature, scarcity of an asset or someone attempting to corner the market. An asset generally will have a value, but if there are no buyers in the market that value can not be realised.

Liquidity risk is not the same as falling prices – after all prices are free to rise or fall. If an asset was priced at zero then it means that the market considers its value to be nothing. This is different from trying to sell an asset but not being able to find a buyer.

Markets for Foreign Exchange, Stocks, Shares, Bonds and many Futures and other derivatives are generally highly liquid. Off balance sheet products related to physical settlement can be less liquid as there is a need to actually provide physical settlement. Bespoke products like CDO’s can be considered illiquid as their size is normally small (relatively speaking) and not freely tradeable. Also the complexity needed to value the product affects its liquidity.

Housing is an asset class with very low liquidity – sometimes a property could be sold as soon as it hits the market. At other times the same property could be available for sale for many years and the price reduced regularly, without attracting a firm buyer.
The easiest and quickest way to see if there is a heightened market liquidity risk is via the bid – offer spread. If this is suddenly seen widening, this would imply that there appears to be more risk. In a normal, liquid market, the spreads are fairly constant and small, allowing participants to easily step in and transact. A widening of spreads occurs in a normal market when government data is published – nonfarm payrolls, balance of payment, etc. Within a short time the market will return to a normal spread as the information is properly digested and the market makers return. However, if the spreads widen without a publication event taking place, it is reasonable to assume that the risk has increased.
Additionally, risk could grow if reserve requirements were increased. In markets such as Futures, it is necessary to pay margin to the exchange. If these margin payments were increased, this would lead to transactions being more expensive and so lead to less liquidity in the market.

Market makers can also observe the market depth. This is shown by the quantity available for transacting at a particular price in their order books. When a market is perceived as being deep, it means there are many orders and, therefore, a large number of orders would be needed to move the market price significantly. The deeper the market, the more liquid the market.

Funding Liquidity Risk

This relates to the risk of not being able to settle debts when they are due. Treasury specialists in a corporate environment are acutely concerned with funding risk. Every month wages must be paid, together with tax and social premiums (pensions, insurance etc.) Additionally, it would be advantageous to pay trade creditors on time. Future liabilities also have to be funded after they have been recognized. This could mean arranging external financing.

If there is a liquidity crisis in the market, it becomes difficult and expensive to arrange to borrow the necessary funds. The price may be so high that the intended profit provided by selling the goods, is negated by the increased cost of funding. A reduction in the credit rating of a company can also lead to increased costs and a reluctance to lend.
If a company is known to have problems making payments, then the liquidity risk is specific to the company – the rest of the market will function normally.

Funding risk can also occur if creditors fail to pay you, or if an unforeseen event has occurred that leads to an outflow of cash from the company.
A company can initially perform a quick spot check to ascertain its current ratio. This shows if a company can meet its current liabilities with its current assets. A ratio of less than 1 would imply that the company can not meet all its obligations at the same time. However, this could also be because there is no short term finance arranged at that moment.
It is possible to arrange a line of credit with a financial provider. He defines a maximum loan (line of credit) that can be extended which the company may utilize. While it is normal to pay a standing charge for the balance of the line that is not being used, this can be offset by the knowledge that it is possible to drawdown against the line when needed (in normal circumstances). There is greater flexibility with a line of credit than with a traditional bank loan.

Other methods include –

i)                    Sell assets like stock that are slow moving and tying down cash

ii)                   Analyse all overheads – office equipment, expense claims

iii)                 Increase efficiency in the debtors’ administration. Be proactive

iv)                 Renegotiate with suppliers – better that you talk to them before it is too late

v)                  Design contingency plans

vi)                 Subject your business to stress testing

vii)               Apply the techniques of ALM (asset and liability management)

 

Some very well known companies have fallen to liquidity problems – Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, Northern Rock, ABN Amro, AIG, etc. While the risks were prevalent before the crises, the main liquidity problems occurred when it was determined that there was no more time allowed for the situation to remain.
Time is the soul of business.

Lionel Pavey

 

Lionel Pavey

Cash Management and Treasury Specialist 

 

 

 

More articles of this series:

Managing treasury risk: Risk management

Managing treasury risk: Interest rate risk 

Managing treasury risk: Foreign exchange risk

Managing treasury risk: Commodity Risk

Managing treasury risk: Credit Risk

Blockchain and derivatives: Re-imagining the industry

| 10-3-2017 | Carlo de Meijer |

Since the first meetings organised by the Technology Advisory Committee of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on January 26 and February 23, 2016, on “Blockchain and the Potential Application of Distributed Ledger Technology to the Derivatives Market”, we have seen a lot of activity in this area.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) last month – so a year later – launched its plans to develop a blockchain-based post-trade framework for derivatives processing with tech firms R3, IBM and Axoni starting in January. The US-based clearing institute aims to replace the technology underpinning its Trade Information Warehouse database with a distributed ledger. The announcement by DTCC of its plan to transition its Trade Information Warehouse (TIW), into a blockchain platform  is described as a “watershed moment” for the industry in deploying distributed ledger technology (DLT) in production at this scale and a “reimagining” of credit derivatives processing.

DTCC and TIW

But for an idea of the scale of this operation, first something about DTCC and TIW. The Depository and Clearing Corporation focuses on post-trade financial services, providing clearing and settlement services to the financial markets. It provides central custody of securities and ways for buyers and sellers to make their exchanges in a safe and efficient way.
The Trade Information Warehouse (TIW) , a central part of its financial infrastructure, and a  a major component in the credit derivatives market, currently automates recordkeeping and other workflow functions, such as lifecycle events and payment management for more than $11 trillion of cleared and bilateral credit derivatives annually, among 2,500 buy-side firms located in more than 70 countries. This is roughly 98% of all transactions in that asset class.

DTCC involvement with blockchain

DTCC has been in the forefront of early-stage experimentation, notwithstanding this technology could disrupt this industry and might make obsolete or reduce the role of a number of clearing and other business parties in the post trade market infrastructure. Already end 2015 DTCC expressed its interest in blockchain technology and became a founding member of the Hyperledger Project, an open-source blockchain development project managed by The Linux Foundation and aimed at driving the adoption and standardization of distributed ledger technology in the financial services sector. Last year DTCC also invested in and partnered with Digital Asset Holdings (DAH).

The decision to go ahead with a blockchain-powered “revamp” of the DTCC’s Trade Information Warehouse follows a successful trial of this technology by the company last year. In April 2016, DTCC announced the successful completion of a proof of concept of blockchain technology and smart contracts to manage post-trade lifecycle events for standard North American single-name credit default swaps (CDS) in partnership with Axoni, Markit, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan.

Soon after their partnership, DTCC and DAH started a collaboration to develop and test blockchain-based solutions for the $2.6 trillion US repurchase agreement (repo) market. DTCC and DAH said “they wanted to streamline U.S. Treasury, Agency and Agency Mortgage-Backed repo transactions and thereby lower costs and risks”.

The DTCC TIW blockchain project

In their plans the DTCC’s Trade Information Warehouse is to be “re-platformed” through a distributed ledger framework based on blockchain technology to drive further improvements in derivatives post-trade lifecycle events. The project has been developed with input and guidance from a number of market participants including Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, UBS and Wells Fargo, and infrastructure providers IHS Markit and Intercontinental Exchange. These parties helped develop the technology by providing workflow guidance. The final goal of the project is to develop a permissioned distributed ledger network for derivatives, governed by DTCC, with peer nodes at participating firms.

  • Cooperative effort

The whole project is a cooperative effort of a number of partners. By mid-2016, the DTCC submitted a request for proposal (RFP) for interested parties to “re-platform” the warehouse and cut back on reconciliation costs. DTCC has selected a series of firms including IBM, startup Axoni and bank-backed R3CEV to help integrate distributed ledger technology into its first large-scale, real-world application.

Under the DTCC agreement, IBM is the primary contract holder for the DTCC implementation and will lead the initiative, provide program management, contribute DLT expertise and integration services as well serving as the solution-as-a-service (SaaS) provider. Axoni is to provide distributed ledger infrastructure and smart contract applications, while the blockchain bank-backed  consortium R3CEV  is acting as a “solution advisor” from both a technological perspective and from a banking workflow perspective. R3 is thereby charged with “really helping validate that the architecture is sound, but also making sure that the feedback from this big R3 global network is heard”.

“The combined expertise of IBM and our partners enables us to provide DTCC with a resilient, open and innovative new technology platform to support this groundbreaking opportunity.”  Bridget van Kralingen, SVP IBM Industry Platforms.

  • Phased approach

Development on the technology started in January and is expected to go live in early 2018. Over the course of 2017, the partners will work collaboratively to “re-platform” the existing Trade Information Warehouse (TIW) to a permissioned distributed ledger network custom-built for cleared and bilateral credit derivatives – governed by industry-owned DTCC with peer nodes at participating firms.

“It enables a distributed network to be built on this where, ultimately, participants could have nodes in-house,” Schvey, Axoni.

The distributed ledger technology being used for the DTCC TIW project is the AxCore protocol, created by New York-based Axoni. Deployment of the AxCore protocol will be done in phases, and even after it goes live next year, may only be adopted slowly. When the AxCore protocol goes live in early 2018, Axoni intends to submit the software to Hyperledger Project.

Rollout of the new blockchain-powered platform won’t be immediate. Initially, the distributed ledger will run in parallel with the existing settlement infrastructure. The latter can take as long as a week to close compared to the nearly instant settlement times expected from the blockchain solution. Upon launch, the DTCC will run a node that updates the TIW ledger, and other participants will also be able to run a node to support the network or to just get a feed of the information. “Not all of our clients will be moving into the world of distributed ledger at the same pace”. Large participating firms are expected to run their own individual “peer nodes” on the private ledger, with smaller DTCC clients being given the option to tap into DTCC’s own node.

By the time the Axoni technology is fully implemented, the entire life-cycle of a credit derivative will be captured as a smart contract or a “suite of smart contracts”.

Main goals ….

The new-to-create blockchain-powered platform is intended to enable DTCC and its clients to further streamline, automate and reduce the cost of derivatives processing across the industry by removing the need for “disjointed, redundant processing capabilities and the associated reconciliation costs”.

The present processes are arduous with current paper contracts in the form of computer documents still being issued. Blockchain and smart contract technology that will allow buyers, sellers and central clearing houses of derivative trades to share information, such as KYC (Know Your Customer), in real time across various distributed ledger platforms, may unleash great efficiencies. At scale, peer-to-peer networks that secure digital assets would allow parties to identify, transact, and settle with each other in expedited workflows.

  • Streamline derivatives processing
    “Distributed ledger technology is a natural fit for derivatives processing. By recording and automatically managing shared records of financial agreements in the cloud without error, it can minimize the steps required for post-trade processing and free up middle- and back-office staff from the onerous task of reconciliation.” Rutter R3CEV
  • Improvement to settlement times
    With regard to the settlement of derivative transactions, presently the system entails a three to five day process involving many third parties. This represents a significant opportunity cost that parties can recapture with a blockchain-based system that enables even real-time settlement.
    “In a future where they move their infrastructure from what I imagine is a complex environment of interconnected software with a ton of proprietary adapters and middleware to a blockchain, the cost savings and improvement to settlement time – currently as long as a week for some of DTCC’s trades -will be pretty monumental to their business.”
  • Cost saving
    Blockchains are “uniquely suited” to reduce costs associated with reconciliations, settlement, and security. According to industry executives cost savings can come from eliminating redundant IT systems and trading and risk management overhead. The finance industry currently spends roughly $150 billion annually on IT and operations expenditures in addition to $100 billion on post-trade and securities servicing fees. A 2015 report by Santander estimated the global savings to banks more generally speaking could be as high as $20bn a year.
    To provide an example, parties that own identical records in a single, shared ledger would reap explicit cost savings around reconciliations. Similarly, parties that transact obligations in a wholly digital, peer-to-peer network underpinned by such a ledger would reap explicit cost savings around settlement activities as well. Furthermore, parties would be able to manage implicit costs in different ways, like exceptions management, regulatory reporting, know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) that stand to be streamlined in ways that provide maximum value in a peer-to-peer workflow.

… and other possible opportunities

Other possible benefits of the use of blockchain in the derivative space include increased transparency, lower counterparty risk, and easier accounting. This may ultimately lead to lower collateral needs and improved liquidity.

  • Improved transparency
    In addition to providing streamlined processing by supporting self-executing code, or smart contracts, it is “widely heralded as a bastion of transparency”. This is especially relevant for regulatory bodies. Since the distributed ledger’s record is immutable, a regulatory node has the potential to give government observers access to real-time data about transactions, instead of having to wait for reports from market participants.
  • Improved risk management
    The use of blockchain technology for derivatives could also improve risk management. It could provide market participants a degree of control over risk and versatility over the balance sheet that is unachievable with today’s paper assets. As an example, parties might consider cash flow exchanges every 30 seconds instead of every 30 days, reducing counterparty and credit risk commensurately, as well as changing how these risks are measured.
  • Improved collateral management
    Under blockchain, dealers will post collateral to the clearing house in the form of initial and variation margin by escrowing cash on a distributed cash ledger or by allocating assets held on other asset ledgers to a distributed collateral ledger. Smart derivative contracts that bind both seller and buyer will be stored on a distributed derivative ledger along with information from the cash and asset ledgers. This will lead to efficiencies for calculating derivative positions and obligations, leading to lower collateral needs.
  • “The smart contract can automatically compute exposures by referencing agreed external data sources (e.g. S&P 500, NASDAQ) that recalculate variation margin. Interoperable derivative and collateral ledgers would automatically allow the contract to call additional collateral units on asset ledgers to support these needs. At maturity, a final net obligation is computed by the smart contract, and a payment instruction automatically generated in the cash ledger, closing out the deal”
  • Improved liquidity
    Transparency, alongside reduced transaction and trade maintenance costs, could, in turn, enhance trading liquidity. In present situation in order to maintain liquidity levels firms nowadays have to overcompensate where the money has to be tied up for some time before the next transaction. The improvement in funds settlement and counterparty risk assessment in a blockchain environment may shorten the liquidity cycle for various derivative positions, allowing banks to inject liquidity into the system for other transactions much more quickly.

Remaining challenges

Despite all the positives around blockchain and smart contract technology, still many challenges exist. These are mostly the same as for other financial transactions, including lack of scalability, no common standards, no legal and regulatory certainty and the arrival of multiple distributed ledgers. But also smart contracts are at an early stage of development. Defining exactly what they are and how they would work is still a challenge. Regulators and standards bodies across many different industries will need to come together to define what they mean for each transaction and sector.

“The industry assumption is that there should not be one ledger to rule them all, there will be different ledgers and we need to work together to make sure they interoperate, not just from banks.” Braine Barclays

Are there opportunities for derivatives CCPs?

An interesting question is: why is DTCC so active in the blockchain arena: for defensive or offensive reasons? Blockchain technology is seen by many as a disruptive factor for a number of market infrastructure players such as CSDs, repositories and CCPs.

One of the original goals of blockchain technology is to remove the need for central governing bodies.  Traditionally, financial exchanges have required clearing houses to provide a guarantee to the winning party of the derivative contract in case the loser does not pay. The clearing house is able to provide this guarantee by requiring both parties to make cash deposits during the pre-trade phase.

The ledger will replace today’s process by which multiple parties reconcile proprietary books and records to accurately represent the custody and value of a financial instrument at any given point in time. With respect to the derivatives markets, blockchains would ultimately come to be used as digital asset registries, as a record residing in a single, shared ledger. So the mechanisms by which parties maintain custody of their obligations and the smart contracts that enshrine those obligations.

….. Yes there are!

A number of industry analysts however reason traders will continue to novate derivative trades via a Counterparty Clearing House (CCP) in order for dealers to net their exposures and monitor the financial well-being of counterparties (ensuring problems like double-spending are eliminated).

Also Nasdaq thinks there are opportunities for derivatives CCPs.

“The concepts of DLT – in its fundamental form with decentralised recording of asset ownership – and derivatives CCP clearing are inherently different. At first, it appears counterintuitive for a derivatives CCP to pursue a technology aimed at decentralising the processing of transactions and removing the need for a CCP. However, derivatives clearing consists of several processes such as position keeping, reconciliation, collateral management, risk and default management, and settlement. While margining and default management do not benefit from a decentralised process, position keeping and settlement could do – and here DLT can increase efficiency.” Fredrik Ekström, Nasdaq’s Clearing President in “Blockchain Tech for Derivatives CCPs — Friend or Foe?”

Final remarks

If this first large-scale implementation of a distributed ledger proves successful, there’s plenty of room to expand. In my mind one should be optimistic of further developments in this space, especially in consideration of the rising cost of reconciliations, post-trade operations, and security issues that market participants confront today.

It seems very likely that the DTCC initiative, once it becomes operational, will have a significant impact on the derivatives world and may open doors to massive adoption of distributed ledger technology for financial services including derivatives.

“This will be one of the first [instances] globally where we are using distributed ledger technology to become a piece of the infrastructure in a very critical market, in the credit default swaps market, and use it across the entirety of multiple players” “By recording transactions in a distributed ledger, everyone uses that same piece of information, that same trade batch, in the same exact way.” DTCC CEO Bodson.

The entire global credit derivatives market in 2016 was $544tn, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), much of which is processed by the DTCC.

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher

 

TMS Buyer’s Guide from AFP: a short summary

| 1-3-2017 | treasuryXL |

The latest TMS Buyer’s guide of the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) has been published in 2016, but contains enough interesting information to look at it and make a short summary. With the buyer’s guide AFP wants to offer its members a closer look at treasury technology today. Some of the top TMS vendors in the (global) marketplace were asked to share their view on what treasury departments were looking for in a system—or how such a system should look like. It is a growing market and there are many options to choose from. The questions is, how a treasury professional can judge if the TMS he is considering or currently uses is the one best suited to his needs? According to AFP the TMS Guide will help practitioners to answer that question by giving a list of TMS suppliers and describe the latest technologies and trends. As a treasury professional who also is responsible for a smooth treasury proces within your company you want to be sure that you are getting the most for your money.

The content of the Guide is divided in two parts: a list of TMS suppliers where they describe shortly their products and services and a TMS functionality matrix, which lines out specific TMS functionalities and which company from the list supplies which services or products for the different functionalities.

The list in the guide is one of worldwide suppliers.  Most likely AFP has not the intention to offer a complete list and it is obvious that you will find local suppliers in the different markets.

These are the companies in the guide:

  • ION
  • Orbit
  • Axletree
  • Bellin
  • Bloomberg
  • Chatham Financial
  • Expertus
  • Financial Sciences Corporation
  • GTreasury
  • Hanse Orga Group
  • Kyriba
  • OpenLink
  • Reval
  • Strategic Treasurer
  • Treasury Xpress

For our readers we will focus on some companies that operate in the European/Benelux market.

Bellin

Bellin (in the Benelux represented by Enigma) has successfully launched over 15,000 companies on their tm5 Treasury Management system, leading the industry in project success rates. This has given a certain perspective on some of the less thought about aspects of TMS implementation, especially when it comes to cash management. They focus on three factors they think people do not pay enough attention to when implementing their TMS, and how these factors can improve the cash positioning, forecasting and risk management:

  • Don’t automate, do streamline
  • Get your subsidiaries involved in cash forecasting early, so you can use their data.
  • When it comes to risk management, start with real data, and use specific analysis to establish where you have weaknesses

Bellin states that implementing the TMS system is only  the beginning and that more challenges come along while you are on the way. Read more.

Kyriba

Kyriba is the global leader in cloud treasury solutions. Kyriba delivers award-winning, secure, modular and scalable SaaS treasury solutions with integrated bank connectivity, payments, and risk management. They developed a cloud treasury management solution that is delivered on a single platform. Kyriba’s Treasury Cloud is used by more than 1,300 clients globally to protect against payments fraud and cybercrime, while proactively managing market volatility, onerous compliance requirements, and creating opportunities to fund new growth. Kyriba’s Cash and Liquidity capabilities include Cash Positioning, Cash Forecasting, Advanced Forecasting, Variance Analysis, Liquidity Forecasting, In-House Banking, and Multi-Lateral Netting. Clients also benefit from full accounting, GL posting, and Bank-tobook reconciliation workflows. The Cash and Liquidity modules are supported by the Kyriba Connectivity Hub and Data Exchange. With Kyriba’s Payment Management suite, clients can initiate, approve and release payments to any of their banks globally. Kyriba also supports payment factories, including multiple routing options to integrate all corporate payment workflows in a centralized payment hub. Read more

Hanse Orga

Hanse Orga is a global provider of specialized financial software for CFOs, treasurers and financial professionals seeking the perfect solution for their individual requirements. Their FS² software family is fully embedded within the SAP landscape so that companies capitalize on existing technology investments and profit from seamless finance processes. Over 1,000 customers in more than 50 countries worldwide have already profited from their systems and consulting.
With their SAP-embedded software family FS² and specialized consulting they help customers worldwide to achieve best results for their finance processes. FS² works with SAP S/4HANA Finance as well as previous SAP systems such as HANA and ECC! Corporates benefit from future-proof functions, a modern user experience and flexible report settings – on any device, anytime and anywhere! Whether the software is installed on premise, in the cloud or as a hybrid solution, the software supports fully audit-proof processes.
FS² is available for these areas: Cash, Liquidity and Treasury Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Bank Account Management and Working Capital Management. Read more

Reval

Reval is a global provider of a scalable cloud platform for Treasury and Risk Management (TRM). Their cloud-based offerings enable enterprises to better manage cash, liquidity and financial risk, and to account for and report on complex financial instruments and hedging activities. The scope and timeliness of the data and analytics they provide allow chief financial officers, treasurers and finance managers to operate more confidently in an increasingly complex and volatile global business environment. With offerings built on the Reval CONTACT Cloud Platform companies can optimize treasury and risk management activities across the enterprise for greater operational efficiency, security, control and compliance. They offer Reval Core ™ for mid-market treasuries and Reval Choice™ for  organizations faced with
complex treasury and risk challenges. Read more

Treasury matrix in the TMS buyer’s guide

The TMS functionality matrix lists (all) the companies in the guide for the following functionalities:

  • Foreign Exchange
  • Debit Interest rate products
  • Derivatives
  • Electronic Dealing
  • Balance & transaction management
  • Bank account management
  • Reconciliation
  • Forecasting
  • Confirmation
  • Accounting
  • Reporting
  • Security
  • Target company size
  • Implementation

For more information on the details of the functionality matrix follow this link.

Source: TMS Buyer’s Guide 2016, AFP

We believe that the functionality matrix offers very valuable information for treasurers and finance professionals who have to make choices for the implementation of a system.

Some other TMS suppliers in Europe/The Benelux not mentioned in the Guide

It goes without saying that in the Benelux/Europe you will find other suppliers, let me mention just a few – Aaron, Integrity, IT2, Trinity (Wieltec), Global$ WallStreet and Treasury Services.

As an example Treasury Services BV creates a competitive advantage for their clients through the implementation of innovative solutions. They offer a complete treasury management software, treasury training and education, financial engineering solutions and consultancy.

Managing treasury risk: Credit Risk (Part V)

| 23-2-2017 | Lionel Pavey |

 

There are lots of discussions concerning risk, but let us start by trying to define what we mean by risk. In my fifth article I will focus on credit risk. Many companies have very significant credit needs and this needs to be formally addressed with a credit analysis procedure in place. In my former articles I dealt with risk management, interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk and commodity risk. See the complete list at the end of today’s article.

Credit Risk

Credit Risk occurs when there is a risk of default from money that has been lent to a borrower, or funds that have been invested.
The risk can be caused by:

  • Trade credit extend to a client, who does not pay
  • Inability to make a payment on a loan
  • A company going bankrupt
  • An insurance company not paying under a policy
  • A bank becoming insolvent
  • A company not paying wages to employees
  • A government defaulting

Main categories

The main categories of credit risk are:

Default risk
Counterparty risk
Sovereign risk
Legal risk
Concentration risk

Default risk:
occurs due to the default on monies owed either from lending or investment. The counterparty could be unable to repay. Sometimes they could also be unwilling to repay. The default risk is therefore on 100% of the outstanding balance, unless some form of recovery (be it full or partial) was possible.

Counterparty risk:
occurs when counterparties have to perform an action on a contractual commitment.
This can happen at both the time of settlement and also before settlement, but after entering a contract. Since the start of the financial crisis settlement risk is a major factor for banks. If at settlement a counterparty fails to meet its obligation, this can potentially lead to large losses and, eventually, to a systemic risk as you are therefore unable to meet your own obligations. A default before settlement can be alleviated by substituting a new contract though this could occur at prices far less favourable.

Sovereign risk:
entails the political, legal and regulatory exposures arising from international trade and cross border transactions. It can relate to a government failing in its obligation to repay or to new laws that prohibit free movement of funds – exchange control. Any contracts entered into with nondomestic counterparties should be analysed for the embedded sovereign risks and potential political instability.

Legal risk:
can occur if the counterparty is not legally allowed to enter into certain trades – especially derivative trades. We see in the media stories of companies that have experienced difficulties with derivatives leading to losses and court cases are started to either enforce or negate the contract. Also special purpose vehicles are formed purely to enter into certain transactions like securitisation issues. These are companies with no staff, fixed abode, or assets other than the underlying collateral of the issue.

Concentration risk:
 arises from lack of diversification. Too many loans from 1 or 2 banks, too many products purchased from 1 or 2 suppliers, too much revenue generated by 1 or 2 customers. This risk is a bit of a paradox as many companies become successful through concentrating their resources in key niche areas, whilst having to diversify their underlying risk at the same time.

Measures

There are, of course, measures that can be undertaken to identify and minimize these potential losses.

The first approach is counterparty ratings. Certain criteria can be examined – credit rating agencies, examination of financial statements, good knowledge of the counterparty, political, geographical (are they situated next to a volcano?) and legal status.

Notional exposure reveals the full amount outstanding with a counterparty – all the money that could potentially be lost.

Aggregate exposure netts the exposure with a counterparty between monies to be received and monies to be paid.

Clear picture of the replacement costs – the costs involved to replace the existing transaction with a new counterparty.

Techniques of measurement

Measurement of credit risk requires quantitative techniques to measure and model the risks.  An example would be Basel III that places a regulatory framework on banks to ensure adequate capital ratios. Eventually the techniques being used will trickle down to commercial companies. This should result in the creation of risk tools that are more sophisticated and improvements of the techniques used to report and measure risk.

However, as the financial crisis has clearly shown, over-reliance on sophisticated computer models appeared to lead to false comfort with the results generated by the modelling systems. This was caused by underestimating the risks in new financial products and the great assumption that is always prevalent in economic theory – people behave rationally at all times! Any model is a snapshot of the world and can only contain a few variables that are perceived as critical. All others are discarded to ensure that the model can work quickly and efficiently.

Lionel Pavey

 

 

Lionel Pavey

Cash Management and Treasury Specialist

 

 

 

More articles of this series:

Managing treasury risk: Risk management

Managing treasury risk: Interest rate risk 

Managing treasury risk: Foreign exchange risk

Managing treasury risk: Commodity Risk

 

Flex Treasurer: The life of an interim treasurer

| 16-2-2017 | Patrick Kunz |

 

An interim treasurer is just like a normal treasurer. The difference is that he has a flexible contract and changes “jobs” more often. Assignments can be to replace the existing treasurer due to leave or sickness. This means that he gets to take an operational role and be part of the normal organization, often until a “permanent” solution is found. I did several of these roles, which often last between 3-6 months and 1 year.

 

Treasury Support

Another option is to provide support to an existing team/treasurer/CFO on a treasury related project. These can be short term or longer projects. Often the projects cannot be filled with the existing capacity of the team and hiring a permanent FTE for this is not an option. Another reason can be to finish the project quicker due to nearing deadlines. These projects are often several weeks to a couple of months. For example I helped a big semi-profit organization from Rotterdam to investigate into embedded derivatives in the firm to comply with new regulation. The project was finished in several weeks and the accountant accepted my conclusions in the annual report. Also I build a RAROC model for one client to periodically rank their banks based on return versus risk adjusted capital. A powerful tool to compare banks and their profitability compared to their lending.

Treasury Expert

An interim/flex treasurer does not have to be a fulltime position. At big corporates and multinationals this is often the case but smaller firms often don’t have fulltime treasurers. Sometimes the controller or the CFO fulfills the treasury position “parttime”. A part time (external) treasurer could potentially add value here. The controller/CFO has extra time for his “normal” activities and an expert is hired for the treasury task. This can be from a couple of hours a day to several days. For example I helped a real estate company with the valuation and (weekly) margin calls on their interest rate derivative portfolio, their cash management optimalisation, treasury reporting and ad hoc work. 8 hours a week.

Treasury Scan

Are you not sure if treasury is optimal at your company? A treasury scan might be a solution. A ‘quick and dirty’ scan is possible in 1 day if treasury data is collected beforehand. The costs of a treasury scan are therefore limited and often earned back from treasury savings which were identified by the scan and later realized by either the flex treasurer or the company itself; often in combination.

Do you recognize one the above situations? Do you want to know more about an (interim) Flex Treasurer?
Please click on this link or visit my expert page on treasuryXL.

 

Patrick Kunz

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

 

 

Managing treasury risk: Commodity Risk (Part IV)

| 14-2-2017 | Lionel Pavey |

There are lots of discussions concerning risk, but let us start by trying to define what we mean by risk. In my fourth article I will write about commodity risk, what the strategies around commodities are and how to build a commodity risk framework. More information about my first three articles can be found at the end of today’s article.

Commodity Risk

Commodity risk occurs due to changes in price, quantity, quality and politics with regard to the underlying commodities. This can refer to both the commodity as a whole and an input component of a finished good. Commodity risk usually refers to the risk in a physical product, but also occurs in products like electricity. It can affect producers, suppliers and buyers.

Traditionally, commodity price risk was managed by the purchasing department. Here the emphasis was placed on the price – the lower the price, the better. But price is only one component of commodity risk. Price changes can either be observed directly in the commodity or indirectly when the commodity is an input in the finished product.
Availability, especially of energy, is crucial for any company to be able to undertake operations. Combining commodity risk over both Treasury and Purchasing allows these 2 departments to work closer and build a better understanding of the risks involved. It also allows for a comprehensive view of the whole supply chain within a company. A product like electricity is dependent on the input source of production – gas, petroleum, coal, wind, climate – as well as the price and supply of electricity itself.

There are many factors that can determine commodities prices – supply and demand, production capacity, storage, transport. As such it is not as easy to design the risk management model as it is for financial products.

 General strategies that can be implemented

  1. Acceptance
  2. Avoidance
  3. Contract hedging
  4. Correlated hedging

Acceptance
Acceptance would mean that the risk exposure would be unchanged. The company would then absorb all price increases and attempt to pass the increase on when selling the finished product.

Avoidance
Avoidance and/or minimizing means substituting or decreasing the use of certain input components.

Contract hedging
Contract hedging means using financial products related to the commodity, such as options and futures as well as swapping price agreements.

Correlated hedging
Correlated hedging means examining the exposure of a commodity – the price of crude oil is always quoted in USD – and taking a hedge in the USD as opposed to the crude oil itself. The 2 products are correlated to a certain extent, though not fully.

Commodity risk framework

Commodity price speculation – most contracts are settled by physical delivery – affects the market more than price speculation in currency markets.
To build a commodity risk framework, attention needs to given to the following:

  1. Identify the risks
  2. Measure the exposure
  3. Identify hedging products
  4. Examine the market
  5. Delegate the responsibility factors within the organization
  6. Involve management and the Board of Directors
  7. Perform analytics on identified positions
  8. Consider the accounting issues
  9. Create a team
  10. Are there system requirements needed

Problems can arise because of the following:

  1. Relevant information is dispersed throughout the company
  2. Management may not be aligned to the programme
  3. Quantifying exposure can be difficult
  4. There is no natural hedge for the exposure
  5. Design of reports and KPI’s can be complex

It requires an integrated commitment from diverse departments and management to understand and implement a robust, concise policy – but this should not be a hindrance to running the policy.

Lionel Pavey

 

 

Lionel Pavey

Cash Management and Treasury Specialist 

 

 

More articles of this series:

Managing treasury risk: Risk management

Managing treasury risk: Interest rate risk 

Managing treasury risk: Foreign exchange risk

 

Managing treasury risk : Risk Management (Part I)

| 23-1-2017 | Lionel Pavey |

 

There are lots of discussions concerning risk, but let us start by trying to define what we mean by risk.
It is a negative event that can potentially lead to loss or liability; it is exposure to uncertainty; it is a deviation from the expected outcome. It can be caused by people, changes in the law, products used in day-to-day activity to facilitate the business. Risk is not an uncertainty – it is a “known unknown”

 

 

Risk arises in every activity of a company and, therefore, a procedure of risk assessment has to be determined within a company and controls implemented. We can conclude that a risk management policy is a crucial part of the risk management function. The policy provides a framework – and details the framework – for decision making, whilst adhering to the company’s agreed viewpoint on risk.

Risk Management

A risk management policy can be very extensive as it relates to all risks faced by a company – we shall only focus on the risk relating to treasury operations. Treasury risk policy should be developed by the Treasury department, together with management, and approved by the board of directors. Once approved and implemented, the policy should be regularly reviewed and amended to ensure that it effectively meets the changing risks as the company advances.

Core criteria

The core criteria for undertaking the policy include:

  1. Providing a framework (matrix) for financial decision making
  2. Defining a policy for identifying and controlling risk
  3. Confirmation of the objectives and restrictions set by the board of directors and management
  4. Safeguarding the interests of stakeholders
  5. Enabling the reporting and measurement of treasury risk to the board of directors and management

Strategic components

Strategic components related to the policy include:

  1. Objectives
  2. Standards of care
  3. Authority and Responsibility
  4. Requirements for third party providers
  5. Types of transactions
  6. Constraints on transactions
  7. Reporting
  8. Policy review process
  9. Benchmarking

Major treasury related risks that shall be discussed in my next articles include:

  • Interest rate risk
  • Foreign Exchange risk
  • Commodity risk
  • Credit risk
  • Operational risk
  • Liquidity risk

A search through Google will show more risks, but we are attempting to show and discuss the main types of risk in treasury operations.

In the rest of the series, we shall elaborate on the above 6 major treasury related risk categories.

“Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing” – Warren Buffett

Lionel Pavey

 

 

Lionel Pavey

Cash Management and Treasury Specialist

 

 

More articles from this author:

Safety of Payments

The treasurer and data

The impact of negative interest rates

How long can interest rates stay so low?

Nieuw op treasuryXL: de Flex Treasurer

| 19-1-2017 | treasuryXL |

 

Wat is een Flex Treasurer?

Stel: je bent de eigenaar van of werkt in een kleine of middelgrote organisatie die geen treasurer of cash manager in dienst heeft. Je denkt waarschijnlijk dat er binnen jouw organisatie geen plaats is voor een dergelijke functie. Maar, oordeel niet te snel: ook het MKB heeft behoefte aan professionals als het gaat om treasury en cash management. Toch gaat het aannemen van iemand vaak een stap te ver.

Wij bieden je nu de mogelijkheid om een Flex Treasurer in te huren op urenbasis, als lump sum of in een abonnementsvorm. We willen met deze dienstverlening geen substituut worden voor de grote treasury consultancy organisaties maar we bieden graag ondersteuning bij vraagstukken die nu onbeantwoord blijven. Je kunt je vraag aan ons stellen en wij zullen je vrijblijvend in contact brengen met de juiste deskundige.

Wij kennen Flex Treasurers uit verschillende vakgebieden: risk, bankrelaties & technologie, regulations, non-profit, financiering, trade finance, cash management, SME & overige gebieden.

[button url=”https://www.treasuryxl.com/community/flex-treasurer/” text=”Ga naar de Flex Treasurer” size=”small” type=”primary” icon=”” external=”1″]

 

De verschillende diensten

Hieronder staat een overzicht van de diensten die we aanbieden in samenwerking met de Flex Treasurers.

[one_third]

[button url=”https://www.treasuryxl.com/community/flex-treasurer/financiele-instrumenten-en-derivaten/” text=”Financiële instrumenten en derivaten” size=”small” type=”primary” icon=”” external=”1″]

[button url=”https://www.treasuryxl.com/community/flex-treasurer/treasury-quickscan/” text=”Treasury Quickscan” size=”small” type=”primary” icon=”” external=”1″]

[button url=”https://www.treasuryxl.com/community/flex-treasurer/treasury-coach/” text=”Treasury Coach” size=”small” type=”primary” icon=”” external=”1″]

[/one_third]

[two_third]
[/two_third]

Het aanbod is in ontwikkeling en in de loop van tijd zullen er steeds meer diensten bij komen.

Meer informatie

Wil je gebruik maken van een van de aangeboden diensten of heb je een andere vraag? Of wil je je aansluiten als Flex Treasurer?

Pieter de Kiewit helpt je graag verder.

Pieter de Kiewit[email protected]
06-11119783

 

[separator type=”” size=”” icon=””]

Impact of Basel III on Notional Cash Pooling

|17-1-2017 | Arnoud Doornbos |

afbeelding

 

Since the start of the financial crisis a growing need for more bank independency with companies has arisen. Bank counterparty risk became an issue. A large cash management bank announced in 2015 to stop their transactional banking services for continental Europe. What will happen with current cash pools running with banks in the UK? Increased regulations (Basel III) may stop certain banking products.
All types of events where companies feel a growing need for more bank independency.

Basel III

In the coming years, banks have to prepare themselves for compliance with the new Basel III rules on financial institutions.
The financial crisis of 2008 brought the shortcomings of Basel II to light. The capital requirements for banks were found to be insufficient and banks were running risks which were not identified by Basel II.
Therefore the focus of Basel III is to restore previous mistakes and adding requirements to both the quality and composition of the capital held by banks and liquidity position and governance to manage the risks.

Effective liquidity management is a way to look for “Idle” cash. An increasing number of companies therefore choose for notional pooling as it enables them to gain more insight into their (global) financial position and in order to optimize the interest income on their accounts.
Simultaneously Basel III imposes stricter requirements on offsetting balances (credit and debit), and this brings notional pooling possibly into danger. The question is what impact the introduction of Basel III has to notional pooling services offered by banks.

Notional Pooling

Notional pooling is a mechanism for calculating interest on the combined credit and debit balances of accounts that a corporate parent chooses to cluster together, without actually transferring any funds between the accounts. It is ideal for companies with decentralized organizations that want to allow some autonomy to their subsidiaries, including their control over bank accounts.

Treasury Services- without notional pooling

Benefits of notional pooling

The use of notional pooling has increased tremendously in recent years. At the moment it is a commonly used structure to concentrate balances and maximize the interest income on bank accounts. In addition it will provide companies with an increased understanding of their financial position and the company is therefore able to manage their money more effectively. Another commonly used technique is physical pooling (zero balancing) where the money from the participating accounts is transferred via a physical transfer to a higher-level account. The difference between them is that with notional pooling the money shall be paid only virtual and with physical pooling a physical transfer of money takes place. By using physical pooling through physical money transfer, internal debt positions will be created. Notional pooling and physical pooling can also be combined in an overlay structure.

Liquidity management

Basel III introduces a number of new financial ratios that aim to strengthen the capital base of banks.
One of the most significant ratios is the liquidity coverage ratio which banks are required to hold in high-quality liquid assets (cash money or assets which can be sold on the market quickly). This liquidity coverage ratio shows how far banks are able to withstand sufficiently a ‘crisis’ on cash flows for a period of thirty days. Moreover, the new law increases the capital requirements for banks and make these requirements more risk-weighted than before. The requirements are also countercyclical, intended to encourage banks to build up more capital in economic good times.
Liquidity management is gaining popularity by two simultaneous developments. On the one hand, credit is a less attractive source of profit for banks, which enforced banks to shift their focus to activities without capital requirements. On the other hand, companies need to make optimal use of internal cash as bank financing is becoming increasingly difficult. Notional pooling offers the option to concentrate the balances at several (international) accounts and optimize the interest.

Uncertain future for notional pooling

Basel III does not always allow that liquidity ratios are calculated by means of netting the outstanding balances of accounts in the notional pool. This means that banks must calculate their ratios based on the gross value of individual accounts. To cover the negative positions in the notional pool banks need to hold more liquidity. The negative position is seen as overdraft, which is associated with unattractive Risk Weighted Asset (RWA) for the bank. The conditions for reducing this RWA vary by bank and are depending also on the central bank of an individual country. To prevent that banks are required to hold a higher amount of risk capital they must be in possession of a legal right of offset. However, the process to obtain this right involves a lot of time and high costs (both for the bank and the company) and requires the necessary legal and tax knowledge. First, the law in the jurisdiction of each participant of the notional pool must allow compensation in the event of bankruptcy. In addition each participant of the notional pool must sign a paper that allow them to guarantee for other participants. Finally, the company must demonstrate that netting has occurred periodically.

Regarding the future of notional pooling, there are a number of scenarios to think of when it comes to the continuation of this service by banks:

  • Banks will only allow entities in the notional pool if there is an enforceable right of compensation;
  • Banks will charge the higher costs related to notional pooling to the companies;
  • Banks offer notional pooling selectively based on the creditworthiness of the company.

If banks decide to increase the price for notional pooling, it is likely that companies will go for alternatives for their cash management activities (e.g. physical pooling). Therefore it is advisable to contact your bank regarding notional pooling, so you are not faced with unnecessary surprises.

Treasury Services monitors the developments in the Basel III framework closely and combines its expertise in the areas of Payments, Treasury and Risk in order to provide its customers the best advice.
The Treasury Services Cash Management Scan analyses the impact of Basel III on your current cash pools and will explain how to manage this in the future.

Bank independent Cash Pooling

Treasury Services has developed a solution to set up cash pooling structures completely independent from banks through software. This creates significant additional savings and advantages compared to a cash pooling solution with banks.

The bank independent cash pooling allows companies to pool different bank accounts with different banks in different countries.

The advantages are:

Treasury Services advantages Cash pooling tool

The solution we have developed is a complete solution. It does not only consist of a software solution, but also proposed changes for policies and processes, and we investigated the legal and fiscal constraints.

For  more information please refer to this link.

 

arnoud-doornbos

 

Arnoud Doornbos

Partner at Treasury Services