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We are the leading provider of news, market intelligence, events and training for the global receivables finance industry.
Working with industry leading organisations, experts, governments and universities, BCR Publications delivers expertise in factoring, receivables and supply chain finance to a global audience.
BCR has long been a beacon of innovation and excellence in the realm of receivables finance, playing an instrumental role in shaping the industry’s international landscape. Through its comprehensive conferences, insightful publications, and thought leadership, BCR has facilitated crucial dialogues and connections among industry professionals, driving forward the development of receivables finance globally.
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Why CFOs Should Foster Stronger Relationships with Banks
01-06-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |
CFOs are the custodians of financial growth for enterprise business, and a key part of that role is to build and foster mutually beneficial relationships with banks and funding partners. Since banking relationships are built upon the provision of services; whether those are lines of credit, daylight overdrafts, bank account reporting, payments, foreign exchange or concentration / pooling structures, CFOs can and should maximise the value derived from partner financial institutions.
One of the first mistakes a CFO or finance professional can make is in selecting or expanding a relationship with a bank ill-equipped to handle the global nature of their business and geographic footprint.
For example, banking relationships have implications across borders as many strong financial institutions are partnered with local banks or their own local branches providing much needed local expertise. Navigating difficult tax and reporting requirements, local format and regulatory requirements or unique depository scenarios all call upon strong relationships with banks familiar with your localisation needs.
Automating your banking interactions and reporting with technology is an area of concern.
In this scenario, CFOs are not able to take advantage of the full range of banking services since lapses and gaps in technology solutions do not provide for straight-through processing of payments or the automatic posting of cash and transactional details from bank-provided daily bank statements. Banks have evolved their services to provide much more flexibility and sophistication with regards to intraday bank statements, high levels of detail within bank statements and the frequency of sharing this information up to 4 to 5 times per day. Without the right technology solution to handle cash and liquidity forecasting, CFOs are leaving value on the “proverbial table” in the form of lost opportunities to invest, grow the business, or mitigate risk. Meanwhile, the lack of finance and treasury tools and automation associated with technology solutions, keeps staff tied to daily, tactical tasks versus a focus on strategic support and projects.
How well do CFOs understand the full potential of their banking relationships?
CFOs must be involved in understanding the health of the banking relationship and managing, or at least receiving updates on banking scorecards and other metrics to ensure the bank relationship is being leveraged to its full potential. For instance, more than ever, banks often provide or are partners in enabling Supply Chain Financing or Discounting scenarios to help both sides of the financial supply chain achieve their objectives. CFOs, again, must leverage their banking relationships while coupling them to technology options such as a solution with Dynamic Discounting or Supply Chain Finance to maximise bank services.
Additionally, visibility to liquidity in near or real-time is a must-have for CFOs.
Liquidity planning is critical for CFOs in good times and in bad. Historical market drops have highlighted the importance of having real-time access to information about your total liquidity position, understanding what level of cash is flowing through all systems, and what level of liquidity can be allocated to invest in growth opportunities or simply pay employees. CFOs in many cases can partner with banks to develop a mutually beneficial relationship. At the end of the day, Treasurers provide the CFO with the assurance that assets are safeguarded and the organisation has the liquidity required to meet obligations and fund strategic decisions. This is only possible if they too have immediate visibility into their positions.
Finally, there is risk in having all of your eggs in one basket.
CFOs should have a backup plan – having your liquidity, services and debt instruments with one bank can prove to be risky. When financial crises strike from internal or external factors (like margin calls, bankruptcies, etc.), these financial risks are mitigated when the CFO has a back-stop and other banking partner options to keep the lights on and the supply chain flowing. Having major and minor banking relationships can help keep banks competitively working for you while giving your organization financial and liquidity options to keep operations moving.
How to navigate changing currency markets when buying services from overseas
27-05-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |
When dealing with overseas currencies, changes in the currency markets and exchange rates could potentially change the amount that your business will need to pay.
If your business imports tangible objects from another country—such as goods, food products, materials, or machinery—then you’ll need to pay in that country’s currency. However, this doesn’t just pertain to tangible goods imported from overseas. If your business requires services from overseas employees, contractors agencies or service providers then you will also need to pay invoices or contracts in their local currency.
When dealing with overseas currencies, changes in the currency markets and exchange rates could potentially change the amount that your business will need to pay. When making regular payments—such as contract payments—having the right solutions to protect your business from market volatility can protect your business’s bottom line and keep your costs level.
What are your exposures?
Understanding your business’s currency risk exposures is the first step to countering them to protect your business. You’ll want to consider:
How frequently you’ll be making payments
Which currencies you’ll be dealing with
What type of payments you’ll be sending
How volatile your currency pairs are.
Use forward contracts to protect your business from market motion
If you know that you’re making payments in a volatile market, one solution you can use to reduce the impact of market motion is a forward contract.
A forward contract is a payment method that differs slightly from a typical spot transfer. Rather than making an immediate payment at the current exchange rate, it instead allows you to lock in the current rate and set a date for the payment to be sent at today’s rate.
Here is what you would do:
Specify which currencies that you’d like to exchange and provide the amount you need to pay. This will give you a quote at the current rate.
Enter the date that you’d like to send your payment.
Provide your payment information as well as your recipient’s information.
Once that date hits, the transfer will automatically send at the secured rate.
Forward contracts are a valuable tool for price protection as well as peace of mind. You can secure a favourable rate for your transfer, and you won’t need to worry about missing your payment or the markets moving in the days leading up to it. Your payment will already be secured and scheduled.
If you have a contract, then you know you’ll be making payments. With a forward contract, you can secure favorable rates ahead of time so that even if the market changes, the amount that your contract costs your business won’t.
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Working with Xe can protect your business from market motion
A knowledgeable and experienced international business payments provider can help your business to weather the currency markets and easily navigate your payments, so you can focus on your business.
At Xe, we have nearly 30 years of experience in the currency markets. We work with over 13,000 businesses around the globe and offer them the right solutions for their operations, size, industry, and currency needs.
Some of our solutions include:
Easy-to-use business payment products including spot transfers, forward contracts and market orders.
Personalised FX risk management tailored specifically to your business.
Knowledgeable support from our team of currency experts.
Get in touch with XE.com
About XE.com
XE can help safeguard your profit margins and improve cashflow through quantifying the FX risk you face and implementing unique strategies to mitigate it. XE Business Solutions provides a comprehensive range of currency services and products to help businesses access competitive rates with greater control.
Deciding when to make an international payment and at what rate can be critical. XE Business Solutions work with businesses to protect bottom-line from exchange rate fluctuations, while the currency experts and risk management specialists act as eyes and ears in the market to protect your profits from the world’s volatile currency markets.
Your company money is safe with XE, their NASDAQ listed parent company, Euronet Worldwide Inc., has a multi billion-dollar market capitalization, and an investment grade credit rating. With offices in the UK, Canada, Europe, APAC and North America they have a truly global coverage.
Are you curious to know more about XE?
Maurits Houthoff, senior business development manager at XE.com, is always in for a cup of coffee, mail or call to provide you detailed information.
Visit XE.com
Visit XE partner page
Should corporate treasurers stop ignoring bitcoins and other crypto currencies?
26-5-2021 | treasuryXL | Pieter de Kiewit
This is a blog by someone who does not own bitcoins or other crypto currencies and does not intend to purchase any soon. Someone who is not a subject matter expert. Someone who told his colleagues not to consider the topic relevant for corporate treasury for a long time. Someone who thought bitcoins are only relevant for extortionists or those who speculate, gamble and hope to get rich quickly. You understand, that someone would be me.
Slowly I am getting this “One wrong-way driver? I see dozens!”-feeling. Newspapers are filling up with blockchain news. Pension funds start seeing crypto currencies as a relevant asset class. Auction houses start accepting payments (Tesla stopped again) and in countries with hyperinflation in South America, people are fleeing into cryptocurrencies, especially stable coins. After a first attempt with the Libra, Facebook is introducing a stable coin with the so-called Diem that seems to be connected to the US dollar.
My main objection always was that I did not see the underlying value. Real estate is bricks, shares are a piece of ownership, bonds should be paid back and with fiat currencies you can buy in a store. I cannot live in bitcoins and my baker does not accept them as payment. But with gold I cannot buy bread either. It has some practical use as a metal but that does not justify its current value. So why measure bitcoins in practical use and underlying value?
The core discussion is about speculation and trust. There used to be times we knew a dollar or gulden could be exchanged for gold, so we trusted our money. But the gold standard is not so standard anymore. Of course the prices of dogecoins, ethereum and bitcoins are extremely volatile but how about the rates of Argentine Pesos, Venezuelan Bolivars, Turkish Liras or pre WOII German Deutschmarks? When you cannot stand the heat, stay out of the crypto currency kitchen but I do not consider volatility a reason to disqualify the asset class.
As to myself, perhaps I just have to accept that I am a laggard or at best member of the late majority in accepting the technology/solution. As to corporate treasurers, the survey shows they have the ambition to educate themselves better on the topic. Of course to be able to answer questions from their colleagues and perhaps to initiate some form of a practical application of crypto currencies. I hope that, next to the Tesla example, in further blogs we can inform you about relevant business cases. About successful implementation but of course also about the bottlenecks like taxation and reporting. There will be enough happening for many future blogs. And I will be someone who communicates differently about crypto currencies.
PS You might enjoy the slides of a recent presentation by Tristan Verhagen, recent Register Treasurer graduate, a great introduction into Bitcoins with provoking insights. See link.
Take care, Pieter
Pieter de Kiewit
Owner at Treasurer Search