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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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Xe-Pert Webinar Market Movers: Currency Influencers with Jason Schenker
| 27-08-2020 | XE.com
Webinar and Q&A | Thursday September 10, 2020 at 4.00 pm BST / 10 am CDT
As we approach the last quarter of 2020, join the Xe team and Market Futurist and Economist Jason Schenker, as they provide their thoughts on the current market outlook for the remainder of the year.
There are a number of key planned events happening over the next few months which could impact the currency markets in the United States and Europe, these include; the Presidential Election in the US, trade agreements and Brexit negotiations. With a continued focus on economic recovery as the markets react to a possible ‘second wave’ of Covid-19, the latest Xe webinar examines the potential scenarios and outcomes from these events and how businesses that have a commercial exposure to the currency markets can look to protect their bottom line from further impacts and protect against uncertainty.
Jason Schenker is the Chairman of The Futurist Institute and the President of Prestige Economics. He has written two-dozen books on emerging technologies, business strategy, finance, and the economy. Bloomberg News has ranked Jason the #1 forecaster in the world in 25 different categories, which is why executives, corporate boards, industry groups, and central banks rely on his financial market research.”
Date, time and registration
Date: September 10, 2020
Start time: 4.00 pm BST / 10 am CDT
Register here
Do you a question that you’d like one of the XE Experts to answer during the session? Please provide details and XE will endeavour to respond during the session. You can submit your question at the registration page.
Cash is The Whole Royal Family!
26-08-2020 | Olivier Werlingshoff | treasuryXL
Can the treasurer be the linking pin between different departments within organizations?
For cash related topics he or she has to be the linking pin to understand the cash flows within the company and to be in control. When you understand how all departments work and how the financial information is produced by controllers, you can help them and give advice on how to lower trapped cash.
Cashflow
To me the cash flow forecast is the basic of all treasury related items. When setting up the forecast (direct/indirect), it gives you the possibility to dive deep in the risk of FX and take actions to lower them or even better, to develop a guideline on how to handle FX risks in the future. The same can be done for IR risk, debtor risk and all other cash flow related risks. When making the cash flow forecast, you can literally make visual what the effect of a change in payment behavior of your customers or a change in FX rates will be.
The Treasurer’s task
The treasurer has to be in constant contact with all different departments to receive the most actual information. As treasurer, you also have to challenge the different departments on cash related topics. The reason for this is that most of the colleagues are not always cash focused. You have to set up an internal marketing plan to reach all necessary stakeholders (organize meetings, develop reports, mailings, organize events where colleagues can come with cash optimization related idea’s etc…).
Supply chain departments are focusing on delivering on time for production or sales. It is very interesting to focus on the ins and outs of world of supply chain. All goods can be categorized based on the time they will stay in the warehouse as well as the time needed to replace them and the cost of a reorder. When you combine all variables, an optimum can be reach. The information that supply chain and purchasing department can provide you is the order book. This can help you to extent the reliable period of the direct cash flow forecast.
By sitting close to the financial department or the shared service center you can have a better understanding of the payment behavior of clients but also the payment behavior of the company. Is there enough focus on the debtor collection process and is the sales department also aware of the payment behavior of their customers? Are the invoices send on time? Do they use direct debits or are balances on bank accounts swept daily to a master account?
Financial control is a department which is also related to the cash flow forecast. Most of the time they will make budgets of balance sheets and P&L and will make (monthly/ quarterly/yearly) estimations of the working capital parts such as inventory, accounts payables and receivables. By doing so they will be able to predict an indirect cash flow forecast. Are their presumptions for the working capital parts correct? Are they based on the budget sales, or based on the previous years? Most of the time the presumptions explain the difference between the direct and indirect forecast and difficult to track down.
Conclusion
Financing activities such as project financing, supply chain and trade finance can be set up based on a reliable forecast. By increasing the cash awareness in different departments, you will be able to release trapped cash, lower costs and have better control of all cash related items.
Olivier Werlingshoff
Olivier is an operational treasury manager who likes to connect and get in touch with different departments. By doing so he gets the treasury department and the awareness of cash in the picture, gets grip on the cash flow and releases trapped cash as well as lowers costs.
He is available for a permanent/interim position and you can reach him on
+ 31683629427
[email protected].
Does your business need support in Treasury or a Treasury QuickScan?
Improving Internal Communication to Lower FX Risk
20-08-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |
Poor internal communication can lead to businesses not making the right decisions for the business as a whole—and it can even increase foreign exchange risk.
Poor communication. It’s something that many of us have experienced in all facets of life. At best, poor communication will cause confusion and irritation. At worst, poor communication could progress to costly misunderstandings.
In the business world, internal communication is the key to a cohesive, productive organization. Unfortunately, many organizations around the world have little to no communication between teams. Sometimes this is a result of the organization being large or having recently undergone significant growth. It can also be the result of people believing that certain processes are only the responsibility of one department.
In reality, foreign exchange risk can affect the entire business, and poor internal communication is one of the most common mistakes that can increase a business’s exposure to FX risk. But what’s the solution?
How does poor communication add to foreign exchange risk?
When businesses operate in silos rather than as one collective unit, it’s very likely that they aren’t making decisions with the bigger picture in mind. Poor communication between units means that units are unlikely to have a clear picture of just how their particular operations
and currency market exposures factor into the company’s overall risk level and exposure.
If the poor communication is allowed to spread to decision-making, this could lead to businesses making autonomous decisions about transactions and risk management that aren’t consistent with the business as a whole, and could ultimately undermine other parts of the business. One example of this could be supply chain managers hedging out the risk of higher import prices without taking into account the sales department’s expected revenues from overseas.
Ultimately, your business’s FX goals should be to get the best possible rates for your international payments and minimize your risk exposure. Without effective communication, it will be very difficult—if not impossible—to accomplish this. So, how can you improve your organization’s communication?
How to improve your organization’s communication
There are two parts to this: you should prioritize internal communication, but also make a point to have strong communication with your FX provider. Internal communication, as we’ve discussed, will help your organization to make decisions that are best for the business as a whole, while communicating with your FX provider will help you to effectively resolve issues as they come up and prevent potential issues from arising.
Earlier in this series, we advised you to work with your FX provider to develop a comprehensive foreign exchange risk management policy. Having this policy can address communication issues in the following ways:
You and your team will better understand every aspect of your organization’s risk exposure.
You can then develop and implement processes to address said risk exposure on a holistic and company-wide basis.
You can establish protocols and procedures for how different units across the business should collaborate and communicate, in order to reduce the risk of issues arising as a result of miscommunication.
On one final note, it’s also important that you consider how you can communicate with your FX provider—not just on a day-to-day basis, but in the event that an unexpected issue arises or you need additional assistance with something. When searching for the right provider, take this into account.
Consider:
Do they offer phone-based or web-based assistance that you can utilize during any hour of the day?
Will there be one person or team as your designated point of contact?
How will they provide you with the information you need to make proactive decisions?
These questions could help you to find the provider that’s the right fit for your operation and your currency needs.
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.
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