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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:
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
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Cultural differences and Trade Finance
| 20-07-2020 | Ger van Rosmalen | treasuryXL
What do Trade Finance and Cultural Differences have in common?
If you want to do business internationally, it is important to understand which risks you could encounter. These are not only payment or transport risks, but certainly also communication risks
This blog is in Dutch language.
Over betaal-en transport risico’s laten mensen zich graag voorlichten en op dat punt gaat men graag met de opgedane kennis aan de slag. Toch levert dat niet altijd het beoogde resultaat op. Hoe komt dat dan? Vaak denken wij Nederlanders met onze buitenlandse zakenpartners hele goede gesprekken te voeren terwijl de nuances van de gesprekspartners volledig aan ons voorbij gaan. We begrijpen niet dat er iets anders bedoeld wordt dan wat er wordt gezegd. Dan kan het zomaar gebeuren dat de deal aan je neus voorbij gaat.
(H)erkennen
Erkennen en herkennen dat er culturele verschillen zijn is een goed startpunt. De volgende stap is hoe maak ik mij die kennis eigen en hoe ga ik dat toepassen in mijn dagelijks werk? Kennis vergaren is kennis in huis halen door gebruik te maken van ervaren trainers/docenten die de cultuur van het bedrijf als startpunt nemen om je vervolgens mee te nemen in jouw wereld van internationaal zakendoen. Met welke delen van de wereld doe je zaken? Leren hoe je met die zakenpartners op een effectieve manier kunt communiceren. Dat kan zijn als je elkaar ontmoet of per email, videoconference of telefoongesprek spreekt. In ieder van deze communicatievormen zijn andere aandachtspunten waar je rekening mee kan houden. Immers bij een telefoongesprek spreek je elkaar maar zie je elkaar niet en gaat het om een andere vorm van communicatie dan wanneer je elkaar via een video conference spreekt. Nu zie je elkaar ook en kan jouw zakenpartner ineens non-verbale signalen afgeven die je in een telefoongesprek niet had gezien.
Culturele verschillen binnen het bedrijf
Culturele verschillen is in mijn ogen een ondergewaardeerd onderwerp in het internationaal zakendoen. Ik ben er van overtuigd wat het bedrijven kan brengen en heb diverse trainingen mogen bijwonen bij bedrijven. Er ging een wereld voor de mensen open, zoveel voorbeelden van miscommunicatie, elkaar niet begrijpen en soms herkenning als voorbeelden worden gegeven hoe het mis kan gaan en ik mensen zie lachen die dergelijke situatie hebben meegemaakt. Ik heb ook een keer een training bijgewoond bij een groot internationaal bedrijf waar ik dagvoorzitter was. Doel was om te praten over culturele verschillen als je over de hele wereld zaken doet. Er waren 20 deelnemers met 18 verschillende nationaliteiten. Het bleek dat culturele verschillen binnen het bedrijf zelf al een groot probleem bleek te zijn. Collega’s die elkaar niet begrijpen, die dicht klappen als wij “Hollanders” de druk even stevig opvoeren. Ik kan u vertellen de trainer heeft die dag niet gesproken over culturele verschillen met buitenlandse zakenpartners maar wel over culturele verschillen binnen het bedrijf. Het was een openbaring en verademing voor de deelnemers om daar over te kunnen spreken. Deelnemers die vanuit hun culturele achtergrond niet snel op de voorgrond zullen treden konden en mochten zich uitspreken. Het is een zeer openhartige training geworden wat de collegialiteit een enorme positieve boost heeft gegeven.
Wil je meer weten hoe een beter begrip van culturele verschillen jou verder kan helpen?
Neem dan contact op
Ger van Rosmalen
Trade Finance Specialist
5 Signs Your Budget Needs a Rethink
16-07-2020 | treasuryXL | XE |
We’ve all got some sort of a budget. Whether you’re the type to keep an immaculate record of every bit spent down to the last cappuccino or you prefer to keep a more general list of priorities for each paycheck, everyone has some kind of methodology for how they choose to spend their money. How did you create your budget? And when did you create your budget? Odds are, your current circumstances aren’t exactly the same as the circumstances in which you first created your budget, and that could warrant a revisit. In general, you should review your budget at least once per year. But that’s the bare minimum: if you’re experiencing any of the following with your budget, it might be time to take another look.
#1. Your income, expenses, or goals have changed.
These three things are the bare-bones basics of any budget:
You’re free to add other features as you please, but those are the fundamentals. A change in your income (such as starting a new job or getting a raise), a change in your regular spending (such as paying off a debt or adding a new expense), and a change in your goals (such as deciding to save for a home) will impact how you budget. Maybe now you can afford to increase the amount that goes into your savings account each month, or maybe you’ll need to cut your spending to account for your new expenses.
Don’t wait until things become problems: as soon as your finances change, make the changes in your budget to reflect them.
#2. You can’t afford it.
Some things are out of your control, and there might be periods where you’re in a tight spot, financial. But during ordinary times, if you find yourself:
…then your current budget isn’t working for you.
Take a look at your budget and see why these things are happening. It could be as simple as setting up an automatic deposit into your savings account each month. Or, you might need to critically examine your spending habits and reallocate your monthly income.
#3. It’s too restrictive.
Keeping a specific, organized budget isn’t a bad thing. But budgeting yourself so tightly that you don’t have any wiggle room can lead to trouble later on. Do you have the emergency funds to purchase a new dishwasher or make unexpected repairs to your car or home? Or would you be forced to dip into your retirement savings or take out a loan.
It’s important to save and spend responsibly, but allowing yourself the leeway for an occasional takeout meal or latte won’t derail your financial future (unless you genuinely don’t have the funds for these things). When it comes to your budget, you should feel disciplined, not restrained.
#4. You’ve noticed some unfavorable patterns in your spending.
Some spending is inevitable. You know you’ll always need to spend a certain amount on things like rent, mortgage, utilities, bills, and groceries. Once you’ve taken care of the essential spending and your savings, you’ll hopefully have a bit left over for fun, frivolous, and miscellaneous purposes.
Take a look at your nonessential spending too. It’s normal to spend a little more than usual during the holidays, for example, but are you consistently going over budget on things like online shopping, nights out, or takeout food? If you’re spending more than you can afford on these things, it’s time to reassess: either reallocate your budget to account for more spending, or make the choice to reduce the amount you spend.
#5. You’re stressed.
Finances are a common worry for people all over the world. But if you’re constantly stressing about whether you’ll be able to pay your bills at the end of the month, or stay up late each night worrying about potential disasters that could empty your bank account, making some changes to your budget could help you to find peace of mind and feel more comfortable with your finances.
Source
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