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Why Michel decided to explore the World of Treasury
| 22-07-2019 | by treasuryXL | Kendra Keydeniers
Our next RT story is the one of Michel van Baardwijk. He graduated as a Register Treasurer (RT) in 2017. Michel is specialized in the Public Sector and faced many challenges working at Vestia as Treasurer.
Vestia, formally ‘Stichting Vestia’ is the largest public housing corporation in the Netherlands, which is headquartered in Rotterdam. The corporation owns (and rents out) about 78,000 houses and 8,000 other “rentable units”.
Vestia received media attention in 2011 and 2012 on the topic of interest derivatives. This attention continues until today. The follow up and the consequences of the transactions made in the past determine most of Michel’s treasury activities.
What for you was the main reason to start a career in treasury?
Actually my career in treasury was not premeditated. I liked the courses corporate finance during my studies business economics/econometrics in Tilburg, but my first jobs at Philips and the municipality of Rotterdam had nothing to do with treasury. Later when I worked as a financial manager or controller treasury was one of the many elements of the job, until the take-over by Vestia in 2011. In the re-organisation of 2013 I applied for Treasury and I got the job.
Why did you start with the RT program?
Because the portfolio of Vestia was more than 20 times the portfolio I managed before, refreshing my knowledge and skills was priority number 1. I got some training on the job by an experienced interim treasurer and I oriented on possible courses. The RT program at VU offered the best combination of theory and practice.
What are key words that you would use to describe the program?
The program is small scaled and interactive. You get to know all your fellow students very fast and there is enough time to exchange experiences.
Which topics covered were most interesting?
The most interesting courses for me were those courses I had little experience in: international finance and cash management. Piece of cake for seasoned treasurers, but new stuff for me. I also took courses in macro economics and behavioural finance.
Can you describe what your research and thesis was about?
My thesis researched the effects of new, tougher, legislation on the way treasury for housing associations is organised. I thought many had changed their processes, but most processes were already adequately organised and in control before 2012. With more emphasis on compliance after 2015.
How did the education help you in your career?
The RT program has helped me to become a professional in treasury in a short time.
What surprising elements did the program hold that you did not expect?
Behavioural finance was an eye opener for me. I took some psychology courses during university (marketing, organisation) but the impact of psychological elements on decision making was a positive surprise.
Are you still in touch with your peers?
Of course. I meet fellow students at DACT-events, we still have a Whatsapp-group and we are linked via LinkedIn.
What other treasury education programs did you consider and why did you choose this one?
I researched several other programs (NIVE QT, Improfin, modular courses), but VU offered a proven concept which was very practical for me (every week courses on Thursday afternoon and evening) and started very soon.
Did following the program influence your relation with your family, friends and/or colleagues?
Doing classes and assignments takes some planning. And sometimes you have to say No at home or at work, or skip class due to a priority job. Commuting by train gave me much time for reading and writing but not enough. Many weekends were spent writing my thesis, and also two holidays. Fortunately my wife took a course herself and my kids had their own exams.
Can describe a treasury topic you learned about and you could directly apply in your job?
In the first lecture I learned something about the consequences of a large divestment I had not thought about. Fortunately we could solve this directly. I also got more insight in the way banks were pricing loans, which resulted in better quotes.
More stories please! Read the RT story of Jarno, Mathieu and Richard and/or read more info about the RT program here.
The post-graduate Executive Treasury Management & Corporate Finance programme combines two finance disciplines: Treasury Management and Corporate Finance. These disciplines largely overlap and are inextricably connected.
After a successful completion of all required modules, the title of Registered Treasurer (RT) is conferred by the Registered Treasurer foundation.
As of last year the Register Treasurer (RT) program at the University of Amsterdam is taught in English. This is an important change as the program used to be in Dutch.
The course will start on 1 September 2019. Why wait? Apply today!
A deeper dive into the Treasurer Test Technical Knowledge part
| 19-07-2019 | by Kendra Keydeniers |
Different from the multiple choice questions in the Big5 Personality Profile assessment, a number of treasury technical questions require you to make calculations. Furthermore, there is a time pressure component: there are more questions than you will be able to answer within the limited time. You will have to balance between answering questions right and answering as many as possible. It is not possible to skip questions.
In previous blogs and in the Treasurer Test example report we mention the four corporate treasury sub disciplines we work with. For each discipline you will have a limited time of 10 minutes to answer the questions.
In below summary you can see what topics you can expect:
Together with industry and university experts we continuously work on updates of the questions catalogue. A challenge is to balance what is always relevant in corporate treasury, what is new and what will remain relevant.
It is possible to send your input for the further design of the questions catalogue. We are currently discussing topics like tax reforms, trade finance, treasury technology, alternative funding sources.
On behalf of Team Treasurer Test,
Community & Partner Manager at treasuryXL
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How to Solve the 4 Main Payments Challenges
| 18-07-2019 | BELLIN |
Sascha Kopp has been a Consulting Director with BELLIN for over 10 years. He has successfully accompanied and implemented well over 100 payments projects in international groups. In this interview, based on our on-demand webinar, he outlines the 4 main payments challenges for corporates and how to best tackle them.
#1 payments challenge: a complex set-up
What is the biggest challenge for international businesses in handling their payments?
When it comes to payments, the biggest challenge for companies is usually their existing set-up. Very often we witness the following: You have banks on one side, ERP systems on the other side, and the individual entities in the middle. They all exchange payment data, generated by various technologies and in different formats, communicated by several channels. Companies find it difficult to manage this complexity.
How can companies make sense of this complex set-up of several e-banking systems, payment platforms and communication channels?
A payments solution, such as BELLIN’s integrated payments platform in the tm5 treasury management system, allows corporates to leave complex set-ups behind: instead, they experience simplicity with one platform that is accessible to all group companies and connected to all ERP systems and banks. tm5 can be used with any payment format.
You can access it on a desktop computer, mobile phone or tablet. All you need is Internet access. One of the many benefits of this solution is that it is scalable and can be adapted to changing company requirements – and we all know companies change all the time. Every time a new entity is added, no matter where in the world, this company and its banks can easily be connected to the payment platform. There is no need for an additional solution. The tm5 platform handles it all and is easy to use, transparent and secure when communicating data.
#2 payments challenge: fraud and cyber crime
How important is payment fraud?
Fraud, cyber crime and internal manipulation have been increasing dramatically for years. In 2016, the Leoni Group lost 40 million euros to payment fraud. In 2017, ABB reported a fraud case amounting to 100 million dollars. Companies lose more and more money and the number of attacks has been growing. This was confirmed by the AFP Payments Fraud & Control Survey published in April 2019: 82% of companies report having fallen victim to payment fraud.
How can companies best protect themselves against payment fraud?
Organizations currently invest a lot of time and money in fraud prevention. The best way of achieving payment security is to eliminate vulnerabilities, i.e. by using a multi-bank payments platform with integrated user permissions management such as BELLIN’s tm5. Thanks to a single point of entry and an additional security measure by way of 2-factor authentication in the BELLIN Connect app, tm5 protects companies from external threats. The integrated permissions functionality enables companies to define and manage user rights and implement dual approval for payment processing, thus ensuring compliance.
#3 payments challenge: cost
How can companies save money in their payment process?
In addition to bank fees, payments processing eats up resources. For most companies a centralized set-up is the most efficient – as well as the most secure – option to manage group-wide payments with only one team. As a web-based system, tm5 also enables decentralized cooperation using a central platform. We refer to this approach as Load-balanced Treasury.
What is the most affordable payments set-up for companies?
The most cost-efficient combination of formats and connectivity always depends on the countries in which payments are processed as well as on the volume of payments. tm5 offers all types of connectivity, be it local standards such as EBICS, host-to-host connections to main banks or a global solution such as SWIFT. BELLIN consultants offer advice on how to find the most affordable solution.
#4 payments challenge: new banking partners
What is the impact of changes to the banking landscape on corporate payments?
Companies are hit hard by changes to the banking landscape. In recent years, some banks have discontinued their services in some countries over night. But even when the selection of a new banking partner is driven by strategic and cost reasons, this change usually goes hand in hand with a new, additional e-banking system.
But it could be so much simpler: Companies who process their payments on the integrated payments platform in the tm5 treasury management system always work with the same user interface. This user interface is independent of the banks, channels and payment formats a company uses.
All in all:
Make the move to a central, multi-bank payments platform and benefit from:
Sascha Kopp
Consulting Director at BELLIN