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TREASURY FOR NON-TREASURERS: The good, the bad and the ugly of outsourcing
| 12-02-2018 | treasuryXL |
Outsourcing is a method used by most Governments in Europe to buy a particular service as opposed to providing the service directly. This allows a Government (or a company) to identify their core competencies and to buy in the ancillary services they need to perform all their tasks. A big motivator is of course related to cost. For a company this means only employing those staff that are needed for the core operations and hiring in those needed for non-core functions, such as pay roll. For Governments it allows large direct capital expenditure to be removed from the balance sheet whilst still providing necessary services for maintenance and construction in the general infrastructure within the country.
In simple terms, however frustrated we might be with builders or manufacturers, we generally recognise that it is more efficient – both financially and economically – to have external suppliers perform these functions. We do not possess the knowledge or proficiency to undertake building our own homes or designing and fitting our own kitchens. It is more acceptable to hand complex tasks over to others, and so make the procedure more accountable and manageable.
Likewise for companies it is imperative to determine whether to employ permanent staff to undertake their treasury and cash management operations, or to look at buying in the relevant knowledge and expertise. Many companies do not have a dedicated treasury team. Regularly, the work of a treasurer is incorporated into the work of another existing role within the organisation. This can be performed by the CFO, a controller, or the head of planning and control. Invariably, none of these people actually have the complete skill set to perform the treasury task.
When financing is needed for long term investment, contacting 3 banks and just taking the cheapest quote is not actually the same as getting the best deal. The individual banks could have different standard terms and conditions. The ratios expressed in the bank covenants could also differ from bank to bank. Implementing a hedging strategy for foreign currency requires a deep knowledge of the company’s cash flows, sales and purchases, and comprehensive understanding of the different financial products that can be used to hedge the risks.
Employing someone fulltime to perform these tasks is counterintuitive if there is not enough work for that person to be employed full time. Other staff could be resentful; the person could become disenchanted if there is not enough of a challenge in the work; a lack of continuity within the company could exist.
However, employing someone on a flexible basis to do the work that needs to be done and nothing else, allows direct payroll to be cut, a dedicated and proficient person is employed to perform the tasks, and the company can yet again focus on their core competencies.
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IBM-Maersk Blockchain Platform: Breakthrough for Supply Chain?
| 09-02-2018 | Carlo de Meijer |
Present challenges in the shipping industry
This announcement is an answer to the growing demand across the shipping industry for efficiency gains and opportunities coming from streamlining and standardising information flows using digital solutions.
The world’s shipping ecosystems with more than $4 trillion of goods shipped every year have grown in complexity. One major challenge with supply chain management in the shipping industry today involves record keeping. A lot of record keeping is still based on inefficient outdated systems. Along with paper legal documents, much of the international shipping industry’s information has been transmitted via very old technologies.
Presently, many shipping supply chains are still confronted with enormous bulk of paperwork and bureaucracy involving many intermediaries in cross-border trade. Especially the traditional cross-border shipping processes usually involve manually transporting and verifying paper documents for each shipment. Just as an example: “a shipment of refrigerated goods for instance from East Africa to Europe can go through nearly 30 people and organizations and involve more than 200 different communications”.
This means that today, a vast amount of resources are wasted due to inefficient and error-prone manual processes. This could lead to lost documentation or delays in delivering. goods. These costs of the required trade documentation to process and administer many of these goods are estimated to reach one fifth of the total costs of moving a container. By the way, the cost of global trade is estimated at $1.8 trillion annually.
Why blockchain?
The attributes of blockchain technology are said to be ideally suited to large networks of disparate partners like the shipping industry. This technology opens up an entirely new set of possibilities and an innovative opportunity to engage the entire global shipping ecosystem.
Blockchain technology addresses the many supply chain challenges as it establishes an immutable record shared of all the transactions among network participants that is updated in real time, enabling permissioned parties in a private blockchain environment access to trusted data in real time.
Read the full article of our expert Carlo de Meijer on Finextra
Carlo de Meijer
Economist and researcher
Davos, interest rates and secular stagnation
| 08-02-2018 | Lionel Pavey |
Two weeks ago there was the annual meeting of more than 2,000 politicians, business people, economists etc. at the World Economic Forum. For 4 days the most pressing and urgent topics facing the world were discussed. Sifting through all the speeches and press statements, I saw a lot of articles relating to a rather old theme of secular stagnation.
What is it?
It is a theory dating back to the 1930s stating that developed countries can suffer from a period of too small investment and too large savings. This can be the result not only of an economic recession but, more importantly, as the result of changes in the underlying demographics within a country. This would in turn imply that growth would be low to negligible within the economy. As growth slows down, so demand for investment would also slow down, leading to more savings etc.
Normal theory would demand a reduction in interest rates (the cost of money) leading to an increase in long term investments by companies, a comparative feeling of wealth amongst the people and a kick start to the economy.
Since the crisis of 2008, we have experienced an extended period of low interest rates and low inflation. The expected increase in investment, leading to improved production processes and new goods does not appear to have materialised. Furthermore, the effect that the crisis has had on individual people – job losses, house repossessions, insecurity – has made them reticent to indulge in large bouts of consumer spending.
Even with negative interest rates there has been no rush to invest in productivity. Instead funds are invested in financial assets – shares, bonds etc. Whilst offering goods returns, such investments do not add to potential economic productivity and growth in the industries that provide it.
Furthermore, when consumers tighten their belts – restricting spending and increasing savings – they are not actually directly providing funds for investment. Banks operate as intermediaries and extend credit – individual investors do not in the present system.
The economy is growing – GDP forecasts are all up among the major developed countries and inflation appears to be restrained. So have we broken the long existing chain of recognised monetary theory – could we see a prolonged period of steady growth, backed by low interest rates and low inflation?
At this stage of the proceedings an added element was thrown into the debates – demographics.
Europe is experiencing a period of shifting demographics. The long term replacement fertility rate is 2.1 children per woman. There has been a steep decline of this rate within Europe, with the rate in Germany being as low as 1.4 children. At the same time people are living longer, which means they are retired for longer. In 2006 there were 4 active workers for every retiree – by 2050 this could be down to only 2. The median age in Europe is expected to rise from 37 to 52 by 2050. EU studies have forecast that by 2050 there will be a reduction of 48 million in the working age population and an increase of 58 million in the retirees.
At the same time other studies suggest there will be a 14% decrease in working population against a 7% decrease in total population. All these projections are based on the current situation and that the trend continues.
If this was to continue, then there would be significant challenges for Europe. The expectation of governments to be able to finance the existing outstanding debt by increases in national GDP will stall. Increased burdens will be placed on the state to provide the necessary facilities to an ageing population whilst the pool of available workers is shrinking, leading to lower productivity per capita. Within the last 10 years the distribution of wealth has been skewed – there is more inequality with the super rich having proportionally even more of the total wealth than before the crisis.
New technology has the ability to change the existing concept of productivity. However, if this could be more than enough to offset the expected developments caused by an ageing population is unclear. It could mean that we are entering a prolonged period of low interest rates, low inflation and low growth. If so, all the economic models – even within companies – will need to be reappraised and a new long term policy initiated.
Lionel Pavey
Cash Management and Treasury Specialist