A Committed and Solid Partner in Cash Management

by Pierre Fersztand, Global Head of Cash Management, BNP Paribas

The Cash Management University, now in its eighth year, has become well established as the place to debate, explore and collaborate on best practices, trends and innovations in cash and treasury management. This year, the CMU explored the theme of ‘regional and global’, a key issue given the geopolitical and economic uncertainties in many parts of the world, major changes to the regulatory environment and the decision by a number of banks to realign their transaction banking strategies.

Local proximity, global cohesion

In an environment characterised by external uncertainties on one hand, and internal pressures on corporate treasurers and cash managers to reduce costs and deliver value on the other, our corporate clients have never depended more on BNP Paribas. Our unrivalled cash management network of over 220 business centres and 1,700 experienced relationship managers across 57 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Middle East provide in-depth insights and tailored solutions to meet local requirements and payment cultures in each country.

Banking partner of choice

Our long-term commitment to supporting our clients’ needs across our pan-European and international footprint, client proximity through our business centre network, and depth and quality of our solutions and services, were among the key reasons why RBS selected BNP Paribas as its referral bank following the bank’s decision to refocus its transaction services on its home markets in UK and Ireland. Our dedicated onboarding team is already helping cash management and trade finance clients to migrate to BNP Paribas, enabling them to take advantage of our entire pan-European and wider international network, without diverting resources from existing clients.

Together on the journey

Clients joining us from RBS, as with every other client of BNP Paribas, have the assurance of our ability and commitment to supporting their business today, and their evolving requirements as they pursue their international growth strategy over time. We take a global approach to designing, delivering and supporting cohesive solutions that meet clients’ cash management and liquidity objectives. For example, our global cash pooling engine helps clients to optimise liquidity across our footprint within the context of in-country regulations. Our SEPA engine provides a powerful, high volume processing tool for payments across Europe. This is complemented by our local presence and commitment to each individual market to ensure that clients benefit from access to local resources, solutions and insights into local payment practices and cultures.

Earlier this year, BNP Paribas’ number one ranking across a range of corporate banking activities was reconfirmed in the Greenwich Associates Survey, most notably for large corporate banking in Europe. In particular, BNP Paribas was ranked: number one in market penetration for Eurozone large corporate cash management and European large corporate trade finance. It was also ranked number one for quality in European top-tier large corporate cash management.

A venue for collaboration

We look forward to welcoming both new and long-standing clients to next year’s Cash Management University which will take place on 26 – 27 May 2016. In the meantime, the articles that follow provide a glimpse into some of the discussions that took place during this year’s event.

We look forward to seeing you!