With innovative partnerships across the globe, Christophe Beuvard, Treasurer, Naval Group, knew that having full transparency over outgoing payments was vital for maintaining excellent supplier relationships. By working with BNP Paribas to implement SWIFT gpi for corporates and rolling out the bank’s new Pay and Trace capability, Naval Group can now self-track cross-border payments in real time. Enriched data, including details on routing and fees, is fed directly into Naval Group’s treasury management system, Kyriba, and further innovation is in the pipeline.
Posting revenues of €3.7bn in 2019, Naval Group is the European leader in naval defence. For over four centuries, the group has designed, built and supported surface ships and submarines in close relationship with the French Navy to sustain its sovereignty. Naval Group is also an international and global player that strengthens its footprint worldwide through its presence on 4 continents and in 19 countries including Brazil, Canada, Saudi Arabia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia to ensure a sustainable presence close to its clients. The company’s treasurer Christophe Beuvard states: “As part of our international development, Naval Group is working with more and more overseas naval fleets, developing them in a spirit of mutual trust with warships and submarines.”
Given the specialist field Naval Group operates in, and the nature of the national defence contracts it undertakes, relationships with suppliers are critical. “As such, it is vital for Naval Group to have the ability to track any payments we issue – in order to forge and maintain strong bonds of trust with our partners,” says Beuvard.
In the past, Naval Group had sometimes encountered issues with cross-border payments: what with time zones, language barriers and different banks involved it can be hard to get information about where a payment is. “And if our suppliers are not paid on time, that is a real issue for us. Certainty around our cross-border payments is critical for securing our projects abroad and remain competitive and efficient – as per our strategic plan,” he notes.
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