TMI Awards 2009 Supplement (Part 3)

 

J.P. Morgan

For the third year running, J.P. Morgan has been voted the Global Bank for Supply Chain Finance. “We are truly delighted to be recognised once again by the TMI readership” commented Jeremy Shaw, Regional Trade Executive for J.P. Morgan. “We are continually working at delivering practical answers so that our clients might benefit from real working capital optimisation”.

J.P. Morgan has been continually building on their unrivalled capabilities in this area. The firm is still the only bank that can deliver solutions across the entire financial and physical supply chain. “It’s a key differentiator for us” remarked Shaw. “Our clients are faced with unprecedented challenges. With the suite of capabilities at our disposal, we have worked as their partner by helping them look at ways to increase efficiency and/or mitigate risk throughout the supply chain”.

Ten years ago J.P. Morgan took the decision to start integrating their transaction banking activities because they had product areas that were providing solutions to treasurers, purchasing managers and CFOs in a discrete manner. The decision to consolidate product companies within the treasury services business, such as payment and collections, trade, supply chain finance, cards and liquidity management has allowed the firm to offer a significantly broader set of products which can be bundled and provided to clients today. “This is something that we’ve been building on consistently over a number of years. Important, however, is to have people that understand these processes intimately and can therefore discuss with the client how they can help overcome their challenges. Our clients don’t split up chunks of their supply chain, so why should we?”

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BNP Paribas

With the growing complexity of today’s global supply chain, BNP Paribas brings together data and transactions from trade and payments to free up working capital and to achieve value throughout the supply chains. We offer fully flexible cash management and financial supply chain solutions to adapt to local practices. For instance in a number of countries in Southern Europe, BNP Paribas offers e-invoicing solutions fully integrated with e-banking tools, that enable Corporates to improve their management of payment transactions and reconciliations between commercial and financial data.

We are also a strong player in SEPA and, with Fortis Bank, are both committed to innovative solutions for the future such as SEPA compliant direct debit and our new global card acquiring platform to support clients in enhancing their receivables management.

 

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Commerzbank

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SEB

SEB continues to invest heavily in delivering service excellence across the markets in which it has expertise, in particular the Nordics, Germany and Central & Eastern Europe. Now established as the bank of choice for corporates headquartered in, or operating in these regions, this Award is once again a statement of client support and confidence in SEB, and a validation of the innovation for the bank is renowned.

“Developing an integrated approach to the financial supply chain, including cash and trade, to deliver value to the corporation is a pivotal element of SEB’s strategy. We have devised the SEB Corporate Financial Value Chain™ which is a structured approach to identifying, prioritising and delivering improvements to financial processes, releasing working capital and creating additional value. Many of our clients have experienced dramatic improvements in process efficiency, liquidity and risk management by working with SEB in this way. We are delighted by these Awards which recognise the benefit that our clients continue to derive from SEB’s innovative approach to enhancing value across the financial supply chain.”

Patrik Havander, Head of Concept and Packaging, Global Transaction Services, SEB [[[PAGE]]]

 

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Standard Chartered

Trade finance was one of the main driving forces in the establishment of Standard Chartered Bank more than 150 years ago. This remains a key business for the bank and a core service offered to clients across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Within trade finance, supply chain finance has become an important competitive advantage for companies especially in Asia as these companies use the solutions within supply chain finance to maximise their liquidity and working capital. This has become even more crucial with local companies seeking to maintain their traditional low-cost advantages and to mitigate the impact of the credit crunch during this financial crisis.

In the last five years, Standard Chartered’s supply chain finance business has grown seven-fold, with much of the growth coming from Asia and Greater China and recently also in Africa. The bank’s supply chain finance model is unique – while many banks define supply chain financing as transactions between a large buyer and its vendors, Standard Chartered looks at entire ‘ecosystem’ comprising a sustained relationship between one main ‘anchor’ manufacturer and its ‘spokes’. The spokes can be the anchor’s key suppliers of critical components on the one hand and its key buyers/ distributors on the other. 

“We believe our Supply Chain Finance model is a lower risk structure because we understand and follow the actual trade flows and commercial relationships.  As critical participants in the business of the ‘anchor’, it is in everyone’s interest that the ‘spokes’ remain in business and we fund these ‘spokes’ based on the longevity of its relationship with the ‘anchor’ and its critical role within the entire supply chain ecosystem. This works well for our anchor clients because they can always count on the bank to ensure its entire supply chain and financing with its spokes is carried smoothly.

“Despite the credit crunch, we have been in a strong position to continue to offer this solution to our clients, in turn helping them remain open for business. The bank now has spokes in more than 30 locations,” said Tan Kah Chye, Global Head of Trade Finance at Standard Chartered Bank.

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Christopher D. Baker, Trade Sales Executive – Americas and EMEA

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is a leader in supply chain financing, providing a wide range of services that can be tailored to the needs of commercial or large corporate clients. The bank works closely with customers to select the right solutions based on cost, operational and technology needs – a formula that has led to dramatic growth in our supply chain finance business over the past year.

The current credit and liquidity challenges have accelerated the need for supply chain financing, with programmes moving from the conceptual stage to practical implementation. As supply chains intensify efforts to reduce costs amid stalled revenue growth, access to capital has become limited. Those conditions can leave trading partners on the brink of failure and disrupt an entire supply chain.

In this climate, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has continued to deploy cutting-edge working capital solutions for clients in the oil, auto, retail, consumer, packaging, electronics, commodities and other industries. Our bank sees buyers and sellers as members of an ecosystem, with the goal of optimising the supply chain’s internal liquidity by squeezing out costs and removing trapped capital. [[[PAGE]]]

To provide critical liquidity to major trading partners in a difficult economy, Bank of America Merrill Lynch first helps clients identify and prioritise suppliers for participation in a financing programme. The bank then helps buyers design and deploy an optimal marketing programme, using such tools as case studies, a buyer-branded website and a supplier benefits calculator. Finally, the bank assists with supplier onboarding, which buyers can track with an automated system.

Through these programmes, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has helped manage risk within the supply chain and created win-win situations for both buyers and suppliers. For instance, one large auto parts, tools and equipment distributor said the cash flow created by supply chain financing will allow it to reinvest in other opportunities or reduce debt and interest costs. Among vendors, a wood products manufacturer reported such benefits as increased cash flow, better credit management and cost savings from a lower net interest rate.

Other financial benefits may include extended days payable outstanding and access to capital at lower cost, while strategic benefits include processing efficiency, a hedge against financing cost volatility and visibility into a supply chain’s cash conversion cycle. The bank also gains transparency and a better understanding of a supply chain’s working capital needs.

Managing counterparty risk and ensuring continued supply chain viability is impossible without a banking partner that has a solid balance sheet and the ability to provide affordable financing. Other advantages offered by Bank of America Merrill Lynch include our long-term commitment to the trade business, our global network and our range of integrated solutions, such as card programmes for vendors with smaller invoices, as well as end-to-end payables outsourcing.

More importantly, clients have told us that Bank of America Merrill Lynch focuses on the issues most critical to them and carefully analyses the customer’s position in its industry. By showing our clients where they stand compared with their competitors, the bank demonstrates the best ways to improve performance and win more business.

Going forward, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is working to further expand its syndication capabilities by partnering with several strategic financial institutions partners. This will ensure that corporations with the largest supply chain financing needs have an easier route to the capacity they need.

This collaboration is crucial for making available the necessary credit support for international trade expansion not only in North America but around the world. Following the merger, the combined Bank of America Merrill Lynch now serves clients in more than 150 countries through more than 40 offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The bank has working relationships with 95%  of US Fortune 500 companies and nearly 75% of the Fortune Global 500.

In the major global trading centres, Bank of America Merrill Lynch offers competitive advantages in risk management, technology integration, open account processing, document preparation and presentment services, payables financing and physical supply chain visibility. We are committed to delivering world class service to our clients wherever they do business, and we are honoured that Treasury Management International readers have recognised Bank of America Merrill Lynch for innovation and excellence in supply chain solutions.

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Citi

Global Transaction Services, a division of Citi’s Institutional Clients Group, offers integrated cash management, trade, and securities and fund services to multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector organisations around the world. With a network that spans more than 100 countries, Citi’s Global Transaction Services supports over 65,000 clients. As of the third quarter of 2009, it held on average $314bn in liability balances and $11.8tr in assets under custody.
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