Ben Poole
Editorial Team, Treasury Management International (TMI)
Articles
All Change?
New technologies and innovations promise more efficient and cost-effective trade finance for corporates and their suppliers.
Instant Growth
For treasurers, instant payments are not just a new technical scheme to read about in an academic paper. Instead, they offer corporates an opportunity to rethink how they run their operations.
AI in Treasury
Mark McDonald (Gartner) and Bob Stark (Kyriba) place AI under the microscope, to provide a clear summary of its opportunities and limitations.
Achievement Unlocked!
Learn how to effectively leverage virtual accounts to improve cash management operations in this corporate case study featuring Wabtec.
FX and International Payments
There are proactive steps that treasurers could take today to get a better handle on their currency exposures.
Embedded Finance
Embedded finance is starting to revolutionise the way that corporates interact with their customers and banking partners.
Don’t Forget to Breathe!
Natasha Condon and Martijn Stoker explain how corporate treasury teams can manage ongoing uncertainty in 2023.
Tapping Today’s Hottest Payments Innovations to Reap Business and Treasury Benefits
NatWest specialists explain why it’s vital for treasurers to have a strategy that is completely aligned with their customers’ payment desires.
Let’s Get Digital!
Treasurers and finance transformation teams must be ready for a significant transition in how they make and receive payments.
Dream Big!
The treasury team at C. H. Robinson set out to reinvent its cash and liquidity management structure within Europe. To do so, they enlisted BNP Paribas for a strategy focused on automation and process efficiencies across key European treasury activities.
The Critical SCF Trends Shaping Corporate Supply Chains
Following a deluge of shocks to global supply chains, treasurers are searching for ways to build greater resiliency into their supplier relationships.
Cloud and Proud!
For treasurers using cloud-based systems, it seems that the possibilities are endless.
Time Flies so be the Pilot
Discover how banking software giant Temenos were able to automate centralised treasury processes to slash manual processes and reliance on spreadsheets.
All Systems Go!
To take full advantage of recent technology developments, treasurers should create a robust project plan for choosing and implementing a system.
Reasons to Be Cheerful: Treasury Short-Term Investments in 2023
This year has thrown severe challenges and a few opportunities at corporate treasurers and their short-term investment portfolios. Regulatory and market changes are two vital areas to pay attention to in 2023.
Closing in on Payments Nirvana
Instant Cross-border Treasury Transactions While domestic faster payments schemes have seen excellent traction over the past decade, obtaining the same visibility and control of cash flows in the cross-border world...
Turning Cross-Border Payments from a Burden to a Benefit
Livia Benisty (Banking Circle) explores the current offering and limitations of cross-border payments, and what steps PSPs and banks can take to deliver them as an added value service.
Roche’s Breakthrough for Cash Pooling in Saudi Arabia
Roche’s group treasury worked with BNP Paribas and the local regulator to successfully implement a first-of-its-kind cash pooling solution in the country.
How to Master Real-Time Treasury Data: Tools and Techniques
‘Real-time treasury’ is an increasingly hyped phrase among banks and technology vendors, but how close to reality is this concept today?
Game On!
The treasury team at Riot Games opted to level up their technology by implementing a TMS and an independent investment portal.
Unlocking Liquidity with Collaborative Trade Finance
The volatile global economic environment in the wake of Covid has particularly impacted the world of trade finance and supply chain management. Physical shipping delays and surging commodity prices have compounded...
Optimising Working Capital to Fight High Inflation and Rates
C2FO’s 2022 Working Capital Survey takes stock of the impact that high inflation and rising interest rates are having on business financing for companies worldwide.
My Life in Treasury: Vincenzo Masile
Vincenzo Masile (AbbVie) explains how being an expat has helped him adapt to different business cultures and values and why communication skills are vital to the modern treasurer.
A Quantum Leap Forward in Data-Driven ESG Scoring
A successful pilot managed by Surecomp has shown that ESG scoring can now be applied at the individual trade finance transaction level, opening up a world of possibilities for corporate treasurers to support...
An Instant Connection: API Use Cases in Treasury
As we shift towards a real-time treasury, APIs have become an essential technology.
As Easy as ESG
Integrating Sustainability into Everyday Treasury As sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion matters continue to grow in importance for a range of corporate stakeholders, treasurers are in a prime position...
A Welcome Update to Digital Onboarding and Account Opening
Hampered by manual bank account processes, rapidly expanding renewable energy firm Scatec knew a digital onboarding solution would ease its pain points. Here, Lilyana Vinokurova, Treasury Manager, Scatec, and BNP...
Keeping all the Plates Spinning
15 Critical Regulatory Changes for European Treasurers Much like the sound of thunder follows a fork of lightning, financial regulation tends to follow a crisis. With European treasurers still adjusting to the...
Making the Numbers Add Up
Frustrated by heavy reliance on manual work across a range of treasury and payments processes, the treasury team at Vectrus partnered with BNP Paribas and Kyriba to harness the power of automation to drive accuracy.
The Key to Smarter Liquidity Management: Breaking Down Silos
Treasurers must lead the charge to bring down organisational silos that stifle optimised liquidity management. To do this successfully, they have to recruit critical stakeholders from other departments to the cause...
Building a Watertight Case for Treasury Technology Investment
The shelves of the treasury technology supermarket have never been better stocked, with vendors offering everything from a TMS for the entire function through to tailored tools to support specific, and sometimes niche,...
Treasury and Procurement - Closer Than Ever?
Interactions between treasury and procurement spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic, as both departments dealt with the emergency that global lockdowns triggered for corporate supply chains. As we move into the next...
Exploring the Post-Pandemic Treasury Technology Frontier
One silver lining from the Covid-19 pandemic is that it has supercharged trends around treasury technology – both in the adoption of new technology by corporates and the development of cutting-edge technologies that...
Sustainable Transition: Supporting Treasury’s ESG Journey
Corporate treasurers are keener than ever to find new ways to integrate ESG metrics across a wide range of cash management, financing and supply chain processes.
Mercury Rising: Taking the Temperature of European Corporate Treasurers
According to this year’s responses to the EACT’s annual pan-European survey, the pandemic has not changed the top priorities of corporate treasurers. Instead, it has crystallised the need for increased...
Inflation, Rate Hikes and Regulatory Scrutiny Shake Up Short-Term Investments
The cash investment landscape is being disrupted by higher sustained inflation, rising interest rates, and new regulatory proposals for MMFs.
Be Prepared!
MMF Reform Proposals Threaten LVNAV Viability for European Treasurers While treasurers might not feel the impact of MMF reforms in Europe for years, the proposed changes currently being debated at European...
How Etihad Covered all Three ESG Elements in One Sustainability-Linked Financing
Etihad Airways recently raised US$1.2bn in the first sustainability-linked loan in global aviation with terms that relate to all three areas of ESG.
Unleashing Automation to Unlock Visibility, Control, and Efficiency in Liquidity Management
By ditching a web of hundreds of spreadsheets and emails in favour of a TMS, Zurich Insurance has been able to facilitate accurate and insightful cash forecasts as well as enhance payments.
Feeling the Squeeze
Corporate treasurers are starting to feel the heat in their cash management policies as heightened inflation levels persist.
Taxing Times Ahead: Analysing the OECD’s Two-Pillar Solution
A new Two-Pillar Solution from the OECD aims to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. Aaron Lee and Joseph Lee from DBS Bank recently joined TMI’s Eleanor Hill in the TreasuryCast...
Scale for Growth: Data as the Cornerstone of Finance Transformation
Kim Estes, Vice President, Accounting, The Knot Worldwide, explains to TMI how her organisation found the perfect marriage of technological transformation and streamlined processes.
How Treasurers Can Navigate Cash Markets in 2022
Daniel Farrell (Northern Trust Asset Management) and James Douglas (Rabobank) consider how market trends may evolve in the year ahead and what this could signal for treasurers.
Account-to-Account Payments Place Treasurers at the Heart of the Digital Payments Revolution
With non-cash payments on the rise, a jump in e-commerce business models, and real-time payment clearance systems increasingly prevalent, innovation is thriving in the retail payments space. A recent TMI webinar explored account-to-account payments to analyse how they can...
Brighter Skies Ahead: Treasury Best Practice in a Post-Covid Environment
Treasury best practices have been both forged and accelerated during the pandemic. A recent TMI webinar explored the key themes of the latest Journeys to Treasury report, reflecting on the changing nature of treasury, the digitisation of the function, and how the ecosystem...
NFTs in Treasury? Establishing Use Cases in Trade Finance and Beyond
The world’s first trade finance-based non-fungible token transaction in 2021 highlights the need for treasurers to understand the technology behind tokenisation and the practical implications that it could have for corporate finance.
Putting Sustainable Finance to Good Corporate Use
With green financing levels at record highs, corporate treasurers now have access to a source of funding that can play a vital role in supporting their organisations’ sustainable goals. Here, we explain how to perfectly marry sustainable finance with environmental,...
Levelling Up: How Finance Can Help Bridge the Rural-Urban Digital Divide
The mass move to working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted an existing disparity between rural and urban areas regarding digital connectivity. For the companies that provide digital infrastructures, green bonds offer a way to finance the upgrade to...
Lost in Transaction: Overcoming Payments Pitfalls
Experts from Kyriba examine common pain points and outline ways to improve payment workflows through better connectivity, control, and optimisation.
Mind the Gap! Overcoming Obstacles to Short-term ESG Investing
While treasurers have repeatedly shown interest in using ESG-related short-term investment instruments, actual investment levels have yet to match these aspirations.
The Power of Transformation: Issuers and Investors Target ESG for Better Returns and Lower Risks
HSBC’s Sustainable Financing and Investing Survey 2021 captures how the capital markets are increasingly embracing environmental, social, and governance issues. Here, TMI presents some of the key highlights for treasurers to be aware of. Companies and institutional...
Payments Vision 2025: The Inside Track
Developments such as instant payments, digital currencies, and enriched data services are poised to shake up treasury management. In a recent podcast, TMI spoke to three experts to understand how, by working together, corporates and financial institutions are set to...
Financing a Sustainable Economy Through Corporate/Bank Collaboration
The future will only be prosperous if businesses embed sustainability at their core. Treasury can play a vital role in this approach, tapping into sustainable financing to help firms embrace different operating models and emerging technologies that benefit both the...
Embracing Supplier Diversity: Treasury Lessons from Facebook and GSK
By focusing on the diversity and inclusion elements of external relationships within the supply chain, corporates can create additional value and efficiencies. Here, treasurers are being urged to ‘roll up their sleeves’ and get involved in this potentially...
Financing the Transition to a Sustainable and Profitable Future
Transitioning to a more sustainable future requires financing solutions that support both the climate and society-linked goals. For investors, tools that enable them to assess companies on their sustainability credentials are crucial to their decision-making....
MMF Reforms Risk Missing the Point
Money market funds are once again in the cross hairs of regulators in the US and Europe following a brief liquidity crunch in March 2020. Sebastian Ramos, Executive Vice President, Global Trading and Products, ICD, discusses the risks that over-zealous reforms could...
Excelling at Invoice Financing with Alza
Czech e-commerce firm Alza’s award-nominated invoice financing programme demonstrates that supply chain finance is not purely the preserve of billion-dollar multinationals. By offering financing to all its suppliers, the company is primed to support both its own...
The Horizon Challenge: Accelerating the Shift to a Green Economy
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought environmental concerns into sharp focus. Today’s business leaders must factor sustainability into their recovery strategies, and treasurers have an essential role to play in reshaping the future of the global economy. Despite the...
Unpacking Smurfit Kappa’s Ambitious Sustainable Finance Facility
By setting five key performance indicator goals for a recent sustainability-linked revolving credit facility – and requiring success in all of them to gain the maximum margin benefit – Smurfit Kappa’s treasury team has demonstrated how a cross-functional project...
Spotify’s Greatest Hits
Cash Investment Management With a subscription revenue model helping to enhance its cash flow forecasting, Spotify is able to manage a diversified investment portfolio through its treasury team and external asset management. Niklas Muhrbeck, Head of Financial Market...
A Great Connection: Telco Treasuries Set a Shining Digital Example
The telecommunications sector has played an instrumental role in supporting organisations with the transformational shift to remote working. It has also helped ensure continued access to digital financial services to people via traditional banking and alternative...
Tackling the Complexities of IBOR Transition
Time is running out for treasurers to complete their interbank offered rate transition projects with the deadline of December 31 2021 rapidly approaching. A recent TMI webinar with Salmon Software brought together three experts to discuss the complexities ahead,...
Looking Beyond Traditional Cash Instruments to Increase Yield
Daniel Farrell (Northern Trust Asset Management) discusses how cash segmentation offers an alternative option for treasurers seeking to efficiently manage their cash and enhance those much sought after returns.
Award-winning Sustainable Financing at Royal Avebe
By directly linking clearly defined environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets to the credit margin of its recent refinancing, innovative Dutch potato starch and protein manufacturer Royal Avebe not only embedded sustainability at the very heart of its finance...
Maximising Treasury Centralisation with In-house Banking-as-a-Service
With the Covid-19 pandemic augmenting the focus on cash visibility, in-house banks are back in the spotlight. Thanks to cloud technology, support to establish in-house banking is more accessible than ever. This topic was recently the subject of a TMI webinar with...
Beat Deadline Drama by Tackling the LIBOR Transition Today
The end date for LIBOR is just months away. For those treasurers who haven’t acted already, now is the time to identify LIBOR exposures, have a contingency plan for accidental oversights, and understand the different challenges presented by the new market risk-free...
How Suitable are Crypto Assets as a Treasury Investment?
Corporates have started putting Bitcoin on the balance sheet. Central banks are pursuing their own digital currencies. The rise of cryptocurrencies is happening at a startling pace and will have a variety of impacts. Now is the time for treasurers to educate themselves...
Greece is the Word: Setting up a National Treasury Association
The newly established Hellenic Association of Treasurers (HAT) aims to support a vibrant community of Greek treasurers, both at home and abroad. Here, Alexandros Bellos, board member and Co-Founder of HAT, who is also Senior Treasury Manager at PVH Corporation, is...
Activate Your Liquidity to Manage Treasury Challenges in the New Normal
The Kyriba Global Summit explored how financial technologies can support active treasury management, smarter payments, as well as fraud and risk concerns and active working capital management for corporates. Here are the key takeaways for treasurers. Kyriba Global...
As Easy As KYC: SWIFT and Seamless Corporate Banking
Complying with the know your customer (KYC) aspect of bank account opening and management has long been a burden for corporate treasurers. For Pepper Group, early access to SWIFT’s KYC Registry has helped bring a number of efficiencies to this process. Headquartered...
A Bounce in Treasury’s Step: The Feelgood Factor of Sustainable Finance
Capitalising on a proven commitment to environmental, social and corporate governance, rubber industry giant Corrie MacColl recently obtained a unique sustainability-linked loan. Ryan Wiener, the company’s Global Head of Strategic Marketing, explains how the criteria...
Capturing Digital Transformation to Deliver Smarter Treasury in Ireland
Global digital transformation has kickstarted the Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0. For corporate treasurers, this represents a complete shift in approach to treasury processes, technology and, most importantly, talent. Alan DuffyCEO, HSBC...
Navigating Negative Rates
Navigating Negative Rates by Ben Poole, Ben Poole Editorial Services Low or negative yields are commonplace in Europe today, across a range of short-term investment instruments. A well-attended workshop on the first day of the 8th BNP Paribas Cash Management University...
Great Expectations from Bank Account Management
Great Expectations from Bank Account Management by Ben Poole, Ben Poole Editorial Services The quest for end-to-end cash visibility is critical for today’s treasurer. However, without a full view of all bank accounts being used by the organisation, this is always...
Payments and Collections Factories
Payments and Collections Factories by Ben Poole, Ben Poole Editorial Services A popular workshop on the opening day of BNP Paribas’ 7th Cash Management University looked at best practices in setting up a payments factory, and also explored the possibilities that...
Investment Options in a Low Interest Rate Environment
Investment Options in a Low Interest Rate Environment by Ben Poole, Ben Poole Editorial Services One of the well-attended workshops on the second day of the 7th BNP Paribas Cash Management University focused on investment strategies for treasurers in the ongoing low...
Risk and Reward: Making Your Cash Work Harder
Risk and Reward: Making Your Cash Work Harder by Ben Poole, Editorial Consultant, Ben Poole Editorial Services During the Cash Management University programme organised by BNP Paribas smaller workshop sessions allowed delegates the chance to interact with their treasury...
Focus on Bank Account Management
A workshop during the Cash Management University organised by BNP Paribas examined how to optimise bank account management. This included two case studies from treasurers whose departments are at different stages of projects designed to bring efficiencies to their bank...
