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Cash Management in the Nordic and Baltic Regions - Publication
The Nordic and Baltic countries have always had close economic ties. From a cash management point of view, they contain eight different currencies, with Finland being the only country to have adopted the euro. The banks in these regions often lead the rest of the world in their levels of automation and this trend continues today with many offering innovative web-based products. Regional ban... |
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US Cash Management 2007 - Publication
US Cash Management is a comprehensive guide for corporate treasurers telling you all need to know about the complexities of cash management across the United States. This major report, now updated, gives detailed, practical insight into the US clearing and payment systems, highlights existing regulations and explains fundamental cash management techniques.
This handbook features in-de... |
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Banking and Cash Management in Germany - Publication
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Germany is Europe’s largest economy and consumer m... |
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Banking und Cash Management in Deutschland - Publication
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Deutschland ist die größte Volkswirtschaft in Europa und zugleich mit rund 82 Millionen Einwohnern der größte Verbrauchermarkt. Im Zentrum der 27 Mitglieder umfassenden Europäischen Union ge... |
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Cash Management in the Nordic and Baltic Regions 2008 - Publication
Close ties between the Nordic and Baltic regions mean that multinational companies are increasingly grouping them together for cash management purposes. Despite the similarities, there are a number o... |
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Cash Management in Central Europe - Publication
The five Central European EU Member States – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia – have undergone a rapid period of evolution since their accession in May 2004. However, with full adoption of the euro across the region unlikely to occur much before 2010, treasurers operating in these countries must contend with the challenge of working in five differen... |
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Electronic billing - Article
Electronic billing offers the potential for significant cost savings for both buyers and sellers. The difficulty is that there are a number of different styles of electronic billing and a correspondingly similar number of software standards. This article identifies the main electronic billing techniques and the benefits to buyers and sellers of adopting them, before assessing some of the obstacl... |
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Corporate purchasing cards - Article
One of the challenges in the finance function is to be able to do more with less. The holy grail of straight-through processing offers the opportunity to do so as it promises to reduce costs by automating regular activity. On the purchasing side, the development of technology supporting corporate cards offers the opportunity to automate standard processing. This article explains how purchasing ... |
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TARGET 2 - Article
In this article we look at part of the infrastructure which enables payments to be made within the European Union. With the introduction of the Euro, the National Central Banks and the new European Central Bank needed a mechanism by which monetary policy could be implemented. The TARGET system was developed to allow the National Central Banks to make Euro payments to each other. However, this s... |
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Centralising treasury - Article
As technology has developed, there has been a trend towards greater centralisation in treasury. In theory, centralisation allows treasurers to exert greater control over the operating companies. In practice, different local rules and cultures provide real barriers to central control. This article identifies the key potential benefits and likely costs which a treasurer will need to consider befo... |
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Payment factories - Article
One of the problems for cash managers in multinational corporations is the wide range of different payment methods used around the world. Until recently, companies had either to maintain control of disbursements locally (where they had access to the local payment systems) or to incur the higher cost of processing cross-border payments. Now banks offer to take files of electronic payment instruct... |
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Shared Service Centres - Article
As technology develops, it becomes easier for companies to centralise activities. Shared service centres can play an important role in improving internal efficiency within a large group of companies. The centres can be assessed for what they deliver in cost savings. As regulators focus more on internal controls, shared service centres also help companies to standardise processes and demonstrate... |
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In-house banking - Article
Technological developments and the changing regulatory environment are two drivers which have led to treasury centralisation. Treasurers are also conscious of the need to reduce banking costs. One way to do this is to use technology to develop an in-house bank – eliminating reliance on external banks to process inter-company payments. We examine the advantages of this structure and its potentia... |
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Reinvoicing centres - Article
One of the major inefficiencies in multinational companies involves inter-company payments. In many cases this is a foreign currency payment, which adds cost and risk to the transaction. If a company adopts a reinvoicing centre, inter-company payments can be routed through it. The centre manages the foreign exchange risk and is also able to help individual group entities manage their liquidity.... |
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Outsourcing Investment management – Part I - Article
Companies continue to explore new ways of operating efficiently. Outsourcing has been used by companies – particularly manufacturing – for many years. However, outsourcing investment management of cash is a relatively recent option for the treasury function. Now, investment managers provide an array of services for short-term investment. This article is the first of two: considering the types o... |
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Choosing a fund manager - Article
We explore how to outsource the investment management function and consider the factors involved when choosing an investment or fund manager.... |
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Homeland Investment Act - Article
We look at the Homeland Investment Act. We explain what it is, when and why it was introduced, who it is aimed at and which companies are set to benefit.
This US legislation could result in the repatriation of up to US$600 billion (€497 billion) in foreign earnings. This is an enticing proposal for US companies, but a potentially frightening prospect for non-US economies – especially Euroland... |
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Homeland Investment Act - its impact on Europe - Article
We examine the Homeland Investment Act - and America's wider policy to promote domestic investment - by considering the potential impact on the European markets. ... |
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Bank account structure - Article
Bank accounts are necessary for the efficient collection and payment of funds. However, the maintenance of bank accounts incurs charges as well as monitoring and management costs. It is therefore important to strike a balance between the costs relating to bank accounts and the potential benefits in terms of faster collections, cheaper payments or greater convenience. ... |
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Cash management structures - Article
Bank account structures depend on both operational and liquidity management needs. On occasion, these objectives may conflict and it is important to consider the effects that a bank account structure will have on either. We investigate how liquidity management needs and cash management solutions complicate the question of determining efficient account structures. ... |
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Integrating local payments - Article
Ciba Specialty Chemicals creates effects to improve the quality of life. Their specialty chemicals, added in small quantities,
improve existing or add new qualities to materials at every stage of their production processes.... |
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Hedge funds - Article
Interest in hedge funds has grown significantly. However, the growth of hedge funds, largely driven by institutional investors, has added little to the transparency of this heterogenic group of investment vehicles. In this article, we outline the characteristics of hedge funds, give a brief overview of their investment stategies and highlight how they differ from traditional investment funds. ... |
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Friend or fad? - Article
Traditional purchasing models can be slow, inefficient and expensive, and in many cases the cost of processing a purchase may be significantly greater than the cost of the item itself. Commercial cards have emerged as an attractive alternative which may enable companies to make substantial savings. We examine the types of card available and discuss the associated benefits and drawbacks.... |
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Selecting and appointing a bank - Article
We look, in detail, at the Request for Proposal and evaluation processes that are used by many companies when selecting and appointing a relationship bank.... |
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How to implement a card scheme - Article
Commercial cards can offer many corporates a genuine solution to the problems of controlling and rationalising company spending. However, the implementation of a commercial card programme is a major undertaking. In this article, we discuss how to implement a commercial card programme – detailing best practice and how to avoid common pitfalls.... |
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Float - Article
The term float is defined as the delay between a payment being made and the funds being received by the payee. This delay can be advantageous to the payer and the banks involved but is problematic to the payee. In this article, we identify some of the different types of float and discuss the strategies commonly used to manage them.... |
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Cash pooling in China - Article
Cash pooling is a popular cash management technique, used to optimise interest and improve liquidity management. In China, the traditional cash pooling model has been adapted in response to local regulations. In this article, we provide an overview of traditional cash pooling techniques, consider how these have been adapted for the China market, and look at the recent regulatory changes.... |
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Foreign exchange transactions - Article
Since the revaluation of the renminbi in July 2005, the types of foreign exchange transaction available to companies in China have been steadily expanding. We explain the three main types of transaction currently available and discuss some of the recent changes.... |
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Introduction to financial supply chain management - Article
Taking a holistic view of the financial supply chain has become one of the hot topics in the international treasury circuit. During 2007, we will be examining the different issues surrounding the supply chain and the ways in which treasury can add value by helping to manage the supply chain. In this month’s article, we provide an introduction to the core concepts.... |
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Cash Management - Article
Corporate willingness to convert to the new payment instruments is crucial to the success of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). But why should they invest in new processes and technology upgrades to help precipitate the SEPA project – what does it really do for them? In this last article in our series on SEPA, we look at some of the opportunities this initiative provides to corporates and off... |
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UK Faster Payments - Article
The UK currently has one of the longest clearing cycles for electronic payments in Europe, but this is set to change. The UK Faster Payments service developed by payments processing organisation VocaLink is due to be launched in May 2008. We talk to Martin Wilson, Chief Commercial Officer of VocaLink, about the unique features of the new service.
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Bank relationships in tough market conditions - Article
In the face of a global slowdown, treasuries are re-evaluating their banking partners to ensure that liquidity needs will continue to be met and that they are getting the most out of their banking group. In this article, we take a look at how maintaining firm banking relationships can prove a steadying influence during tough market conditions.... |
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Bank fees: the way forward - Article
With liquidity less readily available, companies around the world are looking at ways to build internal cash and save costs across their operations. Corporates may focus on the area of bank fees for cost savings, with initiatives such as the TWIST BSB standard facilitating transparency. However, when liquidity is scarce the need to maintain strong bank relationships is often more important than ... |
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SWIFT for Corporates - Article
The mere mention of SWIFT can send corporate treasurers scurrying for cover – and understandably so. The current economic environment and industry initiatives such as SEPA are providing enough challenges without another assignment being added to the project pile. But implementing the SWIFT for Corporates solution is not as difficult as many may think and the opportunities derived from it could o... |
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Optimising procurement - Article
Gone are the days when sourcing and procurement operated in silos. There has been a substantial movement for procurement to work very closely on a collaborative basis with treasury and finance to understand any weaknesses in the purchase-to-pay cycle and how procurement impacts on the treasury function. We look at some of the recent developments that can be harnessed to improve efficiency and vi... |
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Short-term investment - Article
Treasury plays a central role in the stability and success of a business. Its ability to manage liquidity requirements reflects on the credit standing of the company and can ultimately mean the difference between company growth and collapse. Effectively managing surplus cash is an important part of this process. In this article we consider some of the issues surrounding the short-term investmen... |
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SEPA: one year on - Article
The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) promises a fully integrated euro payments environment in which competitive and innovative payment solutions will deliver
better value, improved efficiency and greater choice for businesses and consumers. In this article, we follow on from our Best Practice Handbook, ‘A Guide to SEPA Payment Instruments’, by looking at the progress made since SEPA was launche... |
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Notional pooling explored - Article
Cash pooling is an established technique for treasurers looking to make the best use of surplus cash. Notional pooling can be an attractive option for companies with a decentralised structure because the control of funds remains with local subsidiaries. However, this type of pooling has been affected by recent regulatory and accounting developments. We explore the theory and practice of notiona... |
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Electronic Invoicing - Article
Electronic invoicing is not new and not prolific – yet. However, a major European initiative is aiming to push this nascent market into mass adoption by businesses and consumers as another step towards the ultimate goal of a single market within the European Union. In this article, we take a look at electronic invoicing and the progress made so far with the European plan.
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ISO 20022 – a standard for standards - Article
After years of developing disparate messaging formats, financial institutions and standardisation bodies are uniting behind the banner of ISO 20022 XML format (sometimes called ‘UNIFI’) as the way forward for standardising financial messages. Whilst the scheme has been around for a good few years, some corporates remain unclear about what it is and what it means for them. In this article, we pro... |
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