Strategic Treasurer is frequently quoted in industry-leading magazines and other publications related to treasury and finance, including Treasury & Risk and Financial Executive magazines, among others. This page will connect you to articles by, and interviews with, our own experts, as well as other corporate leaders, on the hot issues facing today’s Treasurers.
These articles and quotes are quick snapshots of what we’re thinking on important topics. With every click, you are certain to find a wealth of knowledgeable perspectives and insights from our thoughtful treasury strategists.
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Articles By and Interviews Of Strategic Treasurer |
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FINANCIAL EXECUTIVE
TREASURY & RISK
HENRY STEWART—Article
FINANCIAL EXECUTIVE MAGAZINE
Treasury Column—October 2005. Enterprise Risk Management: Opportunity for the TreasurerSarbanes-Oxley, and the regulations that flowed from the Act, provided many controllers with the opportunity for additional visibility in some areas within their specialty--financial reporting and internal controls. With the Act's emphasis on compliance, the controller gained a major role, while the treasurer was often on the sidelines. It may now be the treasurer's turn for visibility.The renewed emphasis on enterprise risk management (ERM) may provide such an opportunity for treasurers to expand their influence and increase the value they bring to their organizations. And, it may happen without the equivalent amount of Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.
Treasury Column—March 2005. The Impact of Electronification on the Income StatementThe impact of electronification on the income statement (I/S) can be far more substantive for those seeking to drive significant bottomline benefits. The four prominent areas of impact: bank charges, internal costs, loss reduction and liquidity improvements. To realize those benefits requires both planning and execution. Assessing your company's readiness for electronification is the critical first step towards achieving exceptional results. Those who plan and act now will reap permanent and more significant benefits than those who passively wait.
Treasury Column—January/February 2005. The Impact of Electronification on the Balance SheetAn effective electronification plan estimates and tracks both balance sheet and liquidity impacts, as some types improve either or both measures. The effective and proactive use of electronification can have a significant positive impact on financial statements. The balance sheet can experience improvements in working capital and liquidity. The Electronification Readiness & Impact Assessment is the critical first step for organizations wishing to optimize their benefits.
Six Essentials for the Strategic Treasurer—June 2004.In order to participate in the success of their organizations, as well as advance their own careers, treasurers must expand their focus--from their traditional role of securing funds and financial risk to focusing on how to help drive overall business initiatives. They must strive to be integrated partners with all areas of the business, and not reside as a disconnected "vendor" who provides financing or executes on other operational tasks. Combining this new thinking with certain other essential requirements, today's treasurer can make the transformation to "strategic treasurer." By taking an informed and broad business perspective, a strategic treasurer will earn and maintain his or her seat at the table. The strategic treasurer will not just be a financial leader, but also a business leader--and one who demonstrates added value, not just talks about it. Business areas will see the strategic treasurer as a collaborator and a partner who works toward his or her personal best interest, as well as the organization's best interests.
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2010 Select Quotes |
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SUNGUARD PRESS RELEASE
BUSINESSWEEK
TREASURY & RISK
Reengineering with SaaS. -April 2010.Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield's treasury put together two hosted software solutions to ramp up efficiency and visibility. They looked at what was available and what they needed. They picked providers and then they made and executed a plan. They built it out in phases. They had a road map and followed it. Now they have visibility, efficiency, economy, speed and control. The key benefits of the new technology have been enhanced controls, increased efficiency and better forecasts. Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shieldís treasury put together two hosted software solutions to ramp up efficiency and visibility.
Taking on New Dimensions. -March 2010.Tomorrow's treasurers will need a global outlook, a strategic mind-set, an analytical approach, broader shoulders, a team spirit and agile technology that can increase visibility and control. What in the world will the future bring for sensible treasury executives who are trying to plot a safe course in a topsy-turvy environment? Increasingly, companies will focus their technology spending on achieving more perfect visibility. We're approaching the age of treasury optics and such optics bring visibility of cash balances around the world, of course, but will also peer into various internal systems that historically have been opaque, as well as real-time market data and key systems of suppliers and customers to open a line of sight up and down supply chains. Data consolidators are helping and so is SWIFT. But this will go beyond bank data. It will include credit default swap rates. Tomorrow's treasurers will need a global outlook, a strategic mind-set, an analytical approach, broader shoulders, a team spirit and agile technology that can increase visibility and control.
Ready, Set, EBam. -February 2010.EBam is coming and treasuries need to start preparing now by rationalizing their bank account structure and getting software to organize data and embed administrative processes. If you use more than seven banks and more than 100 accounts, you probably need technology tools to manage the accounts. It's time to set up procedures that will make you ready for EBam, the standardized electronic bank account administration message set that SWIFT will make available later this year. With many banks and accounts and no software, you're wasting time and putting your company at unnecessary risk. Processes must be automated for companies to achieve great efficiencies when SWIFT's connectivity for bank account administration launches.
On-the-Go Treasury. -January 2010.Workstation providers are rolling out applications that let users access functionality via their mobile devices. Mobile has its place, but it is best employed for small applications, not large ones - it works best for narrowly defined situations where a user must take action. Data-intensive activities should be avoided on mobile devices. Use it like a dashboard, tied to exception information like responding to someone crossing a limit or expediting an urgent wire - it's not well suited to broad activities like forecasting or cash positioning. When possible, it's best to use mobile to receive a message or alert that you have a situation and then go to a secure site to deal with it. Workstation providers are rolling out applications that let users access functionality via their mobile devices.
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2009 Quotes |
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TREASURY & RISK
Hats Off to Best Practices. -November 2009.The financial crisis galvanized treasury's already steady rise in the corporate firmament from back-office operation to a strategic partner that's not only critical to the company's survival but key to creating value for the business as the world moves on. Nowhere is that more evident than in this year's strong field of contenders for the Alexander Hamilton Best Practices Awards. This marks the 14th year that Treasury & Risk has honored excellence in treasury management with the competition and our AHA Summit, where companies share their best practices with their peers. The strong field of contenders for this year's Alexander Hamilton Awards underscores the role of the financial crisis in galvanizing treasury's rise in the corporate firmament.
Beware of Fee Hikes. - October 2009.The troubled economy has wreaked havoc on the banking industry, putting them in desperate need of capital. Many banks will turn to cash management fee increases to buoy sinking profits - they'll raise fees now because they need to and because they can. Cash management relationships are "sticky," and concern over access to scarce credit makes it even safer for banks to raise fees without fear of losing many customers. Those who pay little attention to their statements will suffer bigger bank bills, broken budgets, failed audits and strained bank relationships. Banks are planning to increase fee income by repackaging products to provide more data and analysis. Pressured banks need revenue and profits, and transaction banking and treasury management are seen as likely sources.
Shoring Up the Weakest Link. - October 2009.Supply chain efficiency, one of the great success stories of the past two decades, is breaking down as liquidity shortages hit the weakest links. Bold, innovative solutions have come from governments, but corporate treasuries, on full risk alert, are cautiously exploring constructive ways to spread available liquidity up and down the supply chain when doing so can keep a critical player in the game and also bring direct benefits to their own companies. Yesterday's smart supply moves have contributed to today's liquidity stress. If you have a tight-liquidity supply chain, this is a bad time to try a me-first strategy of unilaterally delaying supplier payments. On full risk alert, treasuries are exploring constructive ways to spread available liquidity up and down the supply chain to avoid a bad break.
Hungry for a World of Digital Data. - September 2009.The efficiency of straight-through processing (STP) has taken a back seat to business survival that requires smart decision support (SDS) as alert treasuries are aggressively turning to tools that can help them make sharper judgments. The evolving technology infrastructure is proving adept at feeding this huge appetite for actionable information. Treasury staffs have to be more creative and forward-looking in how they protect liquidity. Getting at internal data is still a challenge for treasury, but if you're going to manage liquidity and risk effectively, you have to be plugged into what's happening with core business activity. The craving for information is driven by companies' aggressive liquidity management in the face of tight credit as well as credit concerns around counterparties and supply chains.
SWIFT's New Sweet Spot. - September 2009.Corporate use of SWIFT continues to spread. The growth of service bureaus-third parties that provide SWIFT connections and new Web-based connectivity options, are cutting up-front costs and speeding implementation, making it easier for smaller companies to take advantage of SWIFT's benefits. It's a huge advantage to have a single connection with the features that allow it to communicate with all banks in the world, but getting all those features to work over one connection is about as complex as such things can get. Companies need a resilient communication infrastructure, and SWIFT fills that role. As more companies seek to connect to multiple banks through a single platform, SWIFT is providing more ways and more reasons to link up.
A Better View of Banks. - May 2009.Maintaining liquidity is a challenge for many companies amid the deepening economic slump, and even if a company has cash on hand, just keeping tabs on liquid assets can be challenging. This is particularly true as finance executives, hit with pullbacks or even cancellation of credit lines by troubled banks, move to develop relationships with a wider array of smaller, financially sound banks eager to extend credit. As companies work to diversify their banking relationships, there is a critical need for services that provide treasurers with visibility across all those banks, and the ability to know what their liquidity situation is. CASHplus is a step in the right direction, but such services need to be global. As finance departments in search of liquidity develop relationships with more banks, Fundtech can help keep track of all the accounts.
Can You Bank on Your Bankers? - April 2009.As large segments of the world's banking system flirt with insolvency and require unprecedented bailouts, treasury staffs are operating on high alert and maneuvering delicately to test relationships on which they depend. As banks and treasury staffs move to build new relationships, credit is a top concern. Banks are just not open for business in some segments of the credit market. The power shift is evident in covenant strategy. Historically, covenants were requested or required by lenders. Now borrowers are proposing covenants as part of their courtship of bank lenders. The banks with enough capital to expand lending can be selective, so corporations are offering covenants as a way to get their attention. With credit availability limited and some financial institutions still on shaky ground, treasurers are sorting out which relationships can work.
After Tomorrow - March 2009.Months after the financial meltdown, any vision of the future is still shrouded in a swirl of uncertainties. With even fundamental assumptions in doubt, many treasury professionals are trying to anticipate what's coming next week, next month or possibly at the next renewal of a syndicated credit. In the past, cutting-edge technology has been all about efficiency. In the future, it will also be about speed. Senior management and boards of directors will demand that treasuries have clear visibility into liquidity and threats to liquidity. While funding and managing capital needs rule the day now, the future of treasury will be more about the power of information, speed and flexibility.
Checking Covenants Twice - January 2009.At a time when a debt covenant violation could plunge a company into a possibly fatal liquidity crisis, the tools for monitoring covenant compliance and getting alerts in time to avoid catastrophes are still primitive. Help is on the way, but don't expect a slick, automated solution anytime soon. A treasurer or CFO should be able to look at an executive dashboard and see at a glance if covenant problems are looming, but that's rarely the case, as most companies still have a ways to go to manage covenant compliance proactively. Now that debt violations have dire consequences for liquidity, treasurers are seeking better tools to alert them to problems.
BUSINESS FINANCE
The State of Treasury Survey, 2009 - October 2009.Although many companies' cash balances have grown over the past few years, finance executives are taking a measured, disciplined approach to using those funds. One of the most prominent findings in the Business Finance survey is the degree to which the recession is prompting financial officers and treasurers to focus on their organization's cash flow and working capital. Results may reflect the fact that credit for smaller firms already was more expensive and less accessible than it was for larger firms and banks are limiting their exposure to both industries and individual firms. Thus, larger firms in some industries are taking a double hit.
Swine Flu Preparations - April 2009.A pandemic can easily disrupt businesses' operations. Treasurers need to consider potential pandemics, along with natural disasters, in their business continuity planning. Treasurers also will need to monitor the impact a pandemic is having or could have on customers. A major customer located near an outbreak may not be able to complete a planned purchase as it could affect revenue and cash flow. Treasurers will want to monitor and stay out in front of the situation.
Treasurers in Treatment - February 2009.Ever since the U.S. economy peaked in December 2007, treasurers have hunkered down in survival mode and are finding ways to cut costs and boost cash by divesting assets and introducing efficiencies in AP and AR. They're improving their visibility into global cash flows, rightsizing banking relationships, and double-checking that customers can pay their bills. One way to protect liquidity is to maintain good working relationships with the company's bankers. The current economy highlights the importance of diligently nurturing banking relationships over time, rather than trying to jump-start the process when a firm's bank accounts are just about dry.
FINANCIAL EXECUTIVE
CFO MAGAZINE
All Eyes on Treasury - January 2009.Plagued by increasing demands for information, data, and analysis — and rarely given additional resources to meet these requests — many treasury departments risk missing the next turn in the financial markets. To do so, even by a hair, can be costly. That's the true calling of a treasury department. Getting ahead of the curve — forecasting, for example, the timing of when credit markets will loosen and when it will be wise to free up more capital for investment — is a key part of treasury's risk-management role. Even if treasury does manage to succeed at that delicate task, it may not alter its status within the corporation. Treasury is in a position where you can only get into trouble. If you do well, people expect it. If treasury can help a company navigate through such unprecedentedly perilous times, it may get what is currently a rare commodity: credit. The function that no one likes to think about is now getting plenty of attention, and even a little respect.
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2008 Quotes |
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TREASURY & RISK
Lockbox Lift-Off—October 2008.Though 'lockbox' is hardly mentioned in national elections anymore, the venerable wholesale lockbox is becoming a more efficient payment processing factory, and aggressive banks are building out their lockbox operations to provide more comprehensive receivables management solutions. Banks are starting to take over the process of sending out invoices-getting a file from a company's A/R system and converting it to electronic invoices that are sent over the Internet and paper invoices that are mailed. If a bank sends out the invoices, it's already prepared to match them with incoming payments. In the current uncertain economic conditions, treasuries want quicker availability on incoming payments and are optimizing processes just as recent technology innovations are helping to boost availability and re-launch lockbox services.
Winning Combo—October 2008.How do you create a $2.2 billion company almost overnight through mergers and then build a sophisticated treasury operation from the ground up in just a year-and-a-half? Infor, a financial technology company based in suburban Atlanta, Ga., did it with a combination of good systems, good people and good legal structure. Taking full advantage of the latest and best technology and moving quickly to get it up and running; building a customized, state-of-the-art solution serves as the system's foundation. Structure plays a critical role where tax and treasury are completely integrated and where management is redoing the whole tax structure and the whole banking structure to fit the new organization. Created by mergers, Infor builds an automated, integrated treasury operation using its own software products as a cornerstone.
Hosting Takes The Cake—September 2008.Welcome to treasury technology 2008, where a fragile economy has raised concerns over control and liquidity management and created a boomlet in automation, particularly through the use of application service provider (ASP)-hosted solutions. Across the board, 2008 has been a strong year for spending on treasury technology. The evolution and increasing popularity of hosted solutions is setting off a battle between treasury software vendors and banks over who will get what share of corporations with more than $50 million but less than $2 billion in annual revenue. Some banks like Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are adding treasury workstations or workstation-like capability to their offerings. They're offering GL (general ledger) feeds, good visibility across all cash, and some ability to track debt and investments. Others are making modest enhancements such as single sign-ons or investment portals. More useful help is coming from data consolidators, which are including SWIFT data. We're seeing some pretty exciting gains in visibility, and collecting data is moving away from treasury staffs to specialists who don't just compile data and report what's missing but organize it into reports. It's tremendously important for treasury staffs to take advantage of this development. A riskier economy is actually increasing spending on treasury technology for tools that provide global visibility of all cash, improve cash forecast accuracy and clamp better controls on the movement of funds.
When Vendors Cooperate, Customers Win—June 2008.Treasury managers can expect to see more vendor teamwork because banks, battered by their subprime mortgage losses, have cut back drastically on research and development spending. While "cool tools" are coming from banks to help treasury staffs manage the cash conversion cycle and financial supply chain, the more cost-conscious banks may be inclined now to let technology ventures fund the development and then offer their customers white-labeled versions of others' technology. Treasury managers can expect to see more joint work from vendors, as some of the more cost-conscious banks roll out more white-labeled technology.
The New Treasury Diet: Keep It Simple—April 2008.Beyond using money funds, the liquidity squeeze is driving money to outside investment managers. When times were good, many treasurers wanted to hire a senior analyst to manage the portfolio and keep the 5 to 10 basis points a money manager would charge in the corporate coffer. Now, they're more willing to pay that price to get in-depth credit analysis. Treasury investors holding unexpectedly illiquid paper need to analyze their holdings and other sources of liquidity to determine whether holding onto some and riding out the market turbulence may be a smarter course than disposing them at fire-sale prices. Treasurers are swearing off exotic investment options for plain old vanilla.
Dashboards for Everyone—March 2008.The ability to have key working capital metrics at a CFOs or treasurer's fingertips, such as cash, capital expenditures, A/P and A/R movements on a global view. Dashboards are giving people the visibility to manage by objective, by exception and give an early warning, as well as a control aspect. Today's dashboards don't contain all the answers, but they are increasingly important in helping finance predict the impact from unexpected changes, such as a large change in a tax position or an acquisition. Visibility helps create better knowledge for the management team and then they can go to other departments and educate them on the impact to working capital up and downstream. Once an implement of the corner office crowd, dashboards are now being designed to not only drill deeper but provide more task-specific analytics making them perfect for managers toiling rungs down.
A Win-Win for Win—February 2008.At the beginning of its centralization adventure, Win focused on its accounts payable and receivable and its credit syndication--with its initial biggest success stories coming out of A/P. As one might expect, it required extraordinary cooperation with its bankers, inventive approaches to old problems and smart coordination with its information technology department, but its distinctive blend of the innovative with the traditional is creating a buzz in the treasury operations world. The sales side and customer relationships are very decentralized at Win, which at most companies would mean some loss of efficiency. But Win has been able to use overarching technology and strategic outsourcing to get the efficiencies of centralization with very little loss to their entrepreneurial culture and the growth that it brings. On the A/P side, they've built a complete image-based workflow that outsources the whole payment generation piece to a bank. They took all that work off the finance team's plate but still managed to make it look like the local companies are paying. It's centralized efficiency with a local look and feel. They're moving aggressively to electronic payments, streamlining the cash-conversion cycle and managing their working capital more efficiently. WinWholesale started with A/P and A/R when the plumbing and electrical distributor set out to centralize treasury operations at a company that seemed to defy the concept of centralization.
Cash is King - Treasurers Are Stuck Between A Rate Cut and Recession—January 2008.To get ahead of the cycle treasurers need to become masters of the cash conversion cycle. You have to decide how do I move the lever to improve cash management and working capita This almost always involves software, as well as policy, and coordination with bank and financing partners If you're driving down the road, you want to look far down the road - you can't drive by looking two feet in front of a car. You gain better visibility by looking all the way down the road. And you can do that when you have the best forecasting tools. With the Federal Reserve cutting rates 75 basis points Tuesday morning and the probability of more cuts to come, corporate treasuries are scrambling to make sure their cash portfolios are positioned for a potentially wild rate ride downhill. The prospects of significantly lower rates raise questions about whether companies need to continue to sit on record cash cushions or whether it is time to redeploy funds back into the business through expansion, M&A or even share purchases and dividend increases.
BUSINESS FINANCE
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2007 Quotes |
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TREASURY & RISK
2007 AHA Award Winner for Middle Market Treasury—November 2007.Paychex's creation of a single centralized department for operational risk mitigation, in which a corporate-wide team assumes risk responsibilities and reports back to a new shared services department. Their approach would be a lot to undertake even for a big company; but it's amazing for a small company. Paychex recognized an enterprise-wide system would help the bottom line. Some big banks and insurers could learn something from Paychex -- as opposed to just protecting assets it uses the systems it creates for sales retention and profit growth. Paychex Inc.
Reaching the Limit on Staff Cuts—October 2007.Automation is the first place treasurers turn for help. Often, automation comes after cuts that forced a company to work more efficiently, but the staff automation replaces isn't the type of staff treasurers should be considering to build muscle. When people look to add staff, the success usually comes from linking it to how treasury can act strategically, like optimizing working capital. Any treasury with a large [operations] staff is far too large in ops and probably short on analytics. For treasurers, building credibility is usually uniquely tied to enhancing working capital management. Any treasurer who is fulfilling his or her duty is helping working capital. They should own working capital and liquidity and drive the concepts in their organizations. That should mean taking on accounts payable and accounts receivable. And with these increased responsibilities, some are getting more people. After years of trimming staff and automating processes, treasurers are beginning to see that the lowest headcount does not always translate into the most efficient shop. A few brave ones are making the case for treasury to bulk up a bit.
Sometimes It Helps To Get Your Hands Dirty—October 2007.Making these kinds of moves does not come without risk for both company and executive. Moving someone from finance to operations requires a huge investment by the corporation in that individual. It's usually done only for people with high enough potential to justify that investment. When a finance person shows up at a non-financial job site, his or her new staff often has to train the boss. Companies that give finance executives a little taste of operations can reap rewards.
EIPP Illuminated—September 2007.CFOs are discovering that a lack of effective EIPP is holding back their efforts to drive working capital economics and are issuing orders to find effective ways to introduce EIPP, often in step with other large transformations reshaping the physical supply chain. We're a lot more positive on EIPP now than two years ago and we've seen real growth in the past few months. After years of treading water, a couple of vendors have achieved critical mass. While Corporate resistance to EIPP is fading as CFOs recognize its value and vendors rise to the occasion. Now, companies can Receive up to 95% of invoices electronically regardless of how they are delivered.
Treasurers Turn the Tables on Banks—September 2007.As banks redefine, so too must treasury workstation providers. SunGard AvantGard--still the 800-pound gorilla even after Wall Street Systems' acquisiton of Trema and Thomson Financial's acquisition of Selkirk--is expanding its definition of treasury operations to include more interfacing with A/P and A/R. They see treasury as the owner of working capital and liquidity management, so like the banks, they're taking a broader view of what they should provide. Kyriba, primarily a European provider until a couple of years ago, is also benefiting from the ASP surge. It is predicted that Kyriba will expand its marketing efforts to match its technical capabilities, now that it has established a beachhead in North America. The mantra at treasuries today is, "One format, one pipe" to make payments anywhere on the globe, and banks and treasury technology companies are trying their best to comply.
Stop the Madness—July/August 2007.Since the Weiland system is in its early phases at the USPS, Kosturko cannot estimate yet how much the USPS is overpaying its banks. But experts claim the savings can be considerable. The statements come in and the money goes out under the radar and at some companies, it can potentially involve millions in overpayments. At almost every company, there will be errors of some kind. Seven global banks are now committed to supporting BSB and are testing it for an imminent rollout. Account analysis software like that offered by Weiland will accept both the domestic 822 and the global BSB once it goes into actual use. It is predicted that BSB will follow the same path of gradual adoption as the 822, which was originally adopted in 1990 and is now supported by all major cash management banks--and many midsize ones, too. But while the USPS has embraced best-practice account analysis, it is not by any means close to a standard operation--even among the Fortune 1,000. In fact, companies of all sizes are disbursing large amounts of money with less scrutiny than they would for any comparable expenditure, partly because these bills don't go through accounts payable. Instead, busy treasury staffs eyeball paper statements or punch the numbers into a spreadsheet. Equally busy bank staffs have already automatically debited the company's account. Some are still settled with compensating balances instead of cash. While automating your account analysis may not be the sexiest topic in the world, it could lead to some exciting savings.
Stay tuned to the cash conversion space for more deals—April 24, 2007.For JPMorgan Chase, a major corporate treasury services bank, to buy Xign Inc., a software/services company in the cash conversion cycle space, is a sign of the times, treasury services analysts agree. The motivation behind the trend: Banks have to address the cash conversion cycle, and they need a partner to do it. All of the far-sighted treasury banks are working with partners or exploring partnerships, some of which will lead to acquisitions. Banks have been partnering with technology-based service firms in the order-to-pay and order-to-collect space to expand their treasury services. Chase has partnered with Xign for three-and-a-half years and they have a number of joint customers. The announced deals "put chum in the water and will instigate a minor feeding frenzy, pushing other banks to make their own moves. That frenzy could spread to the treasury workstation market. Banks with strong ambitions to expand their role as concentration banks could target a treasury workstation vendor. Xign, of course, has other banking partners, who now have to decide whether to remain customers of an operation owned by a rival bank when current contracts expire. However, the number of alternative providers is limited, and strong providers like TradeCard and Payformance could also become bank acquisitions anyway. Banks exited the treasury software business in the 1980s because of the high cost of supporting upgrades, but today's hosted solutions have lowered those barriers, and companies like Xign are at least as much service companies as they are software companies. "They're likely to hesitate over a treasury workstation acquisition due to painful memories of trying to offer client/server solutions in the past, but today's technology makes it far easier to integrate a hosted treasury workstation into bank systems than that older technology did. Technology doesn't change everything, but it certainly is changing treasury operations in the transaction and treasury workstation/cash system arena.
The Last Paper Check—April 2007.Several leading cash management banks are aggressively selling their least-cost routing service in which they receive all checks, either physically or as a scanned image file, and then apply rules to clear each item in the least expensive way. That normally means converting all checks that are eligible to ACH debits under BOC and clearing the rest as images under Check 21 authority, which applies to all checks. There could be other reasons for not converting eligible checks -- like local checks that would clear with same-day availability as checks but get next-day availability as ACH debits. In some cases, large checks might be cleared as check images because quicker availability would be worth more than lower ACH transaction costs. While BOC acceptance will be gradual, the business case is compelling and BOC will prove to be a big hit, payments pros predict, which means that declining check volume will take another big hit. BOC allows companies receiving checks to move check conversion to an efficient back-office operation and receive next-day availability. It will remove one of the last big pockets of check payments and may be the final step before checks simply disappear and all payments are originated electronically. March 16 felt like any other day in the back offices of retailers and other businesses with sizable volumes of small checks, but on that day the lowly check marched one step closer to extinction.
Strategic Selection—April 2007.A few observers question whether the product line will have enough breadth and depth to compete head-to-head with SunGard and Thomson Financial, which has shown the most momentum in recent months in the marketplace. When describing the WSS lineup "It's a smile with some gold molars and missing teeth between Wallstreet Treasury and Wallstreet Suite." For the large corporate market, they don't have products that match up well against systems like SunGard's Integrity and Quantum. Wall Street Systems is plowing forward with a plan still firmly focused on the financial Services sector and ASP hosting, with two tweaked former Trema offerings for the middle market and…
Where Size Doesn't Matter—February 2007.Middle market companies--which in the past would often operate without even a treasurer--are putting more of a value on securing that skill set. They are more aware of the risks today, and are bringing in a treasury pro sooner than they would have in the past. There are two technologies--treasury workstations and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems--that have been primarily responsible for delivering newfound sophistication, especially in treasury, to the middle market. Kyriba and Thomson are the most aggressive in pushing ASP-hosted treasury software to the middle market, while Gateway is making headway through its Bank of America channel. Midsize companies like Fellowes are seizing the initiative when it comes to building sophisticated treasury operations not typically seen at middle market companies. No longer willing to settle for low-tech solutions to meet global challenges, these middle-weight trendsetters are using cutting-edge products and services intended for much larger multinationals. And banking and software vendors, who once ignored them, are now more than ready to push the best technology into skilled midsize hands and let them run with it.
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2004 - 2006 Quotes |
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TREASURY & RISK
BUSINESS FINANCE
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Pre-2004 Select Quotes |
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TREASURY & RISK
BUSINESS FINANCE
INTERNET WORLD & BUSINESS FINANCE
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WEBINARS |
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BOOK QUOTES |
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