UK postpones implementation of Strong Customer Authentication
On May 20, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a six-month extension to the deadline for implementing Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for online purchases.
The SEPA Request-to-Pay explained
All SEPA countries introduced the SEPA Request-to-Pay (SRTP) scheme on 15 June 2021. This scheme covers the set of operating rules and technical elements (including messages) that enable a payee to request the initiation of a payment from a payer in a wide range of physical or online use cases. Mélina Le Sauze, Director at Redbridge, explains the scheme.
The PGE has a major role to play in a post-crisis funding structure
In January, French Treasury and the French banks agreed to offer companies that raised a PGE (prêt garanti par l’Etat — French State Guaranteed Loan) an additional one-year deferred amortization. Muriel Nahmias, Senior Director Debt Advisory at Redbridge, provides an update on this grace period and the options for extending PGEs.
The impact of Brexit on card acceptance costs
Since 2007 the EU has had a single payments market, with common rules and limits on card fees. As a result of Brexit, the UK no longer comes under EU regulations, and both card schemes and card issuers are free to increase the fees they charge on card transactions between the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK, and on domestic transactions in the UK. Higher charges could represent a significant burden for merchants at a time when the retail sector is facing unprecedented pressure.
“We always wanted to be prepared for the worst-case scenario”, Arnaud Winkelmann – Compagnie des Alpes
On 4 March, Redbridge chatted to Arnaud Winkelmann, Director of Finance and Treasury at Compagnie des Alpes, about financing and cash management in times of crisis. On the agenda were financing strategy, state-backed loans, waivers, savings, electronic payments and cash management.
LIBOR rates: transition has begun
Simon Berta details the different impacts of the LIBOR’s replacement in credit facilities, whether they are existing credit facilities with maturities spanning over 2021 and beyond, or new facilities to be implemented this year.
“We had an immediate return on investment on our bank fee monitoring software”, Frédéric Capraro – RTL Group
Bank fee analysis continues to be an obstacle for treasurers. How can global companies leverage technological innovations to improve visibility of bank charges?
Treasury Key topics in 2021
While the massive roll-out of vaccines against Covid is raising hopes that the ongoing global health crisis will soon be resolved, there’s still considerable uncertainty about the long-term consequences of the pandemic on the economy. CFOs and treasurers will need to be resilient and act with rigour, innovation and boldness to seize the opportunities to be found in 2021.
Farewell 2020: a look back at our best articles
As we bid farewell to what was a year like no other, we look back at some of our articles from last year that provided our innovative points of view on matters related to finance and treasury.
Transitions in the global payments market
The world often appears large and disconnected, with differences of religion, culture, language and currency that reinforce our independence. Despite these perceived differences, we are, in reality, linked closely together. Our points of connectivity expand with each technological advancement –write Justin DiCioccio, Redbridge Senior Analyst, and Constance Veron, Redbridge Associate Director.
“Switching banks was the right decision”, Olivier Bouillaud – Albéa
Packaging specialist Albéa has completely redesigned the local organization of its financing and treasury operations in the United States. This interview with the Group’s finance and treasury director, Olivier Bouillaud, provides insights on switching banks.
“Large card networks remain essential elements of the pipeline, but they have not moved much as yet.” Charles Lutran – Critéo
Interview with Charles Lutran, Group Treasurer at Criteo
For vendors, the implementation of SCT Inst is not so simple
Redbridge interviewed seven treasury software vendors on how their payment systems need to evolve in order to integrate instant transfers. Solenn Le Lay, Director at Redbridge, focuses on the challenges of providing this new payment method for businesses.
SCT Inst: payment service providers dependent on banking institution account holders
There are still obstacles to instant transfer payment, including a lack of harmonization and standardization at the European level regarding banking APIs (application programming interfaces). Nevertheless, payment service providers (PSPs) wish to innovate and develop a wide range of solutions to meet the needs of their customers, says Manon Balette-pape, Director at Redbridge.
Phygital payment – “Cash is e-king!”
In Europe, several companies are developing a strategy to integrate cash as a payment method for online transactions. A review of these solutions by Gabriel Lucas, Associate Director at Redbridge.