In-house banking provides a number of advantages to financial departments when it comes to managing their cash flow more effectively: it helps them combat fraud, control financial risks and optimize their working capital requirements. Jéromine Adler and Arielle Chave, consultants in Redbridge’s Treasury Advisory team, highlight some of the keys to success when it comes to such projects.
Due to the recovery of industrial production and international trade, working capital has become one of the main challenges finance departments are facing today. Asset-based financing solutions can facilitate working capital management, diversify sources of financing and optimize the cost of debt. Listen to our November 16, 2021 market update on key players in factoring and reverse factoring businesses in Europe.
The bank accounts your company uses stores the most liquid of all company assets. In the wrong hands, these accounts can expose your company to a significant risk of theft, fraud, or non-compliance.
The merchant card industry is changing, so much so that even the word ‘merchant’ has become out-of-date. In recent years, the industry standard verbiage changed from merchant cards to payment cards to be all-inclusive of the complexities of the payment card world. Examples of payment cards can include traditional credit and debit cards, but also gift cards (closed loop), pre-paid cards (open loop), ghost, and virtual cards.
With the recent lifting of the ban on merchant surcharging, the U.S. payments industry has not seen widespread adoption. However, as fees continue to climb, card-not-present volumes increase, and there are fewer options to lower fees, merchants are finding themselves backed into a corner.
Capital management and risk-adjusted performance are increasingly complex tasks for corporate treasurers, particularly in relation to their banking relationships. Banks have utilized RAROC (risk-adjusted return on capital) – a risk-based profitability measurement – for decades as a key factor in determining their appetite for business relationships with corporations.
In our bank account management (BAM) blog series, we strive to look at the problems of bank account management from a modern perspective. Our first installment focused on proper bank account management practices in the risk-focused world.
In today’s payments world, one topic continues to be top of mind for both bankers and practitioners- speed. Enter Real Time Payments (RTP), the latest form of payment that aims to provide the quickest receipt option between businesses and consumers.
If there is one thing that those close to the payments industry know, it is that the industry is constantly evolving. We see payments getting faster and more convenient. With that said, the one thing merchants rarely see, as a part of all this growth and innovation, is shrinking cost. Payments, particularly card payments, just seem to be growing more expensive. While it is true that some portions of card acceptance, such as the fees paid to an acquirer, may be getting slimmer and more competitive, merchants still foot the bill for the most expensive component – interchange.
How do you know you are getting the best rates for the fees you are paying to your banks? You could compare what you have paid in the past or what you pay to other banks. However, are those truly accurate benchmarks? Each banking relationship varies with the multitude of services provided by each bank. The rates you pay in fees could vary just as much as the number of services you use at each bank. Utilize the below tips for smooth bank fee negotiations.
We have discussed the stages of your banking relationships and tips for a successful RFP but what does an effective RFP process look like? There are steps in the process every company should progress through for a successful RFP process. Below we detail those steps along with a few insider tips from Redbridge experts who have worked through countless RFPs with our clients.
There are two sides to the account analysis dilemma; establishing the baseline and regular auditing. To adequately solve for the bank fee problem you must do both.
Now that you have determined which stage in the relationship you are in with your bank, it is time to evaluate the strength of the relationship. Banking relationships are based on performance, risk, and profitability KPIs. These relationships come down to two main objectives: fairness and accountability. For something to be truly fair, there should be transparency on all sides. Transparency and accountability are the foundation of a long-standing relationship.
The importance of having an optimal credit profile may seem obvious but also like a daunting task. You may not know when you will need access to credit but having an optimal credit profile at all times allows you to access credit when it is needed, even unexpectedly, according to a Forbes.com article.
Analytics is helping banks and corporations gain a competitive advantage by delivering actionable insights as well as an effective solution for addressing issues like safety and compliance. The corporate world can use the same technologies and strategies to address the challenge of bank account management (BAM).
