Enterprise Software Company

Enterprise Software Company Recovers $9.2 Million in Costs with Redbridge

Our client, a publicly traded enterprise software company operating across North America, has an active cash position across seven banking relationships that support their day-to-day operating accounts and foreign exchange activity. When this company engaged Redbridge in 2024, its objective was to understand whether the terms it received on banking costs and yield-on-deposits reflected fair market pricing. The engagement delivered more than the company expected: $9.2 million in first-year value across bank fees and yield-on-deposits, with additional savings recovered in foreign exchange pricing.

Challenge

The company relied on seven banking partners to support its treasury operations, and over time the pricing across these relationships had drifted out of market alignment. Fee schedules varied from bank to bank, with some services priced well above market competitive costs. The company also lacked a reliable way to benchmark what it was paying against comparable institutions, which meant it could not easily identify where it was overpaying.

Yield-on-deposits presented a second concern. With the Federal Funds Rate widely expected to decline when the engagement kicked off, the treasury team wanted assurance that its earnings credit rates (ECR) and deposit spreads were positioned to maintain value if rates fell, rather than eroding quietly in the background.

Foreign exchange was an additional source of uncertainty. The margins applied to the company’s cross-border activity were difficult to calculate and harder to challenge, which made it nearly impossible to know whether currency exchange pricing was competitive.

The company wanted to address all of this without damaging the longstanding bank relationships it highly valued. What they needed was an independent partner with comprehensive data to benchmark their existing costs, establish fair terms, and the standing to negotiate competitive pricing on the company’s behalf.

Solution

Redbridge began with a detailed baseline analysis of every fee the company paid across its seven banking relationships. Using proprietary benchmarking data drawn from a large population of comparable corporate treasury programs, Redbridge established what fair market pricing should look like for every service at each bank, then translated that into specific, defensible negotiation targets.

The first round of negotiations produced actual movement. Encouraged by the results, the company chose to launch a second, targeted negotiation round that brought every banking partner back to the table. This second pass allowed Redbridge to press further on the remaining relationships with the most value to unlock, and to close the gap between initial offers and true market rates.

On the fee side, Redbridge worked to build a harmonized fee schedule across all seven banks, replacing inconsistent and often inflated pricing with terms that were consistent and easier to monitor over time. Standardizing pricing in this way lowered costs, and made future fees easier to forecast, budget and audit.

For deposit yield, Redbridge negotiated indexed deposit rates with built-in downside protection. Because the rates were tied to a published index, the company would continue to earn a fair spread even if the Federal Funds Rate were to decline. This protected forecasted interest income from the erosion the treasury team had been concerned about.

Regarding cross-border currency activity, Redbridge introduced foreign exchange margin transparency by exposing the true margins embedded in the company’s pricing and negotiating them to competitive levels. What had been an uncertain and largely unquestioned cost became a visible and controlled one.

Throughout the engagement, Redbridge’s negotiation approach preserved meaningful profitability at each bank, while maximizing value for the client, which ensured continued healthy bank relationships. That balance made the banks willing to accept multi-year pricing commitments, locking in the improved terms for as long as five years.

Results

A 24% Reduction in Cash Management Fees

Renegotiated and harmonized pricing reduced the company’s annual cash management fees by 24 percent. That decrease equates to approximately $3.0 million in recurring annual savings, value that now stays with the business every year rather than being absorbed into banking costs.

A 65% Reduction in Foreign Exchange Costs

By exposing and renegotiating embedded currency margins, Redbridge helped cut annual foreign exchange costs by 65 percent. The improvement delivered roughly $1.3 million in annual value and provided the treasury team lasting clarity into a cost that had been nearly invisible.

$4.8 Million in Additional Deposit Yield

The move to indexed deposit rates lifted projected annual yield by roughly 9 percent, an improvement of about $4.8 million a year. As the new rates are indexed, this gain is structured to hold up even if benchmark rates fluctuate, which protects the company from the rate decline it was preparing for.

Multi-Year Alignment with Every Banking Partner

All seven banks agreed to the new pricing, and each committed to holding it for an extended term. Commitments ranged from two and a half years to five years, which locked in the savings and provided the company a stable, predictable banking cost base well into the future.

$9.2 Million in Total First-Year Value

The combined improvements across every workstream produced $9.2 million in value in the first year alone, most of which will recur each year. Beyond the dollar figure, the company came away with something more durable: it now has independent visibility into what fair banking terms look like, and the leverage to hold its partners to them.