Technology has enabled the movement of funds in secure environments. The speed of transactions has also dramatically increased, reducing down to just a few seconds in some countries and currencies as APIs and real-time systems arrive. But are instant payments always necessary? Is improving the speed and automation of your treasury systems a key part of your strategy? Please complete our short survey to share your views.

As lower interest rates in Brazil have made wealth managers more relevant, the CEO of Consenso — which UBS acquired in 2017 — says that the secret of wealth management goes beyond making big calls on markets.

Receivables are key to keeping a company or institution in business. They are the final step of the cash conversion cycle, closing the gap in the working capital. In other words, receivables are really important for treasurers and yet are often seen as a difficult topic to address.

Technology may be creeping into every aspect of banking and corporate treasury, but there seems to be a low appetite for working with fintechs and more demand for a focus on traditional banking relationships and business understanding.

It is no secret that cross-border payments have been historically laden with problems of delays and errors, unclear payment status and fees. To address these issues, Swift launched the global payments innovation (GPI) with the goal of significantly improving the customer experience by increasing the speed, transparency and tracking of cross-border payments. This initiative from Swift involves more than 120 key transaction banks from more than 200 countries and territories around the world, and because Swift is where the critical mass of cross-border payments happen, its global payments innovation has been hailed as one of the biggest advancements in international payments in several decades. The initiative is designed to be functional at the short, medium and long terms.

Penelope Smith, Director, Head of non-German Schuldschein Origination, DCM Loans at Commerzbank, considered the role of this unique private placement instrument in international investors’ portfolios.

BNP Paribas, PwC, SAP and the European Association of Corporate Treasurers (EACT) released the second edition of their thought leadership initiative, the Journeys To Treasury (JTT) report at EuroFinance Barcelona on the 4th of October 2017. The first edition of the report, released at EuroFinance Vienna in 2016 made a lasting impression on the corporate treasury community, with more than 1000 downloads across the world and more than 24,000 visits to the report’s website within the first three months of its launch. The 2017 edition of the report has taken the narrative further and discusses some of the most important issues and trends affecting the corporate treasury.

The importance of emerging markets in the world economy has grown steadily but managing EM currency risk can be a nightmare for the unwary corporate treasurer. By 2014, emerging market economies already accounted for 36% of world GDP and 27% of world trade, yet in the period between 2010 and 2015 there were eight large depreciations of emerging market currencies, according to the International Monetary Fund. Managing the company’s financial interests in these challenging markets has become a top priority for treasurers. Which factors should treasurers look at?

Innovation is on everybody’s mind and many wonder whether it’s actually more than just a buzzword. BNP Paribas’s response is clear and strong: innovation is a continuous journey, it goes beyond technology, is already underway and bringing progress at multiple levels and the Bank is also now working hand in hand with its clients to rock the treasury house. From blockchain-based solutions to SWIFT gpi and Virtual Account Management, the evidence is blooming.

Asian green bond initiatives are supporting an unprecedented global surge in issuance, with many markets taking a leaf out of China’s regulator-led book.