Cash Management Survey 2021 - Financial Institution
This is the 20th annual survey of the world's cash management industry. With an average response base in excess of 30,000, this is the most authoritative and comprehensive ranking available.
For details of the Euromoney Cash Management survey for Non-Financial Institutions, please click here.
Cash Management Survey Results 2021
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The Euromoney Cash Management Survey recognises the leading providers of cash management products and services. This year we collected 562 valid responses for the Financial Institutions Survey.
About the Cash Management Survey:
Euromoney’s Cash Management Survey receives responses from the leading cash managers, treasurers and financial officers worldwide, and is considered the benchmark survey for the global cash management industry. This is the most comprehensive guide to the cash management arena in the market
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Proponents of banking-as-a-service will be hoping that UniCredit’s decision to acquire Aion Bank and Vodeno marks a turning point in a sector that has experienced considerable volatility.
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Investing in Latin America’s payment fintechs is having a moment – but will the region’s central banks kill off their revenue model by adopting their own version of Brazil’s PIX?
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Transaction banks in Asia will have to up their game to satisfy corporates who now view a strong digital offering as a prerequisite to maintaining relationships.
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The spectre of increased liability for financial officers looms large over the UK government’s plans to reform the audit profession.
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As multinationals navigate the complexities of developing Asian businesses – amid supply-chain reconfigurations, the rise of sustainable financing and the penetration of e-commerce – treasurers are playing a bigger role in strategic decision-making.
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After years of being off the table due to historically low interest rates, treasurers can now realistically look to profit from rate differentials between currencies.
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Wholesale banking head Andrew Bester explains the renowned retail bank’s ambition to win new revenues building on its expertise in sustainable finance.
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A report published by management consultancy Baringa at the end of May suggested that UK firms face the largest-ever increase in debt-driven costs between now and the end of 2026.
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The disconnect between global economic growth and commodity prices is focusing treasurers’ minds on hedging exposures to everything from cocoa to cobalt.
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The bank is targeting the often-overlooked service sector with structured solutions, along with identifying embedded finance as a fast-growing segment. With the launch of Global Trade Solutions, it goes beyond traditional product offerings and financing.
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Bankruptcies in the buy-now-pay-later market, together with tighter regulation, present an opportunity for banks to steal a march on pure-play providers.
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The limitations of the Alternative Investment Market are forcing many companies to explore other sources of funding. Nevertheless, there is optimism that the market for small and medium-sized growth companies can be revived.
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Mamerto Tangonan, the deputy governor and head of the payments and currency management sector at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, tells Euromoney how southeast Asian countries are using advances in digital payments to revolutionize cross-border transactions.
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There is pressure on corporate treasurers to maximise the benefits of embedded finance, despite the lack of additional resources.
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With corporates taking a more holistic view of sustainability, banks are under pressure to address concerns over reporting and verification requirements for sustainable working capital, trade finance and liquidity management products.
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Euromoney recently sat down in Dubai with the heads of investment banking for HSBC in the Middle East. The conversation focused on the burgeoning trade and deal flow between the Gulf region and Asia, what investors on both sides are looking for and why they like what they see.
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MBridge, China’s cross-border digital currency initiative, has entered the minimum viable product stage. It is the world’s most advanced cross-border CBDC and stands on the cusp of playing a pivotal role in the de-dollarization process.
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The recent resurgence in M&A activity has driven interest in deal-contingent hedging as firms look for a buffer against unfavourable FX or interest-rate movements.
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Does the high number of drawn-out insolvency cases in the UK suggest a failure of regulation?
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By starting from a blank sheet of paper, Royal Bank of Canada hopes its new US cash-management platform will allow it to capture a greater share of wallet from existing clients while not being held back by legacy technology.
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Corporate treasurers are playing it safe when balancing the merits of exploiting improved access to capital against the risk of unexpected economic shocks and business interruption.
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Will increased transparency in the European corporate bond market lead to higher transaction costs for large trades?
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Banks and regulators are keen to use instant payments to reduce the influence of Visa and Mastercard on the European payments industry – but replacing these two dominant players will be far from easy.
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Chief financial officers and finance directors have much to gain from bundling treasury services if they can convince senior management that such offerings deliver value for money.
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As mandated real-time payments loom, Europe’s banks and other payment providers must look at modernising legacy infrastructure.
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Corporates’ longstanding complaint on banks’ payments offerings is that they don’t know what they are being charged for but suspect it is too much. Airwallex now provides an alternative at global scale.
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Digital negotiable instruments offer the prospect of improved working capital and better liquidity, but they face implementation challenges.
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Quarterly survey reveals that UK finance professionals may be feeling more upbeat about prospects, but that this is yet to translate into a willingness to take greater risk onto balance sheets.
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The EU’s Instant Payments Regulation may have fired the starting gun on real-time payments in Europe, but many banks remain stuck in the blocks.
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As banks retreat to their home markets, they must find reliable partners to serve corporate customers overseas or risk losing them.
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The challenges around distributed ledger technology implementation and integration for bond issuance have proved more significant than early proponents had hoped.
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Market conditions have heightened concerns over the potential cost of failed securities settlement as the world’s largest financial market prepares to move to T+1.
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The decision by the US SEC to drop mandatory Scope 3 reporting weakens global emissions reporting standards. However, many corporate issuers are already using Scope 3 performance targets on sustainability-linked transactions for non-regulatory reasons. Are the debt and equities markets leading companies onto ESG ground upon which regulators fear to tread?
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While welcome, initiatives by the government and financial sector bodies designed to make it easier for companies to raise funds in the UK face a number of obstacles.
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In a world of higher interest rates, economic uncertainties and data overload, corporate treasurers are turning to cutting-edge tools and strategies to predict and optimize their cash flows.
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The German lender’s decision to put its chips on southeast Asia is paying off handsomely. Under the leadership of Asia CEO Alexander von zur Mühlen, Deutsche Bank has doubled its capital in Vietnam and Indonesia, with more to come, moved a host of global roles to the region, and has seen Asean eclipse its India and China business in terms of growth and absolute numbers.
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Asset managers and industry regulators face operational challenges around the tokenization of private assets.
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Corporates seeking to leverage sustainable investment opportunities continue to be restricted by the lack of reliable data on which to base their assessments.
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Many vendors believe corporate treasurers should be doing more to eliminate superfluous accounts, protect payment data and direct resources to improving paper-based processes.
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Leading commercial banks are focusing on their approach to relationship management to reassure corporate customers that they are being listened to.
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There was a big rise in the number of respondents to Euromoney’s Trade Finance Survey 2024 who received an increase in credit from their trade banks last year – 45.7%, up from 41.8% in 2023.
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More than 60% of respondents to Euromoney’s 2024 trade finance survey expect an increase in use of trade financing over the next three years.
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Some 50.6% of respondents to this year’s Euromoney Trade Finance Survey say the cost of credit from their trade banks has increased over the past 12 months, compared with 45.4% in 2023.
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Domestic companies launch banking-as-a-service models as the country's central bank creates space for new entrants.
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Traditional custodians are maintaining their dominance in the face of growing fintech activity in the sector.
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Boosting the role of corporate treasury by enabling it to centralize group-wide FX management may sound appealing, but implementation and cost challenges should not be underestimated.
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Accommodating credit markets mean that corporates are keen to get fundraising completed ahead of elections on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Corporates continue to exhibit worrying levels of complacency when it comes to the implications of rate rises for their bottom line.
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Trade-receivables securitization transactions are flourishing as corporates seek more affordable access to long-term financing.
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Uneven progress towards financial market reform across the continent continues to pose a challenge for ambitious African corporates.
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While the world’s biggest markets are still preparing for T+1 settlement, talk is growing of the next step – but going any faster would mean a total reworking of how markets function.
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It is not hard to find short-term worries over global markets’ state of readiness for the US’s transition to one-day settlement in late May. But even if the UK, Europe and those Asian markets still using two-day settlement can adapt to the shift in the longer term, they will also face intense pressure to lessen their dislocation from the US cycle by copying its move. Many also fear the ultimate end-game of same-day or even instant settlement.
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Corporates are adopting a variety of approaches to mitigate the impact of uncertainty in foreign exchange markets caused by divergence in economic policy and performance.
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Collaboration between national banks has seen widespread adoption of mobile payments schemes. The French and German-led approach of focusing on a single European scheme could therefore be seen as a distraction. But is it the only real way of keeping US payment companies at bay?
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Implementing real-time payments can have consequences for corporates who underestimate the impact of cash leaving their business more quickly. Even as solutions become cheaper to implement, corporates are being cautious.
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Proposed regulatory changes will not dull treasurers’ appetite for money-market funds, even if interest rates are cut more aggressively than expected.
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Many companies still ignore the contribution that properly resourced treasury teams make to corporate performance.
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Elevated inflation and interest rates have focused treasury attention on the importance of diversification, particularly for those with an environmental, social or governance focus.
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Strategic adjustments, such as those resulting from mergers or acquisitions, represent a valuable opportunity for corporates to enhance their payment infrastructure.
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Siemens is anchor client for a new rules-based approach to banking.
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Many corporates are realising the benefits of intercompany netting on FX risk, trading and cash-flow visibility.
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The commodities firm still needs large banking groups and a range of options when it comes to supporting its operations.
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Thailand wants to give almost every adult in the country money through a digital wallet. It’s an interesting step towards bringing digital finance to the mainstream.
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Kenyan authorities have cleared Flutterwave of wrongdoing following an anti-money-laundering case in the East African nation. Nevertheless, industry confidence in the Africa-focused payments company remains mixed.
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The overall use of cash will continue to fall, but the decline of bank branch networks means that businesses now face a headache in handling physical takings.
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While the air at the Singapore Fintech Festival was full of grand ideas about GenAI, real innovation was taking place in the weeds of fintech development.
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Standard Chartered’s corporate and institutional bank can increase its profitability even when rates fall, divisional head Simon Cooper tells Euromoney. After reaping the benefit of investments in cash management, he is now turning to the financial markets business, especially credit – reinforcing efforts to grow clients in Europe and the Americas.
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Competition for deposits is influencing pricing decisions on commercial loans. However, the major cash-management banks insist that they have maintained both deposit levels and lending rates.
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Data hoarding, ESG illiteracy and credit risk are roadblocks for regional banks looking to establish sustainable supply-chain financing programmes in the Gulf, just as COP28 approaches.
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Transaction banks must help their corporate clients to make the best use of new technologies, but without burdening them with unsustainable IT spending commitments.
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Lack of standardization is one of the main reasons why API adoption has been slow in certain markets.
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Liquidity concerns and the search for yield are encouraging corporates to expand their roster of cash management service providers.
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The big cash management banks are confident that offering a wider range of services will enable them to maintain their market strength.
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Banks say they are working hard to maintain an edge in an increasingly crowded and fragmented cross-border retail payments market.
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While banks have accelerated digital solutions across business lines, accomplishing end-to-end digitalization of global trade remains far beyond their reach. The complexity of supply-chain finance remains a challenge, and banks continue to hunt for scalable solutions. Embedded finance could be the answer.
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The inability of trade-finance participants to fully leverage the value of the data generated by transactions remains a source of frustration, particularly for small businesses.
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Banks may be retreating from lending directly to small and medium-sized enterprises, but by lending to credit specialists with good technology they can still be a source of funding for the sector.
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Widespread use of ISO 20022 could have a far-reaching impact on supply-chain finance by facilitating faster processing of transactions.
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While foreign investment in China has fallen, supply-chain shift is a different story. Rather than transferring their main production away from China, manufacturers are cultivating deep regional supply chains across Asia and beyond.
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It took five years for the invoice finance specialist Accelerated Payments to advance its first €1 billion, but just nine months for the next €500 million.
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Transaction banks are collaborating with ERP system vendors and other fintechs to maximise corporate use cases for ISO 20022.
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Corporate treasury expectations for on-demand financial information are yet to be addressed. The difficulty of gathering data from disparate systems should not be underestimated.
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Euromoney talks to Jacques Levet, chief digital officer at BNP Paribas, about the competitive advantage that newly acquired FX fintech Kantox offers.
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Beneath the Great Game geopolitics of US-Vietnam relations, there are some intriguing possibilities in the detail.
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Securities finance practitioners are taking a mix of approaches to managing cash, funding and liquidity in a shortened settlement cycle.
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Overall volatility in commodities markets may have dropped from the highs of last year, but uncertainty in specific sectors continues to put pressure on corporate hedging strategies.
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For decades, transaction banking was a profitable but largely ignored corner of the banking industry. Then Covid happened. Today, bank chiefs see it as critical to everything they do. Given the challenges ahead – collaborating with fintechs and embedding ESG principles in global supply chains – the revolution under way in this business is unstoppable.
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Corporates appreciate the value of APIs when it comes to connectivity for services such as payment order transfers, cash balance updates and payment status updates. But a lack of uniform data standards continues to hinder their wider adoption.
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Two new platforms show how India is building on top of its digital foundations.
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Banks are calling for greater cooperation from regulators as they address demands for cheaper and faster cross-border payments.
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The volume of payments processed outside the traditional banking sector is growing rapidly. But banks remain confident that they can remain competitive against non-bank or fintech alternative platforms.
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The domestic economy is flatlining while interest rates continue to rise, but the booming banking sector has helped overall UK corporate payouts keep pace with those elsewhere.
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While central banks announce the latest controlled tests on blockchain-based digital money, a handful of leading commercial banks are already in full production.
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With Apple set to take an even bigger bite out of UK in-person transaction volumes, rival providers of payment technology will be looking to up their game.
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Thames Water has become the highest profile example of a UK corporation that finds itself hamstrung by inflation-linked bonds issued at a time when persistent high inflation and economic stagnation seemed unlikely bedfellows.
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Accessing funds via debt capital or private placement may seem like an onerous task, but a growing number of corporates see it as an opportunity to mitigate the impact of changes to bank-capital deployment.
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The increased corporate focus on environmental, social and governance issues is impacting treasury teams that can struggle to justify their initiatives.
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Providers of trade finance remain bullish despite predictions that growth in global trade will stagnate during the remainder of this year.
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Banks must address the nature and quality of trade finance roles to address staff longevity concerns.
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Sinan Ozcan, senior executive officer of DP World Trade Finance – part of the company that handles around one-eighth of global trade volumes – talks to Euromoney about its plans to finance these volumes as well.
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High interest rates and low bank appetite for risk have created the perfect conditions for a renaissance in invoice factoring.
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The green transition is boosting demand for key metals and Africa’s commodity markets are under pressure to increase extraction. But buyer awareness of Scope 3 emissions means that processes need to be cleaned up and fast.
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Better AML controls across traditional financial systems have increased the appeal of international trade as a conduit for fraud.
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Extreme FX volatility is proving a challenge for some finance directors who are struggling to minimize the impact on their bottom line.
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Most leading providers of trade finance have welcomed changes to disclosure rules despite research suggesting they could negatively impact demand.
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As interest rate volatility persists, corporates are taking a hard look at their trade finance options.
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The evolution of Brazil’s central bank payments programme could be good news for banks.
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The banking sector appears to be quietly confident that the European Commission will row back on new regulation that, if enacted, could notably increase the cost of some trade-finance instruments.
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The big transaction banks are becoming increasingly active in the B2B marketplace as they seek to cash in on corporate digital transformation.
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Growing treasury demand for advisory services from banks suggests that investment in predictive analytics applications at the latter is starting to bear fruit.
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Marketplace lending providers are pinning their hopes on challenging economic conditions to persuade investors that they can disrupt the lending market.
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Turkish airline Pegasus hopes an innovative funding solution tied to sustainability targets will help it increase capacity despite challenging market conditions.
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Twinco Capital facilitates access to sustainable funding by focusing on pre-production finance.
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Rising interest rates have driven demand for more efficient liquidity structures.
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Business-to-business buy-now-pay-later providers are optimistic that economic uncertainty and higher interest rates will drive corporates to pay suppliers sooner and secure inventory more rapidly.
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HSBC’s global head of trade finance talks about how the bank has built 'the trade finance platform for the future'.
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Short-term government bonds have re-emerged as a viable option for corporate treasurers seeking returns on their cash, but recent events in the US banking sector highlight the risks of long-dated exposures.
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The former Barclays chief executive is set to scale up the core banking-technology provider that aims to do banking 10 times better.
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Patents are a high-profile demonstration of a bank’s commitment to innovation, but they are not the only option for those looking to encourage new ways of thinking.
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Banks’ digital-transformation ambitions continue to be checked by difficulties in combining customer data from disparate systems and sharing information across the industry.
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Firms betting on interest-rate declines will be hoping that inflation does not force central banks to raise the cost of borrowing again.
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As the EU prepares to vote on its Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation in April, the UK government is hoping to steal a march as a location for cryptoasset businesses.
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The impact of the supply chain disruption that was such a notable feature of last year’s trade finance survey continues to be felt as banks widen the range of services designed to improve corporate resilience.
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Big transaction banks are responding to corporate customer demand for sustainability linked supplier-finance programmes by extending the geographical availability and range of the products they offer.
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Banks and corporates are taking a variety of approaches to mitigating the impact of rising interest rates, quantitative tightening and economic uncertainty on the availability of liquidity.
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Appetite for corporate issuance remains robust as investors dismiss recession fears and take on credit exposure.
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With little likelihood of currency volatility subsiding any time soon, corporates continue to face difficult decisions when it comes to how best to mitigate FX risk.
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The European Commission has mandated instant payments across the eurozone, and banks must urgently ensure that their payment systems are fit for purpose.
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As the treasury sector reflects on another eventful year, Euromoney looks at likely developments for the next 12 months.
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Account-to-account payments have become a priority area for regulators, but industry participants argue that rule makers need to do more to support wider use of pay-by-bank services.
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The leading transaction banks are taking a proactive approach to balancing the conflicting demands of chief financial officers – who are prioritizing cost reduction – and treasurers, who are focused on increasing operational efficiency.
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Strategies and financing need to be radically reassessed to achieve sustainability in a rapidly changing world.
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The dominance of embedded finance and BaaS by fintechs is now being challenged by established financial institutions.
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The DAC space is crowded. Nevertheless, BNY Mellon has gone further than most of its peers in embracing crypto.
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DeFi is touted as a solution to the multi-trillion dollar global trade-finance gap, despite tech concerns.
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Capgemini’s world payments report highlights dissatisfaction among smaller clients with the services offered.
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Brazil’s agribusiness sector is booming on the back of sky-high commodity prices. The public banks that have long financed the sector now face a wave of new private-sector competitors.
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Geopolitical and economic turmoil has taken its toll on cash management strategies during 2022. Leading transaction banks emphasize the value of investment in technology as they navigate a choppy market environment.
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Both HSBC and JPMorgan have recently boosted their digital trade finance offerings, as the ICC Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation commenced testing of digital trade systems between Singapore and the UK.
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The weakness of the pound and strength of the dollar has implications for companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Recent volatility has encouraged many corporates to switch out of longer tenor instruments.
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Rising interest rates and macroeconomic uncertainty mean that corporate cash balances are at very high levels.
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As corporate APIs are catching up their consumer-focused equivalents, many doubt they can replace legacy options.
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Smaller firms are expected to pull back on expenditure as recession risk rises.
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The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have brutally exposed the fragility of global supply chains.
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Simplicity remains the watchword for treasurers trying to increase returns on their cash reserves.
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While the impact on energy is centre stage, the war in Ukraine is also wreaking havoc on soft commodity prices and trade routes. Trade in agricultural commodities is taking a hit. The pool of banks financing these commodities is already dwindling, while the risks for those that remain are growing.
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More awareness by corporates of the role played by small suppliers has boosted early payment programmes.
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With less than a year to go, market participants seeking a smooth transition face a number of challenges.
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Increased use of the euro short-term rate in the swaps market could result in a Euribor decline – or demise.
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Technology advances and positive ESG considerations could help private credit reduce the global trade finance gap.
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Offloading payment infrastructure makes sense for some banks as customer demands become more sophisticated – not all.
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UK regulators have pushed big banks to establish an innovative form of payment that could leave fintechs struggling.
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The failures of we.trade and HSBC’s Serai highlight the challenges that blockchain-based solutions face.
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Progress on implementing the proposed minimum global tax rate may be uneven, but it will have implications for all.
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Several FIs hope to capitalize on an easing in physical supply-chain constraints to extend trade-finance offerings.
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Supply-chain disruption has driven up corporate stock holdings. Firms may move excess inventory off balance sheet.
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Businesses are tying up cash in payroll that could be used to boost working capital.
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The blockchain-based cross-border payments platform will operate across 15 countries.
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The International Chamber of Commerce is confident the UK Centre for Digital Trade & Innovation will spur standards.
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Patchy inter-company loan administration could leave corporates exposed to breaches of transfer pricing guidance.
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Digitalizing and automating its FX risk management has notably improved a pharma's treasury function.
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Spikes in shipping prices have hit mid- and lower-tier commodity trading companies at a time of bank caution.
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European corporates saw losses from currency volatility fall late last year, so hedging has stayed largely unchanged.
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Artificial intelligence has revolutionized cash-flow forecasting at educational services provider Pearson.
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The UK Electronic Trade Documents Bill is expected to greatly improve access to trade finance, particularly for contracts that use English law.
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Providers of business-to-business buy-now-pay-later services believe that they can provide a competitive alternative to invoice factoring. As rates rise, however, the risks embedded in the process will only grow.
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Euromoney speaks to Benjamin Seal, vice-president of treasury at US-based Cenveo, about how accurate cash forecasting has helped to address the supply-chain challenges posed by the global pandemic.
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Payment service providers have welcomed the UK Payment Systems Regulator’s plan to promote account-to-account payments, but much needs to be done to boost take-up.
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Treasurers need to reassess their approach to interest-rate hedging as monetary policy on either side of the Atlantic continues to diverge.
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Interest rate uncertainty may not have added to the complexity of the transition away from Libor pricing, but it has implications for forecasting that will only become clear as rate rises kick in.
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In a momentous year for the industry, the top tier of trade finance banks remained remarkably stable in this year’s Trade Finance Survey. Supply chain disruption will continue to bedevil the sector and liquidity provision together with digital innovation will place sizeable demands on trade finance banks in 2022.
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A combination of geographical position and commodity strength is working in the country’s favour.
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Corporates want to improve sustainability in their supply chains, but, if anything, the barriers to doing so are getting worse.
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The Russia-Ukraine war is a sobering reminder for all treasurers that geopolitical risk can escalate rapidly. The importance of forward planning cannot be overstated.
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From cash management to cybersecurity, Euromoney looks at where treasury teams are likely to be spending their money in 2022.
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China’s approach to central bank digital currency offers clues to how it may build a unique version of decentralized finance.
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Despite China’s ambitious plans for its digital currency, the e-yuan will struggle to become a lead player in international trade finance without notable changes, most importantly to capital controls.
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Despite the current financial turmoil, proponents of de-dollarization still have a mountain to climb. But blockchain and digital currencies could put their goal within eventual reach.
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The early days of war in Ukraine saw the price of bitcoin rise. New technology now improves the prospect that wealth stored in crypto may be spent.
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The prospect of China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System vying with or supplanting Swift grabbed attention in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But CIPS isn’t ready for the big time. It is too small and underdeveloped, and is a policy vehicle dominated by Beijing for the purpose of globalizing the yuan.
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In just a few years, the New Eurasian Land Bridge, which conveys rail freight between China and Europe, became a key part of Beijing’s fading Belt and Road Initiative. Thanks to sanctions levied against state operator Russian Railways, that vital trade link threatens to be disrupted – and possibly severed.
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For Putin, the threat of expulsion from Swift carries far less weight than it did in 2014. Russia’s own system for transfer of financial messages can now settle domestic transactions, but the move would still trigger a deep recession in the country.
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Treasury teams across the energy sector need to make better use of data if they are to make sense of a market that is becoming more complex.
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Even the most optimistic observers anticipate a few bumps along the road as the securities lending industry adapts to the new settlement discipline regime imposed under the CSDR.
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Securities lending enjoyed a good year in 2021 and, despite the prospect of rate hikes, corporate M&A activity offers cause for optimism for 2022.