A survey of 155 participants at Universwiftnet 2015 highlighted a broad scope of realities behind payment factories with different expectations as a result. Seven key questions were identified as having a direct impact on the level of centralisation that corporates choose.
The broad scope of approaches and tools at the treasurer’s disposal as part of a payment centralisation strategy goes all the way from autonomy to full-centralisation. Quite logically, where the cursor is placed will impact on the benefits achieved. Again, the scope is wide between gaining visibility on cash flows, having a better control of banking relationships and reaping the full benefits of a highly centralised payment model.
Beyond the figures, the Universwiftnet survey helped identify 7 questions that corporate treasurers should address, whose answers determine the optimal level of centralisation.
- Proximity - How important is proximity –whether cultural or linguistic- to manage local vendors/suppliers’ invoices?
- Functional scope - Should employee’s wages and taxes be included in the scope of payment centralisation?
- IT setup - ERP’s, formats, local IT solutions, opportunities created by the cloud: what is the current status and what is our IT strategy?
- Bank strategy - De we need local accounts in each country?? Is PoBo part of our future payment landscape? Should it be?
- Regulation - What is our regulatory and compliance framework regarding fraud, money-laundering, terrorism, etc.?
- Geography - What is the geographical scope that must be addressed based on payment centralisation?
- Timeline - Are we ready for a big bank approach or rather an evolution over time? Should the solution be future proof or is it just ad-hoc?
From gaining visibility on cash flows and better controlling banking relationships to a fully centralised model, the various expressions of payment centralisation reflect the broad range of corporate expectations, from operational to strategic. It is critical to ensure that the true needs of an organisation are well identified in the first place to guarantee the implementation of adapted responses.
Created 12 years ago, universwfitnet is a key event gathering more than 1 000 participants among which 650 treasurers, whose success builds on strong relationships with major banking players including BNP Paribas.
Find out more on http://www.universwiftnet.com/
