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The November 2023 Kyriba Currency Impact Report analyzes the reported effects of currencies on North American and European companies during Q2/23.

The November 2023 Kyriba Currency Impact Report analyzes the reported effects of currencies on North American and European companies during Q2/23.

Kyriba’s API integration for Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) accelerates payments and bank connectivity projects, eliminates project risk and drastically reduces connectivity costs. The Kyriba D365 integration centralizes payment activity, fully manages bank connectivity and delivers superior fraud detection and visibility. It also provides a full suite of out-of-the-box ERP workflows for cash management, GL reconciliation, GL export, FX balance sheet and bank statement export.

Unleash the Power of Enterprise Liquidity Management with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Kyriba A Secure and Scalable Connectivity Solution Kyriba’s API integration for Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) accelerates payments and bank connectivity projects, eliminates project risk and drastically reduces connectivity costs. The Kyriba D365 integration centralizes payment activity, fully manages bank connectivity and delivers superior fraud detection and visibility. It also provides a full suite of out-of-the-box ERP workflows for cash management, GL reconciliation, GL export, FX balance sheet and bank statement export. With one API gateway, clients can connect via Kyriba to over 1,000 global banks, supported by an extensive format library of 50,000 pre-developed and pre-tested payment scenarios. Kyriba’s connectivity solution relieves IT development and maintenance burdens by managing future connectivity and format changes while monitoring connectivity performance 24/7. Major Benefits of Using Kyriba D365 Integration Solution for Payments Workflow With Kyriba D365 Integration Without Kyriba D365 Integration Configuration and Installation Pre-built data extract, mapping and transmission from D365 systems to Kyriba All bank connectivity and payments formats are managed by Kyriba A tested and proven solution Benefit from the latest developments (e.g., latest D365 version support and PSR updates) Develop custom data extract and transmission from D365 systems to Kyriba Define and maintain mapping for payment scenarios in D365 Develop custom process monitoring Time-consuming testing of extracts Payment Processing Immediate payment transmission to banks, via Kyriba, upon batch completion Integrated workflows transmit encrypted HTTP No intermediate files created Connected via SFTP: Require the Kyriba FTP server for intermediate file creation and storage Explicit file encryption/decryption Direct to Kyriba API: Custom API workflow orchestration and exception management Payment Monitoring Track and monitor the status of all payments across banks Identify and take immediate action for payment exceptions Separate D365 module required for bank connectivity monitoring Lack of visibility to payment status across banks Extra effort to identify and resolve payment exceptions The integration between D365 and Kyriba allows clients to submit and monitor payments and direct debits using D365 with automated workflow into the Kyriba Platform. The Kyriba D365 API Integrated Payments Workflow Explained D365 payments are translated to comply with Kyriba’s standard payment information. Kyriba’s custom table provides mapping of relevant information. D365 payments are translated from XML to CSV and sent to Kyriba as individual payment requests. Payment requests are batched in Kyriba. Batched payment orders are sent to associated banks to be executed. Payment confirmation is sent by the banks to the Kyriba application. Inquiries are scheduled in D365 ERP to retrieve payment acknowledgments from the Kyriba application. Payment status updates are transmitted to D365 ERP through API integration. Payment status is posted to Kyriba’s custom table. Kyriba D365 API integration also supports cash management, GL reconciliation, GL export, FX balance sheet and bank statement export workflows. Kyriba D365 API Integration for Cash Management Workflow Supporting cash flow forecasting and positive pay. The automated workflow facilitates: Open customer and vendor invoices Non-Kyriba payments, such as checks Other GL entries to support cash forecasting Kyriba D365 API Integration for GL Export Workflow Providing a cash accounting solution, sending GL entries created in Kyriba to the ERP. Main features include: Export of GL entries from Kyriba Export of GL entries not otherwise reported to the ERP Kyriba D365 API Integration for Bank Statement Export Workflow Exporting bank statements to ERPs. The automated workflow features: Extract of bank statements in a format accepted by ERPs Export contains prior day/intra-day data, depending on the ERP Kyriba D365 API Integration for GL Reconciliation Workflow Facilitating reconciliation of bank transactions to accounting. It eliminates error-prone manual entry with: Import of bank account entries from the ERP Posting of GL adjustments back to the ERP Kyriba D365 API Integration for FX Balance Sheet Workflow Extracting balances for FX analysis (previously as FireApps). Main features include: Extract of life-to-date balances for assets and liabilities Balances aggregated by entity, currency and GL account in document, local and reporting currencies For more details, check out the Kyriba Developer Portal. FAQs on the Kyriba D365 API Integration Do different D365 platforms require different installations? No, the same Kyriba D365 build package is available for all installations. What are the D365 releases Kyriba supports? Kyriba follows the D365 release updates. Kyriba always communicates with the latest build package along with the oldest supported D365 version. For instance, currently (2023), the oldest D365 version supported is 10.0.32. See the Kyriba Developer Portal for more information. Can customers use their own middleware to call the API? Yes, customers can use their own middleware to call the API. What authentication schemes does the integration use? The integration uses REST API with Basic Authentication or OAuth2. Can clients connect to multiple ERP systems? Yes, Kyriba ERP Connectors support the integration of multiple ERPs, including NetSuite, Oracle Cloud, SAP S/4HANA and ECC. Are payment transfers batched? All payment transfers are batched in Kyriba. Technically, clients could send a single payment request to Kyriba. What payment types are supported? The integration supports payment request imports and payment status updates for vendor payments, treasury, direct debits and checks. How long does it take to connect my ERP to Kyriba? Historically, installation and API connectivity take 2-5 days, depending on the complexity of a client’s configuration and modules in scope. Kyriba D365 API integration reduces the cost, risk, time and effort required to connect D365 ERP to Kyriba.

Within the vast auto retail landscape, Keyloop stands out, delivering software solutions to 16,000 dealer sites and serving most automotive manufacturers in over 90 countries. Yet, like many industry leaders, Keyloop confronted operational challenges. Specifically, their treasury team grappled with manual tasks that limited efficiency and potential growth, highlighting the need for an automated treasury management solution.

Within the vast auto retail landscape, Keyloop stands out, delivering software solutions to 16,000 dealer sites and serving most automotive manufacturers in over 90 countries. Yet, like many industry leaders, Keyloop confronted operational challenges. Specifically, their treasury team grappled with manual tasks that limited efficiency and potential growth, highlighting the need for an automated treasury management solution. Key Challenges As a leader in the automotive retail domain, Keyloop faced several barriers that prevented seamless operational efficiency and scalability: Manual Loan Management: Their treasury team found themselves consistently involved in meticulous oversight, ensuring every detail of their external and intercompany loan portfolio – including accruals, fees and settlements – was accurately tracked and posted. Operational Bottlenecks: Fundamental tasks, such as balance reporting and cash pooling interest calculations, which required precision and accuracy, were laboriously executed manually. Integration Hurdles: The absence of a system that could automate treasury processes such as vendor payments, customer direct debits and depository transactions elongated processing durations. Reconciliation Concerns: Relying on manual processing for bank settlement files in BlackLine magnified the potential for discrepancies and errors. Driving Efficiency with Kyriba The pivotal phase commenced in 2022. Strengthened by the synergy between RSM and Francisco Partners, Keyloop championed an enterprise-wide initiative. The integration of Kyriba became a cornerstone in this quest for enhanced operational agility. Following the successful Kyriba implementation, Keyloop treasury observed a discernible shift. Table: Kyriba implementation has enabled end-to-end treasury automation for Keyloop Before Kyriba After Kyriba Loan Portfolio Management Manual tracking and posting Automated treasury management Vendor Payments and Customer Debits Manual processing Direct integration with NetSuite Journal Entries and Depository Transactions Manual input Seamlessly extracted from NetSuite Bank Reconciliations Manually handled in BlackLine Integrated and automated with BlackLine

Now more than ever, CFOs and senior finance leaders are turning to working capital solutions to optimize liquidity and generate free cash flow. With the demand continuing to grow, so do the market options.

As Working Capital Solutions Evolve and Grow, Stay Ahead of the Curve Now more than ever, CFOs and senior finance leaders are turning to working capital solutions to optimize liquidity and generate free cash flow. With the demand continuing to grow, so do the market options. To compete more effectively, financial institutions (FIs) can partner with a technology provider who will help them elevate and differentiate their offering – now and over the long term. As a global leader of enterprise liquidity management platform, Kyriba is an ideal SaaS partner. Our cloud technology serves more than 2,500 corporate CFOs and treasurers including one quarter of the Fortune 500. Kyriba is a name your customers know and trust. Kyriba Working Capital Solutions With Kyriba, FI partners can support their corporate clients with a variety of working capital solutions. On payables finance side, there is not only approved payables finance and dynamic discounting, but also a special hybrid program to seamlessly switch between these two main structures. Purchase order finance is also available in pilot phase. On receivables finance side, the products range from off-the-shelf invoice discounting to sophisticated securitisation reporting. Kyriba’s working capital solutions prioritize the customer experience - from supplier onboarding to ERP integration to funding requests and reporting. System users enjoy a seamless experience, keeping informed and engaged without sacrificing convenience. Why Partner with Kyriba for Working Capital Customer-facing solutions, focusing on user experience Modular solutions – only white label what you need or the fully integrated platform Supplier onboarding can be used independently and leveraged bank wide Our partnership extends beyond technology We support rather than compete with our FI partners We do not fund or structure transactions FIs can leverage Kyriba’s state-of-the-art technology, deep industry expertise and global reputation to gain a competitive edge for their enterprise liquidity products and services. The Kyriba NetSuite API Integrated Payments Workflow Explained Kyriba Working Capital Solution – Leading Technology, Security and Support Corporate ERP Connectivity Experts At Kyriba we know ERP connectivity with extensive integration experience across our global customer footprint. We support both API and host-to-host options for working capital and beyond. Strong White Labeling Functionality Kyriba makes it easy to deliver a fully integrated product that can be customized and branded to proper specifications. This includes marketing and web site content, translations, URLs, privacy notices, email templates, and branded web portals. Quick Time to Market Financial institutions can get up and running quickly with Kyriba thanks to proven infrastructure and a professional services team that helps to set up and model the programs. Flexible Backend Integration Kyriba’s working capital solutions are designed to interface with a wide variety of third-party banking applications – including trade finance, payment and core banking systems. Bank-Level Security and Data Protection Financial institutions and their clients require the highest levels of security. Kyriba delivers across four pillars of security: physical security, vendor security, application security and process security, including SOC 1 Type II and Soc 2 Type II certification. Finance data is also secured with ISO 27001 certification. A Proven Global Approach Kyriba offers global implementation, onboarding and a ‘follow the sun’ support service approach.

Elire, in synergy with Kyriba, is redefining financial process optimization. With a legacy spanning over 18 years, Elire has spearheaded treasury transformation projects, offering cutting-edge tools. As a Kyriba Platinum Plus Partner, Elire amplifies the essence of modern treasury.

Elire, in synergy with Kyriba, is redefining financial process optimization. With a legacy spanning over 18 years, Elire has spearheaded treasury transformation projects, offering cutting-edge tools. As a Kyriba Platinum Plus Partner, Elire amplifies the essence of modern treasury. Read some of the Q3 2023 accomplishments below: Seeking to revitalize their treasury and banking operations, National Veterinary Association (NVA) looked to Elire to deploy Kyriba’s modules spanning Bank, Cash, Debt, Payments and more. This pivotal shift streamlined banking structures, enhanced visibility and standardized controls. Through Kyriba’s cutting-edge platform and with Elire’s guidance, NVA not only achieved nearly 100% visibility into daily operations but also automated vital financial processes, reducing vulnerabilities and ensuring efficient treasury operations. Recognizing the complexities of Finance of America Holdings’ (FAH) expansive network, Elire mapped out a transformative journey powered by Kyriba. The intention was clear: to offer state-of-the-art financial management tools to an enterprise spanning 300 global offices. Though the depth of Kyriba’s integration is not explicitly revealed, its impact resonates. Each of FAH’s 5,500 employees is now poised to experience the capabilities of Kyriba, elevating their financial processes to new horizons. Confronted with global banking communication challenges, Oracle Cerner engaged Elire to seamlessly migrate the SWIFT BIC to Kyriba. This strategic move eradicated the tedious task of rejecting bank files. With Kyriba’s robust solutions and Elire’s expertise, Oracle Cerner achieved a significant reduction in manual processing. Their financial operations now protect an impressive $4B/350k in annual payments, project a five-year ROI of 31.9% and save 930 IT hours annually.

Varsity Brands faced numerous challenges in its treasury processes, such as limited cash visibility, disjointed cash flow forecasts and a patchwork of manual processes. Recognizing these challenges, Varsity Brands selected Kyriba to redefine and optimize their treasury operations for the future.

Varsity Brands, emerging from the consolidation of three distinct entities – BSN SPORTS, Varsity Spirit and Herff Jones – faced numerous challenges in its treasury processes. With limited cash visibility, disjointed cash flow forecasts and a patchwork of manual processes, the pressure to streamline and centralize was palpable. Recognizing these challenges, Varsity Brands selected Kyriba to redefine and optimize their treasury operations for the future. Key Challenges In the wake of the business consolidation, Varsity Brands grappled with a maze of treasury complexities: Fragmented Cash Management: Manual and siloed approaches caused inefficient use of cash resources and liquidity. Inaccurate Cash Flow Forecasts: Predicting cash flow was imprecise, leading to unreliable business projections. Excess Idle Cash: Funds were left unused, missing out on potential investment opportunities and revenue streams. Disparate Systems: Multiple systems led to a lack of integration, hindering a unified view of enterprise-wide cash positions. These challenges signaled the imperative need for Varsity Brands to overhaul its treasury operations and processes. Varsity Brands Streamlines Treasury Operations with 100% Cash Visibility With the implementation of the Kyriba platform, Varsity Brands ushered in a transformative era. No longer bogged down by manual tasks and fragmented systems, Kyriba delivered substantial time savings and significantly enhanced financial results. Significant measurable results for Varsity Brands including 100% cash visibility A Blueprint for Operational Excellence In today’s fast-paced, ever-evolving marketplace, Varsity Brands’ partnership with Kyriba stands as a beacon of innovation. By choosing to leverage state-of-the-art treasury solutions, they’ve not only navigated intricate operational challenges but also charted a course for future industry leadership. Their journey illuminates the path for other enterprises, highlighting the profound impact of foresight and adaptability in achieving enduring success.

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 | 2 PM ET - CFOs no longer need a cash forecast…they need more! CFOs are under immense pressure to meet free cash flow targets, especially in a high-interest-rate environment, where every decision matters. That’s why real-time, actionable insights have become the lifeline for proactive liquidity management across the enterprise.

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 | 2 PM ET CFOs no longer need a cash forecast…they need more! CFOs are under immense pressure to meet free cash flow targets, especially in a high-interest-rate environment, where every decision matters. That’s why real-time, actionable insights have become the lifeline for proactive liquidity management across the enterprise. But, how do you go beyond mere cash visibility to meet the evolving CFO objectives for strategic forecasting? Join this webcast to discover how liquidity planning helps to make your forecasts actionable. Dory Malouf, Director of Value Engineering, and Thomas Gavaghan, VP of Global Presales at Kyriba will equip you with the essential tools and strategies to achieve real-time and dependable insights into liquidity, risk, and working capital. You will learn: • The crucial distinction between cash forecasting and liquidity planning. • Strategies to protect your cash flow from external risks and unlock internal cash before borrowing. • The value of APIs, AI, and analytics to revolutionize your treasury operations and drive strategic growth.

Tuesday, November 7, 2023 | 3 PM ET - As a companion to the newly released Executive Guide on “Rethinking Liquidity Planning to Manage the Cash Lifecycle”, this webinar will focus on how Liquidity planning differs from cash forecasting.

Tuesday, November 7, 2023 | 3 PM ET - As a companion to the newly released Executive Guide on “Rethinking Liquidity Planning to Manage the Cash Lifecycle”, this webinar will focus on how Liquidity planning differs from cash forecasting. With Liquidity Planning, business outcomes can be expected, and we will review some of those. Emerging technology assists in Liquidity planning and we’ll examine the key role it plays. Finally, we’ll finish up with strategies to automate forecasting and planning to lower the overall cost with more insightful analysis. Learning Objectives • Understand the difference between Cash Forecasting and Liquidity Planning • Develop a base case of the building blocks that enable automating forecasting with emerging technologies

In today's interconnected world, geopolitical events can send shockwaves through global businesses, profoundly affecting their risk profiles and working capital. Join us for this edition of "The Liquidity Pulse" series as we bring together industry experts to dissect the real business implications of recent geopolitical upheavals and discuss potential solutions.

In today's interconnected world, geopolitical events can send shockwaves through global businesses, profoundly affecting their risk profiles and working capital. Join us for this edition of "The Liquidity Pulse" series as we bring together industry experts to dissect the real business implications of recent geopolitical upheavals and discuss potential solutions.

What is SEPA Payment? What Are the Different SEPA Schemes? How Kyriba Supports SEPA Payments?

The European Union (EU), with its diverse tapestry of cultures, languages and economies, has always strived for harmonization and integration in various sectors, and the payment industry is no exception. In this FAQ, we'll delve into the intricate world of EU payment schemes with a focus on SEPA payments, describing the existing payment types and the future ones, the underlying format and the future modifications and the benefits and limitations of the system. EU payment schemes have been developed with the overarching goal of creating a unified, efficient, and robust payment infrastructure that transcends national borders. These initiatives not only simplify cross-border trade and transactions but also foster economic growth by creating a seamless payment environment. Central to this ambition is the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), a transformative initiative that has standardized electronic euro payments across the region. But SEPA is just one piece of the puzzle. The EU's payment landscape is bolstered by a suite of regulations, directives and technological advancements, all aimed at fostering trust, enhancing security and ensuring the rapid processing of transactions. The SEPA Milestones The first Payment Services Directive (PSD1) was adopted in 2007. The purpose was to offer a standardized payment environment for cross border transactions in euro in a defined zone (called SEPA Zone - 36 countries) at the same price as domestic transactions. The European Payments Council (EPC) was established to create the rulebooks to frame the SEPA Credit Transfers (launched in 2008) and the SEPA Direct Debits (launched in 2009). The underlying format chosen to support the above schemes was the ISO 20022 XML Pain in 2009. In order to simplify the implementation, it was also decided to use only standardized account numbers and bank codes using the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) and Bank Identifier Code (BIC). In 2015, the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) was gradually enforced, launching a new scheme for SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (launched in 2017), creating more security around the emerging payment types linked to ecommerce (card, internet and mobile payments) and introducing open banking, a banking practice that gives consumers full control over their own banking or financial data so that they can decide whether any third-party financial service providers can access the data to provide them with better products and services. That’s why it is also known as “open bank data”. In 2019, the authentication and thirty party access requirements (SCA - Strong Customer Authentication) entered into force. In 2020, the SEPA Request To Pay scheme is introduced. In 2021, SEPA payments account for 94% of all credit transfers and 98% of all direct debits in the SEPA Zone. In 2023, the EPC decided to migrate from the 2009 version of the ISO 20022 XML Pain to the 2019 version. With the PSD3 on the horizon, which could take effect in 2026, a new Payment Services Regulation (PSR) to improve consumer protection will be introduced and stricter rules (more extensive SCA) will be implemented to reduce fraud and increase the security of electronic and digital payments and financial services. Figure 1: SEPA milestones What Are the Different SEPA Schemes? The summary below gives an overview of the different SEPA payments schemes. Table: SEPA Payment Schemes Comparison SEPA Scheme Type Transfer Limit Max Credit Time Operation Repudiable Instant Credit Transfer One off €100,000.00 10 seconds Calendar day No Credit Transfer One off €999,999,999.99 2 business days Business day Yes Direct Debit Core Recurring Defined by the mandate 2 business days Business day Yes Direct Debit B2B Recurring Defined by the mandate 1 business day Business day Yes SEPA Credit Transfer Commonly known as SCT, this is the most used SEPA scheme processing more than 20 billion transactions per year, with the transfer limit being set at €999,999,999.99 (one cent less than a billion euros). It enables an electronic transfer in euros between two bank branches located in the eurozone and consists of a payment sent by a debtor (payer) to a creditor (payee) for many different purposes such as payroll and expenses, invoice settlement and consumer-to-consumer bank transfers. The greatest advantage of SCT is that there cannot be any fee deducted from the amount credited on the creditor’s account, which means that the recipient is guaranteed to receive the exact amount due, within two business days. Any payment using SCT can be recalled by its originator within 10 business days for technical reasons, such as duplicate sending or technical problems, and within 13 months in case of fraud. SEPA Instant Credit Transfer SEPA Instant payment is a faster version of a SCT with an execution within 10 seconds. The adoption of the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer remains relatively low mainly due to its cost, which can vary from 0.5 to 12 euros per transaction depending on the banks and the countries.  Some other reasons include: Lack of interoperability between the two underlying “payment rails” used by SEPA Instant, namely TARGET instant payment settlement (TIPS) and RT1 infrastructure platform. For example, nominal SEPA Instant coverage in France is 26%. In practice, this figure is much lower because some banks only use TIPS, whilst others only accept RT1 payments, causing a high rate of failure. Some banks can fully support SEPA Instant but choose to only allow consumers to receive SEPA Instant payments, not necessarily to initiate them. This is because the scheme is only focused on accounts being reachable for transfers by other banks. Figure 2: SEPA transfers in real time – status quo in December 2022 Source: cpg SEPA Direct Debit Core and Direct Debit B2B SEPA direct debit payments are offered in two versions: direct debit aimed at consumers (Core) and direct debit aimed at businesses (B2B). For both schemes, a SEPA direct debit is a payment instruction issued by the creditor (Payee) to debit the debtor’s account. It requires the issuance of a mandate signed by both parties authorizing the creditor to debit the debtor’s account under certain pre-agreed conditions. The Core SEPA Direct Debits are used for many purposes such as the payments for rents, utilities and loan repayments. The B2B SEPA Direct Debits scheme is commonly used for transactions between companies and with tax authorities to repay loans, pay taxes etc. SEPA Request-to-Pay This is the latest addition to the SEPA schemes, also called SRTP. It is not a payment in itself but a means to request a payment initiation from a third party. It offers several options to the debtor: Accept now/Pay now Accept now/Pay later Accept later/Pay later Once received by the payer in a secure channel, the payment initiation can be rejected or accepted. If accepted, the payment will then be initiated at the agreed date. The advantage of this approach is to give more controls over the payment collections (less rejection than with Direct Debits) and ease the accounting reconciliation process. It can be used for many purposes such as E-Billing/Invoicing, E-commerce payments, Point of Sale payments, etc. It gives alternate means of payments for E-Bill payments, card transactions and also traditional Direct Debits. However to fuel the adoption, there are a lot of challenges that need to be addressed like feasibility of Recurrent SRTP and customer protection issues. Figure 3: How SEPA Request-to-Pay works How Kyriba Supports SEPA Payments With millions of SEPA Credit Transfers and SEPA Direct Debits being initiated and routed each year via the Kyriba Payment Hub, SEPA payments are one of the major focuses for Kyriba, being a leading global payment factory service provider. Kyriba offers straightforward implementation and highly customizable workflow configurations, and Kyriba also supports multiple protocols including EBICS, FTP, EDITRAN, Swiftnet FileAct and the most recent format rulebooks including 2023 version 1.0. Kyriba aims at making SEPA Credit Transfers, SEPA Direct Debits and SEPA Instant Credit Transfer user friendly for all clients. If you want to learn more about SEPA payments, the latest changes with ISO 20022 XML and how your organization can take advantage of the new development in SEPA payments, please contact us or request a demo. Our payment experts are ready to support you.

This Executive Insights ebook covers the key differentiators between Daily and Single rate.

The approach an accounting organization implements for booking non-functional foreign currency (FX) transactions has a major impact on the processes and tools that finance teams require to effectively manage FX risk. CFOs and senior finance managers need to understand the key attributes of their rate methodology environment to ensure their teams have the necessary resources in place to be successful and deliver the best results for the company. To run a successful FX risk management program, regardless of rate methodology, a company requires: the ability to collect accurate data, strong policies and procedures and competent personnel. This Executive Insights ebook covers the key differentiators between Daily and Single rate companies in terms of 1) the challenges each rate methodology presents to all stakeholders involved in managing FX balance sheet risk, and 2) the resources those stakeholders need to effectively mitigate that risk. Rate Methodology Overview The two rate methodologies predominantly used by global corporations are: Daily Rate. ERPs/financial systems have a daily market rate loaded which is used for booking FX transactions on that value date Single Rate. Typically using the prior month-end balance sheet rate for booking FX transactions throughout the entire month In this example, we have an identical set of EUR denominated Accounts Receivable transactions being booked in a USD functional entity, showcasing how these FX transactions would be booked and revalued into functional currency at month end if the transactions were still outstanding: Table 1: Daily Rate vs. Single Rate Example In the Daily Rate Methodology books, the EUR transactions were initially valued in USD terms at the current/market (or daily system rate) on each transaction date. Then the underlying EUR values were remeasured/revalued at the current month end rate of 1.077. In the Single Rate Methodology books, the EUR transactions were initially valued in USD terms at the prior month end rate of 1.100. Then the underlying EUR values were remeasured/revalued at the current month end rate of 1.077. As shown above, the difference in methodologies is all in the rates used to book the initial transaction. The process of remeasurement/revaluation at month end works the same. The single rate methodology happened to have larger FX losses than the daily rate. Every month will be different depending on the direction of the exposure and FX markets. The purpose of the example is to demonstrate the differences and how each method works, not to suggest one method is better, or yields better results, than the other. The Kyriba FX team believes that there is no universally superior rate methodology. Both the Single and Daily approaches have trade-offs, and certain industries or business models may find one approach a better fit than the other. Additionally, changing a company’s current methodology can be difficult. Therefore, the focus of this eBook is to provide insights on how to navigate whichever rate methodology you are faced with at your organization. Daily Rate Methodology In Table 1’s Daily Rate example, the A/R transactions are booked at a different system rate on each booking date. This establishes the starting value of the transaction in functional currency. A perfect balance sheet hedge program would need to hedge each A/R transaction on the booking date to capture an offsetting position as close to the system’s daily rate as possible. At April month end, the A/R transactions would revalue in the ERP, and the hedges would either have an offsetting valuation (if still open) or realized settlement (if closed out), effectively mitigating the revaluation risk on the P&L. Table 2 shows a simulation of hedges with hedge results. Table 2: Daily Rate Hedges The hedge result was simulated by doing a basic mark-to-market valuation on each trade; which captures the difference between the hedge rate and the month end rate of 1.077. Comparing the results of both the A/R transactions and hedges, we have: Table 3: Daily Rate Results In theory, this looks simple. In reality, with potentially thousands of transactions, multiple currencies transacted in each entity and numerous entities; how is a company going to practically monitor this activity and execute the required offsetting hedges? Daily Rate Challenges and Resources Required Challenges Resources REquired Exposure Collection Without the proper tools, companies often have exposure collection routines that require manual intervention due to 1) ERP reporting not being comprehensive or accurate, and/or 2) collecting data from multiple ERPs or sources. When in a daily rate environment, balance sheet exposures should be captured every day. Manual processes will take up valuable time and risk the common pitfalls associated with any manual process. Additionally, if entities are adding new monetary GL accounts, this can be hard to catch timely with home-built exposure collection routines. Daily exposure capture process Automated and integrated exposure capture Dynamic query and filtering capabilities to ensure all monetary accounts are captured in real-time Proper staffing to dedicate part-time daily focus on FX risk management Exposure Analysis Similarly, without proper tools, companies would require manual intervention to take the collected exposures, aggregate the data, incorporate outstanding hedge positions and run various analysis views on aggregated data. Another heavy lift for something that warrants a daily frequency. Flexible reporting tool allowing easy pivoting into different views Visualization such as dashboard reporting, with drill-down capabilities Comparison/variance and trending analysis to evaluate exposure changes Enhanced risk measurement metrics such as Value at Risk (VaR) Data Integrity Completing a high-level monthly FX Gain/Loss analysis check is difficult, if not impossible in a daily rate environment. A more detailed approach which, even if not reviewed daily, requires the visibility to look back at daily GL Account changes with rate details is necessary to identify potential issues with the underlying transactional FX accounting. To effectively manage risk, it’s critical to perform ongoing reviews to ensure clean transactional accounting. Resources from accounting are ultimately required if balances need to be cleaned up. Tool for identifying potential GL Account level discrepancies between FX transaction subledger balances and functional currency ledger balances Support from global accounting organization and/or finance directors to further investigate and clean up targeted problem accounts Hedge Decisions & Execution For effective risk management with daily rates, a company needs to monitor and adjust hedge positions as frequently as possible. Whether a company can adjust hedge positions daily or settle for a weekly routine, the bottom line is that they should be adjusting more frequently than a single rate company. This means more time spent running a full end-to-end FX routine including trade execution, confirmations and capturing final trade details (including internal back-to-back trading if applicable). Streamlined process from hedge decision through back-office/post-trade monitoring Trade portal integration System controls and flexible approval workflows Hedge Performance Most variances between exposure revaluation results and hedge results will be driven by forward point and trading costs, timing slippage between ERP rates and hedge rates and any data integrity issues (causing incorrect hedge decisions, or mismatches from FX accounting results that don’t add up). Quick and easy exposure visibility/reporting to investigate FX rate anomalies or GL balance discrepancies on a daily basis Time/resources to identify and quantify rate slippage issues Process for quantifying hedging costs Ability to value trading portfolio daily, and calculate expected exposure FX results daily Single Rate Methodology In Table 1’s Single Rate example, all A/R transactions are booked at the March month end system rate, regardless of the specific April booking date. A perfect balance sheet hedge program would need to hedge each A/R transaction by anticipating April’s activity at the end of March and placing a hedge to capture an offsetting position as close to the March month end rate as possible. At April month end, the A/R transactions would revalue in the ERP, and the hedges would either have an offsetting valuation (if still open) or realized settlement (if closed out), effectively mitigating the revaluation risk on the P&L. Table 4 shows an example simulation of hedges with hedge results. Note: In the example the hedge amount does not line up perfectly with A/R, simulating that there is generally exposure forecast variance associated with single rate hedging. Table 4: Single Rate Hedges The hedge result was simulated by doing a basic mark-to-market valuation on each trade; which captures the difference between the hedge rate and the month end rate of 1.077. Comparing the results of both the A/R transactions and hedges, we have: Table 5: Single Rate Results A common process implemented for single rate hedge programs is to adjust (true-up) hedge positions after the prior month's books close. At this time the company has more up-to-date data and should have better insight into April’s expected ending exposure position.  Closing this gap can reduce the ineffectiveness that results from initial exposure forecasting variances. Table 6 shows an example of the initial single rate hedge with a later adjusting hedge to align with April’s actual ending exposure position. Table 6: Single Rate Hedges + True-Up Hedge Comparing the results of both the A/R transactions and hedges, we have: Table 7: Single Rate + True-Up Results In this example, the hedge results without an adjustment were $92,000; while with the adjustment hedge were $67,000. The adjustment helps deliver on the hedge objective to reduce the FX Gain/Loss volatility on the P&L. Looking at the hedging activity alone leaves the impression that hedging with a single rate methodology is simpler. However, the necessity to incorporate exposure forecasts to achieve effective results adds complexities in other areas. Single Rate Challenges and Resources Required Challenges Resources Required Exposure Collection Same as with Daily rates, companies often have exposure collection routines that require manual intervention due to 1) ERP reporting not being comprehensive or accurate, and/or 2) collecting data from multiple ERPs or sources. Single rate companies also face the same concern of being able to catch accounting changes such as new GL accounts. The major additional challenge is implementing an exposure forecast process. Not only do forecasts need to be as accurate as possible, but the company also needs to administratively manage the process of creating or collecting forecast adjustments and consolidating with the core exposure data. Automated and integrated exposure capture, for at least month-end actual exposures Dynamic query and filtering capabilities to ensure all monetary accounts are captured Flexible tool that can manage direct subsidiary exposure forecasts, as well as tools to facilitate the creation of indirect forecasting models Although should not require daily FX tasks, key tasks throughout the month can’t be neglected and need proper staffing Exposure Analysis Similarly, without proper tools, companies would require manual intervention to take the collected exposures, aggregate the data, incorporate outstanding hedge positions and run various analysis views on aggregated data. Forecast vs. Actual variance analysis is critical to track the quality of forecast data and evaluate adjusting inputs or taking other forecasting approaches. Flexible reporting tool allowing easy pivoting into different views Visualization such as dashboard reporting, with drill-down capabilities Comparison/variance and trending analysis to evaluate exposure changes Enhanced risk measurement metrics such as VaR Streamlined process to consolidate forecast data and manage mid-month adjustments Data Integrity Completing a high-level monthly FX Gain/Loss analysis check is generally straightforward. However, these types of analysis often only pinpoint issues to an entity level. Additionally, single rate companies run into plenty of FX transactional issues in subledgers, and items such as foreign accruals, which require attention. Chasing down potential FX accounting issues has dependencies with the accounting organization, and it is challenging to get them to prioritize FX questions. Tool for identifying potential GL Account level discrepancies between FX transaction subledger balances and functional currency ledger balances Support from global accounting organization and/or finance directors to further investigate and clean up targeted problem accounts Hedge Decisions & Execution Hedge adjustments are typically made less frequently than daily rate hedging companies. However, effective hedge programs still require the true-up adjustment concept, adjusting to material un-forecasted mid-month exposure changes, and adjustments caused by spot conversions. Therefore, having efficient end-to-end processes that support making mid-month changes is critical. Each adjustment requires re-evaluating exposure positions, determining hedge decisions, trade execution, confirmations and capturing final trade details (including internal back-to-back trading if applicable). Streamlined process from hedge decision through back-office/post-trade monitoring Trade portal integration System controls and flexible approval workflows Hedge Performance The same key daily rate hedge performance ineffectiveness drivers apply to monthly rate companies (forward point and trading costs, timing slippage between ERP rates and hedge rates and any data integrity issues). However, a new major driver emerges: forecast to actual variance. Forecast variance can disrupt hedge performance results and needs to be monitored closely. Forecast contributors outside of treasury need to be educated/trained, and need to be held accountable for their role in the risk management process. Consistent hedge performance reporting structure to identify causes of ineffectiveness and communicate with senior management KPIs and reporting on forecast variances communicated to all levels. Scorecarding routines are a plus Time/resources to identify and quantify issues Process for quantifying hedging costs Note on a Mixed Rate Methodology Environment Many companies will have a standard rate methodology that they aim for globally, but will have some legal entities that have a different rate methodology. We often refer to these entities as “outliers” to the standard rate methodology. Outliers can be a result of acquisitions, where the acquired company had a different methodology and it is difficult to change within the acquired ERP system. This also commonly happens with Single Rate methodology companies who have subsidiaries in countries that have local laws/regulations that mandate a Daily Rate methodology for their statutory books. Example: Global company standard is a Single Rate methodology, Brazil’s statutory requirements mandate that companies use a daily rate published by Brazil’s Central Bank for completing local books. Some companies who have the functionality available in their ERP can keep US GAAP books for that entity using a Single Rate methodology, while keeping local books with a Daily Rate methodology. Companies should take inventory of all outliers to their standard rate methodology. If the risk of a Daily Rate outlier entity is being managed with the same global standard processes implemented to address risk at Single Rate entities, the results will not be effective. Using the insights provided in this eBook, companies can carve out separate risk management processes for the different circumstances faced at these outlier entities. This situation may require additional resources or tools to manage risk effectively. Conclusion When comparing the included Daily and Single rate examples (spend a minute to compare the different rate methodology transaction results with the different rate methodology hedge results in above tables), you can observe that if a company was on daily rates and managing risk with a single rate mindset, the results would be atrocious; and likewise if a company was on single rates managing risk with a daily rate mindset. Some challenges and requirements are common across both hedging approaches, but there are several major differences. Therefore, it’s critical for senior leadership to understand these differences and support their finance organization with the appropriate tools and resources for the applicable task at hand. P&L and EPS volatility in Other Income and Expense (FX Gain/Loss) depends on it. If you want to learn more about end-to-end FX risk management, check out our on-demand webinar.

In this session, Celent’s embedded finance and API research leader and Kyriba will demystify APIs, talk about their value for payments, intra-day liquidity, ERP integration, fraud detection, reporting, data analysis, and so much more.

In this session, Celent’s embedded finance and API research leader and Kyriba will demystify APIs, talk about their value for payments, intra-day liquidity, ERP integration, fraud detection, reporting, data analysis, and so much more.

Business Email Compromise BEC scams, in which fraudsters send emails to employees pretending to be the CFO or CEO, are becoming increasingly common. Other attacks prey on weak user authentication procedures to gain access to essential systems.

Introduction Companies are increasingly being targeted by fraud attacks—and the techniques used by fraudsters are becoming ever more sophisticated. Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams, in which fraudsters send emails to employees pretending to be the CFO or CEO, are becoming increasingly common. Other attacks prey on weak user authentication procedures to gain access to essential systems. At the same time, CFOs should be aware of the fraud risk arising from inside the organization— from compromised data to sub-optimal trades made for personal gain. Successful fraud attacks can be costly, but the other consequences of fraud can be even greater. Damage to the company’s reputation can have a detrimental effect on relationships with investors, customers and partners. The knock-on effects can also include a reduction in the company’s stock market value, lawsuits and fines. This guide outlines the types of threat that CFOs need to look out for and how companies can use cloud financial management solutions to prevent internal and external fraud. It also includes a comprehensive fraud prevention checklist to help companies identify vulnerabilities. Understanding the Risks CFOs face a number of internal and external risks, including the following: Spear phishing – Fraudsters may gain access to the company’s financial systems by exploiting weak login and user authentication procedures Business email compromise – A form of spear phishing, BEC attacks attempt to convince employees to send payments to an unauthorized recipient. This is done by sending an email supposedly from the CEO or CFO. Data compromise – Employees may exploit shortfalls in the company’s data security when data is hosted on-premises. Bank account signatory risk – Former employees may continue to be named as signatories on current bank accounts after leaving the company. CFOs may also lose track of current employees who are signatories. Trading risk – Settlement instructions may be used to direct funds to unauthorized accounts. Sub-optimal financial trades may also be made by employees in return for personal gain. The bottom line is that to ensure secure financial processes, CFOs must first understand the different areas in which fraud can arise. Business Email Compromise A popular spear phishing tactic is business email compromise (BEC) schemes. In a typical BEC attack: Employees will be sent emails purporting to be from the CEO or CFO Emails can seem very authentic Emails are often sent while the relevant executive is out of the office and unreachable The requested payment is usually urgent Vulnerabilities can arise when companies have different payment procedures in place for different countries or for different banks. Separating the payment workflow by using separate internal systems and bank portals for initiation and approval also increases the risk of exploitation. Crucially, such schemes rely on the targeted person making an exception to policy, often by mentioning a confidential transaction, such as an M&A deal. The Importance of Standardized Workflows BEC attacks can be thwarted by standardizing payment workflows. These procedures should give CFOs the confidence that all payments are initiated, approved and transmitted in line with corporate policy. Payment procedures need to be followed consistently—it only takes one mistake to create a fraud opportunity. Best practice is to manage the complete workflow for all payments in one system that offers a complete electronic paper trail for each payment, from initial request to transmission. Many organizations also centralize treasury and supplier payment transmission via a central payment hub. Digital signatures, such as SWIFT’s 3SKey, may be used as part of the payment approval workflow. Kyriba helps prevent fraud, not only by implementing these procedures for payments initiation and approval, but also by ensuring that the entire workflow is within the control of treasury and finance. Payments Fraud Detection Payments fraud is on the rise, becoming a top issue among CFOs and even the board of directors. But how can senior financial executives protect themselves against this growing threat? One key requirement for CFOs to protect against payment fraud is to implement real-time screening of payments against sophisticated, company-defined scenarios. Setting up detection rules will flag suspicious transactions for further attention. Key Considerations Create detection rules that scan payments in real time or on a historical basis, if auditors are looking for fraud patterns over time. Examples of rules may include: A first payment to a new or modified bank account A payment that is not consistent with the payment history to that counterparty Payments to a country where there is no known supplier Changes to a payment that was imported from the ERP Create and maintain KPI dashboards, proactive alerts and a custom scoring system to determine appropriate actions. Implement a full separation of duties for the escalation and resolution of detected payments. The most important consideration for CFOs is to complement traditional payment controls, such as multiple approvals and payment limits, with real-time screening of payments against scenario-based detection rules. This combination offers CFOs a better defense against internal and external payment fraud. Payments are the most popular target for cybercriminals and fraudsters as they represent the most direct way to steal money from an organization. And through increasingly sophisticated spear phishing techniques, thieves are profiling the payment processes of finance and treasury to find inconsistent controls and exploitable weaknesses.” — Bob Stark, Head of Market Strategy, Kyriba Application Security Spear phishing attacks target specific individuals, preying on weak login and user authentication procedures to gain access to financial systems. Companies should use strong password controls to eliminate points of failure. Finance teams are used to two-factor authentication for banking portals. It is critical that the same—or better—controls be implemented for all finance applications used internally. In many cases, the CTO will have a checklist to ensure that finance is consistent with the organizational standard, including: Two-factor authentication – In addition to a standard user name and password, the user is prompted for a single use code generated from a hard token (e.g. USB, key fob) or soft token (SMS message) Single sign on (SSO) – SSO replaces the standard username password combination provided by the vendor with an integrated login process supported by internal IT and tied to the user’s access to all company systems (e.g. Windows login) Internet protocol (IP) filtering – Login is restricted to recognized devices, based upon pre-approved IP addresses. Unrecognized devices will often be subject to further passwords or security questions Numeric keypad – Numbers within a password must be selected by mouse instead of being typed The Kyriba Advantage Industry best practice is to combine login controls—e.g. IP filtering or SSO with two-factor authentication—to provide the best defense against unauthorized access. Finance’s login procedures should always align with the company’s information security policy Data Compromise Not all fraud attacks come from external parties. More than 25 percent of corporate fraud is internal—and hosting data internally within on-premise systems presents a security risk. According to a U.S. Companies & B2B Payment Fraud survey by Treasury & Risk With limited budgets, companies may struggle to invest in leading edge systems that provide the performance, service levels and data security needed to meet the CFO’s requirements. CIOs and CTOs are the first to agree that cloud solutions can offer better data security than systems hosted in-house, as long as the cloud solution provider makes the investments needed to protect treasury data. Audited, certified data centers are typically protected by 24/7 security and biometric access, with firewalls in place to protect client data. This protection gives CFOs peace of mind that data is secure at all times. The Kyriba Advantage Kyriba’s servers are housed in fully redundant, secure global data centers that are protected by the following security features to keep data safe: Optimal physical and data security Industry leading uptime, backup and data recovery processes Data encryption at rest, at all times SOC1 and SOC2 Type II reporting Daily penetration testing conducted by security experts High-performance disaster recovery Bank Account Compromise Fraud can arise when visibility and control over bank accounts and bank signatories are not properly monitored—particularly while a company is expanding geographically or via acquisition. In order to address these risks: Companies should have a central repository of bank account information, offering visibility over the company’s accounts, a single source for documentation and a current list of authorized signers. Companies should also have structured workflows in place, ensuring that no bank accounts or signatories are left under the radar. As well as reducing the risk of internal and external fraud, these processes can help companies comply with local and international regulations, such as FBAR reporting. With greater visibility over their existing accounts, companies may also be able to reduce their banking costs by closing underused or dormant accounts. The Kyriba Advantage Kyriba offers targeted solutions to help CFOs reduce the risks associated with bank account signatories: Central visibility into accounts, authorized signers and all bank account documentation Structured workflows requiring all bank account activity to be tracked and approved using predefined controls and limits Reconciliation procedures ensuring that signers are tied to current employee lists Trading Risks The settlement of financial trades—such as investments, foreign exchange and derivatives—is increasingly being exploited as an opportunity for internal financial fraud. Settlement Risks can arise when trades are carried out without the use of standard settlement instructions (SSIs). Typically, SSIs will avoid the redirection of funds to unauthorized accounts. However, SSIs may not be in place for non-typical trades, or trades with a non-bank counterparty. The risk of fraud can, however, be mitigated if the right workflows and processes are in place: Record financial transactions electronically in the treasury system, with a full audit trail Attach payment templates to each trade automatically, with approval needed to edit or remove the payment template Regularly reconcile trade tickets between counterparties and the treasury system Kyriba supports electronic workflows and the integration of trading and payments activities, thereby minimizing the potential for internal fraud. Sub-optimal Trades Risks can also arise when it comes to making the right trade in the first place—when an employee doesn’t properly survey the market and only looks at one option that may not be in best interests of the company. A trade has already taken place by the time it shows up in the treasury system, so addressing this type of risk is about enforcing the right behavior in the first place. If the trader knows the trade will have to be approved—even after the event—they will be less likely to make a suboptimal trade. Tracking multiple bids per trade can help financial teams check that the right bid has been selected—a measure which is often required by internal audit policies and external compliance such as Dodd-Frank. Building the Right Culture It is not enough to have robust technology and appropriate fraud prevention processes in place. Companies may still be at risk if treasury and financial staff are not fully versed in all the relevant risks, or if processes are not followed at all times by the relevant people. CFOs need to ensure that their organization stays abreast of the latest threats, with a clear understanding of how to spot and avoid them. They also need to build a culture in which fraud awareness is second nature for the whole team. External Fraud Treasury and finance staff should be educated about the different scams they may encounter, such as BEC and other spear phishing attacks. Internal Fraud Treasury and finance staff should also understand the measures that are in place to identify any fraudulent transactions. It should be noted that fraud prevention training is not a one-time exercise. Maintaining strong security procedures is an ongoing process, and educating teams should be approached in the same way. Further Steps The risks outlined in this guide are not exhaustive. CFOs should also be aware of other types of risk—such as the raising of fraudulent purchase orders and invoices. CFOs can also work with the chief security officer (CSO)—or a third-party security organization—to try and exploit flaws in the system. These results can then be fed back into the organization to strengthen treasury and finance processes. The Kyriba Advantage Kyriba delivers robust solutions to monitor and identify potentially fraudulent transactions, while also providing thorough audit trails that link each process with an individual team member. Fraud Prevention Checklist Bank Account Management Do I know my account signatories? Does my bank have the same list? What authorities do they have? Is Treasury aware of updates to bank signatories? Trading How many bids are placed before a trade is carried out? Is a full audit trail in place for bids placed as well as trades carried out? Can SSIs be modified? Is approval needed to edit payment templates? Payments How many layers of protection are in place for user authentication? Are payment workflows consistent for every bank, region and person? Are payment workflows centrally managed and controlled? Data Security HIs data hosted internally? Has the SOC2 Type II audit been reviewed? Is data encrypted at rest as well as in transit? Are security controls consistent in disaster recovery scenarios? Summary Companies are increasingly being targeted by fraud attacks—and the techniques used by fraudsters are becoming ever more sophisticated. No organization, regardless of industry or influence, is safe from payments fraud. BEC scams in particular—despite widespread knowledge of how they are conducted and frequent warnings from law enforcement—continue to plague finance departments. For example, both the Toyota Boshoku Corporation and the Government of Puerto Rico lost millions of dollars in recent years to BEC scams. In its 2022 Internet Crime Report, the FBI noted that BEC scam losses in 2022 alone were over $2.5 billion. The risks of fraud are considerable, but completely manageable with the right technology partner and the right processes. With this guide, CFOs can better understand corporate risk factors and how to limit exposure. Using the fraud prevention checklist, treasurers can pinpoint possible weaknesses. Additionally, this guide gives financial teams an opportunity to see how cloudbased financial management systems can be used to prevent internal and external fraud. Check out this on-demand webinar and learn from cybersecurity experts from Corelight and Kyriba on how to build B2B payment fraud defense programs to maximize end-to-end protection.

With the use of APIs, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, cash forecasting is evolving into a more proactive liquidity planning process. Kyriba is proud to be a supporter of the AFP Executive Guide...

With the use of APIs, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, cash forecasting is evolving into a more proactive liquidity planning process. Kyriba is proud to be a supporter of the AFP Executive Guide series, including this most recent edition on the emerging practice of Liquidity Planning. Liquidity planning is about surrounding your cash forecast with internal and external data to optimize investment, borrowing and working capital decisions. As organizations are increasingly being valued on EBITDA resilience, treasury can show its value by perfecting liquidity planning – which is why liquidity planning has emerged as a core responsibility for many treasury teams to assess and optimize liquidity in times of crisis as well as during periods of higher interest rates and cost of capital. In its most basic form, liquidity planning is making cash forecasts actionable – so that finance teams understand the impact of liquidity decisions in real-time and are better positioned to execute borrowing, investing, hedging, cash pooling and harnessing the cash conversion cycle to free cash from payables and receivables. Liquidity planning also offers more strategic value, establishing treasury as a business partner and empowering the treasurer with data to positively impact key financing and capital decisions. This Executive Guide is a critical resource for organizations just beginning their journey to establish liquidity planning processes or for those treasury teams that are seeking improvement in the efficiency or effectiveness of their liquidity programs. Key takeaways that each reader will gain include: What is Liquidity Planning – and how does the practice differ from Cash Forecasting? Business outcomes that treasury teams can expect from effective liquidity planning How emerging technologies such as APIs, AI and Analytics support liquidity planning Strategies to automate forecasting and planning to minimize the cost to deliver more insightful analyses Kyriba is a proud sponsor of the AFP Executive Guide series. We embrace our role in helping treasury and finance teams across the world become better informed and prepared for “next”. We hope this guide helps your team increase the resilience of your forecasting and liquidity planning programs. Download the complete guide to learn more.

As the world’s most connected enterprise liquidity management platform, Kyriba offers unparalleled cloud-based SaaS solutions via Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS).

Kyriba is a global leader in cloud treasury and finance solutions, offering state-of-the-art connectivity and payment hub solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of modern enterprises. For more than 2,500 clients worldwide, including 25% of Fortune 500 and Euro Stoxx 50 companies, Kyriba manages more than 1.3 billion bank transactions and $15 Trillion in payments annually. Comprehensive Payment Management Kyriba's payment solutions are designed to centralize and automate the payment workflow, ensuring secure, compliant and efficient transactions. Whether you are dealing with domestic or cross-border payments, Kyriba streamlines the process, reducing the complexity and errors associated with manual processes. The system supports multiple payment types with 50,000 pre-built payment scenarios for clients to take into use. Fraud Detection and Enhanced Security Kyriba offers rule-based and AI-powered built-in fraud detection features in its payment hub solutions. These tools actively monitor transactions for anomalies and send alerts for potentially suspicious payments. With multi-factor authentication, encrypted workflows and advanced user access controls, Kyriba prioritizes the safety of your financial data and transactions. Payment Hub Beyond just managing payments, Kyriba's Payment Hub serves as a centralized platform that integrates with multiple banks and any of your ERPs. The connectivity simplifies bank account management and reduces the IT complexity that often comes with handling multiple banking relationships. As businesses grow and expand, their payment needs evolve. Kyriba's Payment hub is scalable, ensuring that whether you're a mid-sized company or a large multinational corporation, the system can handle your increasing transaction volume and complexity. Kyriba's connectivity and payment hub solutions are more than just transactional tools. They are strategic assets that empower businesses to manage their finances efficiently, securely, and cost-effectively. By integrating Kyriba into their workflow, companies can position themselves for success in today's complex financial environment. For more details, watch the Kyriba Payments Product Video.

Kyriba’s Risk Management minimizes the effects of market fluctuations on revenue, earnings and balance sheets.

Kyriba’s Risk Management minimizes the effects of market fluctuations on revenue, earnings and balance sheets. In three easy steps, Kyriba helps CFOs, treasurers and risk managers: Gather exposure data from the ERP system Quantify the impact of currencies on revenue and earnings, presenting this information in a clear and organized manner Take action to hedge or decrease net exposure End-to-End Risk Management With comprehensive pre-trade, trade and post-trade compliance, Kyriba effectively mitigates risk and trims hedging expenses, safeguarding against market volatility in currencies, interest rates and commodities. Kyriba facilitates: Pre-trade: Exposure collection Exposure analytics Hedging policy Business Intelligence Trade: Orders executed on trading platform Post-trade: Position keeping Confirmation and settlement Valuation and effectiveness Hedge accounting See how Kyriba empowers finance leaders to eliminate volatility and increase predictability of earnings, revenue and cash flow guidance. For more details, watch the Kyriba Risk Management Product Video.

Watch this Kyriba Treasury product video to learn how Kyriba’s treasury management solutions can enhance your treasury operations.

As the financial world continuously evolves, Kyriba remains at the forefront, offering advanced treasury solutions that empower organizations to efficiently manage their finances and liquidity. With a reputation as a leader in treasury and risk management, Kryiba’s platform is a testament to our commitment to innovation and excellence. Kyriba’s breadth of solutions ensures that all treasury needs are addressed, making it the platform of choice for many organizations: Financial Transactions Module: a unified dashboard to oversee various financial dealings. Bank Relationship Management: tools to handle diverse bank relationships, particularly in a global context, ensuring optimized banking costs and reduced fraud risks. Liquidity Planning: an essential tool to accurately predict liquidity and cash flow. Cash and Liquidity Management: optimized tools to ensure visibility and efficient use of available cash, facilitating better decision-making and operational stability. Benefits of Using Kyriba for Treasury Operations Our research and engagement with clients have shown consistent benefits when treasury departments integrate Kyriba into their operations. Beyond the platform’s superior forecasting tools, departments have reported more precise financial insights, faster decision-making processes and a marked improvement in overall liquidity management. ISO 27001 Certification SOC1 and SOC2 Seamless Integration Precise Forecasting Customizable Get the Most of Your Treasury Management Technology If you’re interested in learning more about Kyriba’s treasury solutions and the benefits they can offer your organization, we invite you to join one of our interactive live demo sessions. In these sessions, our treasury experts provide a comprehensive overview of the Kyriba platform, showcasing its advanced features tailored for modern global treasury management needs. Watch the Kyriba Treasury Product Video to learn more.

Watch this Kyriba Working Capital product video to learn how Kyriba's Working Capital solutions empower CFOs to unlock liquidity

Kyriba’s Working Capital Solutions help CFOs improve working capital and cash conversion through early payment financing and receivables finance. Kyriba empowers CFOs and their teams with the flexibility to infuse liquidity into supply chains, fine-tune payment terms and expedite cash flow. Advantages of Early Payment Financing and Receivables Finance In early payment financing, suppliers want to be paid earlier while buyers want to pay later. Kyriba provides a win-win scenario where buyers and suppliers can make informed payment decisions on all approved invoices. Suppliers benefit by receiving payments earlier, ensuring financial stability and fostering business growth. Buyers can optimize their working capital or secure discounts that they control. For CFOs, receivables finance is a strategic priority aimed at accelerating customer payments and enhancing their days sales outstanding (DSO). Streamlined Workflow and Interactive Dashboards Kyriba's user-friendly, step-by-step workflow presents eligible invoices integrated from the ERP. Interactive dashboards offer insights into funding availability, customer pre-payment history and other crucial analytics. Optimize Payables and Receivables to Unlock Liquidity See how Kyriba enables CFOs to access liquidity, streamline financial operations and drive sustainable growth through optimized payables and receivables management. Kyriba’s Working Capital Solutions support supply chain finance, reverse factoring, dynamic discounting and receivables finance. For more details, watch the Kyriba Working Capital Product Video.

As the world’s most connected enterprise liquidity management platform, Kyriba offers unparalleled cloud-based SaaS solutions via Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS).

For two decades, Kyriba has pioneered the realm of treasury and risk management. As the world's most connected enterprise liquidity management platform, it offers unparalleled cloud-based SaaS solutions via Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS). Many organizations face the complexities and resources demanded by ERP bank connectivity. Consequently, they turn to specialized technology providers. Kyriba, with over 2500 global clients, leads the charge, recently also being recognized by IDC as a leader in both enterprise and midmarket cloud and SaaS treasury and risk management application vendor assessment. Kyriba’s CaaS offerings span: Bank Connectivity, featuring APIs to major banks such as J.P. Morgan and Bank of America (full list see Kyriba Marketplace) Direct connections with 1000+ banks via H2H, SWIFT or other connectivity protocols Diverse network coverages, including ACH, Fedwire and EBICS ERP connectivity, boasting pre-tested connectors to leading ERP like Oracle, SAP and D365 Real-time integrations for cash, payments, forecasting and working capital solutions, all available on one Kyriba platform To help clients fully understand the ROI of a digital transformation project with connectivity at the heart of data and system integration, Kyriba's Value Engineering team ensures clients maximize benefits from their investments. By understanding individual client needs, the team has designed top-notch tools and methods to gauge ROI. Studies show opting for Kyriba's CaaS can slash integration times by 80%. Take Adobe as a case example: with Kyriba, Adobe centralized its financial operations, managing numerous global banking portals, achieving streamlined banking and efficient FBAR reporting. Want to learn more about Kyriba’s CaaS solutions? Kyriba holds monthly live demos. Here, our treasury experts walk attendees through the platform, showcasing how it enhances financial efficiency and drives organizational growth by harnessing enterprise connectivity. For those who can't make live sessions, check out the on-demand demos to discover the advantages of the platform. In essence, Kyriba is not just a service provider; it's a partner, dedicated to equipping businesses with the tools to achieve financial excellence. Experience the Kyriba difference by requesting a demo today.

Bank reporting and payment formats exchange payment instructions and reporting information between banks and their clients.

Bank reporting and payment formats, also referred to as payment file formats, bank file formats, bank message formats or simply as bank or payment formats, exchange payment instructions and reporting information between banks and their clients. When companies use direct connectivity solutions, they must ensure they support the most common payment message and bank file formats to automate payment transactions, facilitate payment exchanges and produce payment documentation. Formats follow a structured arrangement of information required for processing financial transactions and information electronically. Formats specify how payment data should be organized and presented to ensure accurate and efficient processing by banks, financial institutions and payment systems. In return, they also structure how bank statement data is sent back to the clients for reporting and reconciliation purposes. Payment message formats are critical for seamless Straight-Through-Processing (STP) of corporate payments, which is one of the cornerstones of Payments Clearing across the world. Enterprises building direct connectivity to banks to automate payments initiation, and receive payment reports and bank account statements, must develop multiple message and file formats. Building and testing can take up to six months for setting up one bank, according to Kyriba’s client value engineering data. These formats vary based on the types of payment, payment systems, industry standards, bank and country-specific requirements. Usually bank reporting and payments formats include fields such as account numbers, beneficiary details, payment amounts, payment dates, currency codes, transaction references, payment types and other necessary information required by the banks or authorities. Figure 1: An example of information needed for initiating a payment request Different Types of Bank Reporting and Payments Formats There are many different types of formats for bank reporting and payments. This section provides an overview of the most common types of file and message formats in the following categories: Delimited, Fixed, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), Variable and XML. Delimited Formats Delimited formats are plain text file structures commonly used for storing and exchanging structured data, especially related to financial transactions and account details. These formats define boundaries between data values using specific characters or sequences of characters called delimiters. Common delimiters encompass commas, tabs, semi-colons, pipes, spaces, and colons. CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file is an example of a delimited format. What makes CSV so prevalent is its simplicity, versatility and wide support, making it apt for tabular data storage. This suitability extends to importing data from diverse banking applications into utilities like Microsoft Excel or database systems. However, it's noteworthy that many CSV formats are proprietary, tailored to meet the specific requirements of certain banking institutions. For instance, HSBC has its iFile, while Citibank uses CitiDirect files.Figure 2: An example of a CitiDirect format ANSI ASC X12 is a structured format developed for electronic data exchange (EDI). Its structure includes segments, which are groups of related data elements, and data elements within those segments. Used mostly in the U.S., this format supports the exchange of many different types of business transactions, including payment and cash application data, shipping and receiving information, invoicing and order placement and processing.Figure 3: An example of an ANSI ASC X12 format BAI2 (Bank Administration Institute) format is mostly used in the U.S. as a cash management balance reporting specification. This format is based on text files, with each file having seven sections, or record types, that contain data regarding files headers, group headers, account identifiers and transaction details. Details such as amounts, types and references are specified within each transaction record. Fixed Formats Fixed file format refers to a specific way of organizing and encoding data within a digital file to make it machine-readable and interpretable. In a fixed file format, the data is arranged in a systematic and predictable manner, often following a predefined schema or set of rules, which allows software applications to process the data. ACH’s NACHA is a U.S. text-based file format. This format is used to clear electronic payments between participating financial institutions in the United States. Types of payments include payroll deposits, business-to-business payments, direct payment of consumer bills (e.g., utility, insurance, mortgages, etc.), government benefit deposits and e-commerce payments.Figure 4: An example of a NACHA format BACS Standard 18 is used by the U.K.’s Bacs payment network to send local credit transfers or direct debit payments between banks and the Bank of England. Also known as STD 18, this file format is based on text files that hold either single or grouped payment instructions. The STD18 format uses several lines, each starting with a category identifier, such as VOL, HDR1, HDR2, etc. Each line contains a fixed-length set of attributes, with every batch starting with an HDR1 entry and ending with a UTL1 entry.Figure 5: An example of a BACS format CFONB (also known as AFB) is a French standard defined by the Comité Français d'Organisation et de Normalisation Bancaires/French Committee for Banking Organization and Standardization (CFONB) to meet the needs of the Association Française des Banques/French Association of Banks (AFB). CFONB defines formats used to send local and cross-border payments, payment notifications, direct debit instructions and account statements between customers and their banks. The CFONB/AFB text-based format contains a header and a footer line that provides a basic overview of the message, with the lines in between denoting each entry. For SEPA payment operations, this format will be replaced by the SEPA PAIN (payments initiation). FEBRABAN 240 file format is used by banks to transmit data for various services, such as payments, collection, current account statement to bank reconciliation, current account debit, vendor, check custody, extract to cash management, loans and purchasing. Each service follows its own specifications, with a fixed format text and columns outlined by FEBRABAN. Banks follow their own variation within the FEBRABAN standard.Figure 6: An example of a FEBRABAN 240 format JSON JSON is a type of structured data format that is easy to format and manipulate. With the ability to store substantial amounts of data, it can contain nested, typed properties. JSON format is composed of parameters, where each parameter represents data in different buckets. Originating in the late 1990s, it has been extensively used since the 2000s. Variable File Formats Variable file formats have varying lengths, and the fields within them can accommodate different sizes. Because each field is as long as needed to hold the data, variable file formats are useful when storage efficiency and flexibility are more critical than rigid formatting requirements. SAP IDoc, short for intermediate document, is a standard data format for transmitting information between application programs operating within the widely used SAP business system, or between an SAP application and an external program. IDocs help transfer data in SAP’s Application Link Enabling (ALE) system. SWIFT MT messages used to transmit international, or cross-border, payment instructions and reporting messages between corporate customers and their banks. Financial institutions also use the SWIFT network to send instructions to each other. SWIFT MT messages use a structured TXT file format with the naming convention MTXXX, where the MT is the literal “message type/text” and XXX denotes category, group and type. For example, the MT1 category identifies customer payments and cheques, and the MT2 category indicates financial institution transfers. In use since the 1970s, SWIFT is now replacing the MT format with the MX format, based on the ISO 20022 standard. UN/EDIFACT (the United Nations rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport) comprise a set of internationally agreed standards, directo­ries and guidelines for the electronic interchange of structured data between independent computerized information systems. EDIFACT is widely used in Europe.Figure 8: An example of a UN/EDIFACT format XML Formats XML messages, also known as Extensible Markup Language messages, are a type of structured data format. These messages use a “typing system” to identify the format of specific data items, such as amounts, dates or nouns within a maximum character limit. XML messages support nested entries, allowing the storage of complex data structures. Although these messages provide a structured and flexible way to encapsulate data, the XML message format tends to be lengthy, which increases file size. XML messages originated in the 1990s. ISO 20022, is a flexible messaging standard that promotes interoperability, supports rich data, improves fraud detection and enhances compliance procedures. ISO 20022 messages usually begin with a set of letters and then a number that relates to their category. For example, a pain.001 message contains PAyment INstructions for corporate-to-bank credit transfers, and the ISO 20022 release 2009 contains the pain.001.001.03 message, the most commonly used messaging format for payment initiation. SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) is an EU payment-integration initiative to simplify bank transfers made in euros. ISO 20022 XML is the messaging standard for SEPA payments. The SEPA region consists of 36 European countries as well as several non-EU countries. Migration to ISO 20022 XML Formats While corporate to bank messages are not directly impacted by the SWIFT MT to MX migration, the end of coexistence and the retirement of Categories 1, 2, and 9 of MT messages is scheduled in November 2025 for financial institutions. Globally, this new standard will allow the transmission of rich data in a more structured manner. It will enable end-to-end tracking and reconciliation of payments, which has always been an issue with cross-border payments. Currently, over 70 countries are already in the process of adopting ISO 20022, including China, India and Japan. It is also the standard used by the RTP and FedNow in the US. Learn more about ISO 20022 XML migration for corporates from our ebook: The Winning Formula for Your ISO 20022 Payments Migration. How Are APIs Used in Bank Reporting and Payments? When it comes to bank services, APIs facilitate real-time data retrieval for bank balance and transaction reporting and real-time payments between banks and their corporate clients. When enterprise systems such as ERP are connected to banks via APIs, real-time data exchange can further enable treasury use cases such as cash flow forecasting, FX exposure management and quick reconciliation. APIs can be closed, shared or open and API communication among systems does not involve any file exchange. They do not currently adhere to any international standards, but many APIs leverage JSON and HTML formats and most developers understand the benefits of following ISO 20022 standards to consistently present data. Having connected via Bank APIs with more than 20 major banks across the US, EU and APAC regions, Kyriba was the first treasury management system to successfully go live with a customer with Bank of America and J.P. Morgan. Our close collaborations with bank partners have yielded invaluable insights into the myriad challenges and nuances of API integration with banks. For more insights, read the Bank API best practices guide prepared by Kyriba's Bank API product team. What Are the Challenges with Developing Bank Formats? While bank formats are an established and reliable way to automate common financial transactions and reporting, they are also extremely intricate and complex. As a result, there are many challenges involved in developing bank and country-specific formats. Organizations often find it complicated to connect their treasury and payment systems to global banks. Organizational challenges Organizations underestimate the resources, duration and complexity of developing and testing multiple bank formats with multiple bank connections. Typically, it takes 6-12 months to add a new bank. Finance and treasury have to manage several, if not dozens, of banking relationships. Dedicated, knowledgeable IT resources are a must when building and testing payment formats and flows to banks. Bank and procedural challenges Each bank has its own standards for communications and connectivity. Banks are very process-oriented, due to compliance and security requirements, and organizations must follow banks’ strict controls which prolongs the process. Banks often become bottlenecks for connectivity projects because they may not prioritize other organization’s connectivity demands. Organizations must “get in line” along with all the other entities connecting to banks. International banks may operate in different time zones and speak different languages than IT teams, presenting challenges for technical work. Even when an organization’s IT team speaks the same native language as the banks, banks use their own terminology and domain expertise, which may be unfamiliar to IT departments. Technical challenges Bank formats, even for the same clearing system, will vary across banks. Each bank payment format is complex, with customizations including the bank, initiating branch, receiving branch, payment type, possible FX conversation, urgent or non-urgent payment, the currency and other regional or bank-specific fields. The number of payment formats means there are hundreds of format customizations to modify and test in each environment. The magnitude of formats and scenarios that need to be built and tested can be enormous and overwhelming. Rigorous testing is required, as a failed payment scenario means a failed payment. Payment formats testing takes time, and a test usually fails the first time. IT resources will be stretched thin as they test, fix errors, document and re-test each payment format for each bank. To mitigate these challenges, many organizations take advantage of connectivity-as-a-service solutions to reduce time and costs, take advantage of the latest connectivity options, improve quality of data and allow IT staff to productively focus on initiatives that drive business growth. Figure 9: Using a payment solution can significantly decrease the time-to-value for formats How Can Kyriba Open Formats Studio (OFS) Help? Kyriba Open Formats Studio is a set of self-service tools developed by the Kyriba Payments Product team for advanced corporate users, implementation consultants and other partners to access and customize existing formats with a Sandbox environment and add simple variants of existing scenarios in just minutes. It is part of the Kyriba Payment Hub solution and is available through the Kyriba Developer Portal. OFS offers a new and open approach to payment formats testing with the possibility to simulate bank file outputs, compare differences between various bank outputs and test different format alias combinations and XML postprocessor rules. OFS also includes the first release of the Alias Assistant, which includes all aliases and descriptions for ISO 20022 pain.001 formats. More content are being added regularly. Figure 10: Kyriba Open Format Studio’s Bank Format Translation Tool Using Payment Hub Solutions to Simply Bank Formats Development Kyriba client Amway implemented a single payment hub to consolidate all its payment activities into one platform, allowing: Automatic management of bank reporting and payment formats Support of SWIFT connectivity and select host-to-host connectivity protocols for enhanced bank security and encryption Integration with the company’s new ERP solution for digitized integration of approved payment files Figure 11: Amway achieved significant results including savings from payment formats

Join Deloitte and Kyriba to learn about the future of payments. Discover important topics to show where the market is likely headed so you can better understand and navigate the changes ahead.

Join Deloitte and Kyriba to learn about the future of payments. Discover important topics to show where the market is likely headed so you can better understand and navigate the changes ahead.

A Kyriba Guide to Corporate Payment Workflows An efficient and secure corporate payment workflow is the backbone of a successful modern enterprise. Every financial transaction – from routine supplier payments to critical intercontinental transfers...

A Kyriba Guide to Corporate Payment Workflows An efficient and secure corporate payment workflow is the backbone of a successful modern enterprise. Every financial transaction – from routine supplier payments to critical intercontinental transfers – relies on a seamless and reliable payment process. However, within the whirlwind of modern financial operations, the complexities of transactions and the persistent threat of payment fraud and cybercrime can create a perfect storm for payment catastrophes. These catastrophes not only disrupt financial operations but also jeopardize your reputation, erode stakeholder trust and undermine the overall stability of your organization. To shield your organization from these ominous risks and optimize your payment workflow, you need to adopt a proactive and comprehensive approach. In this eBook, we unveil a five-step strategy that helps prevent payment catastrophes and also elevates payment workflows. The Pitfalls of Unstandardized Payment Journey Creating a standardized and efficient journey is paramount for organizations to ensure smooth financial operations. Acting like a well-constructed highway, the payment journey encompasses various stages, including payment initiation, authorization, validation and reporting. When payment workflows are ad hoc and differ from one region or bank to another, companies can fall victim to various issues that can ultimately hinder productivity and increase risk. Inefficiency and Inconsistency: The lack of standardization means that every payment initiation and approval becomes a unique case. This inefficiency can lead to redundant efforts, time-consuming manual interventions and inconsistent practices, all of which can hinder collaboration and growth. Increased Errors: Without a streamlined journey, errors are more likely to occur. Variability in data entry, approval mechanisms and formats can lead to data inaccuracies, resulting in failed payments, delayed transactions and reconciliation challenges. Vulnerability to Fraud: A fragmented payment workflow increases the opportunities for fraudsters to exploit security gaps. Inconsistent authorization processes and a lack of standardized controls can leave organizations exposed to fraudulent activities, leading to financial losses and reputational damage. Operational Delays: Payments stuck in approval limbo or tangled in complex workflows lead to delays in fund transfer, supplier payments and customer refunds. This strains the relationships with vendors, customers and partners, and, ultimately, impacts the business’ credibility. Lack of Transparency: A patchwork of payment processes often results in limited visibility into payment status and history. This lack of transparency can deter effective financial decision-making, cash flow management and auditing processes. A standardized corporate payment workflow is therefore essential to enhance efficiency and consistency while reducing risk and fostering growth and stability. It brings uniformity to data entry, approval processes and formats, minimizing the chances of errors. Key practices for standardization include mapping the payment journey, identifying variability, establishing clear procedures, implementing automation and ongoing monitoring and adjustments. The Hazards of Neglecting Automation and Technology A recent Forbes article reports that executives struggle to get real-time key financial metrics and much of the work is still manual and error-prone with financial institutions using different software systems. Table 1: Challenges with payments process in the US and across the globe reported by the recent Forbes article In the USA Globally 50% use five or more systems for payment operations 40% report payment operations are manual 30% lack real-time insight into their cash balances 51% lack payment digitization 49% reply on manual payment processes 44% have disconnected accounts receivable and accounts payable processes Both automation and payments technology are critical components for optimizing payment workflows. Without automation, routine tasks such as data entry, payment validation and reconciliation are time-consuming and error-prone. This results in an inefficient allocation of resources and limits the capacity for strategic financial planning. Additionally, relying solely on manual data entry processes heightens the risk of human errors, including data inaccuracies and improper approval routing. Automation also plays a critical role in enabling real-time tracking of payment statuses, which is imperative for accurate visibility into cash positions and transaction progress. Another, often overlooked, aspect of a robust payment journey is the ability to address and resolve payment disputes and exceptions swiftly. Failure to manage these situations in a timely manner can have far-reaching consequences that extend beyond just financial losses. Inefficient dispute resolution processes can destroy relationships with vendors and partners, tarnish the company’s reputation and, in some cases, result in legal disputes. Embracing automation and technology are vital for staying competitive. When building automation for treasury, start with a thorough needs analysis to identify repetitive or error-prone tasks and design an RFP to look for a Treasury Management System (TMS) that can help centralize data and integrate with existing systems like ERP. It is also recommended to use Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for routine tasks like data retrieval and report generation, while incorporating advanced analytics and AI to improve cash forecasting and detect payment fraud. The Pain of Being Tangled Up in Bank Connectivity An interconnected network is not just a luxury; it’s a necessity. Bank connectivity is the lifeline of financial operations. A comprehensive connectivity network enables organizations to transmit payment instructions, receive acknowledgments and access account information without interruption. Whether it’s done through H2H, SWIFT network or Bank APIs, the ability to seamlessly communicate with banks underpins the entire payment and bank reporting process. The path to establishing robust bank connectivity is riddled with challenges. With every bank or network having their own specifications, bank connectivity carries a high level of complexity, especially when companies start to connect their payments initiation systems such as ERP or AP systems to the banks for realizing Straight-Through-Processing (STP). A single error can have a multitude of negative consequences including payment delays and even data breaches. The following data came from a Gartner Pulse survey with 100 IT leaders, and the results indicated that most ERP integrations with a new bank would take 1-6 months to complete. Most ERP Integrations with a new bank take 1-6 months to complete. Mitigating the challenges associated with bank connectivity requires a strategic approach and a roadmap. Start with your most important banks and identify current bottlenecks and inefficiencies in your corporate to bank connectivity. Opt for a unified platform or payment hub that offers Connect-as-a-Service to streamline multi-bank connectivity, ensuring compatibility with both internal systems like ERP and various banking protocols. Embrace API integrations to achieve real-time data exchanges, enhancing reconciliation and payment processes. The Looming Specter of Security Breaches and Fraud As organizations traverse the landscape of payments, security emerges as a crucial concern. The ramifications of security breaches and the constant looming specter of fraud are enough to send shivers down the spine of any financial professional. The stakes are more than an organization’s finances; the reputation and trustworthiness of a business are also on the line. When security measures are compromised, a cascade of detrimental outcomes follows. Theft of financial data can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information, putting financial assets at risk and, potentially, violating data privacy regulations. The aftermath of fraud can undermine the integrity of an organization’s financial health. Table 2: Companies are being targeted by payment fraud attacks Payment Fraud Statistics Percentage U.S. Companies affected by fraud in 2022 >60% Companies targeted multiple times >50% Companies targeted >15 times 5% Source: U.S. Companies and B2B Payment Fraud Report by TrustPair and GIACT, 2023 Organizations face a multifaceted battle against cyber threats, and a reactive stance is insufficient to ward off these challenges. Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated, using advanced tactics to exploit vulnerabilities in payment systems and networks. Ransomware attacks, identity theft and phishing scams are just the tip of the iceberg. And, these attacks are on the rise, according to a PYMNTS.com article, “Ransomware attacks reached record-breaking numbers in March 2023, with a 91% increase compared to the previous month.” Ransomware attacks typically target any accessible data – including payment information and personal identifiable information. A single successful breach can lead to massive financial losses, legal penalties and lasting reputational damage. To counter this multifaceted threat, a proactive strategy is essential. Ransomware attacks, phishing schemes and evolving tactics demand a resilient defense. Integrating encryption, tokenization and robust authentication forms the first line of defense. Regular monitoring and swift responses to anomalies are pivotal. When it comes to payments, we recommend bank account validation and fraud and compliance screening before any payments are sent to the banks. The Hidden Cost of Organizational Silos Collaboration and partnerships are essential for organizations aiming to streamline corporate payment workflows. However, the persistent existence of silos presents a significant impediment to effective collaboration. Silos, marked by compartmentalized data repositories and disjointed workflows, create substantial communication gaps that obstruct the smooth information flow in an organization’s financial operations, leading to lack of transparency and hindered accessibility to data. According to a year-long study of more than 100 global businesses conducted by Roland Berger, nearly 80% of surveyed respondents report “strongly pronounced” silos that negatively impact their company’s costs, innovation potential, culture, and profitability. Despite this, only 54% have made breaking bad silos a top company priority, the study found. Regardless if respondents had more than 5,000 employees or under 500, the results were largely the same — most respondents didn’t have the confidence or know-how when combating the problem. Just 20% report having the right measures in place. The consequences of these silos undermine the efficiency of payment workflows. With data locked away, the flow of information becomes stilted, leading to redundancies, delays and errors. Silos also limit the extent of shared insights and knowledge among the teams who are actually working to achieve the same KPIs, hampering their ability to collaboratively and proactively respond to market fluctuations, changing regulations and emerging opportunities. Finally, silos contribute to security vulnerabilities. Data dispersed across fragmented systems may be more challenging to protect effectively, increasing the risks of data breaches and fraud. Silos don't have a one-size-fits-all solution, yet modern finance thrives on collaboration. Recognizing the issue both from top-down and bottom-up perspectives is essential, but it's just the starting point. While a centralized treasury and payments platform promotes collaboration, the heart of the challenge lies in reshaping the collaborative mindset of leaders, managers and employees. Final Remarks Preventing payment pitfalls requires a diligent, encompassing strategy. The quest for efficient and secure corporate payment workflows never truly ends. With the fast pace of tech evolution, shifting fraud schemes and a mutable financial environment, success favors those with the agility to adapt and the courage to innovate. If you are interested in learning more about the steps to cut redundant costs and accelerate your bank connectivity projects, check out this on-demand webinar where Beam Suntory and Kyriba discuss the best practices that have helped Beam Suntory transform its payments process.

Bank API Best Practices for Bank Partners For two decades, Kyriba has forged a reputation as the industry's frontrunner in corporate-to-bank Connectivity-as-a-Service. With robust integrations with 1000+ global banks, Kyriba is the world's most...

Bank API Best Practices for Bank Partners For two decades, Kyriba has forged a reputation as the industry's frontrunner in corporate-to-bank Connectivity-as-a-Service. With robust integrations with 1000+ global banks, Kyriba is the world's most connected enterprise liquidity platform. Having connected Bank APIs with more than 20 major banks (detailed list available at Kyriba Marketplace) across the US, EU and APAC regions, Kyriba was the first treasury management system to successfully go live with a customer with Bank of America and J.P. Morgan. Our close collaborations with bank partners have yielded invaluable insights into the myriad challenges and nuances of Bank API integration. This guide encapsulates the knowledge amassed by Kyriba's Bank API product team. Product managers, business analysts, engineering leaders and infosec teams from any bank partners will find actionable insights on: How to craft API specifications centered around treasury and payments use cases How to reduce integration time for partners such as Kyriba How to enhance developer experiences and streamline the developer onboarding process How to accelerate the onboarding-to-production for corporate clients   Download the complete guide to learn more.

Are you ready to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of finance? In the fast-paced world of finance, staying informed is crucial. Join us for The Liquidity Pulse, where industry experts...

Are you ready to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of finance? In the fast-paced world of finance, staying informed is crucial. Join us for The Liquidity Pulse, where industry experts come together to dissect headlines that impact the lifeblood of business – liquidity.

Highly Commended Winner Best Transaction Management Solution The Challenge Condé Nast’s (CN) treasury team identified several challenges in its effort to support the company build a new global organisational structure. Like the need to...

Highly Commended Winner Best Transaction Management Solution The Challenge Condé Nast’s (CN) treasury team identified several challenges in its effort to support the company build a new global organisational structure. Like the need to improve inefficient payment processes around inconsistent processing across markets and low levels of automation. Treasury also needed to improve data reporting and overcome low visibility of cash holdings, bank fees and operating cash flows. Elsewhere, the company was struggling with a complex bank account structure comprising 16 banks serving five European markets, creating duplicated work and contributing to idle cash balances. The transformation required transitioning operational banking services to a single core bank and introducing best of class technology to support the rapid growth. A key component of the transformation was TMS, Kyriba and ERP system integration. Through a synchronised process via Workday and Kyriba, the team sought to generate and process bank agnostic XML files for payments and bank statement reporting, streamlining, automating, and enabling consistency across CN’s European markets. The Solution CN worked with Bank of America (BofA) to consolidate its banking relationships, optimise the company’s liquidity structure via automating concentration of surplus funds and fully automating domestic and cross-border sweeps. CN also introduced extensive integration expertise with Kyriba, SWIFT Service Bureau, and a single global banking platform CashPro®. The solution has maximised the benefits of CN’s deposit balances in European markets by establishing an efficient liquidity structure. It has also established consistent, efficient treasury operational processes in European markets that can later be scaled globally through automation. It involved implementing BofA as CN’s preferred partner for accounts and liquidity in the European region. BofA’s local knowledge across the region and its global footprint supported CN’s transformation from both a local and headquarters perspective. The establishment of a centralised treasury function allowed treasury to centrally manage cash processes, liquidity, FX, technology adoptions and decision-making for regional needs. CN rationalised banking relationships and accounts by adopting a single provider across all in-scope markets, with one set of agreements and a single relationship team. BofA worked with CN to establish a liquidity structure to consolidate surplus deposits and reduce idle balances in local accounts by implementing a fully automated physical cash concentration structure with intelligent sweep parameters to header accounts in the UK. The overhaul also established visibility of all treasury activity through a multitude of connectivity solutions, providing CN with a primary and contingency platform. Integration with Kyriba and Workday has acted as the primary TMS/ERP for CN to centrally manage the treasury function and standardise file formats through XML. Lastly, the transformation saw treasury adopt a single global banking platform, CashPro®, supporting CNs cash management requirements, allowing consistent visibility and automated reporting. Best Practice and Innovation The establishment of a centralised function meant treasury could centrally manage cash processes, liquidity, FX, technology adoptions and decision-making for regional needs. Elsewhere, rationalised banking relationships and accounts by adopting a single preferred provider across all in-scope markets, increased efficiency and transparency. CN established a liquidity structure to consolidate surplus deposits and reduce idle balances in local accounts by implementing a fully automated physical cash concentration structure with intelligent sweep parameters to header accounts in the UK in the name of new treasury entity, Condé Nast Treasury Services Limited. Key Benefits Cost savings Headcount savings Process efficiencies Return on investment (ROI) Increased automation Risk mitigated Improved visibility Errors reduced Number of banking partners/bank accounts reduced Manual intervention reduced Increased system connectivity Future-proof solution Exceptional implementation (budget/time) Improved key performance indicator (KPI) metrics Condé Nast is building a new global organisation structure to take full advantage of the company’s unique growth opportunities and exceptional content around the world. Condé Nast’s treasury team identified several challenges that would need to be solved for them to better support the new structure. The new treasury structure for Condé Nast established a consistent, efficient treasury operational process in European markets that can later be scaled globally through automation (STP went from 0% to 99.5%), they consolidated their banking relationships globally from 16 to five and maximised the benefits of their deposit balances in European markets by establishing an efficient liquidity structure reducing FX exposure and earning interest across all balances." In partnership with The treasury team at Condé Nast (CN) embraced the concept of enterprise liquidity management, with a clear objective to gain visibility and improve productivity across their global operations. Kyriba’s relationship with Bank of America and our integration with CN’s ERP, Workday, were critical components to their centralised solution, and Kyriba is proud to be working hand-in-hand with CN’s new treasury entity, Condé Nast Treasury Services Limited. We look forward to continually working with CN in their treasury transformation." — William Goodall, VP Sales for Northern Europe and London, Kyriba In partnership with [no_toc]

Clearsulting’s partnership with Kyriba offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to elevate your treasury function. Through meticulous analysis, Clearsulting identifies pain points and inefficiencies within your organization’s current treasury operations and paves the way for tailored enhancements and streamlined processes. The collaboration isn’t just about treasury technology implementation; it’s about embracing Kyriba as a catalyst for change.

Clearsulting’s partnership with Kyriba offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to elevate your treasury function. Through meticulous analysis, Clearsulting identifies pain points and inefficiencies within your organization’s current treasury operations and paves the way for tailored enhancements and streamlined processes. The collaboration isn’t just about treasury technology implementation; it’s about embracing Kyriba as a catalyst for change. Below are some highlights from Q2 2023 successful client wins and implementations: When TopBuild sought a strategic partner to transition from their system in use, Clearsulting delivered an exceptional solution. Recognizing TopBuild’s pressing cash, payment and accounting needs, Clearsulting harnessed its agile project management approach, showcasing unparalleled speed and nimbleness. The result was a resounding mutual victory, as TopBuild seamlessly migrated to Kyriba, unlocking enhanced treasury capabilities and propelling their financial operations forward. Grainger, a valued prior client of Clearsulting and a steadfast Kyriba user, took their treasury optimization to the next level. Intrigued by our Bank Fee Analysis demo at KyribaLive, they recognized an opportunity to enhance their ROI. Drawing on expertise, Grainger engaged Clearsulting to extract maximum value from this module. Through strategic insights and meticulous analysis, we collaborated with Grainger to transform their experience into a catalyst for higher returns, demonstrating how a proactive approach can uncover potential within complex solutions. Embarking on an extensive journey, Madison International Realty engaged Clearsulting to catalyze their treasury evolution. With the pursuit spanning over a year, the deal gained momentum, leading Kyriba to emerge victorious over industry giants. Madison International Realty’s vision for a hands-on partnership focused on meticulous process enhancements found a perfect match in Clearsulting’s comprehensive blueprint. Accommodating pricing that aligned with Madison’s budget, Clearsulting’s adaptable approach met Madison International Realty’s expectations, laying the foundation for the organization’s treasury transformation. Clearsulting and Kyriba synergized their expertise to orchestrate a transformative journey for Kaseya. Proposing an enticing package, the partnership delivered a competitive rate for the comprehensive TMS implementation. This encompassing solution spanned cash business intelligence, liquidity planning, financial transactions and financial accounting. Kaseya’s quest for elevated treasury capabilities found a match in this strategic alliance, underlining how collaborative efforts can steer organizations toward empowered treasury transformations. When Mattel aimed to streamline their worldwide payment and reporting processes across various banks, Clearsulting and Kyriba emerged as the architects of their success. The partnership seamlessly formulated a clear, comprehensive vision that not only aligned with Mattel’s goals but also garnered the support of stakeholders spread across the globe. With meticulous strategy and expert execution, Clearsulting and Kyriba set the wheels in motion, initiating a project that resonated with numerous stakeholders and paved the way for Mattel’s global payment and reporting evolution. When CCG faced the imperative need for treasury transformation, they turned to Clearsulting. With strategic foresight, Clearsulting’s collaboration began early, supporting CCG in building a robust business case and meticulously scoping the project. This strategic alignment earned the confidence of CCG’s leadership, leading to an accelerated Kyriba acquisition in Q2. By leveraging Clearsulting’s expertise and Kyriba’s cutting-edge solutions, CCG showcases how proactive partnerships can seamlessly transition organizations toward enhanced treasury operations and transformative success. In a testament to expertise, Clearsulting spearheaded a transformative journey with Dana-Farber. With a profound grasp of derivatives, Clearsulting became a strategic partner in Dana-Farber’s foray into financial transactions, valuations and financial accounting. Through meticulous guidance and unwavering support, Clearsulting facilitated Dana-Farber’s expansion with finesse, illuminating the potential within complex financial landscapes. Kyriba and Clearsulting embarked on a journey to transform Graco’s utilization of cash accounting, intraday reporting and cash management. With Clearsulting’s strategic guidance, Graco embraced a holistic approach to system enhancement. Through careful analysis, tailored optimizations and a focus on scalability, this partnership elevated Graco’s treasury operations to new heights.

Highly Commended Winner Best Emerging Technology Solution The Challenge One of Bally’s key providers of payment services is FreemarketFX with a connectivity strategy that mandates use of a REST API for statement reporting and...

Highly Commended Winner Best Emerging Technology Solution The Challenge One of Bally’s key providers of payment services is FreemarketFX with a connectivity strategy that mandates use of a REST API for statement reporting and payment initiation automation. Bally’s uses FreemaketFX to provide payments and banking services for 19 of its companies, holding 63 active bank accounts which are used by 43 users to make on average 289 payments a month. Currently multiple Bally’s team members log into FreemarketFX’s portal to manually enter payments throughout the day, with this being the single highest volume payments initiator across the group. The effort currently requires the time of one FTE and is potentially subject to manual error due to the need to rekey payment information into the portal prior to approval for initiation. The Solution The vision for this process is to automate the connection between Freemarket and Kyriba which is currently being implemented. Kyriba does provide several bank API connections already, although FreemarketFX is not on the vendor roadmap for the custom back-end efforts to connect as such. Therefore, Bally’s is leveraging its own Enterprise IT group to securely manage Amazon Web Services (AWS) resources to host custom ‘middleware’ code written by Actualize Consulting to broker the connection between Kyriba and FreemarketFX using self-service, open connectivity protocols. Event-based serverless functions (microservices) hosted in the AWS cloud will manage the movement of data between Kyriba and FreemarketFX. For statement details, a scheduled trigger from Kyriba generates a list of bank account IDs resulting in an API request for those account’s statement details. The functions then transform that data into the CAMT.053 statement format and upload those statements into Kyriba. Essentially, this will allow Kyriba to request statement information and receive it automatically in as long as it takes the data to move and transform. For payments, the generation of a PAIN.001 payment request message from Kyriba will immediately trigger an event, converting that message to the FreemarketFX format for initiation via API. Payment status messages will be returned similarly via API or webhook to update the payment status in Kyriba using PAIN.002 PSR file formats. Advanced logging and monitoring tools are being utilised to parse the AWS code-generated log information and allow individual error-codes to be pulled from the verbose log files. Bally’s Enterprise IT team will be able to define distinct notification behaviour for these different error metrics, depending on their relative importance and intended audience, without a need to modify the underlying code. This solution will allow Bally’s to use Kyriba to report on balances and transactions for accounts held with Freemarket, as well as initiating the movement of funds out of those accounts with real-time payment status reporting. Best Practice and Innovation This is an example of where modern technology can be used to connect systems together by the end-user even where a specific bilateral connection has not been made available off-the-shelf by a vendor. The power of modern cloud platforms and APIs mean that serverless functions can be used to minimise infrastructure costs, free up employees for more strategic endeavours, and ensure integrations are tailored to the client’s specific need. This problem will likely be seen more regularly due to the profusion of fintechs and their approach of often taking an ‘API-first’ view on connectivity. The ISO 20022 formats were selected to enable this effort to accelerate connections with other financial service providers if required. Bally’s is essentially creating its own simple API as part of this effort, to receive payment status updates from FreemarketFX and send those on to the Kyriba platform. Key Benefits Cost savings Process efficiencies Increased automation Errors reduced Increased system connectivity As APIs proliferate, corporates will increasingly need to gain expertise in leveraging these directly to connect disparate systems that may not otherwise have an out-of-the-box bilateral connection readily available. This approach also serves to minimise the risk of being tied to an additional third-party Integration Platform as a Service (IPaaS) vendor to broker this API connection. Congratulations to Bally’s on their Highly Commended Best Emerging Technology Solution recognition in the Adam Smith Awards. Embarking on a TMS project with Kyriba in mid-2022, Bally’s aggressive implementation timeframe and skillful project management enabled them to see immediate results from their vision. Together with other outstanding partners, they have engineered a secure solution that is future proof with API connectivity to FX providers. It has been a pleasure to work with Bally’s and we look forward to many more years of partnership as their treasury solution evolves." — William Goodall, VP Sales for Northern Europe and London, Kyriba In partnership with [no_toc]

Overall Winner Best Cash Flow Forecasting Solution The Challenge Think Big is a key leadership principle at Amazon, and the team knows how important it is to manage its capital structure efficiently at scale....

Overall Winner Best Cash Flow Forecasting Solution The Challenge Think Big is a key leadership principle at Amazon, and the team knows how important it is to manage its capital structure efficiently at scale. While always a focus, this became even more critical as the Covid pandemic swept the globe and shoppers around the world rushed to e-commerce retailers, including Amazon, to purchase everyday goods. As the volume of transactions multiplied, so too did the complexities of forecasting cash flows across Amazon’s numerous business lines, currencies and countries. Using historical data and quarterly forecasts would no longer work. It was time to innovate the cash forecast. The Solution Amazon paired its treasury team with in-house software engineers and data scientists to build an improved machine learning based forecasting model. The partnership began with treasury identifying key variables across multiple business lines. The data scientists explored the data, identified the most suitable algorithms, and trained and tested the machine learning models. Software engineers created a data lake, and implemented the machine learning pipeline, deploying machine learning algorithms to drive better insights into patterns that were not perceptible to humans. What began as a daily US cash positioning tool quickly evolved into a 60-day forecast that outperforms traditional methods of cash flow forecasting, across the globe. The machine learning model had an immediate impact on Amazon’s global treasury management. Amazon is now able to establish dynamic cash target balances across international operating entities and improve working capital. Additionally, Amazon has seen significant process improvements. Previous cash positioning took up to eight hours to perform, but it now takes less than 30 minutes, freeing up the team for strategic priorities. The machine learning model’s effectiveness also means treasury is no longer reliant on multiple upstream systems across the company to make time-sensitive decisions. Treasury can allocate work more appropriately while also bringing more insights when meeting with its bankers. Amazon continues to make improvements to the overall process. This solution demonstrates Amazon’s focus to deliver on its four guiding principles: customer obsession, passion for invention, operational excellence and longterm thinking. Best Practice and Innovation Amazon’s new forecasting model is a best practice innovation in many ways. As a strategic business partner, treasury provides real-time, data-driven guidance on capital structure optimisation. The most visible innovation is the deployment of machine learning directly into treasury, which can be difficult to implement effectively, and this has had an immediate impact. The benefit of the machine learning model is that it improves over time as it constantly retrains itself with more data. Another best practice is the partnership between the treasury organisation and Amazon’s in-house software engineers and data scientists. This project included team members with diverse skill sets and backgrounds across internationally based teams. By aligning multiple organisations to a common vision and clear goals, Amazon has delivered results that would have been challenging for any of these organisations to achieve alone. In this case, the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Key Benefits Improved liquidity management efficiency Cost savings Time savings Process efficiencies Increased automation Risk mitigation Improved visibility Error reduction Manual intervention reduction Increased system connectivity Future-proof solution In addition to Abhi Misra and Sean Patterson, the following individuals are also recognised for their key contributions: Colleen Ramsay, Tim Smallow and Tony Masone in Amazon Treasury, alongside Jenhau Chen and Stephen Lau in Amazon Fintech. Kyriba would like to congratulate Amazon.com Inc. on their impressive achievements in intelligent cash flow forecasting and liquidity planning. Working with this talented team in their continual pursuit to elevate treasury has created a valued partnership between our companies. For this solution Amazon.com utilised Kyriba’s treasury management, bank connectivity, as a service with 100+ banks worldwide, and unparalleled data streaming solution, in partnership with AWS and Bank of America. Amazon.com will continue to drive results that set the best-in-class standard for cash flow forecasting intelligence and accuracy. — Greg Person CTP, SVP Sales & Account Management, Kyriba In partnership with [no_toc]

Overall Winner Best Foreign Exchange Solution The Challenge Following its formation, the company faced a complex FX environment. FX risk management was performed separately at legacy Mylan and legacy Upjohn entities with each process...

Overall Winner Best Foreign Exchange Solution The Challenge Following its formation, the company faced a complex FX environment. FX risk management was performed separately at legacy Mylan and legacy Upjohn entities with each process relying upon different systems and inputs. The global treasury team immediately kicked off a project to redesign the FX risk management framework and leverage technology to create a thorough, efficient and fully integrated risk management process. Three key challenges were identified: Resourcing:treasury had a single resource dedicated to the end-to-end FX risk management process. Data: Exposure reporting was decentralised and manual. Multiple teams across the globe sent balance sheet information several times per month in various excel formats. Six ERP systems across the organisation added complexity to gathering balance sheet data. Treasury individually calculated each entity’s FX exposures based on the format of the data and timing of when the data was provided before manually executing FX hedges. Back office processes:back office processes relied on manually confirming trades and manually booking individual close out tickets for non-deliverable forwards (NDF) hedges. This was manual and time consuming. The manual nature of these critical activities needed to be updated to scale up. The Solution Viatris Treasury took a holistic approach to redesign the risk management process addressing each issue with different approaches. Resourcing:as part of broader finance transformation, Viatris built a shared services treasury centre of excellence (COE). Within that organisation two full-time employees were hired to focus on exposure reporting. Data:to address data issues, treasury implemented FiREapps. This software links directly to multiple ERP systems that Viatris operates across multiple entities. This permits treasury to access data in a consistent format at scheduled intervals. The exposure reporting team then uses Alteryx to compare prior data sets against the current data set. This identifies which entities/currencies/GL accounts have changed. Where there is a significant delta, analysis is done with the entity’s finance team to investigate drivers and confirm validity of the exposure. Once the data is validated, existing hedges are imported to FiREapps and the tool compares the exposures against the hedges, identifying where additional hedges are required. Treasury reviews the data and proposes new hedges, FiREapps outputs the data to FXall for execution. FX hedges STP via file transfer to the TMS system FIS Integrity. Back office processes:Viatris worked with its TMS provider FIS and FXall to create an automated confirmation process, moving from a one-way to a two-way STP process where FXall and FIS communicate directly. FXall trades STP to Integrity which sends confirmation details to FXall settlement centre then back to Integrity indicating if trade confirmation is matched. Best Practice and Innovation Treasury built a risk framework that utilises best practices to enable Viatris to transition from a manual, decentralised process to an automated, centralised risk management framework. The company has: Updated its FX risk management policy to reflect the significant changes to its processes and operating environment. Centralised FX risk management and trade execution. Automated real-time ERP data access providing accurate and timely information. Automated exposure data analysis and validation via Alteryx analysis. STP of FX trades and confirmation matching, ensuring automated trade flows and validity of hedge data in the TMS. Significantly enhanced its ability to analyse P&L on exchange, including identifying drivers of FX gain and loss and taking action, where necessary, to reduce future volatility. This innovative solution created a scalable process suited to the transformational change Viatris was undergoing through the combination of Mylan and Upjohn. Viatris Treasury partnered with IT, shared services and other functions to implement FiREapps for legacy Upjohn entities alongside their migration from Pfizer’s ERP onto its own. By implementing FiREapps alongside the ERP migration, treasury had input to the migration process and could leverage work done by the IT and finance/ accounting teams mapping GL accounts for each entity. This permitted Viatris to integrate the Upjohn entities into the exposure reporting process immediately upon cut-over. Key Benefits Risk mitigation Cost savings Headcount savings Process efficiencies Increased automation Improved visibility Errors reduced Manual intervention reduced Increased system connectivity Scalable for future Exceptional implementation (budget/time) Improved key performance indicator (KPI) metrics “Our FX risk management solution is unique in terms of the scale of the solution as well as the magnitude of change we were going through. The combination of the two large multinational companies to create Viatris and the risk complexities created for our treasury demanded a best in class solution,” explains Arijit Dasgupta, Assistant Treasurer. Viatris’ treasury transformation since its formation in 2020 has been an overwhelming success for the business. Following the merger of Mylan and UpJohn, Viatris’ treasury faced numerous legal entities and significant foreign currency exposures globally. Viatris embarked on multiple ambitious initiatives to consolidate and streamline its treasury operations, including global risk management. The fact that Viatris was able to accomplish this in such a short period of time is a tremendous achievement. Through strategically prioritising resources and with support from Global Integrated Services, the treasury team is empowered to focus on large-scale, long-term, best-in-class processes that will continue to benefit Viatris’ objectives well into the future. Congratulations to the Viatris team from all of us at J.P. Morgan." — Mukundan Iyengar, Managing Director, Global Sales Head – Healthcare, J.P. Morgan Payments In partnership with Viatris has been a Kyriba FiREapps client since 2019, taking full advantage of our balance sheet automation in their multiple ERP environment. This solution enables Viatris to quantify, segment and compare exposure balances from forecasted and actual general ledger balance sheet accounts, then analyse and send hedges for execution with an automated workflow. We congratulate Viatris on winning the Adam Smith Best Foreign Exchange Solution Award and look forward to working to expand the solution further having just signed an extensive renewal." — Andy Gage, SVP FX Risk Management Sales and Advisory Services, Kyriba In partnership with [no_toc]

Kyriba’s Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS) accelerates this process and relieves potential development and maintenance burdens on IT. With one API gateway, clients can connect via Kyriba to over 1,000 global banks, supported by an extensive format library of 50,000 pre-developed and pre-tested payment scenarios.

Unleash the Power of Enterprise Liquidity Management with Oracle NetSuite and Kyriba Why Choose Kyriba NetSuite API Integration Bank requirements for unique or proprietary direct connections and bank- or regional-specific payment formats can extend the time needed to connect your ERP systems to your banking partners. The challenge becomes more complex with multi-bank connectivity and requires significant effort and expertise. Kyriba’s Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS) accelerates this process and relieves potential development and maintenance burdens on IT. With one API gateway, clients can connect via Kyriba to over 1,000 global banks, supported by an extensive format library of 50,000 pre-developed and pre-tested payment scenarios. Kyriba uses NetSuite Web Services APIs to connect NetSuite ERP systems with Kyriba’s Enterprise Liquidity Management platform, enabling mutual clients to embed different workflows into their business processes. The Kyriba NetSuite API integration replaces the previous Kyriba NetSuite Bridge (NSB) solution and is a substantial improvement to further accelerate implementation and time to value. It offers many new features, including flexible batch jobs and customizable data exchange interfaces, which were not supported by the NSB. This integration also provides user-friendly, flexible scripts for NetSuite authorized users to update if needed. The Added Value of Kyriba NetSuite API Integration vs. Kyriba NetSuite Bridge (NSB) Features Kyriba NetSuite API Integration Kyriba NetSuite Bridge (NSB) Bank statement with bank account mapping import Yes, live since January 2023 Not included GL export with NetSuite advanced intercompany payments Yes, included Not included Pre-payments and multi-vendor bank accounts Yes, supported with additional payment scenarios Not supported FX balance sheet workflow Yes, included Not included Additional future development support Yes, included Maintenance mode only NetSuite – multiple instances Yes, included Not included NetSuite – API trigger (batch job) Flexible, on-demand schedule Rigid, hard-coded schedule The integration between NetSuite and Kyriba allows clients to submit and monitor payments and direct debits using NetSuite with automated workflow into the Kyriba Platform. The Kyriba NetSuite API Integrated Payments Workflow Explained NetSuite payments are translated to comply with Kyriba's standard payment information. Kyriba’s custom table provides mapping of relevant information. NetSuite payments are translated from XML to CSV and sent to Kyriba as individual payment requests. Payment requests are batched in Kyriba. Batched payment orders are sent to associated banks to be executed. Payment confirmation is sent by the banks to the Kyriba application. Inquiries are scheduled in NetSuite ERP to retrieve payment acknowledgments from the Kyriba application. Payment status updates are transmitted to NetSuite ERP through API integration. Payment status is posted to Kyriba’s custom table. Clients can build customizable payment views to see their Kyriba payments only. Kyriba NetSuite integration also supports cash management, GL export, bank statement export, GL reconciliation and FX balance sheet workflows. Kyriba NetSuite API Integration for Cash Management Workflow Supporting cash flow forecasting and positive pay. The automated workflow features: Open customer and vendor invoices Non-Kyriba payments, such as checks Other GL entries to support cash forecasting Kyriba NetSuite API Integration for GL Export Workflow Providing a cash accounting solution, sending GL entries created in Kyriba to the ERP. Main features include: Export of GL entries from Kyriba Export of GL entries not otherwise reported to the ERP Export of advanced intercompany entries Export of financial accounting entries Kyriba NetSuite API Integration for Bank Statement Export Workflow Exporting bank statements to ERPs. The automated workflow features: Extraction of bank statements in a format accepted by ERPs Export contains prior day and intra-day data Kyriba NetSuite API Integration for GL Reconciliation Workflow Facilitating reconciliation of bank transactions to accounting. It eliminates error-prone manual entry with: Import of bank account entries from the ERP Posting of GL adjustments back to the ERP Kyriba NetSuite API Integration for FX Balance Sheet Workflow Extracting balances for FX analysis (previously as FireApps). Main features include: Extract of life-to-date balances for assets and liabilities Balances aggregated by entity, currency and GL account in document, local and reporting currencies For more details, check out the Kyriba Developer Portal. FAQs on the New Kyriba NetSuite API Integration Do different NetSuite platforms require different installations? No, the Kyriba NetSuite bundle is available for all NetSuite platforms. What customizations can be used to enhance the functionality of the NetSuite application? Customizations include configurable mapping and flexible data exchange. Can customers use their own middleware to call the API? Yes, customers can use their own middleware to call the API. What authentication schemes does the integration use? The integration uses REST API with Basic Authentication or OAuth2. Can clients connect to multiple ERP systems? Yes, Kyriba ERP Connectors support the integration of multiple ERPs, including Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle Cloud, SAP S/4HANA and ECC. Are payment transfers batched? Is it possible to transfer a single payment? Payment transfers from NetSuite to Kyriba are not batched but are sent as individual payment requests. Payments are batched in Kyriba via the automatic API process template (ERP_AB_API) and then sent to associated banks. What payment types are supported? The integration supports payment request imports and payment status updates for: Vendor payment requests for domestic and international transfers Customer payments, including SEPA direct debit Intercompany vendor payments (treasury transfers) How long does it take to connect my ERP to Kyriba? Historically, installation and API connectivity take 2-5 days, depending on the complexity of a client’s configuration and modules in scope. Kyriba NetSuite API integration reduces the cost, risk, time and effort required to connect NetSuite ERP to Kyriba. What do I need to do if I am already using Kyriba NetSuite Bridge (NSB)? For Kyriba clients already on NSB, upgrading to the API integration requires connectivity set-up and functional testing equivalent to a few hours of Kyriba professional services (clients can use their own consulting resources, too). Detailed guidance is available, and the efforts required are minimal. During the initial launching period, there are special service offers for early-bird clients. For more details, please contact your account manager.

Think your business is safe from the effects of lifting the student loan payment pause? Think again.

Think your business is safe from the effects of lifting the student loan payment pause? Think again.

B2B payment fraud is one of the top concerns keeping CFOs and treasurers up at night, having increased in importance due to the proliferation of spear-phishing, data breaches and the resulting loss in company...

B2B payment fraud is one of the top concerns keeping CFOs and treasurers up at night, having increased in importance due to the proliferation of spear-phishing, data breaches and the resulting loss in company value. In addition to the direct financial losses, the indirect losses can be devastating. Falling stock market value, loss of confidence from investors, customers and partners, lawsuits and fines are all possible. The reputations and careers of you and your colleagues could also be in severe jeopardy. You needn’t become the next victim. This eBook outlines how a more educated, better-trained treasury team, combined with the right process and technology solution in place, can effectively protect your organization from both internal and external payments fraud. 56% of US companies were affected by payment fraud in 2022 43% of organizations have been targeted more than once. 55% of successful fraud attempts are perpetrated through credential or information changes on legitimate payments. 33% of companies indicated that business email compromise (BEC) and phishing were the methods used to perpetrate the fraud attempts. 24% of companies that fell victim to fraud lost more than $100,000, and more than 5% lost more than $1 million. Companies still rely on manual and inefficient processes to prevent fraud. 82% of senior leaders consider fraud prevention to be a top priority for 2023. Source: US Companies and B2B Payment Fraud Report by TrustPair and Giact, 2023 A Multi-Layered Approach Necessary to Combat Fraud Threats are ever-evolving, so should be the measures being taken to tackle fraud. However, as the survey data above  indicates, even in the year of 2023, many companies still rely on manual and inefficient processes to prevent fraud. Some may have a system in place, yet a system alone is not enough to holistically prevent fraud. We find the following Fraud Risk Management Process framework from the European Court of Auditors a great guiding principle for any global organizations who are in the process of bringing their fraud defense to the next level. It is important to remember that encompassing prevention, detection and response is crucial for safeguarding an organization's financial integrity. In this ebook we will also elaborate on some of the most important best practices in each area. Prevent: The first line of defense, prevention involves implementing robust internal controls, stringent policies and technology solutions. Education and training staff to recognize fraud risks, employing multi-factor authentication and setting up firewalls are part of this proactive approach. By creating a hostile environment for potential fraudsters, organizations can nip many threats in the bud before they materialize. Detect: Despite the best prevention efforts, some fraud attempts may penetrate the defenses. That's where detection comes into play. Continuous monitoring of transactions, regular audits, employing artificial intelligence to recognize unusual patterns, and establishing whistleblowing mechanisms can help in early detection of fraudulent activities. The quicker a potential fraud is detected, the lesser the damage it is likely to cause. Respond: A well-orchestrated response strategy is crucial for minimizing the impact of a fraud incident. This includes having a clear plan in place, with designated responsibilities and protocols for escalation. Timely legal action, communicating with stakeholders, recovering lost assets, and taking corrective measures to prevent future incidents are part of this phase. Together, these three pillars create a comprehensive, ongoing and dynamic process against B2B payments fraud. By combining vigilance with proactive measures, organizations can stay ahead of fraudsters, protecting both their assets and reputation in the increasingly doom and gloom scenario of corporate fraud. Future 1: Fraud Risk Management Process framework from the European Court of Auditors What are the Different Types of Payment Fraud? There are a broad range of both internal and external threats that can breach the integrity of an organization’s corporate cash. In order to understand how your organization can become more secure, it’s critical to know what vulnerabilities you may be exposed to. Examples of vulnerabilities: External hacking of treasury systems and files by third parties, exploiting data security flaws. Inappropriate employee access to server rooms / internal networks, resulting from weak physical and data security processes. Fraudulent payments sent by employees to banks, both willfully or based on bad judgment (often as a result of social engineering, “phishing” attacks). Fraudulent purchase orders and invoices created by internal employees to related third parties. Settlement instructions direct funds to unauthorized accounts. Suboptimal financial trades being made by employees in return for personal gain. Non-employees remaining signatories on current bank accounts after their departure / termination. Infrequent or inefficient reconciliation of accounts, leading to fraudulent transactions remaining unnoticed. Protecting your organization’s financial integrity is of the utmost importance – especially in today’s digitally connected business and IT landscape, where fraudsters constantly seek vulnerabilities to exploit. Understanding the various types of fraud that can pose a threat to your organization is crucial for implementing effective preventive measures. How to Build Application Security Strong Password Controls Weak login and user authentication procedures are among the most common vulnerabilities exploited by potential fraudsters. Attackers prey on weak passwords. The first priority for organizations should be to eliminate a single point of failure – e.g., one hacked password shouldn’t allow access to treasury and financial systems. Industry practice is to – at a minimum – implement dual-factor authentication. Bank portals often use this technique, offering tokens (or key fobs) that randomly generate a second password when the original User ID and password are correctly entered. Most software platforms support bring your own device (BYOD) so that your smartphone can be used to receive the one-time ‘second’ password. Other options include YubiKey, which is often used in EMEA. However, dual-factor authentication alone is not considered best practice. Multi-factor authentication techniques combine different login and authentication strategies together to provide the best possible protection for corporate systems. Implementing multiple levels of user authentication simultaneously can significantly enhance the security of treasury data and systems, offering robust protection against unauthorized access. It is recommended to combine two or more of the following to prevent unauthorized access: Dual-factor authentication – use an independently generated one-time password from your smartphone or independent token. Single Sign On (SSO) and LDAP authentication. Internet Protocol (IP) filtering – restricting login to predefined IP addresses. Numeric keypad, where numbers within a password must be selected by mouse instead of being typed. Dedicated Virtual Private Network (VPN) access. Digital Signatures Digital signatures are a critical tool to help banks authenticate transmitted payment files sent from third party systems, such as TMS or ERP. Digital signatures are personal digital identity solutions based upon a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). SWIFT’s 3SKey, considered the industry-leading digital signature solution, can be applied: Internally as part of a payment approval workflow, and Externally to authenticate the payment batch, confirming to the bank that all payments are accurate and valid. This not only helps validate the payment but also decreases propensity of repudiation by the bank. Externally as part of an eBAM workflow to authenticate bank account changes. Use of digital signatures, combined with strong password controls and a centralized payment workflow, dramatically eliminate opportunities for payments fraud. Improving Data Security In the Cloud For cloud service providers, data security is top of mind, especially in mitigating internal fraud risk for financial teams.  The right cloud service provider will have servers housed in fully redundant, secure global data centers, offering optimal physical and data security, as well as industry-leading uptime, backup and data recovery processes. In addition, treasury teams should invest in a provider that can fully support data encryption at rest. It is also important to use a provider that works with respected data security technology providers. Regular SOC1 and SOC2 Type II reporting is also critical for data security and should come into play when looking for a cloud service provider. CIOs and CTOs are the first to agree that cloud solutions can improve data security, presuming the right investments by a cloud solution provider are made to protect treasury data. The following are some measures a cloud service provider can leverage to keep your data safe. Make sure you include those into your RFP when evaluating potential vendors. High performance disaster recovery Data encryption at rest SOC1 and SOC2 audit reporting Frequent penetration testing The median duration of corporate fraud – the amount of time from when it commences until it is detected – is 12 months. Source: Association of Certified Fraud Examiners bi-annual survey on corporate fraud, 2022 Visibility and Control Over Global Bank Accounts Insufficient visibility into bank accounts and bank signatories are a recipe for disaster in treasury management. Too often, bank account approvers and signatories aren’t centrally known – or worse – may have left the organization years ago. Organizations are yet to recognize that ‘offboarding’ is as important as ‘onboarding’, especially when it comes to the staff members who have the payment approval rights. Maintaining visibility and control of bank accounts also becomes extremely difficult as organizations grow geographically or via acquisition. Best practices can be used to reduce risks and increase controls: Centralizing visibility into accounts, authorized signers and all bank account documentation. Structuring workflows to require all bank account activity to be tracked and approved using predefined controls and limits. Setting up reconciliation procedures, both with your banking partners, and your corporate HR system, ensuring account signers are tied to employee lists. Employing these processes not only reduces your organization’s potential exposure to both internal and external fraud, but also helps you comply with local and international regulations, such as FBAR reporting. Further, visibility into bank accounts combined with effective bank fee analysis enables your organization to identify and close underused or dormant accounts, not only reducing your banking costs but also removing the risks of those less active accounts being exploited for fraudulent purposes. Ensuring Standardized Payment Workflows Spear-phishing in treasury is the most dangerous fraud attempt because cybercriminals are specifically targeting you. It focuses on payment workflows because success offers immediate payoff – a fraudulent transfer of funds to the wrong bank account. While implementing strong password controls improves protection, standardizing payment workflows to ensure payment procedures are consistently followed is also critical. Targeted attempts prey on a single exception to policy; only one mistake is needed to create a fraud opportunity. Standard practice is to implement multiple, standardized levels of approval and ensure approvals are electronic, tied to the separation of duties within the treasury system, and aligned to dollar limits. Many treasury teams will use digital signatures for internal payment approvals (as well as for external authentication of payments). Organizations that separate the payment workflow – e.g,. use internal systems and bank portals separately for initiation and approval – increase the risk of exploitation. It was simply unsustainable to continue logging in to each individual e-banking platform in order to approve payments.” —Andrew Nicholson, Graff Diamonds CFO Best practice is to manage the complete workflow for all payments in one system which offers a complete electronic ‘paper trail’ for that payment, from initial request through to transmission. This also allows the payment acknowledgements (up to four levels) to be integrated with the payment workflow. Many organizations also centralize treasury and supplier payment transmission via a central payment hub to ensure treasury has complete transparency of every outgoing payment, globally. This allows complete oversight over all outgoing cash flows, in addition to saving costs. Standard Settlement Instructions (SSI) Settling financial trades is an increasingly exploited opportunity for internal financial fraud. Entering into financial trades – investments, foreign exchange, derivatives – is a daily activity for treasury teams. For typical trades with your bank, it is common for standard settlement instructions (SSI) to be implemented in advance at the bank. However, for non-typical trades or for transactions with non-bank counterparties, SSI may not be in place. This creates an opportunity for fraud where wire transfers to settle trades can be fully or partially redirected to unauthorized bank accounts. Standard settlement instructions (SSI) within your financial systems improve efficiency as well as avoiding redirection of funds to unauthorized accounts. It is best to find a solution that supports electronic workflows and integration of trading and payments activities to help minimize the potential for internal fraud. Key steps to implement include: Electronic recording of financial transactions in your treasury system, with approvals and limits applied so a full audit trail is available for review. Payment templates should be automatically attached to each trade. Additional approval should be required to edit/remove the payment template, with all activity tracked in the audit trail. Reconciliation of the trade tickets between the counterparties and the treasury system should be performed on a standard frequency – with oversight of the process to ensure no exceptions slip through. Never Lose a Battle, and Win the War A robust technology solution is a critical element of the security equation. However, even with a sophisticated payment fraud prevention solution in place, treasury teams need to ensure they are not the weak link, inadvertently exposing the organization to fraud. Therefore, it’s essential that companies educate their staff about the ways that fraudsters can dupe employees via social engineering, either into revealing sensitive banking data, or even into sending cash and payments themselves. Employees must be aware of internal processes for creating and sending payments, how to spot a potentially fraudulent request, and even more importantly, where and how to report any suspicious activities. To reduce internal fraud, leveraging AI technology that monitors and singles out potentially fraudulent transactions is no longer an IT heavy duty, as there are many turn-key solutions that can be readily deployed. It is also critical to maintain thorough audit trails to ensure that any investigation can run as swiftly as possible in case of a fraud incidence. You can also work with your organization’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) – or, even better, a third-party security organization – to try and exploit flaws in your system. These results can then be fed back into the organization to improve your processes. In the face of increasing fraud risks, having the right processes, technology and staff awareness in place, all under a well-defined framework to prevent, detect and respond, your organization is ready to orchestrate a battle-ready defense against fraud. Check out this on-demand webinar and learn from cybersecurity experts from Corelight and Kyriba on how to build B2B payment fraud defense programs to maximize end-to-end protection.

In the dynamic and rapidly evolving business landscape, the role of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has transformed from a traditional financial controller to a strategic driver of growth. Today, CFOs are expected to...

In the dynamic and rapidly evolving business landscape, the role of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has transformed from a traditional financial controller to a strategic driver of growth. Today, CFOs are expected to go beyond accurate financial reporting and financial controls, actively contributing to organizational strategy, talent management, technology adoption and financial policies. In one of their Perspectives articles, Deloitte published a framework of “Four Faces of the CFO”. The framework states that modern CFOs are expected to play four diverse and challenging roles. The two traditional roles are “steward”, preserving the assets of the organization by minimizing risk and getting the books right, and “operator”, running a tight finance operation that is efficient and effective. Meanwhile, today’s CFOs also need to be “strategists”, helping to shape overall strategy and direction, and “catalysts”, instilling a financial approach and mind set throughout the organization to help other parts of the business perform and grow. These varied roles make a CFO’s job more complex than ever. Source: Delotte “Four Faces of the CFO’ Framework Underpinning a CFO’s tactical and strategic decision-making role is information. The ability to access data from many systems in real time is widespread, but ensuring the optimization of the quality and completeness of that data for decision-making remains a constant challenge. To thrive in this changing environment, modern CFOs must ask themselves critical questions to unlock the full potential of their organizations and maximize growth. In this ebook, we will delve into the five key questions every modern CFO should ask to chart a path towards sustainable growth. Do I Need 100 Percent Visibility? This question goes beyond a mere reporting exercise, as the lack of global visibility over cash and risk has a direct impact on earnings, profitability and competitiveness. In today’s digital age, the use of smartphones, tablets and advanced data visualization tools has given the impression that we have achieved a comprehensive understanding of cash and risk on a global scale. Many CFOs have access to reasonably accurate information about their organizations’ positions in major currencies and traditional markets. However, relying upon the ‘80:20’ rule, where 80 percent of outcomes might be good enough for making an informed decision, is no longer a viable business approach. In a world marked by globalization, market volatility and new growth dynamics, what used to be the remaining 20 percent of information is now rapidly increasing, in some cases, to 25 or 30 percent or even more. Previously overlooked markets, once deemed less significant, are now emerging as key drivers of growth in many cases. Consequently, a complete view over cash and risk is imperative, as it not only encompasses the relatively easier 80 percent, but also extends across the entire 100 percent of balances and exposures. Without this comprehensive perspective, it is increasingly challenging to make well-informed, reliable strategic and operational decisions with confidence. In order to thrive in the current business landscape, organizations must go the extra mile and ensure they have a holistic understanding of cash and risk across all relevant dimensions. It’s not just about the visibility, it’s what you do with this data that matters.” —Frédéric Marret, Group CFO, Webcor Group How Does My Finance Function Compete? The absence of visibility into surplus cash balances and their availability to fund deficits in other areas of the business can indeed lead to increased borrowing costs. For large multinational corporations, with easier access to the borrowing markets and the ability to benefit from low interest rates in many currencies, this issue might not appear significant on the surface. However, even for these large entities, maintaining efficient cash management practices is pivotal to ensure a healthy balance sheet and optimal financial performance, not to mention the fact that interest rates have been rising rapidly in all major global markets. What many businesses overlook is the opportunity cost of not leveraging their surplus cash balances efficiently. Cash that sits idle in a bank account is not just dormant, it is potentially losing value due to inflation and missing out on potential earning opportunities that could be realized through investments or by reducing existing liabilities. One of the ways companies can avoid this pitfall is by practicing effective cash pooling. Cash pooling is a strategy that enables companies to balance their cash across different accounts, so as to reduce the need for borrowing. It involves combining the credit and debit positions of several accounts into a single account to optimize the interest outcome. By using this method, companies can ensure that their surplus cash is being utilized to fund deficits in other areas of their business, thus reducing borrowing costs. However, the competitive landscape in the financial function gets even more intricate when we look beyond multinational corporations. Mid-size businesses, for example, often encounter greater difficulties in securing bank loans due to their relatively smaller scale and less established credit histories. Under such circumstances, maintaining adequate liquidity for operational needs while ensuring that surplus cash is being optimally used becomes a challenging balancing act. Am I Managing Risk, or Is Risk Managing Me? The importance of efficient financial risk management, including foreign currency risk, underscores the need for complete visibility. Even large corporations equipped with skilled and well-resourced treasury departments and sophisticated treasury systems have experienced significant earnings reductions due to FX volatility. These losses not only result in financial repercussions, but also damage the company’s reputation, ultimately impacting its share price. Achieving 100 percent visibility over exposures extends beyond hedging 100 percent of those exposures. Instead, it empowers CFOs and treasurers with comprehensive information, enabling them to manage these risks in alignment with the company’s risk policy. By having access to complete data, they can make more informed decisions and implement risk management strategies that mitigate potential losses and safeguard the organization’s financial stability. Am I Gaining Value from ‘Trapped’ Cash? ‘Trapped’ cash, i.e., funds that cannot be exchanged or transferred cross-border, poses a challenge for companies operating in highly regulated markets. It is important to recognize that the visibility over these balances is just as significant as managing cash in more accessible currencies or countries. Many CFOs recognize the issue of ‘trapped’ cash; however, they often overlook the possibility of connecting this cash into a notional pool or interest optimization arrangement to offset deficits at a regional level. Staying informed about evolving regulations that can change the restrictions on the exchange or transfer of funds is crucial. There may also be opportunities to leverage in-country balances more effectively, such as funding liabilities or financing growth. Additionally, statistics show that interest rates in certain countries and currencies often outperform those of more readily tradable currencies, presenting the potential to generate higher yields that can be reinvested to drive further growth. The current interest rate environment plays a crucial role in unlocking the value of trapped cash. As highlighted in Deloitte’s Working Capital Roundup report, interest rates have been on the rise after a historically low period. The Federal Reserve has implemented multiple rate increases since March 2022, resulting in the highest levels seen in more than 15 years. This shift not only amplifies the relative value of trapped balance-sheet cash, but also redefines the business case for operational transformations aimed at releasing additional working capital. With the growing burden of increased interest expenses, companies are now even more focused on minimizing additional borrowing and leveraging trapped cash as an alternative source of funds. Free cash flow was essentially life or death. From a corporate standpoint, we had to get this right.” —Nathan Lorton, SVP & CFO, Feld Entertainment Could the Business Be Worth More? In the realm of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as well as divestments, corporations are increasingly tapping into global markets, aiming not only for revenue growth but also for strategic expansion and diversification. M&A deals can unlock immense value by leveraging financial and operational synergies, such as streamlining processes, reducing redundancy and expanding market reach. However, the process of merging businesses, particularly those with diverse organizational structures, disparate technologies and different reporting mechanisms, is an intricate task. A misstep could lead to value leakage. For instance, if the integration of systems and harmonization of information flows are not well planned and executed, the anticipated value from the acquisition can significantly erode. Conversely, when considering a divestment, a comprehensive understanding of the business's assets, including cash reserves, is crucial in accurately determining its value. Uncertainty over financial elements can often lead to a conservative valuation, as finance executives prefer to err on the side of caution. However, this approach might undervalue the business, leading to potential value loss during a sale. What Is Your Answer to the Questions? In an ever-changing, increasingly complex global business environment, there's no 'one size fits all' answer to these questions. What matters is your capacity to use these introspections as a catalyst for change and adaptation. Maximizing visibility over cash and risk is no longer an option; it's a necessity for strategic and tactical decision making. In the competitive financial arena, leveraging surplus cash and practicing effective cash pooling can make all the difference. Proactively managing risk rather than being governed by it can significantly enhance your business's financial stability. Understanding how to unlock value from 'trapped' cash and exploring unconventional ways to use it can add to your financial prowess. Recognizing the potential value in M&As, divestments and growth markets, even amidst complexities and uncertainties, can redefine your strategic direction. As you reflect on these questions, remember, it's not just about finding the answers; it's about taking actions. Leveraging advanced tech tools can significantly enhance data collection and analysis, optimize financial controls, streamline operations and foster informed decision-making. Remember, the digital revolution is not just about keeping pace with the times. It's about harnessing this power to redefine the role of the modern CFO and position the finance function as a strategic driver of growth. Check out how Nathan Lorton, CFO of Feld Entertainment, talks about a CFO’s perspective on liquidity in KyribaLive 2023.

Join us to get introduced to the powerful set of Value at Risk Based Analytics and Hedging Solutions within Kyriba’s FX Solution Suite for Balance Sheet Exposure Management.

Join us to get introduced to the powerful set of Value at Risk Based Analytics and Hedging Solutions within Kyriba’s FX Solution Suite for Balance Sheet Exposure Management.

Join FX Experts Andy Gage and Jeff Goggins in the insights packed session on how to apply Value at Risk analysis concepts within modern FX risk management programs. These concepts can enable FX managers...

Join FX Experts Andy Gage and Jeff Goggins in the insights packed session on how to apply Value at Risk analysis concepts within modern FX risk management programs. These concepts can enable FX managers to reduce portfolio risk in the most cost effective way and deliver actionable risk management strategies.

Wednesday, August 16th | 10:00am SGT | Find out how Kyriba has elevated technology for CFOs and Treasurers around the world. Take a deep dive into the Kyriba Enterprise Liquidity Management platform as we...

Wednesday, August 16th | 10:00am SGT | Find out how Kyriba has elevated technology for CFOs and Treasurers around the world. Take a deep dive into the Kyriba Enterprise Liquidity Management platform as we showcase the leading platform for Cash Management & Forecasting, Liquidity Planning, Liquidity Analytics, and Payments.

In today’s highly volatile economic landscape, treasurers are confronted with a new set of challenges, including soaring global inflation, elevated interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook. These obstacles significantly impact financial decision-making and require CFOs and treasurers to devise robust strategies to tackle them effectively.

In today’s highly volatile economic landscape, treasurers are confronted with a new set of challenges, including soaring global inflation, elevated interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook. These obstacles significantly impact financial decision-making and require CFOs and treasurers to devise robust strategies to tackle them effectively. Treasurers grapple with significant challenges amidst economic volatility. Rising inflation erodes purchasing power and necessitates effective cash and liquidity management to mitigate financial risks. High interest rates further add complexity to the equation, making it harder to secure affordable financing, manage debt, and optimize working capital. Treasurers must evaluate the impact on financial stability, explore interest rate hedging, and adapt to uncertain economic outlooks affected by geopolitical events, regulatory changes and market fluctuations. In this climate, treasurers must take advantage of the available tools, techniques and technology to overcome these challenges and operate as efficiently as possible. By staying agile and proactive, treasurers can optimize financial performance, manage risks effectively, and position their organizations for long-term success. Treasurers can focus on the following five areas to give themselves a competitive advantage in this challenging market: Planning For the Next Major Upheaval Standardizing Global Payments Integral, Essential Fraud Prevention and Detection Optimizing Liquidity Through Working Capital Solutions Reducing Intercompany Transactions with Multilateral Netting Read on to find out how treasurers can leverage these topics to standardize, centralize and optimize across people, process and technology. Planning For The Next Major Upheaval Business continuity can be disrupted for various reasons, from staffing mobility, shortages or externally caused factors like the ongoing global pandemic. Having measures in place to mitigate risk and minimize the impact of these and other unforeseen disruptions is essential. Treasurers must ensure critical daily tasks, such as core safeguarding activities like cash positioning, operating liquidity, investing, supporting strategic decision-making, regulatory compliance and risk management continue to take place without interruption. Treasurers should therefore have suitable measures in place and should document these with a robust business continuity plan. In particular, treasurers should consider the following: Standard procedures for remote work This should now be considered essential in a successful business continuity plan. A recent Fortune report found that 71% of employees now prefer a hybrid or entirely remote schedule due to various factors such as a better work-life balance, not having to commute and having more time for family/personal obligations. With full-time remote work now a norm post-COVID, treasurers and organizations need to enforce detailed processes for daily treasury workflows such as payments, cash reporting and bank account management. Procedure documentation This ensures that treasurers have documented steps needed to complete critical daily tasks. The implementation of a treasury management system (TMS) can help to facilitate this effort by providing outlined next steps for each workflow that can be documented with related reports and data. With a documented process in place, treasurers can enhance cross training for new employees and provide clear instructions for employees backing up absent team members. Employee cross training Employee cross training establishes a basic understanding of how to execute essential workflows. In the case that an employee is sick or leaves the organization, teams can be sure that daily operations will continue without any gaps in necessary processes. A strong system with robust security and controls This ensures that teams can continue their daily workflows without the fear of external attackers accessing valuable information – especially with more employees now working remotely. Since most solutions are now cloud-based, it is imperative that organizations can rely on their systems to protect treasury workflows and information. Some controls that teams can implement include dual-factor authentication, digital signatures and audit trails. Business continuity is critically important to treasury - employee cross training, documenting critical daily tasks, having employees work remotely – and testing all of these elements, contribute to a strong business continuity program for treasury teams.” —Treasury Manager, Manufacturing Company Standardizing Global Payments Payments is a major focal point for modern treasurers seeking a competitive advantage. Without centralization, a company’s payment processes tend to be fragmented and inconsistent. Manual processes are associated with a higher risk of error and fraud, while the need to integrate multiple different systems can lead to higher costs and greater inefficiency. Payment centralization, which can be achieved using shared services or payment-on-behalf-of (POBO) structures, can be used effectively to standardize companies’ payment processes. This can result in several benefits, including greater visibility over outgoing cash flows, streamlined banking relationships, reduced costs and improved control over the timing of payments. Risks can be reduced by expanding payment controls, digitizing audit trails, and introducing intelligent and automated workflows to manage exceptions. Treasury will need to work with representatives from other parts of the business, including accounting, accounts payables and supplier management to map out how payment workflows, including approvals, will operate to ensure that payment processing automation is uninterrupted. Companies will also need to consider what type of software and connectivity are needed to efficiently centralize, including the use of APIs. Integral, Essential Fraud Prevention and Detection The risk that companies will fall victim to fraud is considerable. The AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey found that 90% of organizations saw the level of payments fraud as the same or worse than the previous year. In addition, 74% of organizations reported to be the target of attempted or successful payments fraud. As fraudsters adopt increasingly sophisticated techniques, it is more important than ever for corporate treasurers to understand different types of fraud and take appropriate measures to safeguard their companies. Specific threats include business email compromise (BEC) scams, whereby criminals send an email to a company’s employee requesting that a high value payment is made into a specific account. AFP research reveals that BEC scams were the primary source of fraud attacks in both 2019 and 2020, and as these types of scams increase in sophistication, cybercriminals will certainly continue to use BEC to target at risk organizations. Some of the recent refinements in BEC attacks include: Adapting lures to target human resources departments for PII, such as W-2 tax forms to commit stolen identity return fraud, rather than requesting wire transfers. Widening money laundering networks, including domestic transfers prior to laundering the money overseas, which presents challenges and opportunities for countering BEC scams. Fabricating fake merger-and-acquisition scenarios that require a two-fold impersonation scheme involving the target organization’s CEO and external legal counsel. Cybercriminals will then ask target employees to work with “external legal counsel” to coordinate the payments needed to close the purported acquisition. Payments fraud prevention can be improved through the use of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) rulesets and logic to catch not only fraud attempts, but anomalies and errors – both common and uncommon. The use of these tools can enable real-time detection that stop suspicious payments before being sent out by banking partners. ML and AI can also facilitate centralized alerts and data visualizations to ensure that only authorized transactions are executed, thus addressing a concern that most treasurers have about potential internal and external attacks on their payment processes. Digitizing organizational payment policies to automate policy compliance and improve internal governance can ensure that suitable security measures are in place to reduce the risk of fraudulent payments. A system, such as a TMS, can implement pre-defined detection rules to screen for suspicious payments that may need further attention. For example, a solution can define international payments being made to countries where there is no supplier as a transaction that needs to be flagged for further review. In this case, the corporate policy of not making payments to new, foreign countries can be enforced without the need to manually check each outgoing payment. By digitizing fraud detection controls and rules, treasurers can seamlessly automate internal governance and compliance that might be inconsistently adhered to. Recent advancements in technology can help businesses stop payments fraud before it happens: Data visualization can identify and manage exceptions so that payments can easily be reviewed and cleared to minimize delays. Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms can compare outgoing payment requests to historical payment patterns, identifying and isolating any anomalies. Application programming interfaces (APIs) built into your payments platform allow real-time connection to apps that can match payments against third-party data. Such data allows you to verify ownership of the account you’re paying and confirms that you’re not paying an entity on the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list. Optimizing Liquidity Through Working Capital Solutions Treasurers can gain competitive advantage by using payables finance and receivables finance structures to reduce supply chain risk and fully optimize liquidity. Working capital programs allow companies to mobilize liquidity and inject cash into supply chains so that suppliers receive a financial lifeline, while strategically supporting business growth. Such programs can bring a number of benefits for both buyers and suppliers: Buyers can fully leverage their supply chain to optimize payment terms, enhance cash visibility and provide a financial incentive for sustainability sourcing. Suppliers can increase free cash flow, reduce financing costs and increase sales by utilizing early payment working capital programs. Different working capital solutions are available, including dynamic discounting, supply chain finance and receivables finance programs: Dynamic discounting programs allow early payment discounts to be managed in a more flexible way. Sliding scale discounts enable buyers to choose payment dates in accordance with cash availability, while sellers can choose which invoices to offer for discount. Supply chain finance programs allow buyers to enable their suppliers to optimize payments terms for invoices via the buyer’s bank. Buyers can therefore improve liquidity for their suppliers, even if payment terms are restructured. Receivables finance programs empower suppliers to access early payment on outstanding receivables due from buyers. This type of solution allows suppliers to remain in control of obtaining the most efficient funding sources for its receivables, while increasing sales and reducing the corporate credit risk position. This is the most exciting area for the treasurer that wants to be a key strategic business partner across all functions of the corporation. [...] You can build stronger relationships down the chain and increase your competitiveness up the chain, all while increasing profits - it is the true win-win that comes from using technology to do things smarter.” —Global Treasury Director, Fortune 500 Construction Company Reducing Intercompany Transactions with Multilateral Netting Organizations can incur intercompany balances and make intercompany payments due to several different activities, including dividends, trade payables, cost shares and intercompany loans. Companies that see a high volume of intercompany payments can experience higher bank fees, FX payment costs and settlement risk. To add, the task of processing intercompany payments is often a manual and time-consuming exercise. Companies with large volumes of intercompany payments can use multilateral netting solutions to reduce the number of physical payments which need to be made. A netting system consolidates intercompany payments, with each participant making or receiving a net payment each month instead of settling each payment individually. This has the result of reducing bank fees, while eliminating manual tasks and settlement risk. It is important to note that companies can realize significant benefits when implementing an in-house bank to facilitate a netting structure. Some key areas that can be improved with an in-house bank include the following: Global cash pooling gives organizations a bird’s-eye view of where their cash is at all times, increasing the visibility to ultimately allow leadership to challenge local entities to get rid of extra cash on hand and be allocated to different resources or investments. Centralized risk management allows each entity the opportunity to reduce or eliminate spot trades and process cross-border wires, which can significantly reduce bank fees. Payments centralization reduces the cost of failure as payments are being paid from a central account with verified, successful payment workflows. The consolidation of payments also increases visibility and improves accuracy to ensure that reporting is more accurate for leadership to make better, more informed decisions. Optimized FX payments can be achieved by way of reducing payment volumes provided through netting results, while the larger payment amounts per transaction delivery provides better pricing for FX spot or forward contracts. Netting systems can provide a standardized workflow process which can be used consistently around the globe. Leveraging technology to clean up the flow of transactions between each entity can empower organizations to increase their visibility and better understand cash flow to ultimately improve financial closes and the stability of an organization’s capital in each entity. Standardization, Centralization and Optimization Across People, Process and Technology The current business climate presents treasurers with considerable challenges, from evolving working environments to ever-changing payment formats and from persistent cyber-crime to supply chain disruptions. These and other challenges will continue to dominate headlines, but treasurers can fortunately leverage the process techniques and operational structures outlined in this ebook to overcome the modern-day obstacles and gain a competitive advantage. The 5 ways to overcome today’s treasury challenges all center around standardization, centralization and optimization. The challenges of today present scenarios that typically fall outside of treasury’s control, so it is imperative that treasurers equip their teams with processes and workflows that combat external factors. For example, cybercriminals are going to continue their fraudulent attempts especially as technology continues to advance. With the appropriate processes and systems in place, treasurers can safeguard all their global teams with standardized workflows to ensure that liquidity is being protected, no matter where the attack is coming from. Implementing a system to optimize and centralize treasury processes will not only defend treasurers from today’s challenges but will also empower treasurers to uplift their teams as strong influencers and partners across the organization. Today’s treasury teams can provide invaluable information for CFOs regarding cash flows, working capital and risk management. Having a centralized view into all liquidity processes is the foundation of an innovative treasury department and will allow leadership to make better, more informed decisions for growth opportunities. Standardizing, centralizing and optimizing treasury operations is essential for treasury teams looking to flourish in today’s rapidly changing environment. Explore how American Honda triumphed over treasury challenges! Join this on-demand webinar and delve into their successful journey in improving liquidity management with Kyriba & ICD.

The real leaders in treasury and finance understand the urgency of digital transformation as a way to centralize and standardize key global processes. This is particularly true in payments, where disparate systems, teams and...

The real leaders in treasury and finance understand the urgency of digital transformation as a way to centralize and standardize key global processes. This is particularly true in payments, where disparate systems, teams and processes are pre-cursors for chaos and inefficiency, as well as elevated levels of fraud and operational risk.” — Bob Stark, Global Head of Market Strategy, Kyriba The Need to Centralize Corporate Payments Has Never Been Stronger Payments are a constant focus for CFOs, CIOs, controllers, purchasing managers and treasurers because inefficient payment processes inhibit supply chains, cash flow and profitability. The need to optimize cash and working capital, combined with the increasing threat of cybercrime and payments fraud, amplifies the need to centralize and standardize corporate payments. This e-book will review the business drivers for centralizing payments through a payments hub, including: Standardizing and strengthening payment workflows and controls Streamlining bank connectivity to optimize payment channel usage Facilitating faster bank implementations and bank format harmonization Complete payments visibility, including timing, amounts and transaction status Provide business intelligence and analytics on all global payments What is a Payments Hub? A payments hub consolidates payment streams from ERPs, finance, treasury, legal, capital markets and decentralized teams, transforming disaggregated processes into a single source of record for all outgoing payments. A payments hub also transforms payment data into bank specific file formats and connects directly with global banks via multiple protocols, including host-to-host, SWIFT and regional networks. Key features of a payments hub include: Payment workflow and controls to ensure that manual payments activities align to the organization’s payment policy and standardized payment controls Real-time payment screening and fraud detection to enable a line of defense against unauthorized payments Integrated global bank connectivity to deliver out-of-the-box, host-to-host and regional network bank interfaces alongside an embedded SWIFT service bureau Pre-built format library to meet the needs of every global bank, which require thousands of format variations Two-way communication to include the receipt of payment acknowledgements, payment tracking, and bank statement reporting for status reporting and payment visibility Complete reporting and dashboards to arm finance and treasury with analytics, data visualization and business intelligence for all global payments Payments Hub It was simply unsustainable to continue logging in to each individual e-banking platform in order to approve payments. Kyriba offers us a single, consolidated point of access across all our bank accounts, [giving us] the ability to set up payments, define different payment types and to receive notification of pending approvals.” — Andrew Nicholson, Graff Diamonds CFO 5 Core Benefits of a Payments Hub Implementing a corporate payments hub delivers a wide range of value for treasury and finance leaders, from enhanced fraud detection to reducing the burden on IT resources so they can focus on other strategic initiatives. Cost Savings — A payments hub reduces the number of systems that must connect to a bank. Each system that connects to a bank incurs additional bank service fees, software costs, and in the case of on-premise solutions, significant IT resources. Some organizations even manage duplicate payment channels, such as multiple SWIFT solutions. Central Responsibility — When multiple systems are used to manage the payment workflow — request, initiation, approval and transmission — the risk of mistakes and unauthorized payments increases. Because a payments hub centralizes payments prior to final transmission to the bank, the CFO can ensure that all payments are the responsibility of a single team — regardless of amount, location or who requested it. Fraud Detection — All outgoing payments should be screened in real-time against external sanctions lists (such as OFAC) and a digitized payment policy should be put in place to ensure that only authorized payments are approved and released to the bank. Any suspicious payments should be embargoed for further review with a full-resolution workflow. Global Visibility — Centralizing all payments via a payments hub allows complete visibility of all outgoing cash flows so that treasury can optimize cash balances and make effective decisions on where to deploy cash and liquidity. The hub allows the organization to run leaner, minimizing excess balances so that cash can be more efficiently deployed where it is needed most. Eliminate Need for IT — Payments hubs are hosted in the cloud and feature bank-format generation and integrated bank connectivity, meaning internal IT resources are no longer needed to build and maintain bank connections. This offers finance teams the freedom to change existing bank relationships, enables scalability to add new banks and gives teams the flexibility to update bank formats, including harmonization to ISO20022. CASE STUDY CHALLENGE: A rapidly expanding part of Crown World Mobility’s service is outsourced expense-payment solutions. However, executing these payments through manual processes based on spreadsheets and web-based banking systems was not scalable and also created operational risks. Crown needed a secure solution that spanned multiple geographies, currencies and payment products. SOLUTION: Crown evaluated multiple vendors for security, scalability and efficiency gains. Kyriba was deemed the only supplier to meet these needs and provide a truly cloud-based solution that could accommodate European data privacy storage compliance requirements. RESULTS: Crown realized $1.7M in cost savings for clients in the first year and increased staff productivity by 20 percent. The company was also able to benefit from integrated payment and cash management processes. Key Stages of Payments Centralization The four key stages of payments centralization lead treasury and finance through payment routing to global bank connectivity. Payment Routing When importing payments into a payments hub, it is important to offer flexibility based on a variety of workflow needs. Some A/P payments may be preapproved, while others require additional levels of approval. A/P payments may also be formatted to the exact specifications of the bank, while others may require alignment to bank-specified format standards based on delivery channel, payment type and location where the payment is being sent to. A good payments hub will fully support blind routing of preapproved, pre-formatted payments directly to the bank, while at the same time offering intelligent routing for payments that require additional levels of approval or format transformation. Additional approvals can be performed at a batch or transactional level and may be supported through the use of digital signatures, such as SWIFT’s 3SKey. Format Transformation Bank formats are one of the most challenging responsibilities for finance teams. There are tens of thousands of variations of socalled global formats (e.g., XML ISO20022), making transformation of payments into the required format for each bank payment scenario critical. For payments not already preformatted by the ERP, the payments hub will reformat payments based on: Bank Channel — SWIFT, API, host-to-host or other connection method. Payment Type — Wire, ACH, SEPA, real-time payments. Receiving Location — Banks require different formats for wires to different countries. For example, wires to Egypt vs. wires to Romania. Format transformation is fully automated so that no additional user intervention is required. Real-time Fraud Detection Payments fraud increases every year, with more creative attempts and successes reported by CFOs. Fraudsters and cybercriminals prey on inconsistent controls — controls that are often a result of manual processes and poorly enforced payment policies. A payments hub can help protect against fraud by offering a realtime screening of all payments against a digitized version of the organization’s payment policy. Examples include sanction lists screening: Ensuring approval controls and limits are enforced Verifying beneficiary banking information, including BIC Analyzing payment patterns (e.g., amount variances or split payments to same recipient) Suspicious behaviors (e.g., first payment to new bank account or payment to a country with no known suppliers) Proper fraud detection will offer an end-to-end workflow, including impounding of payments, detailed dashboards and alerts, as well as separation of duties to clear false positives. Global Bank Connectivity A payments hub should have end-to-end, integrated bank connectivity. There is no need for a separate solution for bank connectivity as payments hubs connect to all global banks with choices for communication protocols, including: Direct Connection — FTP, API or blockchain provider Country Banking Networks — EBICS, BACS, Editran, Zengin and more SWIFT — Alliance Lite2 and service bureau offerings The key to efficient connectivity is choice. The right bank connectivity strategy will vary for different organizations based on their geographies, payment types and volume. A combination of bank connectivity channels optimizes cost and scalability while maintaining automation and security. Payments are easy to process using Kyriba. Templates can be set up for repetitive payments. If the volume of payments dictates, they can be uploaded from an Excel spreadsheet — again simplifying the process. Controls and limits can be established in the system, requiring separation of duties [input, approve, release].” — Bob Hemstreet, Treasury Consultant, Former Assistant Treasurer, Textron The Future of Payments Multi-channel payment hubs are the way of the future, with corporates soon to be presented with greater choice in B2B and B2P payment technologies. APIs Application programming interfaces (APIs) are programs that allows multiple pieces of software to “talk” to each other. Unlike file transfer protocol (FTP), APIs do not require files to be sent or downloaded. Data is exchanged point to point between systems, allowing for instant data transmission and eliminating substantial risk. Successful payment hubs will need to include a library of pre-built API bank connections. But bank connectors are just the tip of the iceberg; APIs open integration to a variety of systems, introducing capabilities and process automation that had not previously been possible. Real-time Payments Instant payment services are now being offered to corporates. While many regions globally have featured real-time payments for personal use, business payments will soon see similar services. Organizations such as The Clearing House in the U.S. and Ripple, a blockchain provider, are using new technologies to instantly deliver payment instructions and remittance information to not only speed up payment settlements, but also improve the payment experience. Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Many people associate cryptocurrencies with Bitcoin. While Bitcoin — in its current form — is unusable for mainstream corporate payment volumes, cryptocurrencies may still offer potential as a source of liquidity to reduce the FX transaction costs associated with cross-border payments. The key is in just how efficient FinTechs targeting cross-border payments with their blockchain solutions can be. Yet, the idea to offer a more direct communication between counterparties is an interesting proposition. As cryptocurrencies emerge, payment hubs will support blockchain channels as an alternative to current methods. Robotic Process Automation Robotic process, fueled by artificial intelligence, will fully automate and digitize payments in the near future. While algorithmic today, AI will take over repetitive tasks and eventually begin analyzing payment services and strategies. This evolution towards AI will evolve, with workflows such as payments digitization and fraud detection likely the first candidates for more intelligent programs. To avoid obsolescence, payment hubs will begin incorporating robotics processes and machine learning so that, within 10 years, the payments hub will be a self-learning robot. Four Things to Consider When Selecting a Payments Hub A payments hub is an integrated component of your financial system’s ecosystem. The decision to select a payments hub must be made not only to meet present-day requirements but also have the scalability to support future needs, as difficult as they may be to anticipate. Best practices when selecting a payments hub include: Rich Functionality — A payments hub should combine bank connectivity, end-toend payment workflows, extensive audit and controls, along with integrated bank reporting and payment acknowledgements — including SWIFT gpi — to deliver complete payments transparency and control at every stage of the payment lifecycle. Look for a Pre-built Formats Library — Dedicated bank payment format development teams support the payments hub application. A critical feature is format transformation for the 30,000+ payment iterations in the market; buyers need a vendor that has the pre-built library to meet your needs. Don’t Skimp on Security — Security should not be sacrificed. This includes payment workflow controls and real-time fraud detection, as well as a vendor that delivers an ISO27001 risk governance program for data security. Get Aligned — Geographic alignment with your payments program is key. If your payment banks exist in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America, then so too should the implementation and product support of your payments hub vendor. Watch our on-demand webinar to learn more about Beam Suntory’s treasury and payments factory transformation journey .

The IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Enterprise Treasury and Risk Management Applications 2023 Vendor Assessment underscores the crucial role of effective liquidity management. The report highlights liquidity ratios as vital indicators of financial...

The IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Enterprise Treasury and Risk Management Applications 2023 Vendor Assessment underscores the crucial role of effective liquidity management. The report highlights liquidity ratios as vital indicators of financial stability, impacting decisions and investor confidence. The report analyzed TMS providers to ensure alignment within typical treasury functional buyers' preferences. Key considerations included SaaS/cloud qualifications, standalone capability, comprehensive treasury features, global presence, revenue, experience and enterprise footprint. Among the assessed vendors, Kyriba stands out as an industry leader, offering a comprehensive TMS with robust cash and liquidity management functions, complemented by additional finance department capabilities. For more information on how Kyriba was named an industry leader, download the IDC report.

Kyriba connects to over 1,000 banks and more than 10,000 ERP instances, delivering the largest global network for ERP-to-bank connectivity. As one client recently put it, "we aren't in the payment formatting business nor...

Kyriba connects to over 1,000 banks and more than 10,000 ERP instances, delivering the largest global network for ERP-to-bank connectivity. As one client recently put it, "we aren't in the payment formatting business nor do we want to be." So, how can Kyriba clients eliminate manual payments workload and minimize fraud risks through an end-to-end ERP to bank integration?

Connecting your ERP(s) to your banks became a lot more complicated with the launch of FedNow, cross-border instant payment networks, the migration to XML ISO20022 formats and the need to inject AI into your...

Connecting your ERP(s) to your banks became a lot more complicated with the launch of FedNow, cross-border instant payment networks, the migration to XML ISO20022 formats and the need to inject AI into your fraud detection process. To keep payments safe and eliminate 6-12 months from your ERP migration, there are five simple steps to cut redundant costs and accelerate your bank connectivity projects.

Kyriba’s Currency Impact Report (CIR), a comprehensive quarterly report which details the impacts of foreign exchange (FX) exposures among 1,200 multinational companies based in North America and Europe with at least 15 percent of their revenue coming from overseas, sustained $49.09 billion in total impacts to earnings from currency volatility.

A Quarterly Report Assessing the Impact of Foreign Exchange to North American and European Corporate Earnings About the Report The July 2023 Kyriba Currency Impact Report analyzes the reported effects of currencies to North American and European companies’ earnings during the first quarter of 2023. To obtain this information, Kyriba analyzed the earnings calls of 1,200 publicly traded North American and European companies as part of a continued effort to provide insight into how foreign exchange impacts organizations. The companies included in this data set are large multinational firms doing business in more than one currency with at least 15% of their revenue coming from overseas. [toc]   Currency Impact Report - Overview Kyriba Currency Impact Report: Key Findings The collective quantified negative impact reported by both North American and European companies totaled $22.52 billion in Q1 2023, a 25.5% decrease from Q4 2022. 14% of corporates studied (166/1200) quantified +/- impacts totaling $32.21 billion ($30.22 billion headwinds), ($1.99 billion tailwinds). The euro was the currency most mentioned as impactful by North American and European companies, the Argentinian peso was the most volatile currency. 162 North American and European companies reported currency headwinds in Q1 2023. Of those companies, 152 (93.8%) companies quantified their FX impacts. Total Quantified Currency Impacts by North American and European Companies (Billions) North American Companies’ Quantified Currency Impact (Billions) European Companies’ Quantified Currency Impact (Billions) Top 5 Volatile G20 Currencies Top 5 Volatile Currencies as Weighted by GDP Percentage Currency Impact on North American Corporate Earnings Negative Currency Impact to North American Companies (Billions) Average EPS Impact Reported by North American Companies *Industry Standard MBO of Less than $0.01 EPS Impact Currency Impact on North American Corporate Earnings North American companies reported a $21.24 billion impact in Q1 2023, 27% smaller than the impact in Q4 2022.1 The average earnings per share (EPS) impact reported by North American companies in Q1 2023 was $0.06, six times greater than the industry standard MBO of less than $0.01 EPS impact. 1 Impacts are likely underestimates as most companies with currency headwinds generally do not report them. Top Currencies Referenced by North American Companies as Impactful The euro was the most mentioned currency, a continuation from the prior two quarters. The Canadian dollar was the second most-mentioned, followed by the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, and the Brazilian real. The euro was the most volatile currency weighted by GDP (page 6). Number and Percentage of North American Companies Reporting and Quantifying Negative Currency Impacts Average Negative Impact to North American Companies (Millions) Percentage of North American Companies That Fielded Analyst Questions In Q1 2023 earnings calls, 3 percent of North American companies that reported impacts fielded analyst questions. Most Impacted North American Industries Currency Impact on European Corporate Earnings Negative Currency Impact to European Companies (Billions) Currency Impact on European Corporate Earnings Stable from last quarter, European companies reported no change in the negative currency impacts, with companies reporting $1.28 billion in FX-related losses.2 Of the 350 Europe-based multinationals analyzed, 2.6% reported headwinds in Q1 2023. Of those, 67% quantified their negative impacts (see page 15). 2 Impacts are likely underestimates as most companies with currency headwinds generally do not report them. Top Currencies Referenced by European Companies as Impactful The euro was the most mentioned currency in earnings calls for Europe, followed by the United States dollar and the Danish krone. The Swedish krona was the fourth most mentioned, followed by the Chinese renminbi. The euro and the Chinese renminbi was the first and second most volatile currency weighted by GDP, respectively (page 6). Number and Percentage of European Companies Reporting and Quantifying Negative Currency Impacts Average Negative Impact to European Companies (Millions) Percentage of European Companies That Fielded Analyst Questions In Q1 2023 earnings calls, 2 percent of European companies that reported impacts fielded analyst questions. Most Impacted European Industries Comparison of Currency Impact to North American and European Companies Average Quantified Negative Currency Impact (Millions) Size of Quantified Negative Currency Impact (Billions) Number of Companies Reporting Currency Impacts Percentage of Companies Reporting Impacts That Fielded Analyst Questions Quantified Negative Currency Impact (Billions) Number of Companies Reporting Negative Currency Impact   Want to learn more about how volatility in the currency market has impacted earnings? Join Kyriba FX experts in this dedicated webinar to breakdown the key insights from the Kyriba's July 2023 Currency Impact Report.

Prior to adopting and implementing Kyriba globally, the teams at Kodak were unable to provide senior leadership with a snapshot of their daily global cash balances. Simply looking at the bank balances did not...

Prior to adopting and implementing Kyriba globally, the teams at Kodak were unable to provide senior leadership with a snapshot of their daily global cash balances. Simply looking at the bank balances did not provide Kodak with insight into marketable securities and other pertinent information. The CFO, Treasurer and other senior leaders needed a snapshot of the organization’s global daily cash position. For years, the team created multiple reports – a time-consuming, manual task. Already leveraging numerous Kyriba modules, the team was excited when the Excel Report Template in Kyriba became available. “I’ve worked with a lot of other treasury management systems and it doesn’t get any more dynamic than Kyriba.” — Dan Marangola, Assistant Treasurer at Eastman Kodak Company The Power of Automated Treasury Reporting Kodak’s CEO and CFO are heavily focused on improving overall efficiency, standardization and speed. The Excel Report Template in Kyriba has delivered all three – allowing the treasury team at Kodak to save 20-30 minutes per day to focus on other, more important initiatives. “Tasks that we can automate, like this daily global cash position report, are direct, tangible improvements that help to reinforce what our CFO and CEO have been preaching.” — Dan Marangola, Assistant Treasurer at Eastman Kodak Company The Efficiency and Insight Unlocked by Kyriba’s TMS Platform Committed to streamlining operations, the Kodak team implemented various Kyriba modules. Each region uses the platform at varying levels, based on experience. The automated treasury reporting functionality is the newest addition to the Kodak treasury system arsenal, and it has allowed them to streamline their financial reporting capabilities. According to Marangola, “Kyriba allows for multiple configuration options that help make it absolutely easy and intuitive for users with varying levels of experience.”

Join FX experts Andy Gage and Jeff Goggins to breakdown the key insights from the Kyriba's July 2023 Currency Impact Report, A quarterly report assessing the impact of Foreign Exchange to North American and...

Join FX experts Andy Gage and Jeff Goggins to breakdown the key insights from the Kyriba's July 2023 Currency Impact Report, A quarterly report assessing the impact of Foreign Exchange to North American and European Corporate earnings.

During the pandemic, most organizations have experienced unexpected fluctuations in their cash and liquidity levels due to the volatile, unsettled global economy. Treasury operating models have a direct correlation to how well cash positioning...

During the pandemic, most organizations have experienced unexpected fluctuations in their cash and liquidity levels due to the volatile, unsettled global economy. Treasury operating models have a direct correlation to how well cash positioning and liquidity forecasting is delivered and executed. Making the change to an International Treasury Center (ITC) can help deliver greater efficiency and visibility into liquidity levels, payments and core functions like netting or intercompany reporting. The type of treasury operating model your organization falls into directly impacts how effective your people, process, and technology can support daily workflows to drive better operational and strategic capabilities. [toc] See the table below for the advantages of an International Treasury Center: Decentralized Centralized International Treasury Center Process Unique scenarios & regional-specific activities can be met with a decentralized model Often involves more manual and repetitive daily processes for core cash and other core treasury functions / operational responsibilities Execution focused, which is sometimes catered to multinational organizations Surplus cash may sit idle vs. other operational models; manual processes to identify cash balances, less efficient Strong central oversight and controls over cash and better direction of surplus cash and other assets Better strategic decision-making support with more information Payments and intercompany loans, risk management is done more centrally and can ensure standard application of policy across all legal entities Organizational structure in which a separate legal entity is established to serve as an internal finance company All treasury-related intercompany transactions run through the designated entity to facilitate and automate netting of intercompany activity Local and regional cash flows are pooled to a global cash pool to aggregate liquidity into one central location Payments-on-behalf-of and collections-on-behalf-of models can be leveraged Operations Local and regional business units can hire and maintain staffing levels to meet local needs Local and regional treasury operations / needs are often not supported by global leadership Corporate objectives and goals may be lost without strong governance and oversight from global leadership Local and regional entities report and are governed by a limited set of controls, policies and procedures set out by the corporate headquarters Local and regional entities maintain decision-making with guidance from global leadership Corporate treasury and local finance teams are often disconnected from financial objectives and processes Local and regional members often have to wear multiple hats to successfully conduct daily operations Local and regional operations are supported on a global level Local business units and time zones are considered when reporting global flows and activities Local and regional challenges / opportunities are reacted to with urgency Technology Systems and toolsets are often “built” to meet local and regional needs for statutory reporting or local market needs Can include scenarios where multiple systems are employed to deal with non-integrated business units, acquisitions or mergers or in-house created tools Typically lack integration and global reporting capabilities Corporate-wide systems are often in use, and create a consistent and consolidated view while providing maximum automation and streamlined processes Can reduce effectiveness in providing a solution for very niche market needs Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and treasury management system (TMS) in place to facilitate the International Treasury Center Systems can be tailored more readily to serve needs of special jurisdictions ITC structures are organizations often interchangeable with, and also known as, an in-house bank. ITCs allow organizations to better centralize risk, aggregate cash, and manage intercompany positions and payments, while promoting consistent organizational workflows, processes, controls, and driving continuous improvement. By acting as an in-house bank, ITCs help organizations achieve better efficiency over their global liquidity and risk management by allowing for greater control of bank balances, subsidiary funding, and pooling funds. Through increased control over liquidity, treasury and finance teams drive realization of significant benefits in the following areas: Global Cash Pooling Intercompany Netting Centralized Risk Management Payments Factory Global cash pooling is foundational in developing and supporting in-house banking and International Treasury Centers. Once banking structures and pooling arrangements are in place, the other components of an ITC can be implemented as needed and in whatever order is most beneficial for business needs. As global cash pooling provides the ability to provide closer to 100% visibility of liquidity, additional benefits like better rates and shared use of surplus liquidity to minimize intercompany loans or internal transfers can be leveraged after the pooling structure is in place. The pooled use of funds by a centralized treasury center becomes the foundation for further expansion of the ITC and empowers organizations to have complete control over their liquidity, intercompany lending arrangements, and ensuring the delivery of funds for new or emerging market subsidiaries. The remainder of this ebook will further discuss how each component of an ITC can positively impact your organization in the context of an overall solution. Global Cash Pooling By pooling global cash balances into a single account or net group position, organizations can realize: Improved visibility, on-demand access, and enhanced control of cash Efficiencies gained as a result of centrally managed liquidity Improved working capital management Timely settlement of transfer pricing transactions Reduced bank fees and an increase in available credit lines By sweeping balances into designated, centralized pools, organizations can have a bird’s-eye view of where their cash is at all times. This increased visibility allows leadership teams to challenge local entities to get rid of extra cash on hand and be allocated to different resources or investments. Ultimately, having clear, reliable data on how much cash is available facilitates better discipline within organizations and eliminates the need to take on extra, unnecessary debt. When looking to build a global cash pooling schematic, global organizations will typically have three different levels to consider: In-country physical pooling Regional multi-currency notional pooling Global multi-currency notional pooling In-country physical pooling: Level 1 includes aggregating funds at a country and local currency level from non-concentration banks that will ultimately be swept up into regional pools. Depending on how many countries an organization is pulling cash from, it is important to note how many different currencies will be involved. Regional multi-currency notional pooling: Level 2 creates a more regional view of an organization’s cash by sweeping cash to/from in-country pools. The number of countries will determine the number of regional pools needed in the cash pooling structure, as this level of pooling looks to centralize matching currencies for a consolidated view. Global multi-currency notional pooling: Level 3 includes sweeps to/from in-country and regional pools to provide a targeted, global view of an organization’s cash. One consideration while creating this top-level pooling structure is whether to pool cash at a single entity or multi entity level. Although most organizations are opting for a single entity level, multi entity level pooling structures are also an option - since banks want to ensure that other entities can cover one another, the concept of a cross guarantee is created to ensure that the bank has the right offset across different currency balances. With this in mind, single entity levels are easier for banks to implement from a regulatory perspective and are still useful for organizations looking to implement an in-house bank. Intercompany Netting As organizations grow and intercompany flows increase, the transactions between legal entities start to look like a spider web — hundreds of payments going back and forth with no centralization creates a web-like-mess that is complex and confusing. The communication between each part of the business becomes more and more complicated as different currencies and languages are added, creating an inefficient process that is essential to daily operations. Organizations that utilize an International Treasury Center and implement an intercompany netting program can help to streamline this process, while also reaping the following benefits: Reduction in banking fees and FX cost as the result of fewer transactions Automated accounting reduces Record to Report (RTR) manual processes Increased efficiency for RTR through automated intercompany processes Increased control of intercompany processes Reduced transaction volumes for Procure-to-Pay (P2P) and reduced journal entries for RTR Features of companies with netting Simplified payment structure Reduced FX exposures Reduced FX transactions Reduced payment volumes—significantly reduced bank fees—avoid using banks to pay ourselves Improved financial close, improved stability of capital in subsidiaries due to timely payments Utilizing technology to clean up the flow of transactions between each entity can allow organizations to make a single settlement, instead of hundreds or thousands, to simplify their payment structure and reduce payment volumes. By doing so, organizations can also increase their visibility and better understand the flow of cash as they no longer have to sort through endless transactions to summarize the amount of cash on hand at each entity. Intercompany netting programs can ultimately improve financial closes and the stability of an organization’s capital in each entity, as payments are more likely to be made on time with the simplified process. Centralized Risk Management International Treasury Centers can help to centralize risk mitigation processes that are associated with cash management, FX execution and hedging, and debt and investments. By aggregating all of the appropriate currencies into one, the number of exposures can be reduced and the conversion process for each entity is simplified. The potential benefits that an organization can derive from centralizing their risk management processes include: Reduced FX execution spreads and settlement volumes Improved efficiency in risk mitigation due to centralization Lower transaction costs due to reduced volume of transactions, better pricing from higher value FX trades Reduced effort and staffing required for FX management and execution Lower costs of compliance Improved management and exposure reporting Improved internal controls Standardized treasury operations Centralizing FX processes allows each entity the opportunity to reduce or eliminate spot trades and process cross-border wires, which can significantly reduce bank fees. Not only does this save money and increase the amount of cash on hand, but it allows organizations to view their liquidity in a centralized location instead of at each entity level. Having an ITC serve as the central location for any and all risk workflows unlocks the possibility of improved cash visibility and liquidity best practices. Payments Factory Organizations can simplify their payment processes and consolidate individual payments made to the same vendor when implementing an International Treasury Center by using a pay-on-behalf-of (POBO) model. Instead of each entity paying through their own separate bank, a Payments Factory allows organizations to centralize their payments through the ITC bank (this can also be referred to as the in-house bank) and streamline the appropriate transactions to each shared vendor. By having a multi-currency, central entity pay on behalf of each subsidiary, organizations can reap the following: Consolidated accounting view for Record to Report (RTR) Consolidated payments to global vendors, enabling lower bank fees and simplified tracking for Procure to Pay (P2P) Less idle cash as only the Payments Factory needs to keep liquidity Creation of cash pools to allow entities to borrow and utilize excess funds Single bank payments file and straight-through processing (STP) from payment to accounting and bank reconciliation Ease of auto reconciliation for RTR using Payments Factory Payment Factories reduce the cost of failure as payments are being paid from a central account with verified, successful payment workflows. By consolidating each separate transaction, visibility is increased and reporting can be more accurate for leadership to make better, more informed decisions. With the improvement of payment processes, other areas of the business, such as cash reporting and forecasting, will also see refinement to allow the organization to grow and improve. Utilizing a TMS to Facilitate an ITC When considering if an organization would benefit from implementing an International Treasury Center structure, it is also important to consider if implementing a Treasury Management System (TMS) to facilitate the ITC would be just as impactful. While ITCs do a great job of streamlining and simplifying processes, the restructuring process of an organization’s workflows can be daunting. Utilizing a TMS to help set up these processes not only makes the restructuring process easier, but also provides some added benefits that don’t come with just an ITC itself. The idea of implementing an ITC program lends itself to automation, as they look to ultimately streamline processes. While an ITC can certainly automate processes, implementing a TMS to facilitate the automation of workflows can alleviate some of the front-end work that IT departments might have to configure when structuring cash pooling. In addition, the connectivity options that a TMS offers is unparalleled. Being able to seamlessly connect with banks, ERPs, and other systems allow organizations to have even more visibility into their data points, which further improves the business case for a cash pooling environment. With all the different transactions, accounting entries, and FX exposures to track, it only makes sense to incorporate a centralized system that frees teams of working in manual, decentralized environments. The main point to recognize is that a TMS can facilitate the implementation of an ITC or in-house bank. With this in mind, it only makes sense for organizations to take the next step and centralize all of their processes, even the ones that may not be seen within the ITC. Centralizing cash pooling, intercompany netting, risk management, and payments is a great start, but having a system that can unlock all of an organization’s liquidity is certainly a case to consider. Want to learn more about inter-company process optimization? The Treasurer from Cooke Aquaculture explained in this webinar how the team reinvented their process with an in-house bank.

While corporates have enjoyed an unprecedented financial boom for years, the recent volatility in the global markets is an indicator of changing times that could bring sharply rising interest rates and the end of cheap money. The recent demise of Silicon Valley Bank is a wake-up call to the purpose of capital and liquidity requirements and the importance of strategic treasury management.

While corporates have enjoyed an unprecedented financial boom for years, the recent volatility in the global markets is an indicator of changing times that could bring sharply rising interest rates and the end of cheap money. The recent demise of Silicon Valley Bank is a wake-up call to the purpose of capital and liquidity requirements and the importance of strategic treasury management. [toc] In addition to macroeconomic developments, there are other significant changes afoot. Technology is transforming the way we live and work, with ChatGPT passing 100 million users in just two months and becoming a social media phenomenon. To gain maximum agility in this complex environment, CFOs need to transform their finance operations. One of the best places to embark on that transformation is in the area of treasury management, which delivers a low risk, high-yield value proposition for driving automation, improving working capital and mitigating risk. This book takes a closer look at the value strategic treasury management delivers to the CFO by interviewing nine CFOs across the globe. In particular, we want to find answers to the following three questions, and the result of those conversations is a better understanding of the importance of treasury management and liquidity optimization. What is the value of treasury to the organization? How do you measure the success of your treasury operation? As CFO, what do you get out of a treasury management system? Strengthening Treasury’s Role as a Business Enabler DOUGLAS BETTINGER Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Lam Research Corporation Douglas Bettinger is executive VP and CFO of Lam Research, responsible for finance, tax, treasury, IT, and investor relations. Bettinger has been senior VP and CFO of Avago Technologies, VP of finance and corporate controller at Xilinx, and CFO at 24/7 Customer. At Intel, he held several seniorlevel finance positions, including corporate planning and reporting controller and Malaysia site operations controller. He holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Michigan. “At the highest level,” explains Douglas Bettinger, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Lam Research, “treasury’s role is to optimize cash generation in a way that maximizes the value of the company.” In a large enterprise, executive leadership thinks a great deal about the balance sheet, while line-of-business managers focus more on profit and loss (P&L). “I plug my treasury people into areas of the business that need more attention on cash generation.” In this way, treasury can sensibly use the balance sheet in ways that enable new, profitable business activity. There are many ways Bettinger’s treasury team contributes value to the company beyond routine block-and-tackle treasury functions: As a global enterprise, it is important to hedge against currency fluctuations. This not only helps deliver on P&L but also delivers the cash flow that must come from different parts of the business. “We hedge different balance sheet exposures and revenue streams in different currencies,” Bettinger says. “Treasury is in a unique position to manage that.” Key Lessons In a large enterprise, executive leadership thinks a great deal about the balance sheet, while line-of-business managers focus more on P&L. Identify partnership opportunities that involve using the balance sheet to enable business, and then work to accomplish three or four of those tasks per quarter. At the Highest Level, Treasury’s Role Is to Optimize Cash Generation in a Way That Maximizes the Value” Nobody else in the company focuses on the currencymanagement piece.” Bettinger’s company creates hedge ladders, where they look out four, three, two and one quarter, with different exposures hedged in each quarter. Another valuable treasury function involves taking advantage of the balance sheet to enable business that might not otherwise occur. For instance, it may be possible to set up a leasing arrangement for a customer that does not have access to capital it needs to purchase equipment. “We use our balance sheet in a prudent way to protect the asset and at the same time accrue new business,” explains Bettinger. “My treasury people are uniquely positioned to make those risk tradeoffs for the corporation.” Managing the cash conversion cycle is another valuable treasury function that includes managing collections so that money comes in as quickly as possible while stretching out payables. Optimizing cash conversion is a balancing act that ties closely to inventory management, which involves setting targets and objectives for cash consuming inventory and making decisions about where to place that inventory. “How you balance the debt-to-equity ratio and optimize the capital structure of the balance sheet affects your ability to fund different activities in the business,” Bettinger says. How you balance the debt-to-equity ratio and optimize the capital structure of the balance sheet affects your ability to fund different activities in the business.” Treasury is the Value Center of the Enterprise MARINA CHASE CFO (Ag.) Caribbean Airlines Marina Chase has been CFO (Ag.) of Caribbean Airlines since 2016, having been a senior manager in its treasury department from 2007. Previously, she was finance manager at Tobago Express and accountant and financial controller at McCann Erickson Worldgroup. She has a Business Management Diploma from Cipriani College, and is a chartered accountant in the UK and a certified treasury professional in the US. Cash management in an airline business is challenging for many reasons, especially for an international company. Unpredictable weather events, volatile fuel prices and the challenge of operating with many currencies can significantly impact revenue, cash and profitability. Marina Chase, CFO (Ag.) of Caribbean Airlines, says that treasury has experienced big changes in recent years. “It’s still cash management,” she says, “but treasury has moved away from the traditional operational functions. It is no longer back office.” In Chase’s organization, modern treasury-management tools have helped treasury become both a knowledge center and a risk-management center for the business. With treasury serving as a knowledge center, all divisions turn to treasury for real-time information related to operational activities. For example, this can include real-time information that’s needed for payments, and providing information about different laws and restrictions that affect transactions in different countries. Treasury also provides information to support strategic decisions, such as evaluating the cash flow and profitability of current and potential new routes. Key Lessons With treasury serving as a knowledge center, all divisions turn to it for real-time information related to operational activities. The power of the treasury management system comes from its global perspective and predictive capabilities. It’s still cash management, but treasury has moved away from the traditional operational functions. It is no longer back office.” Because there are so many variables that can seriously impact the business, risk management is a critical treasury function. “We are able to manage risks, especially around currency exchange,” explains Chase. “These are not risks limited just to interest rates. We also have to deal with repatriation risk. The efficiency of cash flow and managing cash have a lot to do with getting your money in real time. Because of laws and restrictions in different countries like Venezuela and Cuba, there are different ways that we have to comply with regulations in order to access our working capital.” Treasury has become a value center in the enterprise. “We track working capital, and not just working capital, but also the value of working capital,” says Chase. “An important part of this is predictive analytics, which is more than transformational. It supercharges treasury’s efforts.” Chase sees several key indicators of treasury’s success, including having adequate cash available for all operations, and preserving capital while maximizing the return on the investment portfolio. But there are other measures. “We must track trends and market dynamics that can impact the business, such as anything that might impact fuel prices, which you need to measure daily because this directly impacts cash flow,” she says. As CFO, Chase appreciates the global perspective and predictive capabilities provided by the treasury management system. “Predictive analysis and forecasting allow better scenario planning,” she says. “That’s critical because you can plan your cash-flow scenario based on changes in the price of oil, or on revenue going up or down in a particular region because of holidays, or fluctuations due to political situations that would impact revenues.” Chase sees the possibility of leveraging treasury even further by linking to ERP systems, adding business intelligence tools, and linking the treasury system to the corporate reporting system. We track working capital, and not just working capital, but also the value of working capital. An important part of this is predictive analytics, which is more transformational. It supercharges treasury’s efforts.” Expand Your View of Treasury to Drive Business Value MICHAEL DINKINS President & CEO Dinkins LLC Michael Dinkins is a longtime CFO and the current president and CEO of Dinkins LLC, a financial services firm connecting business owners seeking capital with lenders seeking borrowers. He has spent more than 40 years in finance, including a distinguished 17-year career with General Electric and GE Capital, and CFO roles with five different publicly traded and privately held companies. Dinkins currently serves on the board of directors for Community Health Systems and the National Council on Compensation Insurance. Most CFOs have not worked as corporate treasurers, which can give them a limited view of what treasury can really contribute to an organization. Typically, CFOs consider treasury’s main functions to be collecting as early as possible, paying as late as possible, and hedging, according to Michael Dinkins, president and CEO of Dinkins LLC and a former CFO of five different companies. But thanks to new technology and evolving best practices, strategic treasury management has grown than ever before, encompassing payments, fraud prevention, compliance and working capital optimization. Supply chain finance (SCF) solutions in particular are growing in popularity among CFOs who want to increase free cash flow and better manage working capital, not to mention improve supplier relationships. One option available through an SCF program is payables financing, also known as reverse factoring, which leverages a third-party to fund early payments of approved invoices to suppliers. For the buyer, this creates offers an opportunity to extend DPO (days payable outstanding) and improve working capital, while simultaneously improving the DSO (days sales outstanding) of key suppliers. Key Lessons CFOs should expand their view of how treasury can contribute to their organizations. Today, treasury can enhance the overall value of a business in new ways. To reduce operational costs, get treasury involved in negotiations from the beginning and ask the team to find process efficiencies for both your organization and your customers. The true value in treasury is around what it’s done to execute the business strategy of the company and how it’s leveraging the technology that it has to do that.” When it comes to measuring success, most companies emphasize revenues and margins. Treasury usually has separate metrics that may be overly narrow. As a result, CFOs may want to rethink how those data points can be better aligned. “I’m not saying you should get rid of those metrics, but the true value in treasury is around what it’s done to execute the business strategy of the company and how it’s leveraging the technology that it has to do that,” Dinkins says. CFOs can look at the company’s strategic objectives and assess how treasury leveraged technology to help achieve those goals. Treasury management systems (TMS) are critical to modern finance transformation. The right TMS must meet long-standing requirements related to compliance and security, while also offering capabilities for automation and business process optimization. With that system in place, an organization also needs people who can see the technology’s potential and realize it. “And I think that’s where a CFO can come in, look at what this technology is capable of doing, such as providing early warning about the performance of the business around key transactions or projects, and then bring the business process and treasury people together, potentially along with help from the outside. The CFO can provide the vision and leadership to change the company by saying, ‘I want you to do this.’” I think that’s where a CFO can come in, look at what this (treasury) technology is capable of doing, such as providing early warning about the performance of the business around key transactions or projects, and then bring the business process and treasury people together.” Demands for Strategic Treasury Management Continue to Grow to Ensure Organizational Success ANTHONY KWONG Deputy Chief Financial Officer Gemini Rosemont Commercial Real Estate Starting his career in Hong Kong, Anthony Kwong has spent his early career in financial accounting, reporting and compliance. With global vision being cultivated, he moved to the U.S. and is currently deputy chief financial officer of Gemini Rosemont, a commercial real estate investment firm based in Los Angeles. He is running a local and international finance and treasury management, financial accounting and tax for global investors in this real estate investment platform. It seems that more and more demands are being placed on treasury these days. It’s no longer just about moving operating cash around or ad hoc management and operational questions about where the money is going. Organizations are looking for positive cash management. They want to see how corporate activities are being funded and how debt is being managed at all times. Strategic involvement by treasury is critically important to manage capital more efficiently and in ways that reduce an organization’s risk exposure. Treasury decisions trigger other decisions that have a cumulative effect on how the business moves forward. That forward-thinking perspective, and applying it more strategically in the business overall, enhances the business’ value. Key Lessons An integrated treasury management system can help eliminate some of the problems associated with manual data collection. A single source of truth provides you with everything you need for better liquidity management. An integrated TMS also allows treasury and finance professionals to focus on more strategic initiatives. Being able to see all of your data in a timely manner makes it simpler to leverage that data to make better risk-mitigating decisions or other decisions that affect working capital financing. Organizations are looking for proactive cash management. They want to see how corporate activities are being funded and how debt is being managed at all times.” Any large company engaged in global transactions needs to pay close attention to its FX exposure. That requires systems that can monitor cash and currency data and track hedging instruments. There are many ways to hedge FX. Treasury relies on expertise, software tools, currency reports and real-time cash analysis to manage these elements. Treasury must understand what’s happening in the countries in which the company operates. Otherwise, the loss could be significant. The advantage we gain from our global payments platform is assurance that we’re making legitimate, timely payments. When working with global investors and global vendors, questions about payments always arise usually through email from different time zones. There are always due diligence issues, especially now, in the current unpredictable fraud environment. The treasury team needs to be sensitive about all of these payments and we rely on the system to track our counterparts so that we know if we’re receiving invoice emails from someone outside our vendor list. A single payment platform mitigates some of these issues. Cash is the lifeblood of every organization. For a business to be a successful company, it must proactively manage its working capital sensibly and in a forward-thinking way. We use a treasury management system (TMS) to enhance our cash management process and we are currently designing a modest investment program to support our cash needs. The treasury team must have visibility into everything that affects liquidity and drives the need for working capital. True real-time visibility requires a lot of integration between the corporate and operational side of the business. Treasury needs to understand both perspectives and gather all the data so that it can manage cash in a way that supports and strengthens the business. A treasury platform that integrates with other business systems makes it possible to quickly resolve questions that otherwise can take a long time to answer. This efficiency can be as simple as account discrepancies that take hours to resolve manually, time that is not being spent working on more valuable issues, such as how better to use cash to help the business grow. There is great value in consistent, efficient treasury operations. Cash is the lifeblood of every organization. For a business to be a successful company, it must proactively manage its working capital sensibly and in a forward-thinking way.” Strategic Treasury Management Plans for Future Scenarios NATHAN LORTON SVP & CFO Feld Entertainment Nathan Lorton is the SVP and CFO at Feld Entertainment. Nathan ensures the financial health of the organization by overseeing the company’s financial planning and analysis, corporate accounting, risk management and IT. Nathan joined Feld in 2018 as the VP of Finance and Assistant Treasurer. Since 2018, Nathan has overseen the global Treasury operations of the company before being promoted to SVP and CFO in July of 2021. According to Nathan Lorton, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Feld Entertainment, an organization’s treasury team often focuses on operational treasury, otherwise the nuts and bolts, such as short-term forecasting, daily cash positioning, managing operating cash and more. While operational treasury is important for businesses, focusing on strategic treasury management will help treasurers and their teams align with their CFOs. “Strategic is short term and long term,” explained Lorton. According to Lorton, expanding upon the short-term forecast and planning for the longer term outcome and various scenarios allows the organization and the CFO to prepare for the future. Lorton’s team is committed to being strategic in its approach to treasury. The team has implemented various practices to improve overall treasury operations. Feld Entertainment focused on free cash flow, as well as EBITDA and net income. “Getting to free Feld Entertainment focused on free cash flow, as well as EBITDA and net income. “Getting to free cash flow was key for us,” explained Lorton. “Free cash flow was essentially life or death. From a corporate standpoint, we had to get this right.” Key Lessons Both operational treasury and strategic treasury are critical for organizations. Strategic treasury management, however, allows an organization to look at the big picture, as well as predict and plan for future scenarios. Think outside of cash only. Managing all aspects of liquidity will help an organization to have a better idea of where cash is at all times. CEOs want accuracy in their forecasting of course, but they also want flexibility in planning and ability to do scenario analysis. We can’t predict the future, but we can certainly plan for scenarios.” Lorton and team established a 13-week forecast that extended into long range with various scenarios. “CEOs want accuracy in your forecasting, of course. But they also want flexibility in your planning and your ability to do scenario analysis,” Lorton said. “We can’t predict the future, but we can certainly plan for scenarios.” The 13-week cash forecast was eye-opening for Lorton and team. The team also began comparing the indirect forecast with the direct forecast, which has helped to dramatically improve overall forecast accuracy. Although a fundamental aspect of treasury, the team focused on proactive management of working capital. Lorton stresses the importance of getting outside of the traditional bank account cash structure to better understand liquidity. “Treasury had to move outside of its swim lane to try to manage liquidity,” he explained. This methodology has helped the team to know where their cash is at all times. Another valuable function is the ability to do customized reporting, which Lorton indicated has been instrumental and important for Feld Entertainment’s treasury team. Free cash flow was essentially life or death. From a corporate standpoint, we had to get this right.” Increasing Visibility Can Result In Unexpected Benefits FRÉDÉRIC MARRET Group CFO Webcor Group Frédéric Marret is a senior finance executive with 20+ years of experience at large multinational companies in Dubai, Morocco, France, and the UK. In 2013, he was appointed CFO of Webcor Group, where he has set up and streamlined the finance function, including treasury. Prior to joining Webcor, Marret was CFO at Louis Dreyfus Commodities — where he was commissioned to build the Middle East and Africa headquarters in Dubai. In 2011, he was promoted to CEO for the Middle East and Africa region. As a group CFO in the process of modernizing the treasury operation of Webcor Group, a multinational food distribution business, one key benefit that Frédéric Marret sees in a treasury management system (TMS) is the ability to receive global bank data, allowing for better visibility into group cash. “There is often a misconception that the group team and the local teams are independent. Having the flow of the same information to a centralised system helps bridge the gap,” Marret said. Webcor’s TMS project was initiated by Marret in order to improve the operational treasury tasks, so that group companies had visibility into was happening in Angola, where the company has its largest volume of transactions, as well as other parts of the world. “It’s not just about the visibility, it’s what you do with this data that matters,” he said. Receiving bank statements was not sufficient, so Webcor worked to integrate the statements back to the ERP. This delivered several benefits, including improved data quality, reduction in time spent importing statements, closing the book quicker, etc. “I know the group value at the end of each day,” he said. Key Lessons A TMS can provide visibility into your current and future currency exposure, enabling you to manage your risk forward by managing your spot and forward foreign exchange. A TMS can measurably reduce currency risk, help reduce idle cash and improve many operational efficiencies such as speeding up bank reconciliations. It’s not just about the visibility, it’s what you do with this data that matters.” Compared to his cash visibility before he implemented a TMS, Marret now has the ability to look 12 weeks ahead. “We didn’t stop there, the tool should be more than just data in, data out. We include sales, expected receivables and payments. Now you start to build a forecast—this is where the value comes.” This increased visibility makes it possible for Marret to manage group risk and allow for better strategic input into the business. “Most of our income is generated in Angola, which has its challenges. Having the ability to know my position each day allows me to manage group risk better, including currency risk, over-leveraged bank accounts or bank exposure against inventory. I am now in a better position to challenge operational decisions,” he says. “The fully implemented TMS will continue to add value. The group is on a fast pace of growth and we need to keep control through the journey—this is where an innovative FinTech can help.” Most of our income is generated in Angola, which has its challenges. Having the ability to know my position each day allows me to manage group risk better, including currency risk, overleveraged bank accounts, or bank exposure against inventory. I am now in a better position to challenge operational decisions.” Cash Visualization Enhances Global Governance and Efficiency SACHIO MATSUMOTO Executive Officer and Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer LIXIL Group Corporation Sachio Matsumoto has served as executive officer and executive vice president (VP) of LIXIL Group Corporation since April 2015, responsible for accounting. He has been chief financial officer (CFO) since June 2013. Sachio also serves as director, executive VP and CFO of LIXIL Corporation as well as CFO of LIXIL Water Technology. Previously, he was corporate VP and head of Finance and Treasury at Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Sachio Matsumoto, executive vice president and chief financial officer of the LIXIL Group Corporation, believes that treasury management systems (TMS) can “enhance global treasury capabilities dramatically.” Matsumoto explains: “Treasury is a critical part of the organization as it directly influences stakeholders’ value and ensures that we have the capital we need to run the business.” There’s more to it, however. Matsumoto points out that a TMS is a multifaceted application that can help organizations do more to track and balance assets. “Treasury is often the first department to identify potential issues in our group of companies because problems tend to appear in cash flows first. Treasury also protects our financial statements by identifying and hedging foreign exchange and other market risks.” Success can be measured in a variety of ways, and each organization has specific metrics that carry more weight than others. For Matsumoto, the success of a TMS is in the numbers. Key Lessons The role of treasury is shifting to become more than just managing cash and other assets. Today, treasury plays a key role in an organization’s decision-making capabilities. Treasury management should not only improve shareholder value but also contribute to day-to-day business processes that have an impact on the bottom line. Treasury is often the first department to identify potential issues in our group of companies because problems tend to appear in cash flows first.” He explains how LIXIL considers it a success when “Treasury operations improve shareholders’ value by strengthening nominal key performance indicators, such as return on invested capital; net debt/earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization; and financial leverage.” In addition, treasury achieves success—from Matsumoto’s point of view— when its TMS is “mitigating day-to-day governance, compliance and currency risks.” Treasury management might not be the most exciting aspect of Matsumoto’s day, but he explains, “TMS can add significant value, such as added productivity and more accurate cash forecasting and cash visibility for the company to deliver the objectives and value of treasury previously mentioned.” TMS can add significant value, such as added productivity and more accurate cash forecasting and cash visibility for the company.” A Global, Unified View Enables Treasury to Support Corporate Goals MASATOSHI MIYAMOTO Representative Director of the Board, Senior Managing Executive Officer & CFO JVC Kenwood Masatoshi Miyamoto has served as managing executive officer and chief financial officer (CFO) of JVC KENWOOD Corporation since April 2017. He started his career by joining TRIO Corporation (the present JVC KENWOOD) in 1986. After acting as FP&A general manager, subsidiary president in and out of Japan, and general manager of the car electronics unit and the home electronics unit, he was appointed managing executive officer and general manager of the finance and accounting department in July 2015. Electronics maker JVC KENWOOD has 90 subsidiaries spread across 19 countries, nearly 250 accounts with about 100 different banks, and it operates in 12 major currencies. As chief financial officer (CFO), Masatoshi Miyamoto oversees this complex, global network from the company’s headquarters in Japan, where treasury operations are concentrated. The treasury department’s current top priority is reducing operational costs by reducing the company’s interest-bearing debt. The department is also responsible for efficiently raising funds to support strategic projects and for managing foreign-exchange risk. “All of these obligations demand a treasury solution that enables fast, accurate decisions,” Miyamoto says. Historically, though, Miyamoto’s team used manual spreadsheets to manage cash and to capture foreign-exchange risk. This could sometimes result in inefficiency. “Group treasury management across the globe requires a single dashboard and single source of truth so that all may understand the management policy. The treasury management system (TMS) delivers this unified visibility,” he notes. Key Lessons Managing complex global operations with spreadsheets can make it challenging to achieve corporate financial goals. A treasury management system gives a real-time unified view that helps the treasury team support the financial health of the entire organization. Group treasury management across the globe requires a single dashboard and single source of truth so that all may understand the management policy. The TMS tool delivers this unified visibility.” In addition, the spreadsheet data wasn’t real time, making it a challenge to achieve the department’s goals in an optimal way. A holistic TMS, however, gives a real-time view on cash positions at all the accounts at all the banks, as well as real-time foreign-exchange positions for all relevant currencies. That consolidated, updated view allows Miyamoto’s team to more effectively manage cash and hedge foreign-exchange risk. It also makes it easier to invest available cash into growth-spurring activities, such as capital expenditure and mergers and acquisitions. “With the added visibility, we can also pay back interest-bearing debts,” Miyamoto says. “Compared to the manual Excel work, the TMS gives us direct and far-reaching benefits. We are now able to make more elaborate cash forecasts that allow us to reduce our reliance on external financing. That helps us achieve our key performance indicator—reducing our debt ratio.” A TMS helps multinational JVC KENWOOD in other ways, too. It connects to banks wherever the company operates and allows the centralized treasury department to interact easily with subsidiaries and recently acquired companies. It also offers rich reporting functions that automate inefficient spreadsheet-based processes. As a result, Miyamoto and his team can manage complexity and stay focused on maximizing the company’s financial strength. Compared to the manual Excel work, the TMS gives us direct and far-reaching benefits. We are now able to make more elaborate cash forecasts that allow us to reduce our reliance on external financing.”   A TMS Can Contribute to Increased Productivity and Growth ANDREW NICHOLSON CFO Graff Diamonds One of the first decisions Andrew Nicholson made when he joined Graff Diamonds five years ago as group director of finance was to implement Kyriba. Prior to that he had qualified as ACMA with Diageo alcoholic beverages company, which also allowed him to work overseas in Miami and Cape Town before finishing as commercial director for Guinness in Continental Europe. He was also the European CFO for four years at Hudson, a US-quoted staffing business. As Graff Diamonds grew its retail operation to 45 stores in 15 countries around the world, CFO Andrew Nicholson recognized early on the need for a treasury management system (TMS). The challenge of running six regional finance teams that managed banking and payments in 11 currencies across 15 countries was becoming a tremendous burden. “It was simply unsustainable to continue logging onto each individual e-banking platform in order to approve payments,” he says. “We needed a single point of access across all our bank accounts to set up payments, to define different payment types and to receive notification of pending approvals.” Early benefits of the TMS have been primarily operational for treasury, but Nicholson pinpoints additional capabilities that will give treasury a more strategic role in managing cash and risk. “In the upcoming year, we will be rolling out FX exposure management and GL reconciliation functionality,” he says, adding that they are considering a payment fraud detection module for the TMS system, which is important given Graff’s focus on highvalue, luxury-based retail. Key Lessons Although a TMS provides operational benefits for treasury, it also gives treasury a more strategic role in managing cash and risk. A TMS provides the CFO with the greater global cash visibility, which can improve balance and forecast accuracy. It was simply unsustainable to continue logging onto each individual e-banking platform in order to approve payments.” As CFO, Nicholson also appreciates how the TMS provides him with the greater global cash visibility, which has improved balance and forecast accuracy. “The main benefit I personally get is risk mitigation through much greater confidence in my treasury,” he explains. “I receive meaningful data to analyze, automated standardized reports and accurate cash forecasts. I can authorize transactions remotely. We access real-time, centralized bank statements first thing in the morning, and we source and analyze historical data for bank queries.” All of this is great, but is it benefiting the business? Nicholson is confident that it does. “We don’t formally measure the success of our treasury and finance operation in terms of KPIs,” he says. “The owners do recognize improvements in operational efficiency, cost savings and the ability to make more informed and strategic decisions, which in turn is contributing to overall productivity and growth of the company.” The main benefit I personally get is risk mitigation through much greater confidence in my treasury.”

Expanding Investment Options for Treasurers to Increase Return on Surplus Liquidity Kyriba’s Treasury Management System now connects with Goldman Sachs Liquidity Solutions Platform, Mosaic, expanding options for treasurers and increasing ways to keep surplus...

Expanding Investment Options for Treasurers to Increase Return on Surplus Liquidity Kyriba’s Treasury Management System now connects with Goldman Sachs Liquidity Solutions Platform, Mosaic, expanding options for treasurers and increasing ways to keep surplus liquidity invested faster and longer. The partnership streamlines investments, creating an end-to-end workflow for investing in money market funds and introducing on-demand connectivity to third-party banking and fintech services. Highlight for Clients Single Sign-On (SSO) Seamless navigation between the Kyriba TMS and the Mosaic investment portal Improved efficiency Fewer manual steps Quick client onboarding and no additional cost Trade Request Process Executes trades with Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC through to the Mosaic investment portal Streamlines subscription and redemption requests Consolidated View Money market funds and cash positions display within the Kyriba dashboard Simplified visualization Real-time Workflows Balances, confirmations, fund prices, and daily factors seamlessly flow between the Kyriba TMS and the Mosaic investment portal No need for manual data entry Liquidity Analytics and Reporting Access to the rich set of money funds liquidity analytics and reporting unique to Mosaic A streamlined workflow between the Kyriba TMS and the Goldman Sachs Mosaic Investment Portal enables on-demand connectivity for Treasury teams

Tuesday, July 4th | 10:00 am SGT Find out how Kyriba’s Cash Management, Liquidity Planning and Liquidity Analytics modules enables treasury teams and finance leaders in treasury to proactively manage cash and liquidity lifecycles...

Tuesday, July 4th | 10:00 am SGT Find out how Kyriba’s Cash Management, Liquidity Planning and Liquidity Analytics modules enables treasury teams and finance leaders in treasury to proactively manage cash and liquidity lifecycles end-to-end.

A showcase of Kyriba's cash and liquidity management capabilities. Our presentation team will demonstrate how Kyriba clients use our platform to transform their approach to cash and liquidity planning.

A showcase of Kyriba's cash and liquidity management capabilities. Our presentation team will demonstrate how Kyriba clients use our platform to transform their approach to cash and liquidity planning.

Unleash the Power of Enterprise Liquidity Management with SAP and Kyriba: The certified Kyriba SAP integration, including SFTP and API integration, seamlessly connects SAP with Kyriba to automate the workflow between the two platforms.

Unleash the Power of Enterprise Liquidity Management with SAP and Kyriba A Secure and Scalable Connectivity Solution Currently over 1,000 Kyriba clients are using SAP as their enterprise resource planning platform and Kyriba as their treasury management system. The certified Kyriba SAP integration, including SFTP and API integration, seamlessly connects SAP with Kyriba to automate the workflow between the two platforms. The API integration has been certified by SAP for both SAP ECC and S/4HANA, providing a secure and scalable connectivity solution for clients to embed workflows into other business or finance applications with GL integration, multi-bank connectivity, trading/investment platforms, financial supply chain and market data providers. Major Benefits of Using Kyriba SAP Integration Solution for Payments Workflow With Kyriba SAP Integration Without Kyriba SAP Integration Configuration and Installation SAP-certified ABAP Add-On Pre-built data extract, mapping and transmission from your SAP systems to Kyriba All bank connectivity and payments formats are managed by Kyriba Tested, proven solution Develop custom data extract and transmission from your SAP systems to Kyriba Define and maintain mapping for payment scenarios in SAP Develop custom process monitoring Time-consuming testing of extracts Payment Processing Immediate payment transmission to banks, via Kyriba, upon batch completion Integrated workflows transmit encrypted HTTP No intermediate files created Connected via SFTP: Require the Kyriba FTP server for intermediate file creation and storage Explicit file encryption/decryption Direct to Kyriba API: Custom API workflow orchestration and exception management Payment Monitoring Track and monitor the status of all payments across banks with Kyriba's centralized Payment Status Monitor Identify and take immediate action for payment exceptions Separate SAP module required for bank connectivity monitoring Lack of visibility to payment status across banks Require extra effort to identify and resolve payment exceptions Kyriba’s SAP integration for payment workflow is a certified add-on to the native SAP payments functionalities, insulating customers from many updates and changes in SAP. The Kyriba SAP Integrated Payments Workflow Explained IDoc is translated to comply with Kyriba's standard payment information. Kyriba’s custom table provides mapping of relevant information. IDoc XML is translated to CSV and batched into one file. Payment orders are transmitted to the Kyriba application through API integration. Payment orders are being sent to associated banks to be executed. Payment confirmation is sent by the banks to the Kyriba application. Schedule in SAP to retrieve payment acknowledgments from the Kyriba application. Payment status updates are transmitted to SAP through API integration. Payment status is posted to Kyriba’s custom table. Client views payment status updates in one centralized monitor. FAQs on Kyriba SAP Integration for Payments Workflow What are the SAP releases Kyriba is currently certified for? Kyriba is currently certified for: SAP ECC 6.0 S/4HANA 19.10 or later (supporting both On-premise and Private cloud) Do different SAP platforms require different installations? No. Installations are the same for ECC and S/4HANA. What customizations can be used to enhance the functionality of the SAP application? Customizations include BADI user exit and configurable mapping. Can customers use their own middleware to call the API? Yes, customers can use their own middleware to call the API, for example SAP PI/PO, CPI, BOOMI and MuleSoft. What authentication schemes does the integration use? The integration uses REST API with Basic Authentication or OAuth2. Can clients connect to multiple ERP systems? Yes, Kyriba ERP Connectors support the integration of multiple ERPs. Are payment transfers batched? Is it possible to transfer a single payment? All payment transfers are batched. Technically, clients could send a single payment request to Kyriba. How long does it take to connect my ERP to Kyriba? Historically, installation and connectivity take 2-5 days, depending on the complexity of a client’s configuration. Kyriba SAP integration reduces the cost, risk, time and effort required to connect SAP to Kyriba. Kyriba SAP integration also supports cash forecasting, FX balance sheet and working capital workflows Kyriba SAP Integration for Cash Forecasting Workflow Kyriba SAP integration for cash forecasting, with its out-of-the-box connectivity and proven analytics, reduces costs and removes error-prone manual inputs. The automated workflow features: Extract open invoice balances from A/P and A/R subledgers Batch data records into a standard ERP cash forecast .csv file and send it to the Kyriba application via the API-powered ERP Connector Import estimated cash forecasts into Kyriba for advanced cash forecasting and liquidity planning actions Kyriba SAP Integration for FX Balance Sheet Workflow The Kyriba SAP Extract Toolkit consists of instructions on how to run native SAP utilities to retrieve account/entity configuration information and a program that captures summary monetary asset and liability or revenue and expense balance data. After initial enrolment, only the general ledger report is used to periodically extract the balance data. For more details, check out the fact sheet on FX Exposure Management For SAP ERP. Kyriba SAP Integration for Working Capital Workflow Kyriba SAP integration provides a complete end-to-end solution for Supply Chain Finance workflows. Main features include: Extract Receivables: Extract the open documents for SCF Suppliers, map the data to Kyriba and create documents in Kyriba automatically Import Receivables: Import updated documents with early payment approval status into SAP Pay Funders at Maturity: Payments are sent to Funders at maturity Collection & Reconciliation: Extract and transmit cleared items from SAP for reconciliation after payment run For more details, check out the Kyriba Developer Portal.

The cash forecast is once again the most critical tool connecting treasury with corporate strategy and board-level decisions. Companies are expected to increase cash flow and drive a greater return on cash in this...

The cash forecast is once again the most critical tool connecting treasury with corporate strategy and board-level decisions. Companies are expected to increase cash flow and drive a greater return on cash in this higher interest rate environment.

RSM US LLP is continuing to invest in its treasury operation and is a premier partner to the Kyriba organization. RSM is the fifth largest audit, tax, and consulting firm in the United States...

RSM US LLP is continuing to invest in its treasury operation and is a premier partner to the Kyriba organization. RSM is the fifth largest audit, tax, and consulting firm in the United States with 87 offices and over 14,000 professionals. Globally, RSM has over 51,000 employees in 124 countries supported through our member firm relationships, while generating total revenue of approximately $7.3 Billion. In short, RSM has global reach, national strength, and a local touch to be able to work with clients of all sizes and geographies. RSM continues to invest in connectivity and payments capabilities, while paying particular focus to important competencies, specifically on risk management, including FX and hedge accounting. Below are some highlights from Q2 2023 successful client wins and implementations: Common Sail Investment Group (CSIG) is a privately held, operational holding corporation headquartered in Brighton, Michigan. Its brand portfolio includes real estate development, senior housing, and health care. The treasury team gained efficiency by centralizing CSIG's banking infrastructure under Kyriba. Not only did the deployment add balances and transactions to the database to improve overall cash management, but it also opened the opportunity of automating GL reconciliations and thousands of cash and financial accounting entries on a monthly basis. Following further analysis into CSIG's activities, the RSM team discovered that Kyriba's debt-keeping module could significantly improve CSIG with their current portfolio since the firm has many property, auto, and corporate loans with various counterparties. The module deployment was completed, and it is already supporting CSIG in automating maturity payments and interest/principal accounting. Furthermore, Kyriba was able to seamlessly exchange and receive data from Oracle NetSuite, such as accounting entries and vendor payments. Ultimately, Kyriba redesigned CSIG's daily operations and significantly increased the team’s bandwidth. Other notable RSM and Kyriba partnership wins from Q2 2023 include: HDR Brex HASI Gain Credit Kroll Flutterwave Assemi Group

Modern treasury teams have numerous available tools and structures to succeed in today’s global economy. With supply chain disruptions and decreased cash flows prevalent, treasury can leverage an in-house bank (IHB) and Payments Hub...

Modern treasury teams have numerous available tools and structures to succeed in today’s global economy. With supply chain disruptions and decreased cash flows prevalent, treasury can leverage an in-house bank (IHB) and Payments Hub to optimize working capital for an improved liquidity portfolio. This eBook highlights three key areas in which an IHB can improve working capital operations through centralization and standardization: Setting the stage for a working capital program Knowing when to pay suppliers Knowing how much to allocate to working capital operations What is an In-House Bank? Today’s fast-moving global business environment demands leading treasury teams have full visibility into their liquidity. To combat the challenges from growing numbers of entities, banking relationships, internal transactions and intercompany loans, treasurers are utilizing an in-house banking structure to centralize daily operations and organizational cash flow. An in-house bank (IHB) is a dedicated group or legal entity within the organization that provides banking services such as cash management, payments-on-behalf-of (POBO), collections-onbehalf-of (COBO) and working capital to different business units within the company. Put simply, an IHB centralizes flows and balances by executing all transactions through the designated, operating IHB entity. Benefits for Your Organization Implementing an IHB can deliver improvements to most, if not all areas of your business. Through intercompany netting, an IHB can centralize all internal flows through the designated entity to simplify the company’s payment structure and reduce payment volumes. Payments and collections to/from third parties act similarly: POBO: Outgoing transactions are executed by the IHB entity on behalf of operating companies and then debited to the operating companies’ intercompany account. COBO: Receivables are received into the IHB’s bank account on behalf of the operating companies and then credited to the operating companies’ intercompany account. Aside from simplifying internal and external transactions, in-house banking structures provide numerous benefits for large, global organizations: Treasury Process CASH PAYMENTS FX WORKING CAPITAL Benefits Increase cash visibility and control with global cash pooling Mitigate fraud attacks with the centralization of outgoing payments Centralize risk management processes by aggregating the number of exposures Ensures better support for business units and easier selection of the right invoices for inclusion in your supply chain financing program Simplify your banking landscape, the number of banking relationships and the number of physical bank accounts Reduce the number of intercompany loans and solidify your organization’s intercompany loans management process Net your FX payments to reduce the number of transactions and increase per trade volume, receiving better spreads Improve working capital with increased visibility into cash flows Increase returns with less idle cash through sweeps, better repatriation Reduce the number of internal transfers to/from different entities with multilateral netting Reduce cross-border payment fees Gives more opportunities for discounting through better visibility in a POBO or payments hub model Important to note, many treasurers have recently made working capital a key focus moving forward, as the current economy’s supply chain disruptions have continued to persist. The remainder of this ebook will discuss how the centralization of payments through an IHB can improve working capital and ensure that your company is making the most of your liquidity for future growth. Centralizing Outgoing Transactions with a Payments Hub Before discussing how working capital processes and decision-making can improve with an inhouse bank, it is important to understand how a payments hub can be introduced with the help of an in-house bank implementation. Global entities often make payments to the same third-party vendor through their own separate bank, which creates a complex and unnecessary string of transactions. The introduction of an IHB allows organizations to utilize a POBO model to consolidate and streamline payments that are being made to the same vendor. Organizations can reap numerous benefits by centralizing all separate, outgoing transactions, some of which include: Reduced bank fees associated with payments Increased visibility into outgoing payments and liquidity Improved and more accurate forecasting reporting through visibility to payments Reduced cost of failure due to payments being paid from a central account Less idle cash as only the Payments Hub needs to keep liquidity Centralizing all outgoing transactions through an IHB can improve daily processes that are not only related to payments. One area of the business that treasurers are realizing significant value gains in is working capital management. Centralizing payments with an IHB can fully optimize your organization’s working capital through the following three components: A payments hub supports the structure of a working capital program Centralizing payments allows leadership to determine when to pay suppliers An IHB facilitates cash visibility to determine the amount of funds to allocate for your working capital program A Payments Hub Supports the Structure of a Working Capital Program Standardizing and automating payment workflows through a payments hub can help to ease the implementation of a working capital program. The vast amount of payment and treasury management vendors in today’s financial space makes it simple to standardize and automate payment processes. The biggest impact that treasury teams can expect when automating payment workflows is visibility into incoming and outgoing invoices to better understand transaction lifecycles. With real-time data into organizational invoices, treasury teams can work toward shortening invoice lifecycles to be able to leverage early payment discounts with suppliers. A recent AP & Working Capital Report acknowledged that 31% of respondents found that manual routing of invoices for payments and approval stood in the way of an early payment discount. Manual AP processes can also lead to incomplete/ missing information on invoices, lost invoices, invoice exceptions and decentralized receipt of invoices, which can all impact an organization’s working capital performance. Overall, standardizing and automating the procure-to-pay process will result in a clearer picture of your organization’s financials and increase the insight you have into supplier relationships. Some best practices when standardizing payment processes to improve working capital include: Centralize payment processes and reporting to enable global teams to have better visibility into all outgoing transactions. Centralization also facilitates the standardization of processes to ensure that workflows like invoicing consist of accurate and timely procedures. Digitize payment processes to reap significant benefits when setting up a supplier portal. Efficiently communicating with suppliers through an electronic portal allows suppliers to automatically generate invoices for each new order, electronically validate and accept invoices, and electronically track the status of orders and payments received. Develop an effective procurement process to keep track of all received invoices and reconcile each invoice to its associated PO to produce better forecasts for cash flow reporting. An effective procurement process also ensures that your organization is working with pre-approved vendors to stay within the authorized spending limits. Create a strong accounting process to improve visibility into how much and how often companies should pay their suppliers. Optimizing payment terms will empower your organization to make the most of your working capital program and fully optimize liquidity. Centralizing Payments Allows Leadership to Determine When to Pay Suppliers The centralization of your organization’s payments process will empower decision makers to know when the best time is to pay suppliers - and also when not to. The best practice of creating a strong accounting workflow to optimize payment terms can aid in the process of determining when to pay suppliers. In the case that a solid payment structure is present, organizations can leverage centralized payments to have better visibility into outgoing transactions and thus, cash flows. Centralizing payments through a payments hub and IHB facilitates better reporting for treasury teams to forecast with more accuracy and consistency. The ability to sweep local funds into regional cash pools increases the confidence of an organization’s cash on hand, while also enabling teams to transition from point-in-time and end-of-month balances to real-time visibility into liquidity. With reliable forecasts and reporting available, organizational decision makers are empowered to make more informed decisions to improve working capital processes. Clear visibility into cash and outgoing transactions allows treasury teams to know when they might have more cash on hand to allocate towards working capital operations. Having a clear, transparent view into the organization’s cash flow patterns can enable teams to negotiate payment terms with suppliers, while also having the confidence that the suggested payment terms are in alignment with company balances. Optimizing payment terms can result in a number of benefits for buyers depending on the type of program(s) implemented, some of which include: Increased cash flow Reduced supply chain risk Reduction in cost of goods sold (COGS) and improved margins Strengthened supplier relationships Enhanced corporate social responsibility (CSR) credentials Working capital programs that optimize payment terms for buyers also provide significant benefits for suppliers: Reduction in days sales outstanding (DSO) Greater certainty predictability over cash flows Reduced corporate credit risk Access to cheaper liquidity than can typically be obtained, as the cost is calculated based on the risk of the buyer and not the supplier An IHB Facilitates Cash Visibility to Determine the Amount of Funds to Allocate for Your Working Capital Program Centralizing payments through an in-house bank increases the confidence in cash reporting and forecasting to determine how much liquidity should be allotted for working capital operations. Reporting across disparate systems, multiple banks and various entities is a challenge for most organizations so without an automated payment structure in place, cash and forecasting processes can often involve manual efforts that are prone to errors and inconsistencies. If liquidity information is not updated in realtime, leadership is most likely making decisions based on outdated information, which can lead to the inappropriate allocation of funds. Reliable and clear access to reporting ensures that treasury teams are strategically allotting the correct amount of organizational funds to their working capital operations, depending on the outlined metrics that they desire to achieve. Having trustworthy data empowers teams to be certain that their budgets are legitimate and that their plans for business growth are on track. Accurate and timely payments reporting is critical for the success of a working capital program and by marrying the visibility of cash and payment processes through centralization, real-time decisions can be made on the fly. Another consideration to take into account when evaluating the benefits of an IHB includes the idea that an organization can consolidate the number of global bank accounts with the assistance of an IHB and payments centralization. The cash pooling function of an IHB can improve visibility and controls, allowing enterprise companies to reduce the number of accounts needed to operate efficiently. A high number of bank accounts can oftentimes lead to an inefficient working capital program, as the amount of work to consolidate daily cash positions for forecast reporting increases with the number of accounts. Decreasing the number of global bank accounts creates concentrated cash pools that leadership can pull reports from to determine the correct allocation of funds for a working capital program. The concentration of cash through physical and notional pooling allows organizations to have a bird’s eye view of how much cash is on hand, at all times. The structuring of concentrated cash pools also enables leadership to fully leverage the maximum amount of cash for working capital, as the increased visibility encourages local teams to get rid of all extra cash on hand. Lastly, cash pooling helps to facilitate offshore treasury centers, which helps to improve the flow of capital through these offerings: Favorable tax laws Reduced risk and greater growth potential Cost savings for the business Protection of assets during times of instability Leveraging Technology to Enable a Successful IHB and Working Capital Program The implementation of a treasury management system (TMS) can simplify the implementation of an in-house bank and create a working capital program that fully optimizes cash for significant gains. A sustainable IHB and payments hub features automation that is typically facilitated by a TMS. Most companies use a TMS to manage the internal, complicated processes of receiving external bank statements, converting those statements into internal versions and creating all the needed postings. Potential netting processes and the management of the pay-on and collect-on behalf of models also leverages TMS features that banks or internally-developed systems cannot handle. While organizations can create a manual or internal IHB, a TMS reduces the time it takes to start a program and simplifies the effort of an implementation and ongoing maintenance. All of the listed capabilities on the previous page work to create standardized and optimized operations for a streamlined business. Leveraging technology to create a successful IHB structure will lend itself to a profitable working capital program that can also be improved with the use of a third-party system. A TMS can help to create standardized workflows, facilitate connections to third-party funding and build a successful supplier portal for your organization’s working capital solution. Without technology in place, the process of constructing a working capital program can be unnecessarily difficult and time consuming. Leveraging a system to simplify leadership’s effort in creating a program will be appreciated in the long run and ensure that a successful foundation is in place. Leveraging a TMS to facilitate processes such as working capital and payments will provide significant benefits for treasury teams looking to free up cash flow and reduce supply chain risk. The implementation of a TMS will also prove to automate other areas of treasury operations so that employees and leadership can focus on strategic, business growth initiatives. Utilizing technology for your company’s daily processes will ensure that future success is supported by a reliable structure that promotes innovation and optimization. Aside from automation, a TMS can help to provide the following: Robust multi-bank connectivity Secure controls and standardized, pre-built processes Streamlined global payments Cash flow forecasting templates and workflows Electronic bank account management Advanced intercompany loan and multilateral netting features Deliver the extensive company and cross-company GL postings created by an IHB

Elire is a Kyriba Platinum Plus Partner with over 18 years of experience helping clients implement successful Treasury Management Solutions. With an experienced team of over 20 Treasury Consultants across multiple Treasury disciplines and...

Elire is a Kyriba Platinum Plus Partner with over 18 years of experience helping clients implement successful Treasury Management Solutions. With an experienced team of over 20 Treasury Consultants across multiple Treasury disciplines and solutions, Elire has an intense focus on Kyriba products and services. Below are some highlights from Q2 2023 successful client wins and implementations: Sabre looked to Elire to help them implement and integrate Kyriba to their existing SAP and FIS systems. Being that Sabre is an existing FIS customer, this is a positive win for Kyriba as it makes inroads at Sabre and demonstrates the breadth of Kyriba’s offerings, functionality, and ease of use. Sabre’s Kyriba implementation and integration project consisted of Swift BIC Registration, SAP and FIS integration (Bank Statement Forwarding and Payments Integration), Bank Statements, Payments (Credit Transfers and Direct Debits), Payments Factory, Single Sign-On (SSO), Fraud Prevention, Bank Fee Analysis, and More. Elire empowered Varsity Brands by implementing Kyriba Cash Management and Forecasting, Cash Accounting, SSO, Bank Account Management, Bank Fee Analysis, and In-House Banking. This project included integration with 2 ERP systems (SAP and PeopleSoft), Payment Generation, and Deal capture. The Elire team seamlessly integrated Kyriba with Varsity Brand’s SAP and PeopleSoft ERP's, and configured Cash Accounting mapping rules which allowed Varsity Brands to have an accurate reconciliation of their bank transactions to their book of record. Elire also migrated Varsity Brand's debt instruments from Excel to Kyriba’s Deal Capture module, giving Varsity Brands a never before seen snapshot of their debt position. Analyzing CHFA's systematic and procedural pain points, Elire is delivering a Treasury Management System solution which centralized CHFA's Yardi, Sage, OnBase, HDS, and Stars ERP systems and processes. With Kyriba software and solutions, Elire is introducing CHFA to state-of-the-art simplified procedures, pushing them into the future. Some of the Kyriba solutions implemented include Payment Factory Integration, Mobile Payment Approvals, and Intelligent Cash Accounting Reconciliation. CHFA's 50+ TMS users are empowered with unprecedented security, reliability, transparency, and ease of use for cash forecasting, payments management, user administration, and compliance. Elire helped International Seaways integrate most of their complex ship leases into Kyriba. Applying tried and true Kyriba solutions for full Cash Management and Liquidity Visibility, Elire Introduced expert tips and tricks for TMS reports, flow charts, and batch modifications. Elire revamped International Seaways' inefficient processes, boosting their efficiency and helping them achieve their goals of Cash Management and Forecasting that were indistinct to them for the past several years.

The CFO no longer cares about your cash forecast! They need more. CFOs are focused on meeting free cash flow targets and require real-time insight to proactively manage liquidity across the enterprise to reduce...

The CFO no longer cares about your cash forecast! They need more. CFOs are focused on meeting free cash flow targets and require real-time insight to proactively manage liquidity across the enterprise to reduce vulnerability to rising rates and unlock growth. To support the CFO, Treasurers need to evolve beyond visibility into cash by making forecasting actionable – surrounding cash forecasts with data to enable intelligent investing, borrowing and working capital decisions to drive strategic growth and company valuation.

In this e-book, you will gain an understanding of how supply chain finance (SCF), dynamic discounting and receivables finance can create a win-win solution for both buyers and suppliers while enabling treasury and procurement to work hand-in-hand to deliver working capital improvements.

In this e-book, you will gain an understanding of how supply chain finance (SCF), dynamic discounting and receivables finance can create a win-win solution for both buyers and suppliers while enabling treasury and procurement to work hand-in-hand to deliver working capital improvements. Driving Growth and Profitability Through Working Capital Solutions Companies around the globe generally deal in two opposing cash positions – a cash deficit or a cash surplus. In today’s hyper-competitive and ever-advancing world, companies need capital to grow, address existing debt, or distribute more shareholder value through dividends or share buy-backs. One way to generate this capital is to optimize working capital - the less capital that is tied up in the working capital cycle, the more there is available to drive growth and create shareholder value. Companies with a surplus of cash often find themselves bound to low-return, risk-free investments such as money market funds with traditional financial instruments. Driving the profitability or addressing the cost of goods sold (COGS), which is one of the major contributing factors to profitability, is also an area of focus. For many companies, using the cash surplus of the working capital equation to enhance profitability is proving to be a game changer. Supply Chain Finance Extend DPO to Generate Free Cash Flow with Support of SCF Companies often have a large amount of capital tied up in working capital, which doesn’t generate any return and is unavailable for growth investments. A simple solution to reduce this working capital is to increase payment terms with suppliers and hold on to cash longer. However, this can have an adverse effect on suppliers as it could increase their working capital needs. Supply chain finance, also known as reverse factoring. is a financial instrument that offers early payment programs to suppliers and a win-win for both buyers and suppliers. Providing supply chain finance as an alternative means of financing in buyer-led programs helps buyers negotiate longer payment terms, which is the actual objective. Dynamic Discounting

Organizations from many industries and of various sizes have embraced Kyriba for their enterprise liquidity management needs. At AFP’s annual conference, our team set up a testimonial station at our convention booth, where clients...

Organizations from many industries and of various sizes have embraced Kyriba for their enterprise liquidity management needs. At AFP’s annual conference, our team set up a testimonial station at our convention booth, where clients and users shared their insights and the benefits that Kyriba has offered for their operations. In this Kyriba client testimonials video, clients highlighted some of the key advantages of leveraging the Kyriba platform: Efficiency Since implementing Kyriba, many clients have said that they have streamlined their treasury operations and reduced manual interventions, thus boosting productivity. Tasks that took hours or even days are now accomplished in a matter of minutes, allowing teams to focus on more strategic initiatives. Centralized Visibility Many clients reported that, before implementing Kyriba, they had to log into various portals in order to obtain all their liquidity data. Kyriba provides a centralized hub for all treasury-related information. Clients can easily access and manage data from multiple banks and platforms in one convenient location, providing comprehensive visibility and empowering better decision-making. Time Savings Manual processes are inefficient and time consuming. Kyriba provides clients with the ability to automate their processes and gives them access to real-time data, drastically reducing errors and turnaround times. In addition, this enables our clients’ treasury teams to work more efficiently. Improved Cash Management Kyriba empowers clients to gain better control over their cash positions and liquidity. Our clients indicate that the real-time visibility into their global cash balances and cash flows allows for more accurate forecasting and optimization of cash usage. Holistic Treasury Management Kyriba offers a comprehensive suite of features, which allows clients to manage various treasury functions within a single platform. Kyriba consolidates critical treasury operations, which provides our clients with a holistic view of all their financial activities. Scalability and Adaptability When an organization is growing, they need a solution that will grow with them. Kyriba clients have indicated that, without Kyriba, they wouldn’t be able to operate efficiently because of the growth they have experienced. Join the many clients who have relied on Kyriba to unlock efficiency and elevate treasury operations. Find out the positive impact Kyriba can have on your organization.

Awarded to the company that had a clear project plan, stuck to it, and maintained the project discipline to achieve a go-live date with great success. Nominated by 3PO Consulting.

Awarded to the company that had a clear project plan, stuck to it, and maintained the project discipline to achieve a go-live date with great success. Nominated by 3PO Consulting. Challenges FilmRise’s financial operations grew to the point where gaining operational efficiency was critical. With NetSuite as their ERP, they wanted a specialized TMS with existing integrations to be a complement. “This project was both kicked off and fully live in 2022, showcasing the ability for Kyriba to be implemented quickly even with complex NetSuite integrations!” Solution Implemented Cash and Liquidity Management, Payments, Accounting and the Kyriba NetSuite Bridge. Results Within days of kickoff, Kyriba was successfully initialized for bank reporting and connected to NetSuite to begin testing of AP and Treasury payments processing. New techniques were leveraged to meet aggressive FilmRise timelines and the teams relied heavily on 3PO Consulting implementation scripts. Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Recognizing best-in-class performance in payments fraud solution and compliance management.

Recognizing best-in-class performance in payments fraud solution and compliance management. Challenges Secure and compliant transactions are critical for ORIX's AP payment process Corporate goal to take significant steps to streamline financial operations, including migrating from PeopleSoft to Oracle Cloud, implementing an AP payment factory, warehousing financial transactions and establishing an in-house bank in Kyriba. “Kyriba has been a key partner in the transition of ORIX's financial transactions, including the recent migration from FIS Integrity for the full lifecycle of their financial transactions. ORIX's upcoming go live for the in-house bank, which will include intercompany accounting, is a testament to the company's continued commitment to automation and efficiency using the capabilities of Kyriba.” Solution Kyriba’s Fraud and Compliance module with automated screening to include checks against sanctions lists, identification of possible duplicates, changes to sensitive payment details, use of one-time payment details, payments made to high-risk countries, and validation of IBANs. Workflow is enabled to facilitate a centralized process for identification, review, and remediation of alerts along with creation of exceptions where appropriate. Results ORIX is striving to eliminate manual and error prone tasks to ensure their team is focused on activities that will drive value for their organization. The centralized and compliant automated payments fraud solutions maximize productivity. Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Making Real-Time Payments a Reality for Finance and Treasury Real-time payments initiatives are proliferating all over the globe and while many countries have jumped on the bandwagon with various real-time payments use cases, corporate...

Making Real-Time Payments a Reality for Finance and Treasury Real-time payments initiatives are proliferating all over the globe and while many countries have jumped on the bandwagon with various real-time payments use cases, corporate adoption has lagged. But to build the business case for implementing real- time, treasury and finance departments need to identify more business relevant use cases. How Do Real-Time Payments Work? Real-time payments can be transferred using the domestic or regional real-time payment network. For example, use an application programming interface (API) for unitary payments like one-time supplier payments, or use file transfer protocol (FTP) for bulk payments like payroll. While legacy file transfer protocols do not offer the same level of immediacy as APIs, corporates can still benefit from using real-time payment rails in some scenarios. Moreover, because APIs enable broader system-to- system interactions to be real-time, clients can use them for activities beyond real-time payments, such as connecting to ERPs, automating workflows, and facilitating data exchange in real-time. Real-Time Systems on the Rise Real-time or instant payments are not new. Many major economies have either launched real-time initiatives already or are in the process of doing so. For instance, Japan launched the Zengin real-time gross settlement system in 1973, which eventually became a real-time payments network. The Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in India, launched in 2016, is among the largest and fastest growing real-time payment system globally. As of 2021, real-time payments represent a 31% share by transaction volume and an 8% share by value. Zelle, a real-time payments network owned by seven of the largest banks in the United States, was initially launched in 2017 for peer-to-peer (P2P) payments to compete with payment apps, such as Venmo. Since its launch, this multi-rail network has expanded into business payments and is increasingly preferred by industry use cases, such as real-time disbursements to their customers. In 2021, Zelle added TCH’s RTP® network to its existing list of payment networks, i.e., ACH, Visa Direct, and Mastercard MoneySend. SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), a pan-European payment solution launched in 2017, is used by consumers and businesses for euro-dominated instant domestic and cross-border payments. As of 2022, the payment scheme is supported by 61% of European PSPs and available in 29 countries. The adoption of this payment scheme has stagnated, accounting for just over 1 in 10 credit transfers in the region. A draft EU law is expected to address issues with ubiquity and fees to drive adoption. The New Payments Platform There have been ongoing efforts to expand the reach of real-time payments from domestic to cross- border payments. Asia has been leading the way, with India and Singapore linking their real-time payment systems (i.e., UPI and PayNow). Other developed countries are following their lead, with TCH, EBA Clearing, and SWIFT planning to commercialize their successful cross-border pilot connecting TCH’s RTP network with EBA Clearing’s RT1 network. U.S. Faster Payments Initiative Unlike many other economies whose central banks have issued mandates for real-time systems, the U.S. Federal Reserve instead opted to let the private sector take the reins while acting in an advisory capacity. Thus, in 2015, the Fed formed a task force of market participants, from banks to corporates to fintechs, with the goal of steering the nation’s payments system toward allowing payments to clear and settle faster. The task force’s work produced a two-part final report that determined ubiquitous receipt to be the key to making any real-time system truly successful. The task force recognized several key challenges to achieving ubiquity, including: Federal Reserve enablement of a 24/7/365 settlement Technical and business process issues Disparate rules and functionality for competing services Security Real-Time Payments Network (RTP®) In 2017, The Clearing House (TCH) launched the Real-Time Payments (RTP®) network. Running on a new payments rail, Real-Time Payments transactions clear and settle in seconds, and immediate confirmation notices are sent to payers. In March 2021, TCH announced that real-time payments had reached a milestone by connecting its 100th bank. As of November 2022, there are 280+ participants, plus the key technology providers. However, real-time payments still reach only 65 percent of demand deposit accounts (DDAs). MAKING HISTORY The Real-Time Payments (RTP®) network is the first new payment rail in the United States since the ACH. FedNow The FedNow Service is a real-time payments platform developed by the Federal Reserve as a public sector alternative to The Clearing House’s (TCH) RTP®. The service is a 24/7/365 instant payments network expected to launch in mid-2023. FedNow will use ISO 20022 messaging standards to enable instant account-to-account payments and be accessible through the upgraded FedLine network, which will enable sending and receiving messages for customer transfers, liquidity management transfers, transaction-level reporting and fraud mitigation tools. The standard is highly appealing to corporate treasury and finance, because messages carry substantial information and are based on a common data dictionary that supports payment message flows. INFORMATION > SPEED? The most appealing feature of both Real-Time Payments and FedNow for treasury and finance might not be speed, but information capabilities. Not only can payers send extended remittance information with payments, but these systems also feature Request for Pay (RFP) services that allow payees to send specific transaction details prior to payments. Corporate Pain Points and Building Real-time Payments Use Cases For mass corporate adoption to occur, real-time payment systems will need to address certain pain points that treasury and finance departments are looking to eliminate. PAIN POINT HOW REAL-TIME HELPS Emergency/Last-Minute Payments Particularly in times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, companies may need to make emergency payouts for payroll and other demands. Last-minute bill payments may also be needed. Lack of Cash Visibility Clearing payments in real-time reduces settlement risk and provides a clear liquidity picture. Need for Cash Conversion Incoming payments can be immediately turned into accessible cash. Paper Check Usage Checks continue to be the payment method most susceptible to fraud. Businesses can eliminate this slow and risky method with real-time. Batch Payments Real-time can “un-batch” payments for corporates. Rather than relying on batch payments that are locked in at key times each day, real-time payments can be sent at any time. Missing Out on Early Payment Discounts Real-time can ensure that businesses can obtain early payment discounts on the last day of discount availability. Lack of Extended Remittance Information Modern real-time systems contain extended remittance information that travels with the payment. Looking to the future, the U.S. Faster Payments Council identified some real-time payments use cases that could soon make such payments even more appealing: Intercompany payments are low risk and a common use case. Many companies have enabled efficient deployment of working capital across their subsidiaries using the domestic/ regional instant payment option. Just-in-time invoice payments benefit both the business payer and the business recipient. Since this type of payment gives the payer additional time to pay a bill, it lets the payer hold their funds longer to avoid paying a bill late due to current timing of business day clearing. The business recipient also benefits by ensuring funds are collected within their timeframe, and they receive immediate credit for funds when being paid. Payments to suppliers can occur immediately and facilitate faster release and shipment of supplies from suppliers that require payment beforehand. Faster payments involve many moving parts related to treasury functions, remittances, corporate banking, and/or company-to-company payments. All of these real-time payments use cases involve the movement of large amounts of funds and any reduction in latency will lead to more efficient capital management and reduction of risk. These use cases need standardization and interoperability, such as the efforts of the Business Payments Coalition standardized semantic data model which is being designed to enable comprehensive use case integration in corporate ERP systems. At ION, there were times when we needed a payment to come in and it was 4:31 and the Fedwire closed at 4:30. We would have to wait until the next day and it would really impact payroll and liquidity. So, the opportunity to have that cash in the bank, and then being able to make your payroll or anything that’s urgent, is where the benefits come in.” — Lee-Ann Perkins, CTP, Assistant Treasurer, Specialized Bicycle Components and former VP and Treasurer for Ion Geophysical Key Considerations for Starting your Real-Time Payments Journey While instant payments have been available for corporates for several years now, uptake has been slow. One reason for that is real-time payments co-exist with wires and ACH. There is still a place for wires, which will continue to be used for larger value payments. As well, the benefits of real- time payments may not justify the cost of shifting to new payment rails. Key reasons for the slow adoption of real-time payments are further discussed below. Having a small delay when making B2B payments is not necessarily bad. “There are advantages to it, in trying to plan my cash,” said Jeff Johnson, CTP, chief financial officer of commercial kitchen repair service Smart Care Equipment Solutions. “There are advantages to it if people make mistakes. And there are advantages to not having things rushed.” Real-time can be costly. While Real-Time Payments can be relatively costly compared to ACH, they are still cheaper than wires for qualifying volumes. Still, CFOs and treasurers may focus on the premiums banks charge for Real- Time Payments and not see the value in spending extra cash to ensure a payment arrives faster than a normal ACH, noted Jim Gilligan, former assistant treasurer for Kansas City, and currently senior vice president of MFR Securities. Real-time may not be exactly real-time on the receiving side. If the process leading up to the payment execution is slow and manual, then real- time payments won’t have much impact. “Many companies still use batch systems to process receivables, so payments are not captured real-time,” said Gilligan. “It’s still going to take them the same amount of time to process the payment. Customers will likely be unsatisfied when they realize payments sent in real-time aren’t processed in real-time.” Fintech payment platforms can help bridge the gap by digitizing and automating payment workflows. Faster payments can mean faster fraud. Despite awareness of modern fraud activity, treasury and AP departments still fall prey to payments fraud scams even when they have adequate time to claw back a payment. Removing that aspect means that once a payment is out the door, it is gone for good. Bank account verification is key to preventing fraud, and confirmation of the payee is becoming the norm in the context of real-time payments, e.g, in the U.K., 90% of faster payments are subject to confirmation of payee (CoP) checks. It’s clear businesses need to be more thorough in vetting payments before they are executed. While it’s unrealistic for an organization that remits hundreds of payments in a single payment run to manually check every single one, technology can help to eliminate the threat. Payment policies can be digitized, ensuring that rules and limits are automatically applied during the payment journey. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms can compare outgoing payment requests to historical payment patterns, identifying and isolating any anomalies. APIs built into your payments platform allow real-time connection to apps that can match payments against third-party data. This data allows you to verify ownership of the account you’re paying and that you’re not paying an entity on the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list. Data visualization can identify and manage exceptions so that payments can easily be reviewed and cleared to minimize delays. Technology has really come a long way. Number one, there’s a lot more data to pull from that makes the software that much smarter. Number two, there’s a lot more threat intelligence available, and an increasing element of collaboration and sharing that threat intelligence. Today, you can run a transaction through an enormous number of tests in less than the time it takes to blink an eye. It adds a real element of credibility to a transaction.” — Brad Deflin, Founder and President of Total Digital Security How to Start Building Your Real-Time Payments Use Cases For U.S. corporate treasury departments that are interested in real-time payments, they will first need to develop their own adoption strategy: Determine some key uses cases for your business. Your bank and/or provider can offer live examples to help you narrow down use cases, understand the benefits, and calculate the business case. Assess the risks that using a new, real-time payments rail could pose, such as the need to update payment governance procedures to prevent fraud. Engage banks and vendors to ensure that they have invested in the appropriate infrastructure to facilitate real-time payments. Real Opportunity Real-time payments present an opportunity for corporate treasury and finance departments. Corporates that manage their own bank connectivity may need more work to identify use cases and build a business case for investment. For corporates that rely on third-party providers to aggregate connectivity, common real-time payments use cases such as sending intercompany transfers or replacing wires at or under the current transaction limit can drive tangible value while the corporates explore broader use cases. Watch this on-demand webinar to learn more about how you can build compelling real-time payments use cases in 2023 to benefit from this payment type.

Awarded to the company that has posted significant gains in productivity, freeing up treasury's time to focus on more strategic initiatives. Nominated by 3PO.

Awarded to the company that has posted significant gains in productivity, freeing up treasury's time to focus on more strategic initiatives. Nominated by 3PO. Challenges Monthly bank-to-book reconciliation process took hours, and sometimes days due to the volume of AP payments. Reporting of aggregated bank transactions without associated detail was an issue. The potential for a small discrepancy to lead to a large and time consuming investigation caused the Treasury and Accounting teams to seek a better solution. ”Williams-Sonoma is an excellent candidate for this award due to the amount of manual reconciliation time eliminated by automation using Kyriba’s GL Reconciliation module” Solution 3PO Consulting worked with Williams-Sonoma to configure advanced GL reconciliation logic to solve this one-to-many reconciliation issue. Bank transactions and journal entries related to AP activity were identified through patterns in the text descriptions to facilitate subtotaling and automated reconciliation in the event of a match. Results Eliminated the most difficult part of the reconciliation process in addition to the easy reconciliation work, leaving only exceptions for the team to manage. Automation of the most time-consuming part of the process resulted in huge productivity gains across treasury. Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Awarded to the company that had a clear TMS implementation project plan, stuck to it, and maintained the project discipline to achieve a go-live date with great success. Nominated by Actualize Consulting.

Awarded to the company that had a clear TMS implementation project plan, stuck to it, and maintained the project discipline to achieve a go-live date with great success. Nominated by Actualize Consulting. Challenges Discovery began and completed a global rollout of Kyriba amidst a massive-scale merger with parent company Warner Bros Required varied and complex integrations ”Working with Actualize Consulting, Discovery has completed their Kyriba TMS implementation, and the experience has been excellent. They fully plan to expand their use of Kyriba globally with their new parent company (Warner Bros.).” Solution Global roll-out of Kyriba including Liquidity Management, Payments, and Risk Management to replace its legacy system within an aggressive timeline Includes seamless integration with SAP, SWIFT Service Bureau, and trading portals Results The ability to centralize and automate the management of liquidity, payments and risk within Kyriba allowed the organization to standardize processes globally and support its continued growth Discovery is ready to expand the use of Kyriba with the integration of the Warner Bros business which will introduce new regions, functional modules and banking relationships Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Tuesday, June 13th | 11:00am ET | 8:00am PT | With increased foreign exchange volatility expected to continue for the foreseeable future combined with rising hedging costs, FX Risk Management is proving to be...

Tuesday, June 13th | 11:00am ET | 8:00am PT | With increased foreign exchange volatility expected to continue for the foreseeable future combined with rising hedging costs, FX Risk Management is proving to be one of the most difficult objectives handed down from the office of the CFO.

With continued uncertainty in financial markets and the economy, managing liquidity and diversifying cash investments is top of mind for many treasury professionals. In this webinar, American Honda shares how they use Kyriba’s ICD...

With continued uncertainty in financial markets and the economy, managing liquidity and diversifying cash investments is top of mind for many treasury professionals. In this webinar, American Honda shares how they use Kyriba’s ICD API integration to mitigate risk while getting the most out of their working capital.

Kyriba’s Currency Impact Report (CIR), a comprehensive quarterly report which details the impacts of foreign exchange (FX) exposures among 1,200 multinational companies based in North America and Europe with at least 15 percent of their revenue coming from overseas, sustained $49.09 billion in total impacts to earnings from currency volatility.

A Quarterly Report Assessing the Impact of Foreign Exchange to North American and European Corporate Earnings About the Report The May 2023 Kyriba Currency Impact Report analyzes the reported effects of currencies to North American and European companies’ earnings during the fourth quarter of 2022. To obtain this information, Kyriba analyzed the earnings calls of 1,200 publicly traded North American and European companies as part of a continued effort to provide insight into how foreign exchange impacts organizations. The companies included in this data set are large multinational firms doing business in more than one currency with at least 15% of their revenue coming from overseas. [toc]   Currency Impact Report - Overview Kyriba Currency Impact Report: Key Findings The collective quantified negative impact reported by both North American and European companies totaled $30.26 billion in Q4 2022, a 35.9% decrease from Q3 2022. 14% of corporates studied (166/1200) quantified +/- impacts totaling $32.21 billion ($30.22 billion headwinds), ($1.99 billion tailwinds). The euro was the currency most mentioned as impactful by North American and European companies, while the Korean won was the most volatile currency. 163 North American and European companies reported currency headwinds in Q4 2022. Of those companies, 154 (94.5%) companies quantified their FX impacts. Total Quantified Currency Impacts by North American and European Companies (Billions) North American Companies’ Quantified Currency Impact (Billions) European Companies’ Quantified Currency Impact (Billions) Top 5 Volatile G20 Currencies Top 5 Volatile Currencies as Weighted by GDP Percentage Currency Impact on North American Corporate Earnings Negative Currency Impact to North American Companies (Billions) Average EPS Impact Reported by North American Companies *Industry Standard MBO of Less than $0.01 EPS Impact Currency Impact on North American Corporate Earnings North American companies reported a $28.94 billion impact in Q2 2022, 33% smaller than the impact in Q3 2022.1 The average earnings per share (EPS) impact reported by North American companies in Q4 2022 was $0.05, five times greater than the industry standard MBO of less than $0.01 EPS impact. 1 Impacts are likely underestimates as most companies with currency headwinds generally do not report them. Top Currencies Referenced by North American Companies as Impactful The euro was the most mentioned currency, a continuation from the prior quarter. The Canadian dollar was the second most-mentioned, followed by the Japanese Yen, the Australian dollar, and the Brazilian real. The euro was the most volatile currency weighted by GDP (page 6). Number and Percentage of North American Companies Reporting and Quantifying Negative Currency Impacts Average Negative Impact to North American Companies (Millions) Percentage of North American Companies That Fielded Analyst Questions In Q4 2022 earnings calls, 10 percent of North American companies that reported impacts fielded analyst questions. Most Impacted North American Industries Currency Impact on European Corporate Earnings Negative Currency Impact to European Companies (Billions) Currency Impact on European Corporate Earnings Increasing from last quarter, European companies reported an 68% percent increase in negative currency impacts, with companies reporting $1.28 billion in FX-related losses.2 Of the 350 Europe-based multinationals analyzed, 1.1% reported headwinds in Q4 2022. Of those, 100% quantified their negative impacts (see page 15). 2 Impacts are likely underestimates as most companies with currency headwinds generally do not report them. Top Currencies Referenced by European Companies as Impactful The euro was the most mentioned currency in earnings calls for Europe, followed by the United States dollar and the Swedish krona. The Danish krone was the fourth most mentioned, followed by the Russian ruble. The ruble was the third most volatile currency as well as the fifth most volatile currency weighted by GDP (page 6). Number and Percentage of European Companies Reporting and Quantifying Negative Currency Impacts Average Negative Impact to European Companies (Millions) Percentage of European Companies That Fielded Analyst Questions In Q4 2022 earnings calls, 2 percent of European companies that reported impacts fielded analyst questions. Most Impacted European Industries Comparison of Currency Impact to North American and European Companies Average Quantified Negative Currency Impact (Millions) Size of Quantified Negative Currency Impact (Billions) Number of Companies Reporting Currency Impacts Percentage of Companies Reporting Impacts That Fielded Analyst Questions Quantified Negative Currency Impact (Billions) Number of Companies Reporting Negative Currency Impact   FX Risk Management is one of the most difficult objectives handed to a CFO’s organization. Kyriba has a team of experts to offer extensive FX Advisory Services to our clients. Check out Kyriba's latest demo session and see how Kyriba helps its clients mitigate the effects of currency volatility and reduce hedging costs.

Receivables finance, also known as invoice finance, is a type of working capital facility that enables businesses to borrow against unpaid invoices. Receivables finance helps businesses to improve their cash flow by unlocking the value of invoices they’ve already issued, allowing them to access funds immediately instead of waiting for their customers to pay.

Receivables finance, also known as invoice finance, is a type of working capital facility that enables businesses to borrow against unpaid invoices. Receivables finance helps businesses to improve their cash flow by unlocking the value of invoices they’ve already issued, allowing them to access funds immediately instead of waiting for their customers to pay. With receivables finance, businesses can secure the capital they need to fund operations, growth, or expansion projects. Why is Receivables Finance Important? Accounts receivable measures the money that their customers owe to a business for goods or services already provided. Analyzing a company's accounts receivable will help investors gain a better sense of a company's overall financial stability and liquidity. If clients' late payments or unexpected expenses occur, the company’s financial health could be put at risk. In extreme cases, receivables finance problems could cause damages that are very hard to recover from. This potential risk is why accounts receivable financing allows corporates to convert invoices or credit sales into cash right away, without having to hound their clients for immediate payment. Receivables finance requires a funder or factor that will be willing to finance those client invoices in advance against a fee. What is the Difference between Receivables Finance and Accounts Receivables? Receivables finance is a financing agreement where a company receives financing capital related to a portion of its accounts receivable. Accounts receivables (AR) are legally enforceable claims for payment held by a business for goods supplied or services rendered that customers have ordered but not paid for. Accounts receivables financing is the selling of outstanding invoices for funding–outstanding invoices or receivables are sold to a finance company. Receivables finance solutions enable sellers to access early payment on outstanding receivables, while remaining in control of obtaining the most efficient funding sources for its receivables. How to Turn Accounts Receivables into Cash Flow Receivables finance works by advancing a business a percentage of the value of its unpaid invoices. The business will then receive the full value of the invoice, minus any finance charges, when the customer pays. This process helps businesses to secure the funds they need to finance operations, growth, or expansion projects without taking on additional debt or equity. What are the Benefits of Receivables Finance? Receivables finance programs provide the following benefits for suppliers: Instant cash access: companies have immediate access to cash because they do not have to wait for loans to be approved Reduced credit risk position: the finance company who purchased the receivables assumes the risk on the outstanding amounts Improved organizational cash position: the funding derived from receivables finance helps unlock working capital that organizations can use to take advantage of business growth opportunities In short, receivables finance offers a number of advantages to businesses that need to access working capital quickly and easily. What are Some Different Types of Receivables Finance? There are many different types of Receivables Finance, depending on the agreements between sellers, factors, and creditors. Two of the most common types are of receivables finance are: Purchasing receivables: the process of buying goods or services on credit and then receiving payments in the future. A purchasing receivable is an amount of money that a company owes to another company after goods or services have been purchased. Asset-based lending: financing that is secured by collateral such as inventory, accounts receivable, or equipment. Asset-based lending typically works by using a business’s assets as collateral for the loan. The lender will assess the value of the assets and loan up to a certain percentage of the assets’ value. The loan proceeds are then used to finance the borrower’s working capital needs, such as purchasing inventory, paying off debt, or covering operational expenses. In addition, there are types of Receivables Finance within the above categories. The three most common are: Factoring: a type of financing service used by businesses to access cash quickly. Through factoring, businesses are able to sell their accounts receivable (invoices) to a third-party financial institution, called a factor. The factor then advances the business a portion of the face value of the invoice and collects payments from the customer. Invoice discounting: Invoice financing is a type of business funding that helps companies to access the cash tied up in their outstanding invoices. This short term funding option offers businesses a way to get the money they are owed by their customers faster, while still allowing the customer to pay at their own pace. Securitization: Securitization is the process of pooling together various types of debt, such as mortgages and corporate loans, and packaging them into a financial instrument known as a ‘security’. These securities can then be traded on the open market, allowing lenders to diversify their portfolios and access capital more quickly and cost-effectively. These types of receivables finance allow businesses to access short-term capital quickly to address cash flow needs. What Are the Key Features of Kyriba’s Receivables Finance Solution? Kyriba’s Receivables Finance solution helps businesses to streamline their receivables finance process and maximize their working capital. With Kyriba’s platform, businesses can manage, monitor, and forecast their receivables finance easily and efficiently, while also reducing the risk of fraud and increasing visibility into their finances. Kyriba’s Receivables Finance solution can help businesses to unlock the value of their unpaid invoices and access the funds they need to grow their business. Key features of Kyriba Receivables Finance solution include: Fast and efficient implementation: using application programmable interfaces (APIs), Kyriba Receivables Finance seamlessly connects to the seller’s enterprise resource planning (ERP), allowing for real-time status updates Advance payment processing: Kyriba Receivables Finance enables eligibility and limit checks before processing documents or receivable sales to banks. Then, the platform completes the workflow by connecting to funders and retrieving the status of drawdown requests Payment and reconciliation: Once collection reconciliation is complete, Kyriba Receivables Finance automatically settles re-payments of financed and collected invoices to the funder on the due date Dashboards, reports, and tips: Kyriba Receivables Finance offers a homepage widget that makes prepayment status, collections, limits, DSO, and other KPIs readily available Seamless integration: Kyriba Receivables Finance is natively integrated with the other modules of Kyriba’s Liquidity Management platform. It provides real-time visibility into other discounting or payables finance programs if any (such as Dynamic Discounting, Supply Chain Finance, and Confirming). This integration provides better business intelligence and reporting, providing a quick, easy, and in-depth analysis of global funding programs. Kyriba’s Receivables Finance module is available for corporates, large and medium companies, as well as to financial institutions as a white-label solution. Seamless Integration with Other Kyriba Modules Kyriba’s Receivables Finance solution is natively integrated with all other Kyriba Working Capital modules, as well as Kyriba Treasury, Payments, Risk Management and Connectivity. Kyriba’s Working Capital solutions provide you with access to business intelligence and reporting dashboards to drive quick and easy deep analysis of your overall financing programs.

Awarded to the company that has minimized fraud, standardized and streamlined payment processes.

Awarded to the company that has minimized fraud, standardized and streamlined payment processes. Challenge With tremendous payment volumes, the need for a best-in-class streamlined process was crucial for continued growth. Solution The New York Life team worked with the Kyriba product team to develop “Delegation of Authority” rules that flow from the Bank Account Management module to the Payments module for streamlined payment approval profile workflows. Results Through this digital design and collaboration with Kyriba, the New York Life teams have: Realized major workflow efficiencies and improved controls across their broader internal finance and business teams. Driven workflow automation through their innovative design and adoption of Kyriba’s Waterfall Payments solution. Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Chosen by Kyriba's Client Success Team for best-in-class performance across treasury operations.

Chosen by Kyriba's Client Success Team for best-in-class performance across treasury operations. Costco Wholesale is a multi-billion dollar global retailer with warehouse club operations in eight countries. Costco is a membership warehouse club, dedicated to bringing members the best possible prices on quality brand-name merchandise. With hundreds of locations worldwide, Costco provides a wide selection of merchandise, plus the convenience of specialty departments and exclusive member services, all designed to make your shopping experience a pleasurable one. Why They Won: Costco Wholesale looks for ways to improve business operations, while also meeting customers’ needs. Costco’s treasury team continually expands its usage of the Kyriba platform; this includes a current focus on expansions within California and Mexico, and Costco has greater plans to improve and enhance their Kyriba and treasury operations on a global scale in the months and years to come. With nearly 150 years of experience, Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company with unique businesses in Refining, Midstream, Chemicals, and Marketing and Specialties. In the decade since Phillips 66 became a standalone company, it has written a number of new chapters in its history. The company has pursued ambitious infrastructure projects that helped cement the company’s leading positions in the crude and natural gas liquids value chains, and it has shared its success, returning $29 billion to shareholders. And it stayed steadfast and relentless in its vision of providing energy and improving lives. Why They Won: Determined to maximize and expand their usage of their Kyriba TMS, Phillips 66 sought to gain full control of global liquidity, including investment management, and streamline global business and treasury operations. In addition to adopting numerous Kyriba modules and bank integrations across the world, Phillips 66 regularly identifies new and innovative ways to gain full visibility of liquidity and capitalize on automation, including their payment workflow integration with SAP. Looking beyond Kyriba, Phillips 66 adopts value-add relationships with integrated partners, including 360T and ICD to achieve their liquidity optimization and FX risk mitigation goals. Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Awarded to the company that has minimized fraud, standardized and streamlined check payment processing. Nominated by 3PO Consulting.

Awarded to the company that has minimized fraud, standardized and streamlined check payment processing. Nominated by 3PO Consulting. Challenges High volume check payment processing creates a unique payments environment in that checks have been, and will continue to be, a primary method of payment in their industry Highly decentralized treasury operations with 150+ divisions operating independently with multiple ERP’s and 12+ banking relationships “Nucor's payment volume and approach to processing has been impressive, and their ability to continue identifying innovations in check payment processing is deserving of the Payments Innovator award." Solution 3PO Consulting and Nucor utilized a transformation tool to normalize payment files originated by each of the 150+ divisions before the data was provided to Kyriba Centralized check payment processing operations with PNC Bank, which utilizes the new ISO payment formats and has the ability to issue checks on behalf of Nucor's other 12+ banks Results The full end-to-end process includes return acknowledgments, providing complete visibility into the payment process for each of the 150+ divisions Centralized technical and banking relationship approach dramatically simplified the process and eliminated the need for individual banking relationships with each division Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Treasury data analytics is the practice of using data analysis techniques to gain insights into a company’s treasury operations, including cash and liquidity management, investment portfolios, risk management, and supply chain finance. Treasury data...

Treasury data analytics is the practice of using data analysis techniques to gain insights into a company’s treasury operations, including cash and liquidity management, investment portfolios, risk management, and supply chain finance. Treasury data analytics involves collecting, processing, and analyzing data from multiple sources, including bank statements, cash flow statements, financial reports, and market data. Advanced analytics techniques used in treasury data analytics include data mining, predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. These tools help treasurers to identify patterns, trends, and outliers in their data and to make predictions about future cash flows and market conditions. Treasury data analytics is a critical component of modern treasury management, helping treasurers to make informed decisions, optimize their cash management strategies, and manage risks more effectively. How Does Treasury Data Analytics Work? Treasury data analytics involves several steps to collect, process, and analyze data to gain insights into a company's treasury operations. The typical process for treasury data analytics includes the following steps: Data collection: Collect data from multiple sources, including bank statements, cash flow statements, financial reports, and market data. Store in a centralized database or a data warehouse for easy access and analysis. Data cleaning and preparation: Clean and prepare data for analysis by removing duplicates, fixing errors, and filling in missing data. Then, organize the data into a format that can be easily analyzed. Data analysis: Use various data analysis techniques, such as data mining, predictive analytics, and machine learning, to analyze the data and help identify patterns and trends. Visualization and reporting: Present the data in a meaningful way, using data visualization tools, such as charts and graphs, or through reports that summarize the key insights from the analysis. Actionable insights: Use the insights gained from the analysis to inform decision-making, optimize cash management strategies, and manage risks more effectively. In general, treasury data analytics involves a combination of technical skills, domain knowledge, and business acumen to effectively collect, process, and analyze data to drive better decision-making in treasury management and financial analysis. Why is Treasury Analytics Important in Treasury Management? Treasury data analytics is important in treasury management and financial analysis because it provides treasurers with actionable insights that can inform their decision-making, improve cash forecasting accuracy, optimize cash and liquidity management strategies, identify potential risks and opportunities, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Traditionally, treasurers used simple historical models to predict future cash flow requirements. However, these models are not sufficient for today’s fast-paced business environment, where companies need to quickly adapt and leverage large sets of data to make important financial decisions. Legacy thinking and outmoded systems are incapable of modeling to predict fiscal uncertainty. Consequently, organizations using these ineffective methods will not be able to manage the rate at which volatility impacts EBITDA. Using treasury analytics is key to improving forecasting accuracy. Predictive cash flow analytics that use advanced statistical modeling and artificial intelligence provide the flexibility to adapt to changes in the market. Reasons why treasury analytics makes a difference for treasury practitioners: Enhanced Cash Management: By analyzing historical data, cash flow patterns, and market trends, treasurers can optimize cash management strategies, ensure sufficient liquidity, and make informed decisions regarding working capital, cash investments, and funding requirements. Risk Identification and Mitigation: By utilizing sophisticated modeling and scenario analysis, treasurers can quantify and evaluate various financial risks, develop matching hedging strategies, and implement risk mitigation measures to protect the organization's financial health. Informed Decision-Making: With access to comprehensive data and analytics, treasurers can choose the most optimal courses of action aligned with the organization's financial goals. Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: By analyzing data and monitoring financial activities, treasurers can identify any potential non-compliance issues, monitor adherence to internal and external policies and regulations, and generate auditing reports for regulatory authorities. Strategic Planning and Forecasting: By analyzing historical cash flow data, market situation, and macroeconomic indicators, treasurers can better align treasury strategies with the organization's overall strategic objectives. Continuous Performance Improvement: Treasury analytics facilitates the set-up of key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics so that treasurers can track and evaluate the effectiveness of treasury initiatives and identify areas for improvement. How Can Treasury Data Analytics Help in Managing Financial Operations? Using treasury analytics enables data-driven decision-making and improves financial operations by providing the following types of data: Liquidity analytics shows net debt and liquidity, how to pay down debt, and when to pay debt Cash flow analytics considers if there is enough cash, whether or not cash forecasts are reliable, and bank activity Payments analytics displays the largest concentration of payments, who is executing/approving payments, and whether or not companies are sending too many wires Risk analytics reveals how much money is available in credit lines, the value of financial assets, and borrowing profiles Supply chain finance (SCF) analytics presents supplier participation rate, number of documents uploaded, and which invoices are financed Compliance analytics illustrates who the users are and where they are located, which modules users can access with which rights, and what data users can access. In summary, predictive treasury analytics with advanced treasury dashboards help treasurers and CFOs make informed decisions to optimize financial operations. What Are the Benefits of Treasury Data Analytics for Financial Analysis? Treasury data analytics offers many benefits for financial analysis and operations. Analytics can help treasury managers: Improve cash flow management and cash flow forecasting accuracy by analyzing historical data, identifying trends, and predicting future cash flows. Use analytics to optimize cash management strategies, such as cash pooling, cash concentration, and short-term investing. Reduce risk exposure by evaluating data on interest rates, foreign exchange rates, and other market trends. Identify potential risks and hedge against them to mitigate the impact of adverse market events. Optimize financial performance by leveraging treasury data analytics. Identify inefficiencies in cash management processes and take steps to eliminate them, resulting in significant cost savings for the company. Treasurers can optimize their cash balances, reduce borrowing costs, and minimize bank fees. Monitor compliance by using data analytics to help monitor compliance with various regulations, including anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations. Improved compliance can help companies avoid costly penalties and maintain their reputation in the market. In brief, treasury data analytics can help companies make informed decisions by providing insights into their cash and liquidity management, investment portfolios, and risk management strategies. By analyzing data from multiple sources, treasurers can gain a comprehensive understanding of their cash positions, liquidity, and risk exposure, allowing them to make better investment and financing decisions that align with the company's financial goals. Key Metrics and Tools Used in Treasury Analytics By using key metrics and tools, companies can gain valuable insights into cash and liquidity, working capital, and risk management. Companies can use the following treasury metrics to optimize their treasury operations for improved financial performance: Cash flow forecasting is an essential tool used in treasury data analytics to predict future cash flows. It involves analyzing historical cash flows and using that data to forecast future cash inflows and outflows. The accuracy of cash flow forecasting is critical for effective cash and liquidity management. Liquidity management helps ensure that the company has enough cash to meet its financial obligations. Key liquidity metrics include the cash conversion cycle, days sales outstanding, and days payable outstanding. These treasury metrics are used to monitor cash flow and identify areas where cash can be optimized. Risk analysis helps identify and manage financial risks. Key risk metrics include interest rate risk, credit risk, and foreign exchange risk. These treasury metrics are used to identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them. Payment processing streamlines and automates payment processing by using technology to automate payment processing, reduce errors, and improve efficiency. Key metrics include payment processing time, payment accuracy, and payment volume. Bank account management involves managing and optimizing the company's bank accounts by monitoring account balances, reconciling bank statements, and managing cash positions. Key metrics include bank fees, bank account balances, and bank account reconciliation accuracy. These treasury metrics can provide valuable insights for companies, helping to optimize their treasury operations for improved financial performance. What Are the Challenges in Implementing Data Analytics for Treasury? Data analytics has the potential to transform how treasury departments operate. However, implementing data analytics into treasury operations comes with its own set of challenges. Lack of Skills and Expertise Skill Gap: Treasury departments have traditionally been focused on cash and risk management, not data science. Bridging the gap between these two disciplines often requires new skill sets. Training and Development: Even if the treasury department sees the value in analytics, they might not know how to use the tools effectively. This means investing time and resources in training. Recruitment: There's a high demand for data scientists and analysts across industries. Attracting top talent to treasury-specific roles can be challenging. Data Management and Quality Issues Inconsistent Data: Treasury departments deal with multiple financial institutions and systems. Each might provide data in a different format or granularity, making consolidation difficult. Accuracy and Integrity: For analytics to be effective, the underlying data must be accurate. This requires robust validation and cleansing processes. Storage and Retrieval: As data volumes grow, so do challenges associated with storing this information efficiently and ensuring it's readily accessible for analysis. Integration with Legacy Systems Compatibility Issues: Many treasury departments operate on legacy systems that weren't designed with modern analytics in mind. Integrating new analytics tools can be complex and costly. Resistance to Change: Long-standing employees might be accustomed to the old systems and resistant to transitioning to new tools, even if they offer improved functionality. Cost Implications: Upgrading or replacing legacy systems requires a significant financial investment. There's also the potential downtime and productivity loss during transition periods. Data Security and Privacy Concerns Sensitive Information: Treasury data is highly sensitive. There's a risk that integrating with new analytics tools might expose this data to vulnerabilities. Regulatory Compliance: Different regions have stringent data protection regulations (like GDPR in Europe). Ensuring that data analytics processes comply with these rules is essential to avoid legal repercussions. Access Control: It's vital to ensure that only authorized individuals can access the data. Implementing robust user authentication and authorization processes becomes paramount. While treasury data analytics presents significant opportunities for the modern treasury department, implementing it requires careful planning and commitment to resource allocation. By acknowledging and addressing these challenges, treasury departments can harness the full power of data analytics, driving efficiency and providing valuable insights to the organization. What Are the Best Practices for Using Data Analytics in Treasury? Best practices for implementing data analytics for treasury include setting clear goals, leveraging automation, and collaborating with stakeholders: Establish clear goals and objectives: Before implementing treasury data analytics, define clear goals and objectives that align with the company's overall strategic plan by identifying specific KPIs and metrics to track, such as cash flow forecasting accuracy, working capital optimization, and risk management. Leverage automation: Streamline manual and repetitive tasks, such as data entry and reconciliation, with automation to save time and reduce the risk of errors. Use robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning algorithms to analyze large amounts of data quickly and accurately. Collaborate with stakeholders: Involve stakeholders, including the finance team, IT department and business units, to ensure that the analytics solutions meet their needs and requirements. Invest in the right technology: Select the right technology infrastructure, including the right analytics software, visualization tools, data storage, and security solutions. Ensure the technology infrastructure is scalable and can handle large amounts of data. Ensure data accuracy and integrity: Establish data governance policies and procedures to ensure that data is accurate, consistent, and up-to-date. Ensure that data is secure and protected from unauthorized access. By following these best practices, companies can successfully implement treasury data analytics and derive valuable insights to support cash and liquidity, working capital, and risk management. The Role of Treasury Data Analytics in Liquidity Management Treasury data analytics is a valuable tool for modern treasury management and financial analysis. By leveraging advanced analytics tools and customizable treasury dashboards, treasurers can gain insights into their company's financial operations, improve decision-making, increase cash forecasting accuracy, optimize cash management strategies, manage risks more effectively, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Kyriba Analytics delivers integrated treasury dashboards and pre-built analytics for Kyriba Cash, Liquidity, Treasury, Risk, Compliance and Supply Chain Finance modules and data. Kyriba Analytics goes beyond traditional reporting by offering on-demand drill down, dashboard editing, and a transformed visual experience for presentation-ready information sharing. For example, predictive cash flow analytics features in new liquidity planning tools are creating better capabilities to manage longer-term liquidity performance: Liquidity and Working Capital Considerations Liquidity Planning and Analytics Solutions Do I have visibility to liquidity and when it is available? AI-generated planning Dashboards with working capital components forecasted Will I have the liquidity necessary to fund strategic capex or initiatives? Flexibility of reporting levels Formula-based calculations and static or rolling forecasts In-module support of the blending of short-term and mid/long-term forecasts What adjustments and actions for debt, credit policy, or additional working capital program expansion are needed? Future views of critical finance flows How confident am I in my cash flow forecasts? Automated integrations and dashboard-based sliding-scale parameters for real-time updates and decisioning Do teams spend too much time compiling data and/or spreadsheets? Forecast submission and review workflows How can I enhance global liquidity and financial risk mitigation and positively impact financials? What-if Scenario Analysis Compare multiple forecast types Are my working capital strategies helping optimize the cash conversion cycle? Cost of Liquidity? Views of financial flows from ERPs, procurement systems, receivables to identify and track KPIs, metrics AI-enabled forecast predictions

Awarded to the company that embraced technology for optimal transformation and efficiency of their treasury department.

Awarded to the company that embraced technology for optimal transformation and efficiency of their treasury department. Challenges Constantly seeking new ways to automate treasury processes and streamline operations. Dedicated to pushing the envelope with cutting-edge technology like APIs, automation of bank feeds, and payment file modification updates via automated methods. Underwent large-scale acquisition of Sinclair Oil. Solution Work with Kyriba PS consultants utilizing the Value Added Services Program. Deployed numerous modules: CMF, Cash Accounting, BAM, BFA, Payments, Payment Factory, Debt, FX Exchange, Investments, Financial Accounting. Bank API projects with two North American banks to streamline current day bank connectivity. Results Full control over their liquidity management: Tremendous month-over-month usage growth. Supported their internal business partners following a complicated and successful integration of Sinclair Oil by HollyFrontier in 2022. Integration to dozens of bank branches across global regions to gain full control of their cash and liquidity. “HF Sinclair is a constantly expanding client relationship emphasizing automation and advancements for their business through optimization of the Kyriba TMS. We are extremely grateful for strategic client partners like HF Sinclair because they push the envelope as well as Kyriba overall to improve and remain advanced in our approach to Products and services to offer."   Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Awarded to the company that has posted significant gains in productivity by creating fully automated cash and investment workflow, freeing up treasury's time to focus on more strategic initiatives. Nominated by ICD.

Awarded to the company that has posted significant gains in productivity by creating fully automated cash and investment workflow, freeing up treasury's time to focus on more strategic initiatives. Nominated by ICD. Challenges Inherited the Kyriba platform in a merger, and had not used the capabilities available to them. Used their bank’s portal to trade money market funds. No automated process for payments Entering data into the TMS and the settlement process was all manual and impossible to have a singular view into the trades being made and the cash balances that were available to invest in money market funds. Solution Charter leveraged Kyriba’s payments and financial transactions modules Kyriba's ICD API integration and single sign-on created a seamlessly automated cash and investment workflow. Results New fully automated cash and investment workflow with Kyriba and ICD offers: Visibility into cash A broad range of products to invest in Significant time-savings Efficiency through resource reallocation Security with data accuracy and risk mitigation “Ultimately, Charter Communications put cash to work that might otherwise sit idle by implementing a single source of truth for cash and investments."   Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

This award, sponsored by Kyriba partner and client Oanda, honors the company that has embraced Kyriba's FX module, and made great strides in managing FX exposure and risk.

This award, sponsored by Kyriba partner and client Oanda, honors the company that has embraced Kyriba's FX module, and made great strides in managing FX exposure and risk. Challenges Very complex FX Hedging program in order to protect the company against adverse currency movements after elevator contracts, which require material purchases in several currencies, are entered. Solution API connection of Otis’s homegrown FXR and ILR apps to Kyriba's FX for Pretrade import. Kyriba's FX Cash Flow Datahub. Results Sped up the process by leveraging Kyriba's open API capability for financial transactions, which they used to connect the homegrown FXR application directly to Deal Capture in order to receive pretrades as well as to send back a custom-built matching file. Cut time to execute the FX program by over 50%. "Otis required a solution that could help enhance and simplify their complex FX hedging program. The original Deloitte implementation helped Otis to connect its homegrown apps to Kyriba's FX and FX Cash Flow Datahub to eliminate once complicated processes.”   Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Recognizing best-in-class performance in payments fraud prevention and compliance management.

Recognizing best-in-class performance in payments fraud prevention and compliance management. Challenges As a leader in innovation in their industry, MetLife’s Treasury was seeking to build upon their Kyriba implementation with advanced payments fraud prevention and workflows. Need for early fraud detection and alerts, including false positive management. Solution Extensive global implementation of Kyriba’s Fraud and Compliance module. Integrated real-time screening of OFAC Sanctions lists for all outgoing payments. Results Assisted Kyriba in building new fraud detection criteria and alert management. Confidence in real-time OFAC Sanctions screening, a mandatory requirement as part of MetLife’s rigorous compliance policy. “MetLife’s progressive treasury team utilizes Kyriba across many modules, regions, and banks. This includes advanced payment workflows, where most recently MetLife partnered with Kyriba to enhance the fraud detection solution.”   Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

May 18 | 11:00am SGT | Join Kyriba on 18th May 2023 at 11am SG time and find out how Kyriba’s Cash Management, Liquidity Planning and Liquidity Analytics modules enables treasury teams and finance...

May 18 | 11:00am SGT | Join Kyriba on 18th May 2023 at 11am SG time and find out how Kyriba’s Cash Management, Liquidity Planning and Liquidity Analytics modules enables treasury teams and finance leaders in treasury to proactively manage cash and liquidity lifecycles end-to-end.

Awarded to the company that embraced technology for optimal transformation and efficiency of their treasury department. Nominated by Elire and PWC.

Awarded to the company that embraced technology for optimal transformation and efficiency of their treasury department. Nominated by Elire and PWC. Challenges Goal was to streamline banking structure by 75% to increase control over cash, reduce cots and optimize liquidity management globally. Started with over 160 banks and 1,700 bank accounts to support their growing practice of over 1,400 veterinary clinics, hospitals and pet resorts worldwide. Solution Cash position worksheets focusing on account grouping by departments, budget codes, and Regions, fulfilling requirement to capture data from Bank transactions and categorize them based on sub accounts found within the description. Implemented a more scalable strategy to unlock trapped cash, mobilize liquidity, reduce vulnerability to rising interest rates, and standardize treasury and payment controls with Kyriba. Results Achieved close to 100% visibility into their day-to-day activities: Automated and achieved 98% visibility to cash Reduced bank portals and centralized all processing onto Kyriba Automated accounting reporting Complete digital integration of debt and FX, reducing FX risk exposure “Kyriba was used as the technology engine that powered this impressive transformation for NVA, achieving 98% visibility into cash, reduced bank portals and centralized all processing.”   Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Companies that can identify and use cash with confidence can now leverage liquidity as an asset for strategic value creation. It’s a competitive advantage that has often been overlooked, or not available, but which...

Companies that can identify and use cash with confidence can now leverage liquidity as an asset for strategic value creation. It’s a competitive advantage that has often been overlooked, or not available, but which due to advances in digitized bank connectivity is now becoming a reality. How an organization moves, manages, stores and protects cash has costs, benefits and risks, as with any other asset. As Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet, has said, “There’s no question that liquidity is sacrosanct.” Today, many leading firms realize they can now treat liquidity as an asset and use it as a market weapon. Corporate liquidity management practices are today faced with many “new normals”, shaped by increasingly frequent liquidity disruptions, given recent financial, geopolitical, trade and public health crises. These factors are compounded by demands for access to new financial and payment channels; more sophisticated fraud tactics and demands from business to scale to new regions and currencies better, faster and cheaper. Not being able to actively manage liquidity is to lose sight of a key asset: cash on hand, as PwC estimates that 25% of cash held by companies is not visible to finance. Compelling Solutions The legacy approach of creating unique and individual links between an enterprise’s internal ERP systems, trading platforms and banks made it impossible to generate the holistic view required to support the optimization of cash. This disconnected approach resulted in isolated liquidity pools and limited business success. Worse, the creation of unique deployments for every bank or payment system was costly and time consuming. But innovative and compelling liquidity management solutions now address those challenges and meet changing business needs. It is therefore now time to reimagine the bank connectivity approach as one that can simplify daily operations and enable next-generation enterprise liquidity management. The solution now exists that integrates all aspects of the process using consistent interfaces and APIs, and delivers not only new thinking, but a new approach to technology services to support it. The Next Generation for Optimizing Liquidity: Bank Connectivity as a Service The limitations of legacy approaches are so severe that a new digital service for delivering enterprise liquidity management must be a high-priority project. Organizations that stick to the old ways will be compromised. For example, the ability to stop fraud and implement payment control would be greatly curtailed, given that a recent survey by the Association for Financial Professionals found that 81% of organizations had been targets of payment fraud. Furthermore, business agility is impossible when it takes three to nine months to connect the organization to a bank. The most promising way forward is to enable a connectivity-as-a-service approach for all aspects of providing consistent, holistic, documented and secure liquidity management. This allows the enterprise to connect all its liquidity partners quickly and robustly and more easily adapt liquidity providers as needs change. Cloud Resilience & API’s To optimize liquidity, organizations need to deploy a service that has been designed with a modern technology foundation. The use of cloud platforms for this as-a-service model is at the heart of the approach, because it allows the enterprise to match usage and spending. In addition, many IT infrastructure tasks, such as resiliency, backup, security and system management, are done by the service provider. This allows the internal IT team to focus on delivering the highest possible value. Next-generation solutions also use APIs and prebuilt integrations to greatly simplify linking different aspects of the overall system. In this case, it could mean linking enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and trading platforms much more quickly and accurately. The use of consistent and documented APIs and integrations not only saves a great deal of setup time, but also makes future changes simple to implement and eliminate manual errors. Connectivity as a service is enabled by simplified integration and interactions. Figure 1. Progression of Hyberautomation Initiatives Unified Data Another key feature of modern as-a-service solutions is that data is unified and stored in one place, making it possible to derive much more useful intelligence from it using analytic tools such as artificial intelligence. As banking platforms change and banks roll out new requirements for how they will receive formatted files, a central depository of up-to-date bank specs relieves corporate IT from needing to follow, build and test these ever-changing bank formats. Finally, a modern platform includes all necessary applications or solutions in one platform. For liquidity optimization, this includes treasury, risk, payments and working capital management. The benefits of using a best-in-class offering that delivers liquidity connectivity as a service are compelling. For one, there are significant shortterm cost savings, starting with a reduction in the cost of onboarding a bank. Based on its experience working with customers and partners, Kyriba has found that the cost typically ranges from $50,000 to $150,000. But this can be reduced by well over 50% using Kyriba’s established and proven banks links and its modern as-a-service solution. Speed and the attendant agility to modify or create net new integrations also improve. With this type of platform, enterprises’ time to production is also two to three times faster. Figure 2. Payment volumes increasing with increased digitization of transactions Fraud Controls A significant reduction in fraud and misdirected payments is now possible, since a cohesive view and comprehensive reporting make it much easier to identify potential problems and remediate them. Further, with a documented set of integrations and stronger process, the chance for mistakes that lead to fraud is nearly eliminated. With a comprehensive data set, enterprises can easily analyze liquidity flows to optimize them. Gone are the days of manually integrating disparate spreadsheets. Such information will also deliver the insights organizations need to make changes that improve liquidity and allow them to use it more effectively. The value of a single source of truth about liquidity provided by this type of service is impossible to ignore. From a business operations perspective, having connectivity as a service as the digital foundation enables enterprises to: Make strategic plans for the use of cash enterprise-wide Provide businesses with an agile banking platform to efficiently add and remove new banking partners, while minimizing the burden on IT resources Optimize the cost of bank fees Determine the best payment channels to use, based on specific scenarios Centralize fraud management Provide a foundation for meeting regulatory and compliance issues However, without a comprehensive solution that tracks all liquidity, benefits are much more limited. Resultant blind spots don’t just impact the liquidity not tracked by the system; they impact all liquidity as well. With only a partial implementation, treasurers are still flying blind. Enterprise Liquidity Management As successful, modern enterprises implement new services and technologies to optimize every element of their business, attention is now increasingly focused on liquidity management. Legacy processes for doing this worked well in the last millennium, but every organization looking for an edge is now taking the next steps to achieve enterprise liquidity management. New services, such as Kyriba’s Active Liquidity Network, provide those capabilities and insights that were not possible using legacy practices. With an underlying service that brings a consistent and holistic view to all aspects of liquidity, organizations are empowered to optimize it as never before. This comprehensive perspective allows them to maximize liquidity across all banks, payment processors and the treasury. And using this data, organizations can make better long-term decisions, positioning themselves for the future. What’s more, these new capabilities reduce the time needed to add new banks or processors and dramatically reduce the costs of doing so. IT teams can now be much more responsive and better able to help the CFO have confidence in getting things done. Check out this webinar to learn how Treasury and IT worked together at Hilton Grand Vacations with Kyriba to speed up connecting more than 10 banks and 300 bank accounts to improve cash and liquidity management.

KyribaLive is where treasury and finance leaders engage, connect and transform. See all the recorded sessions.

KyribaLive is where treasury and finance leaders engage, connect and transform. See all the recorded sessions.

This award, sponsored by Kyriba partner and client Oanda, honors the company that has embraced Kyriba's FX module, and made great strides in managing FX exposure and risk.

This award, sponsored by Kyriba partner and client Oanda, honors the company that has embraced Kyriba's FX module, and made great strides in managing FX exposure and risk. Challenges Longtime FiREapps clients, seeking to to transform their Capital Markets and Risk Management processes in 2022-2023 Goal was to implement and achieve a best-in-class solution ”After a thorough RFP review, Eastman decided to expand with Kyriba because of the full end-to-end workflow to streamline their very manual front to back-office processes.” Solution Managing all FX, Interest Rate and Commodities trades in Kyriba Downstream Hedge Accounting entries are automatically integrated to SAP, and trade settlement payments are processed directly to their banks Results Saved the Capital Markets team several hours each week Simplified the external audit process Delivered cross-functional automation and controls improvements across the broader treasury and accounting functions. Kyriba's Liquidity Excellence Awards recognize clients, both at the corporate and individual level, for excellence in Treasury, Finance and Cash Management. Winners are nominated by their peers and partners, and are announced at KyribaLive, Kyriba's annual user conference. Nominating partners also receive acknowledgement for their contribution to these clients' successes. Company awards recognize outstanding performance across six award categories: Treasury Transformation, Achievements in Productivity, FX Optimization, Payment Innovation, Working Capital, and Implementation the Year. Recognition is also given to individual contributors for outstanding performance across four award categories: Peak Performer, Pivotal API, Data Demon, and Elevated Visibility. Check out our complete list of 2023 Liquidity Excellence Award Winners. Congratulations to all!

Cash forecasting is the process of predicting near future cash flows, including both inflows and outflows, based on current business conditions and past performance. It is a crucial component of effective cash and liquidity...

Cash forecasting is the process of predicting near future cash flows, including both inflows and outflows, based on current business conditions and past performance. It is a crucial component of effective cash and liquidity management, as it enables organizations to anticipate changes in their liquidity and plan for them accordingly. Proactively managing cash flow enables organizations to make more informed decisions, mitigate risk, and optimize cash investments. Generally, cash forecasting is concerned with identifying liquidity requirements for the next 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days. Differences between Cash Management, Cash Forecasting and Liquidity Planning Cash management looks at daily cash positioning and reconciliation of prior day bank transactions, including bank reporting, bank transaction tagging, and target balancing of accounts. Cash forecasting projects cash surpluses and requirements of days/weeks/months into the future. Forecast data is captured from internal and external sources with the ability to model simultaneous forecasts in parallel and stress-test against multiple business scenarios. Liquidity planning is an evolution of traditional cash flow forecasting surrounding the cash forecast with data which supports better-informed liquidity decisions. It looks into more data sets including cash, credit, debt and investments and extends focus on medium to long-term cash needs. Table: Key differences between Cash Management, Cash Forecasting and Liquidity Planning Cash Management Cash Forecasting Liquidity Planning Primary focus Operational Tactical Strategic Purpose Optimize cash Forecast cash inflows/outflows Manage available cash to meet future obligations Time horizon Short-term Up to 90 days Up to 12 months Frequency Daily / Weekly Daily / Weekly / Monthly Monthly / Quarterly / Yearly Importance to Business Essential for daily operations Critical for short-term stability Essential for long-term financial health Tools used Bank accounts, cash receipts/payments, cash pooling Cash flow statements, Cash flow projections, budgets Financial statements, ratio analysis, cash flow analysis, scenario planning Why is Cash Forecasting Important? Accurate forecasting gives businesses the ability to understand their cash position at any given moment, enabling them to anticipate and plan for any potential shortfalls. Businesses can also use the cash flow forecasting to identify opportunities to reduce costs and maximize returns on investments. Additionally, forecasting can help businesses manage their liquidity, allowing them to minimize the risk of running out of cash and prepare for any potential cash crunches. In summary, effective cash flow forecasting allows organizations to: Ensure efficient and accurate cash flow management by identifying discrepancies between actual and expected cash flows and taking corrective action if necessary. Optimize cash flow planning with more accurate cash flow projections. Forecasting enables companies to anticipate potential cash flow problems and take the necessary steps to avoid them. Companies can also use forecasting to develop more effective strategies for financial planning and budgeting. The Benefits of Forecasting Cash Flow Having a reliable forecasting process is essential for businesses of all sizes. Organizations accurately forecasting cash flow are better equipped to make informed decisions about investments, capital expenditures and working capital management, and eventually achieve greater cash flow efficiency. It is important to ensure the forecasting process is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in the business environment. This includes monitoring external factors such as changes in interest rates, inflation, and market trends, as well as internal factors such as changes in business strategy or operations. By continuously improving their forecasting process, businesses can maintain a competitive edge and achieve greater cash flow efficiency in the long run with the following visible positive business outcomes: Improved Planning and Budgeting: Organizations can plan and budget based on the most up-to-date and accurate financial data. By using the right tools, organizations can predict the timing of inflows and outflows, giving them a better understanding of their short-term liquidity needs. Better Decision Making: By understanding the company’s future cash flow, businesses can make informed decisions about investments, expenses, and other financial activities. Early Identification of Cash Shortages: Organizations can identify potential budgeting issues before they become a problem, allowing them to take corrective action quickly and efficiently. Improved Cash Management: The information gained from accurate forecasting enables companies to better predict future cash flows and calculate future cash balances, equipping finance teams with the cash visibility they need to plan for the future. What Is Cash Forecasting Method? An accurate forecast includes having a clear understanding of when funds are coming in and when those funds will be needed to pay bills. By using the right cash flow forecasting techniques, businesses are able to better prepare for unexpected expenses. There are two main cash flow forecasting techniques that are commonly used: Direct method estimates future cash flows based on actual inflows and outflows, providing detailed operating cash flow information. It involves forecasting cash receipts and payments on a detailed level, that's why it's difficult and time-consuming. It's often used for short-term forecasts as it requires a high level of detail about specific transactions. It typically involves an analysis of cash receipts from customers and cash paid to suppliers and employees. The direct method requires a significant amount of data, but it tends to be more accurate in the short term. Indirect method starts with net income and then adds or subtracts items to adjust for non-cash transactions and changes in operating assets and liabilities. The indirect method is often used for longer-term forecasting because it is less detail-oriented and relies more on trend analysis than specific transaction data. It's often easier and quicker to compile than a direct forecast but might be less accurate in the short term. Large companies often prefer it. Aligning the indirect method used by financial planning and analysis (FP&A) for budgeting operational and free cash flow, with the direct method traditionally used by treasury, treasury can better guide leadership and the board on cash flow performance, risks, and opportunities. How to Build a Cash Flow Forecast in Your Business Organizations can implement cash forecasting by following some straightforward steps. Step 1: Assess Current State The first step is to assess the current state of your organization’s cash. Assessing the current state will help you identify areas of risk and opportunity as well as develop a plan of action for improving cash flow. Key areas to assess include cash balance, cash flow, bank fees, and liquidity. Step 2: Establish Cash Flow Goals The next step is to establish objectives for your organization’s cash flow, including setting specific goals that are in line with your organization’s mission and objectives. These goals should be measurable and achievable with the resources available to you to ensure that your cash forecasting efforts are in line with your overall strategy. Step 3: Design Cash Forecasting Process Once you have assessed your current state and established your goals, you can begin to design your cash forecasting process. Designing the process includes identifying the data sources, the tools and methods used, and the metrics you will use to measure success. This process should be tailored to the specific needs of your organization and should be regularly reviewed and adjusted as needed. Common Cash Forecasting Mistakes to Avoid Without accurate forecasting, companies are unable to assess financial performance, identify areas of opportunity, or manage risk. Poor forecasting can result in: Ineffective cash management Inadequate liquidity Lack of capital Increased debt Some of the most common forecasting mistakes include: Overestimating Future Sales: One of the most common forecasting mistakes is overestimating future sales. This misstep occurs when the forecast is based on an overly optimistic and unrealistic expectation of sales, leaving the business with a cash flow shortfall. Tips: Businesses should focus on realistic sales targets and be aware of any unique factors that may affect sales, such as changes in the market or customer base. Not Taking Seasonality into Account: It is important to consider seasonality when forecasting cash flow. Many businesses have periods of high and low sales during the year and must be prepared for these fluctuations. Tips: Businesses should monitor past sales trends and plan accordingly. Businesses should also be aware of any external factors that could affect sales, such as social, economic, and political conditions. Ignoring Cash Reserves: It is the mistake of taking into account the amount of cash a company has set aside for emergencies or other purposes, which can lead to inaccurate forecasting. Tips: Businesses should always have an adequate amount of cash reserves to cover any unexpected costs or economic downturns. Companies should also review their forecasts on a regular basis to ensure that cash reserves are up-to-date and adequate for their needs. What Is an Example of a Cash Flow Forecast? Cenveo is the world leader in the management and distribution of print and related offerings, encompassing 20 facilities across the United States with a long history of delivering top value for customers. Cenveo chose the Kyriba Enterprise Liquidity Management platform to improve visibility into overall liquidity and provide management on-demand insights into the performance of their strategic liquidity objectives and Cenveo achieved outstanding business results, seeing 93% forecast accuracy and 90% productivity improvements. According to a Kyriba Value Realization Assessment (VRA) assessment, Cenveo saw the following improvements post Kyriba deployment, including but not limited to: Cash Management: 100% real-time liquidity visibility, 95 hours per month productivity gain. Cash Forecasting: 43% liquidity forecast accuracy improvement, 113 hours per month productivity gain. Liquidity Payment Optimization: Increases in data integrity and workflow controls ensured no loss of discounts, 137 hours per month productivity gain. The Role of Technology in Cash Flow Forecasting Technology has revolutionized cash forecasting, giving businesses access to powerful and precise insights into their cash flow and liquidity. With automated data gathering and advanced analytics and automated workflows, businesses are now able to quickly and accurately forecast their cash position, identify areas of risk, and manage their liquidity with confidence. The potential for cash flow forecasting technology is vast and rapidly expanding. With new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), businesses will have access to more powerful insights into their cash flow and more precise forecasting capabilities. With Kyriba’s advanced solutions, businesses can make more informed decisions, accurately forecast cash positions, and ensure their financial goals are met. Kyriba enables businesses to gain more control over their cash flow with advanced analytics and real-time visibility.

Download this ebook to learn how you can prepare your team for a successful implementation and achieve the most value from your TMS.

While treasury departments are typically aware of the advantages that a treasury management system (TMS) provides for cash and liquidity management, they are often less clear on what is required to achieve the full benefits. In this ebook, you will learn the steps needed to design and plan for a TMS, including best practices for how to: Define future state processes Build a prioritized roadmap Design a system. Download this ebook to learn how you can prepare your team for a successful implementation and achieve the most value from your TMS. Holistic System Design Methodology While treasury departments are typically aware of the advantages of using a treasury management system (TMS), they are often less clear on the steps required to achieve the full benefits. It is difficult to get where you’re going if you do not have detailed directions on how to get there, so planning well in advance and establishing measurable objectives better positions organizations to reap rewards when implementing or enhancing a TMS. Not only will clients minimize additional costs and project delays but most importantly, they will also achieve the full set of benefits sought from a TMS in the first place. The first step in positioning a TMS project for success is to follow what is referred to as a holistic system design methodology: confirming the scope and objectives of the project, defining the future state processes of your TMS, creating a roadmap and planning the system design. Confirm the Scope and Objectives of the Project When defining the scope and objectives of a TMS project, treasury professionals should focus on four specific areas: Out of Box API Integration Faster time-to-market No upfront costs to enable real-time payments Improved certainty in cash flows Obtain Clarity on Current State It is difficult to clearly define your scope if you do not have a solid understanding of your point of departure. Depending on whether the treasury function is more centralized, decentralized or if certain functions have been outsourced, you may have a better grasp on how all the daily processes function and who is responsible for which activities. Having a strong foundational knowledge and understanding of the current processes is critical when designing any new solution. To help lay this groundwork, detailed process flow diagrams should be created that include all areas being considered for TMS implementation. The focus should be on: How data flows between people and systems Roles and responsibilities of various constituent groups throughout the process Hand-offs between groups Defining whether the process is systematic or manual Systems and reports beings utilized Key controls needed In gathering all the elements noted above, you will not only help establish a clear point of departure for the implementation, but will also capture a number of data points that are critical for future steps of the implementation. Define Scope and Priorities In order to determine an accurate budget, resource needs and a timeline of a clear scope are required. This includes analyzing all requirements, including those in scope, out of scope or deferred to a future phase of the project. Additionally, throughout implementation, decisions will need to be made regarding where to focus resources and how to sequence tasks. As such, it is extremely beneficial to have clearly defined and prioritized requirements and project scope that have been agreed upon by all constituents. This will assist in providing direction to the project team and help ward off any deviation from the key priorities. The requirements must be at a fairly granular level of detail in order to facilitate these decisions. For example, it is best practice to list out all the reports and determine which functions are a “must have” and what is simply “nice to have” to ensure resources are spent wisely. Set Measurable Objectives The best way to determine the project’s success is by measuring it against a set of predefined objectives. These can be categorized by type including improved financial performance, risk mitigation or enhanced operational efficiencies. Some examples for each category include: Improved financial performance – Reduce bank fees by 20 percent through validating fees charged and renegotiating agreements based on cross bank fee analyses Risk mitigation – Centralize 95 percent of payment approval workflow, release and confirmations Enhanced operational efficiencies – Reduce time required to compile daily liquidity across all accounts by one hour per day The objectives should be incorporated into the project status reporting to ensure the team does not lose sight of them and to ensure that they are achieved as part of the implementation. Ensure Leadership Support and Alignment In a project as significant as a TMS implementation, it is critical to obtain leadership support and ensure alignment and commitment from all key stakeholders. Reach out not only to internal stakeholders but also to external ones including vendors and implementation partners. The project will impact and require involvement across multiple departments, including accounting, accounts payable, FP&A, tax, information technology and treasury. However, prior to engaging these teams you must be prepared to clearly communicate the following: Project vision and importance to the company Specific benefits achievable by each function Anticipated level of effort and resources required Timeline and roll-out strategy Impact to existing processes and potential changes in roles and responsibilities There will be a number of project dependencies on these groups, so ensuring they are committed and have allocated sufficient resources to meet the project timelines is vital to its success. Aligning the project team’s incentive compensation structure with achieving the defined objectives is another effective method to ensure commitment across all levels. Define Future State Processes As part of a TMS implementation, existing processes, roles and responsibilities should be analyzed with a goal to optimize, as well as take advantage of best practices delivered with the system. It is worth noting that taking existing processes and lifting and shifting them to a new TMS is often not the best approach. Legacy processes and roles transform over time. As organizations evolve and grow, the circumstances change, but usually the processes do not. The future state should be designed to improve processes to make the organization more efficient, productive and strategic. Therefore, it’s critical to define what that future state will look like. In order to achieve the ideal future state, a defined set of steps should be followed to optimize the design of the system, realize new efficiencies and to fully benefit from the TMS’ capabilities. Once the scope of the project is defined, the next order of business is to identify the future state processes: Document functional and technical requirements to drive implementation decisions. Draft process flow diagrams of the future state that reflect ownership and hand-offs, and define ideal processes and data workflows. Create a system architecture diagram and identify opportunities to redesign and streamline processes. The architecture might include multiple versions to coincide with roadmap phases. Refine roles and responsibilities to take advantage of treasury’s ideal future state, including defining staffing skill requirements and determining which processes and resources need to be realigned. Analyze the impact of change management on the organization and assess the organization’s ability to absorb this level of change. Developing a Process Flow Diagram Creating a future state process flow diagram lets organizations identify opportunities to redesign and streamline processes and determine how functions will be performed in the TMS. This diagram will help treasury define: Processes or data flows that are manual versus those that facilitate straight-through processing Systems utilized and how data flows between them as well as manual movements Interdependencies between groups, data flow and processes Cross-functional responsibilities and flow of data between internal and external groups Key controls (both systematic and manual) to ensure they are being maintained, if not strengthened Below is an example of a payment process flow diagram showing task cross-departmental ownership: Creating a System Architecture Design In addition to defining the functional process flows, a system architecture diagram should also be created. It will serve as a high-level view of all the integration points coming into and out of the TMS, detail the TMS functionality in scope and identify any third-party dependencies. If the plan is to deploy the functionality in phases, the items can be color-coded to identify which items will be implemented in each phase. When discussing the project with management, key stakeholders or third-party vendors, this illustration is very helpful to convey the desired end state. The Importance of Documenting Change Management As part of the future state definition, it is important to identify changes in processes and how they impact individuals’ daily functions, as well as any potential changes in ownership. The proposed changes must be well documented, and include the rational and perceived benefits, and it must be approved by the heads of each department. If at any point the groups cannot reach a consensus, any open items should be escalated to the steering committee or additional members of senior management if applicable. It is important to confirm and communicate the changes to everyone as early as possible to avoid confusion and disruption when the change is enacted. Build a Prioritized Roadmap The implementation or enhancement process will likely go through many phases before reaching completion. Therefore, it is critical to create a well-defined roadmap that includes a realistic project plan, outlines budgetary and personnel needs, and measures progress. To develop the roadmap, treasury will want to: Clearly outline objectives and designate tasks and priorities for action in the short-, medium- and long-term. Create an impact assessment to weigh the benefits against the cost and time required to achieve the desired outcome. Indicate the timeline, resources and budget required to achieve the stated objectives and prepare a business case. Define metrics and milestones to allow regular tracking of progress. Developing a Process Flow Diagram The project roadmap should be driven by a combination of factors including: Level of effort to accomplish Prioritization of requirement Impact to the organization Key dependencies Centrally managed functions versus decentralized functions Global nature of the business and level of involvement and impact to each region Ability to address significant control deficiencies or risks Expiration of software licenses or sunsetting of existing products Budgetary or resource constraints Treasury will also need to weigh the impact of the roadmap on the organization. Typical approaches to phase the implementation involve either deploying the system by grouping modules, such as cash management and forecasting, bank account management, payments, etc., or deploying by region. For more global organizations, the deployment may be phased by both a set of modules and by region. The roadmap and resource requirements of other groups must be discussed and their feedback incorporated into the plan. The plan should be realistic and, ideally, also build in some opportunities for early wins to gain momentum and confidence in the project. Identifying these opportunities for early wins will avoid having a project that fails to live up to the state objectives or exceeds the budget. Why You Should Assess Project Impact To create a realistic timeline, treasury will want to weigh the benefits of the project against the cost and time required to achieve the desired outcome. The best way to do that is to rate each impact as low, medium or high. Then, plot the impacts on the y-axis of a graph and the time and resource commitment (or level of effort) on the x-axis. This practice can help identify low impact, low effort commitments that are good to start with as a first step to achieve a quick win. Defining Metrics and Milestones Defining metrics and key milestones allows treasury to monitor progress and keep everyone on track. Each time the organization achieves a milestone, share the news and related metrics at stakeholder meetings and in key management conversations. Always communicate positive wins. This will help build confidence in the TMS initiative and demonstrate immediate value to the organization. Designing a System Once there is a solid foundation and clear plan, it’s time to design the system. The focus should be on determining how to best configure the TMS to meet the defined requirements and processes while taking into account industry best practices. The most successful system design projects occur when there is a holistic understanding of both the business requirements and TMS capabilities by all participants in the project, including business and technology stakeholders, as well as third-party vendors involved in the implementation. When designing the system, be sure to: Conduct knowledge transfer sessions with third-party vendors to ensure they fully comprehend the business requirements and objectives. Conduct TMS training sessions to educate stakeholders on the TMS functionality. Confirm with all stakeholders impacted by the implementation that they understand and agree with how the system will accommodate their requirements. Define how the TMS will integrate with other systems, including: • Connection method • Frequency of data transmission • Volume of data being transmitted • Whether data transformation is required • If it is an automated or manual integration • The project phase and priority for each systems integration Incorporate industry best practices into the overall design. Conduct proof of concept scenarios where the implementation team models client-specific examples in the system and provides output for review and validation. Structure a plan to validate output early on to help identify potential system limitations at the outset. Garnering Different Perspectives It is important to understand the perspective, areas of expertise and objectives of all internal and external stakeholders. Most businesses are intimately familiar with their current way of conducting business and the desired future state; however, they typically have limited experience with system implementations or knowing how treasury management systems function. While the vendors are experts on the capabilities of the TMS, they do not have the intimate knowledge of a business’ specific operational treasury activities. In order to increase the knowledge of both parties, time must be allocated at the outset of the project to conduct knowledge sharing sessions. Too often, teams dive directly into the implementation activity without ensuring proper alignment and understanding. The most common cause is due to a failure of both parties to fully appreciate the others’ needs and capabilities before proceeding with the system configuration. In order to help avoid this disconnect, utilize the checklist below and confirm each is adequately addressed prior to the system configuration. Design Requirements (Client) Have I documented my requirements at a level of detail that is granular enough? Have I provided tangible examples of offline processes and reports? How malleable is my future state vision? How well does the system accommodate our vision? What are the limitations that will require workarounds or development? Does the vendor truly grasp my business and desired end state? Has the vendor formulated and clearly communicated the system design to me? System Capabilities (Vendor) How well does the system accommodate the client’s future state vision? • Is it meeting all the high-priority items? • Are stated objectives going to be met? Have I provided tangible examples of offline processes and reports? • Is the workaround acceptable or is system development required to address the gap? Do I fully understand the client’s requirements and have I performed a proof of concept to validate my understanding? Has the vendor formulated and clearly communicated the system design to me? Capturing Data Elements An important aspect of every TMS implementation is determining what data elements must be captured in the system to best achieve the desired output. This can be challenging as you are typically compiling this information at the inception of the project, prior to having a true appreciation for how the data will be used and displayed throughout the system. It is important to ask sufficient questions to understand the downstream implications of how static data, reference data and user-defined fields will be utilized in the user interface and reports. One way to achieve this is through a proof of concept. Treasury should keep these high-level best practices in mind with regard to data elements: Key elements: Ensure crucial data elements are included and captured in the appropriate location to facilitate the required system displays or output. Integration: Consider how data elements will interact and integrate with upstream and downstream systems. Be sure to address requirements for ERP(s), market data, trading portals, etc. Terminology: Determine a standardized, global naming convention that’s consistent, recognizable and understood across the organization. Treasury may want to consider terminology that users are familiar with, such as leveraging the same naming conventions as their ERP system. ERP structure: Look at the ERP structure by region or business unit. Each one provides data elements that treasury can capture at the entity level and facilitate utilization, grouping and reporting of the data downstream. Determining Essential Reports Treasury must confirm which reports and specific data elements are required, which ones are still in use and what their limitations are in order to produce the reporting output. It’s also important to understand the system’s out-of-the-box reporting views and capabilities. It is recommended to perform a reporting rationalization to validate and consolidate the reporting requirements and determine a list of must-have reports. To ensure they have access to the reports they need from the new system while reducing the effort to develop these reports, treasury will need to: Identify opportunities to consolidate like reports with numerous overlapping data elements. Often, report requests are added over time without evaluating already available alternatives. Compare the consolidated set of reports needed with vendor capabilities. Utilizing existing, out-of-the-box reporting from the system generally minimizes costs and project risk. There will likely be some level of custom report development, but fight the urge to try to replicate the existing report package and instead only customize views where they are absolutely necessary. The data element design may need to be supplemented to address areas where limitations are identified. Sometimes there are free form or user-defined fields available that can be utilized to meet unique requirements not addressed by out of the box functionality, so these should be considered when limitations are discovered. Communicating Unique Requirements Some requirements don’t fit neatly into a box or align with the typical system utilization but still need to be included. To decide whether to add them to the list of requirements, treasury should fully examine their merits, communicate clearly so that everyone understands why they are necessary and provide tangible examples. The treasury team and the vendor should work together to identify solutions that can leverage existing capabilities and be open to alternatives that may not exactly mirror the current process. You want to avoid falling into the trap of spending excessive time on an isolated area to the detriment of the overall project timeline or budget. Setting Up System Controls Another key element in the design is analyzing how the system manages controls, assigns user permissions and administers these controls on a go-forward basis. A good starting point is pulling the existing SOX controls in place for each department involved in the project and highlighting which of them are applicable to the TMS. While this will provide a starting point to the level of system access granularity in the TMS, applying these controls can be daunting. Obtaining assistance from both internal resources and the vendor is advisable. To identify key control considerations and figure out how those are addressed in the system, be sure to consider the following: System security: Understand how to manage user access and regional access rights, and dual-review controls in the system. Sometimes the set-up exists in multiple locations, so be sure to obtain a holistic understanding of where security is managed in the application. Existing controls and SOX key controls: Identify how existing controls can be strengthened and how they will change as the process migrates to the TMS. Systematic-based controls: Find opportunities to switch to more automated and systematic controls. For clients migrating from offline processes, hard copies are often utilized as evidence that the control step was taken. However, as you migrate to a TMS, evidence of the control step can often be captured systematically via report or system audit log. Seek to design the system to take advantage of these controls and audit evidence. Additionally, ensure it is clear where to access the audit logs and that they are deemed sufficient by your internal audit group. One example of this is transitioning from paper copy sign-off on payments based on defined dollar limits to a system audit log for which user-approved payments and security rights limit access to individuals based on dollar thresholds. User groups: Determine how to build user groups to achieve control objectives. For example, payment approvers that have the same approval rights can be grouped together. Grouping users will minimize future system administration. Leveraging Proofs of Concept Leveraging proof of concept (PoC) scenarios to validate the system design early in the implementation process is an effective method to minimize project risks and ensure alignment between all stakeholders. A proof of concept also helps identify system limitations at the onset of the project and enables treasury and the vendor to factor them into the overall project plan from the very beginning. A PoC utilizes a specific set of data from a defined period, attempts to flow it through the end-to-end system design and produces an output demonstrating the operational steps, specific calculations and reporting views. It provides the users an opportunity to visualize the system processes and validate the output while there is still time to modify it with minimal rework or impact to the project. The following steps should be taken to create a robust set of PoC scenarios: Key stakeholders should identify proof of concept scenarios (client responsible) Develop input data required to produce scenarios (client responsible) Model scenarios in the system and provide results including screen shots, calculations and reporting views (vendor responsible) Review and provide feedback on output provided by the vendor (client responsible) Identify design changes or potential system limitations (vendor responsible) Validate task priorities, workaround options and development needs (both parties responsible)? The Recipe for a Successful TMS Implementation Depending on the scope and stakeholder groups involved, TMS implementations can be complex projects with multiple moving parts. The organizations that have the most successful implementations and achieve the most value tend to: Perform proper planning and alignment from the onset Spend sufficient time ensuring all stakeholders have a deep understanding of both the business needs and TMS capabilities prior to diving into the implementation Validate the system design leveraging proof of concept scenarios before building out the system holistically Proactively track and measure project objectives against accomplishments and ensure clear communication is provided across all stakeholder groups These items focus on two key points—active engagement with all parties and regular communication. Additionally, planning and system design validation play an important role in every successful TMS implementation. By keeping this recipe in mind throughout the implementation process, treasury is well positioned to deliver on its objectives and ensure the company it supports is better positioned to realize its goals.   Want to learn more about how to prepare for remote treasury management system implementations and avoid project risk? Check out this webinar.

Modern APIs to pay, get payment confirmation, and get account balance, all in real-time. As part of a strategic partnership Kyriba and U.S. Bank have developed API connectors to drive real-time treasury, making real-time...

Modern APIs to pay, get payment confirmation, and get account balance, all in real-time. As part of a strategic partnership Kyriba and U.S. Bank have developed API connectors to drive real-time treasury, making real-time payments and instant data exchange a reality. These API connectors can be enabled upon request for mutual customers based on their business needs and applicable use cases. The Connectors Enable Initiation of real-time payments (RTP®* and Zelle®**) from customer’s U.S. Bank account using Kyriba user interface or client’s ERP Real-time confirmation of payment status Real-time visibility into account balance, transactions and prior day reporting Your Experience Keeps Improving The API connectors complement existing U.S. Bank-Kyriba FTP connectivity for ACH and Wire payments. Together we bring a rich payment experience to our mutual clients. Clients can send instant payments from their U.S. Bank accounts within their existing Kyriba dashboard. Highlights of Key Benefits for Mutual Customers Out of Box API Integration Faster time-to-market No upfront costs to enable real-time payments Reduced costs by replacing qualifying wires Reduced precautionary balances Improved certainty in cash flows Improved cash visibility and forecasting Opportunities to shape business model, strengthen supplier relationships, and drive ROI * RTP® is a registered service mark of The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. ** Zelle® and Zelle®-related marks and logos are property of Early Warning Services, LLC.

Welcome to the 2022 Treasury Technology Analyst Report, the definitive guide for thoughtful financial stewardship in the digital age. Strategic Treasurer created this report as an aid to practitioners exploring how treasury technology meets...

Welcome to the 2022 Treasury Technology Analyst Report, the definitive guide for thoughtful financial stewardship in the digital age. Strategic Treasurer created this report as an aid to practitioners exploring how treasury technology meets treasury needs. Treasurers considering digitizing their processes often face a learning curve as they approach the complexity of many categories of treasury technology. AI, ML, API, RPA, and many other technological terms can sound like alphabet soup, and few feel confident about navigating selection, buy-in, and implementation efficiently. This report can help. Treasury Technology Analyst Report 2022 - the Definitive Guide to Treasury Technology Solutions Today’s treasurer faces a rapidly shifting technology environment full of acronyms and innovations. Those needing the help of modern technology are often those most pressed for time, and the relevant information on technology lies scattered across the internet, buried in either technical jargon or oversimplifications. The goal of the Analyst Report is to offer a single document explaining what matters about technology to today’s busy treasury department. We release a new report annually with content fully revised to be relevant and up-to-date in the current context. Our hope is that you will be able to pick up a single book (or open a single digital document) and come away with insight into the technology landscape’s trajectory, a good idea of which functionality and solution types are most relevant to your company’s current and anticipated challenges, and a solid framework for how to proceed. If you have encountered our Analyst Reports in years past, you may have seen separate documents for different technology types. In 2021, anticipating the upcoming addition of enterprise liquidity management (ELM) solutions as a fourth solution category, we decided it was time to combine the reports into a single document to simplify the reader’s experience. The 2022 Analyst Report begins with an “Overview” section aimed at exploring foundational concepts and terms and discussing treasury challenges and technology innovations on a macro level. Following the Overview, readers will find four categories of solution types explained in detail: treasury management systems / treasury and risk management systems (TMS/TRMS), treasury aggregators, supply chain finance and cash conversion cycle solutions, and the more recently defined category of ELM. The Environment and Challenges Facing Treasury The market for digital treasury tools is impacted by every factor that impacts treasury itself. The department’s responsibilities and the environment it must cope with both shift with every major economic event and with every wind that changes the face of corporate operations in general. What follows is a discussion of what we consider the top factors influencing treasury’s needs and concerns today. Use this section to consider how your own organization and industry relate to the general factors driving treasury technology adoption and how that might impact the solutions available for your specific needs. Adding Demands Rapidly, Adding Staff Slowly The demands placed on treasury seem to multiply with each new economic event and corporate challenge. As more is added to treasury’s plate, the department must respond either with more manpower, more tools to leverage, or both. Treasury’s core responsibility has always been to protect the organization’s most liquid assets, making them managers of cash and of the risks to that cash. As events occur, corporations become aware of more risks to their cash — often through their own painful experiences, global impacts, or experiences of other companies. Economic crises, clearly increasing fraud risks, and other factors all serve to turn the C-suite’s attention on their liquidity risk managers: treasury. As a whole, treasury is glad to have the ear of the C-suite, to have the importance of treasury risk management recognized more widely, and to have more specific areas of risk management entrusted to their care. Treasurers are now considered responsible in many companies for improving organizational efficiency and overseeing payment security, and many of the expectations for its foresight and leadership in treasury risk management have climbed. Several of the other items listed in this section on the treasury environment are part of this increase — situations that demand higher risk awareness, more rapid analysis, and broader attention. While the expansion of treasury’s role is an honor, each increase multiplies treasury’s workload — and these are just the industry-wide increases in treasury demands. As each individual organization grows into new regions, faces new regulations, or acquires subsidiaries, treasury’s workload extends again. The steady expansion of treasury’s responsibilities has been coupled with fairly little increase in its staffing, as survey data shows treasury teams growing only slowly over the years. One added staff member alone cannot make up for the level of demand increases. Treasury needs leverage, and that leverage can most often be found in the form of technology. Vendors have responded to seeing treasury departments stretched thin by building highly efficient tools. By automating many of the most onerous and time-consuming tasks, treasury technology extends the reach of the staff and empowers them to do what only they can, such as strategic and advisory tasks. Some consider the technology vs. staff issue a zero-sum game, but this is not the case in treasury. Certain tasks are, without doubt, being automated in most companies. Staff whose roles are defined by easily automated tasks will need to reskill. However, a lower headcount is not needed in treasury. Rather, technology makes the slow increase in headcount sufficient by offering staff the leverage and efficiency they require in order to do what is increasingly asked of them. Security in the Hybrid and Remote Era The abrupt shift in work locations and the temporary (or permanent) closing of offices around the world in the early weeks of COVID-19 brought on a storm of logistical issues as well as fraudulent activity. Some of the factors that contributed to the security situation were temporary, such as the rampant confusion that lent credence to almost any explanation for payment information changes. However, some of the complications forced long-term adaptations, such as digitization of payment processes, that will continue to be used whether the company remains remote or not. Indeed, the pandemic gave a jolt of forward momentum to adoption of treasury technology. The percentage of payments made electronically shot up in 2020 and has remained elevated since (figure 1). Industry standards have shifted to more electronic processes, and any companies continuing to allow remote work must have the infrastructure and tools to support the logistics and security needs that come with the work from home (WFH) environment. Despite the long-discussed and somewhat implemented “return to office,” the prevalence of remote work and of companies using a hybrid model (remote some days, in office others) has dramatically and — it seems — permanently increased in the wake of the pandemic. Besides the obvious need for digital systems that allow for remote access, the remote worker’s security needs require modern technology. Meanwhile, criminals’ tools and methods have continued to improve, forcing more robust security measures regardless of work location. While relying on a solution, especially one housed in the cloud with remote access capabilities, may seem a counterintuitive measure for fraud prevention, these solutions actually serve to strongly counteract vulnerabilities in three primary ways: They reduce touchpoints or manual handoffs. The fewer the touchpoints, the less opportunity criminals have to insert themselves into a process. They mitigate complexity and improve visibility, narrowing the front that must be defended and making it harder for criminal activity to go unnoticed. They allow for built-in controls that cannot be bypassed. With rising industry standards, heightened risks, cyber insurance requirements, and remote work, the security environment and work location changes are challenging many organizations to speed their adoption timelines for solutions that can help snuff out their vulnerabilities. Efficiency and Scalability Whether due to economic conditions, supply chain problems, geopolitical issues forcing abrupt changes, or other issues, companies today find themselves in need of efficiency, scalability, and the flexibility they offer. Efficiency and scalability are both more easily achieved by leveraging modern technology. Efficiency has to do with processes taking as long as they need to for achieving quality results and no longer. It conserves resources (including time and manpower) so that your company can use them when and where they are most needed. Inefficiency, on the other hand, brings with it error-prone processes (which can be costly), wasted capital, and limited options. For example, if payment approvals take the full length of payment terms, the company loses the option to avail itself of early payment discounts. In areas such as these, inefficiency erodes the company’s control over liquidity and flexibility in time of turmoil. This alone is enough to make efficiency across relevant areas of the organization a matter of import to treasury. In addition, organizational leadership relies on treasury to provide rapid analysis and insight into the impacts and threats caused by various situations. For many treasury departments, the levels of efficiency required to rapidly analyze today’s masses of data despite thin staffing are only achievable through technology and automation. On the scalability side, recent years have proven volatile for the corporate world. Some have seen rapid growth in certain areas. Some have abruptly had to shutter operations in particular countries or lines of business. Many have had to adjust and redirect their strategies due to supply chain problems, lockdowns and travel restrictions, skyrocketing gas prices, and more. For these and other reasons, the corporate world is finding itself in need of rapid scalability, and treasury itself may have to swiftly adapt. When processes are manual, scalability is low. Automation multiplies staff efforts, and many solutions — especially those built on more modern concepts such as software-as-a-service or microservices — make it far easier for treasury to easily adjust the capacity and leverage they are working with up or down as circumstances change. Heavier Compliance Burdens A 2021 survey found that 54% of treasury and finance respondents considered the compliance burdens to be heavier than they had typically been in the past. Over the next 1-2 years, 66% expected their regulatory burdens to increase, and only 3% expect to see any decrease. The compliance and regulatory environment also ranked as the most impactful out of several options on the respondent organizations’ capital spending or cash holdings (see figure 3). From Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, which respondents expected to be the most impactful to their operations in the next three years by a large margin, to PCI-DSS, GDPR, FBAR, etc., regulations are put in place to protect against negligence and willful actions that enable fraud and other problems. While many of these regulations help protect companies and banks, complying with them takes time and resources. It is, without doubt, burdensome, and each year seems to add some weight. Regulations spur the adoption of financial technology in two ways. First, some solutions directly or indirectly streamline the compliance process. For example, networks such as SWIFT are working to ease the KYC process by allowing corporate participants to upload KYC information once to the platform instead of compiling and sending the paperwork anew for each bank. In addition, complying with any regulation that requires financial or account information, such as FBAR, is much easier with solutions that give faster, more accurate financial visibility. The second way compliance serves to push adoption forward is that some regulations have specific technical requirements that may not be possible to meet for some companies without a modern solution. These regulations are often security related. Big Data, Complexity, and Visibility Companies and, specifically, treasury departments in 2022 do not have the luxury of ignoring data. While a strong data strategy takes time to form and implement, every company should at least have a strategy in the works. For many, implementing these strategies will require technology. The ever-growing “big data,” which denotes the overwhelming amounts of data that are pouring into and through companies in increasingly varied forms, continues to prove both an immense opportunity and a challenge. Companies that harness their data are able to gain valuable insights into everything from their own operations to market behavior. However, harnessing that data effectively requires careful management, thoughtfully architected storage, and massive processing power. Meanwhile, the complexity that creates big data, coupled with any growth companies are experiencing, leads to complicated processes and difficulty achieving visibility. Many treasury teams that used to get by with manually logging into bank portals and managing cash positions on Excel are now facing more banks, more accounts, more portals to log into, more formats, and more internal information to manage. Maintaining complete visibility is vital for treasury. Without it, fraud risks are higher, compliance is more difficult, and the treasurer does not have a complete view of the situation from which to advise the organization. Yet with every expansion, every added bank account, and simply every year that passes, increasing data and complexity make it more difficult to achieve that visibility without the use of technology. With solutions that can manage and also help harness data, treasury is able to thrive and support their organizations’ long-term growth. Geopolitical Tensions and Economic Stress It should come as no surprise to most readers that 2022 and the years leading up to it have been years of some global turmoil. From pandemics to armed conflicts and from supply chain issues to soaring inflation, companies and individuals alike have had to cope with a great deal. We’ve discussed how lockdowns, fraud, and the need for scalability in these scenarios have all contributed to rapid adoption of digital processes and robust solutions. The usefulness to treasury of technological support and automation during times of any kind of upheaval, however, is worth discussing separately. When risks become realities and when economic and geopolitical events loom large, organizations need their treasurers to be ready with rapid analysis and strategic guidance. Treasury cannot do this when manual processes are delaying their cash positions, limiting their visibility to all accounts, or when any part of the process leading up to strategic advising takes too much time and manpower. Technological solutions such as those discussed in this report offer treasury margin. They automate portions of the process, reduce errors, and save staff time. This allows all members of the treasury team to continue fulfilling their roles even when there is more information to process and more factors to consider, which is often when the treasury function is most vital to the company’s ongoing success. The Treasury Technology Landscape With a variety of factors driving treasury’s interest in technology, there are quite a few relevant types of solutions. Some of them directly streamline treasury’s own operations. Others are primarily aimed at streamlining different areas of the corporation, but they impact organizational liquidity, efficiency, or security in ways that make them important to treasury’s cash and risk management goals. In this report, we will discuss the general impact of several components and innovations, from APIs to ML. We will then take some time to focus in on a few solution categories, briefly defined here: Treasury Management Systems / Treasury and Risk Management Systems (TMS/TRMS) A TMS is treasury’s core solution for its own operational needs. When a treasury department outgrows Excel, these systems offer a more robust platform for daily tasks such as cash management and positioning, visibility, accounting, and forecasting. A TMS’s benefits also extend to security, flexibility, and smoothly integrated workflows. For treasury teams that use multiple tools and need to share information with other areas, their TMS can serve as a foundation on which the other tools function and to which other areas’ solutions can connect. A TRMS, while largely comparable to the average TMS, offers deeper risk management functionality. Treasury Aggregators (TA) A TA combines the functionality of a data consolidator with that of a payment hub. These solutions are ideal for organizations with complex payment flows or banking information. They simplify data gathering and pass aggregated banking information along to any areas that need it, and they establish connections and translate payment formats, allowing for centralized and efficient payment processes. Supply Chain Finance (SCF) and Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) Solutions SCF and CCC solutions, while they do not directly help with treasury’s own operations, can significantly improve liquidity and working capital. SCF solutions digitally empower programs that create win-win scenarios for buyers and vendors, whether by leveraging the buyer’s superior credit and third-party financing or through leveraging the buyer’s own excess capital. CCC solutions automate various portions of the cash conversion cycle, streamlining processes and, therefore, increasing the efficiency and flexibility of the company’s cash management. Since these solutions tend to cut across multiple departments and impact working capital, the treasurer is often needed as a leader to help identify the real problems and the best solutions. Enterprise Liquidity Management (ELM) A new evolution in treasury technology, ELM systems offer a comprehensive view of liquidity across the organization. These robust solutions include the base functionality of a TMS, but with far more extensive reach. From supply chain finance and payments to foreign exchange, the data showing what’s really happening to liquidity is often scattered across different departments at large corporations, making it difficult for treasury to keep close track and strategize accurately. ELM systems are built to integrate information from across the company, allowing treasury to view and manage liquidity on a comprehensive scale. The Foundations of Treasury Technology Treasury technology has a multi-decade history and is built on many individual innovations along the way. Understanding where the landscape is today, as well as where it’s going, requires a brief study of where it has come from. Data Data has a growth rate of approximately 40% year-over-year. In more recent years, this has led to “big data,” but the growth of data has been challenging and driving innovation since much earlier. From formats to connectivity and processing power, many of the things we will be discussing are built to manage the ever-increasing volumes and types of data. Cash is still king, but treasury departments are learning to value data as a particularly precious resource that allows them to protect the king effectively. Processing Power Fortunately, processing power efficiency increases at an even faster rate than data and doubles every 18 months. This allows computers and systems to keep up with and manage the masses of data. However, coupled with data growth, this rapid growth in processing power means that technology is improving, progressing, and changing at a somewhat dizzying rate. Solutions that were state-of-the-art a decade ago are typically far behind the average solutions coming out today. Connectivity Connectivity has come a very long way in the past several decades. It has moved from the mail service to teletype machines, and from teletype to host-to-host (H2H) connections and SFTP. Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) in Europe — a regulation requiring banks to accommodate customers wanting to access their data through third parties — was largely achieved through application programming interfaces or APIs, which has spurred their adoption worldwide and brought them into the spotlight for a new generation of connectivity. Hosting Models Hosting models for treasury technology, notably for the TMS, have seen a few iterations over the last couple of decades. Early solutions were installed onsite and hosted on the clients’ servers. These solutions, often called “on-premises solutions,” were difficult to upgrade and to maintain and faced inevitable obsoletion eventually. Application service providers, or the ASP model, attempted to solve these problems by hosting the solution with a third party tasked with maintaining it. The approach improved upgrade issues and lowered the maintenance burden on clients, but these solutions still faced obsoletion and other issues. Software-as-a-service, the SaaS model, is the current standard. These solutions are cloud-hosted and multi-tenant, purchased on a subscription basis, and are maintained and upgraded by the vendor. Since the vendors can directly and fairly easily update and rework the software over time, and since they are incentivized to do so through the subscription payment model, SaaS solutions are seen as holding onto their value for far longer than earlier types. Democratization of Technology In 2004, Texas Instruments released the TI-84 graphing calculator, selling it for around $120. This handheld calculator had significantly more processing power and RAM than the most powerful and wildly expensive computers available only 40 years before. Many of us have grown familiar in our personal lives with the experience of looking back on technology from a few years ago and marveling at how much less functionality and power that technology gave us compared to far less expensive technology available today. This applies to the corporate technology world as well. Today’s treasury solutions hold drastically more processing power and functionality than their predecessors and can be obtained for far lower costs. We call this the “democratization” of technology, as the expanded functionality coupled with affordability serve to broaden the market of the solutions. Early installed TMSs, for example, were only financially feasible for extremely large and complex organizations that desperately needed them. Today, there are comparatively powerful options that are affordable enough for a small company of less than $500M in revenue, and the market is only continuing to expand.

Delivering on-demand interactivity with Oracle applications, Kyriba for Oracle is a cloud-based solution that reduces the risk of foreign currency volatility to earnings per share and corporate value. The Cloud-based Business Model Advantage: Quick...

Delivering on-demand interactivity with Oracle applications, Kyriba for Oracle is a cloud-based solution that reduces the risk of foreign currency volatility to earnings per share and corporate value. The Cloud-based Business Model Advantage: Quick ROI and Low TCO By leveraging the Cloud-based business model, Kyriba creates two advantages: speed and low cost, without sacrificing the safety and security of your data. Kyriba is committed to keeping your confidential data safe and secure, and our processes and controls are audited annually. The Cloud-based model frees your IT personnel from the need to manage and maintain the product and updates typically associated with installed and licensed software products, and enables Kyriba to rapidly and continually add product innovations to the market. Kyriba customers experience quick returns on their investment. Up and running quickly, Kyriba provides almost immediate visibility to exposure and risk data, and access to analytics and decision support capability. Confidence in your decisions allows you to take actions to manage risk, reduce costs and gain operational efficiency. Kyriba’ Cloud-based application also provides low Total Cost of Ownership. Because Kyriba is hosted, it requires little or no redeployment during upgrades, and no IT development. You know the subscription-based outlay at the time of purchase; you also know that the cost of ownership will not spike due to upgrades, redeployment, or support during the subscription term. The Kyriba Oracle Extract Toolkit: Facilitating Set-up and Ongoing Data Aggregation Using proprietary technologies, Kyriba aggregates raw G/L data from Oracle, as well as other ERP systems, databases and spreadsheet data sources. To facilitate the process of data collection for initial enrollment and ongoing exposure management, Kyriba has created an Oracle Extract Toolkit. The Kyriba Oracle Extract Toolkit consists of software queries that capture Oracle account/entity configuration and revaluation rules and generate FX exposure data. The Kyriba Oracle Extract Toolkit gathers information about the account definitions and company information. On an on-going basis, the Kyriba Oracle Extract Toolkit provides a query used to extract summary monetary asset and liability or revenue and expense balance data from your Oracle general ledger. The Kyriba queries for Oracle are reports written in SQL*Plus, designed to be run from either the SQL*Plus command line or installed to the Oracle Applications Suite and run as concurrent programs. The programs do not create any database objects nor do they write or update any database tables or objects. The programs require read-only access to several tables and objects located in the APPS schema. If one does not already exist, Kyriba can provide scripts to create a read-only schema to access these objects. From the SQL*Plus command line, output is generated using DBMS_OUTPUT and spooled to a local pipe-delimited file. The extracted files can be manually and securely uploaded to Kyriba by any authorized user. To further maximize efficiency, frequency, time savings, error reduction, and security, while minimizing support required from IT, the extract process (both the execution of the extract query and the encryption and upload of the resulting files) can be automated. For a fully automated solution, queries can be set up within the Oracle Applications Concurrent Manager and executed ad-hoc as needed, or scheduled to run periodically. Subsequent scripts can encrypt and transport the file directly to Kyriba. An automated extraction, encryption and upload process is particularly beneficial if you have multiple data source instances or systems. For each instance of Oracle, your IT team will deploy and maintain the Kyriba Oracle Extract Toolkit queries. The query programs are the only software deployed and maintained in your environment. Kyriba Application Security Kyriba understands and appreciates the importance of keeping your highly-confidential financial data safe and secure, and simultaneously available to your authorized users on demand. We have passed the scrutiny of our discriminating customers and ensure that our standards for security and confidentiality are the maximum possible. Here are some of the elements that built confidence for our customers: Strong encryption to protect sensitive G/L data both in motion and at rest Annual SSAE 18 Type 2 audits for the Kyriba application and company processes and controls ISO 27001 certification Internet firewalls and an additional level of access protection around the production databases Application layer separation from data with application-only access Role-level access and idle disconnect IP Whitelisting, guaranteeing client access from only specific Internet addresses Continual monitoring through port scans and network intrusion detection systems Complete audit trail in application and data back-up Application hosting with AWS and Microsoft Azure Full redundancy in daily operations for Internet connectivity, failover, and load balancing Disaster recovery plan & capabilities provide for full redundancy & a production system recovery objective of 6 hours Annual third-party penetration testing and security audits Employee, contractor and data center personnel background checks Enrollment: A Simple Process The Kyriba Professional Services team will lead your IT and Treasury staff through three simple, well-defined steps including query set-up, resulting data validation, and an exposure presentation, to achieve ongoing, on-demand Oracle data aggregation and Kyriba FX exposure management. A final step automates the file extraction, encryption and upload process. On average, it takes 8-10 hours of an IT generalist’s time per ERP system enrolled in the Kyriba service. Typical enrollment resources include: A developer or resource with APPS schema access or access to a read-only schema to execute the programs to retrieve the setup information and the general ledger balances A developer or functional person (usually Treasury) who can verify Kyriba balances using native Oracle general ledger reports (Optional) A DBA or Systems Administrator, if installing the program to the Oracle Applications Suite as a concurrent program. Kyriba provides instructions for concurrent program installation During Enrollment, your IT personnel will install and execute the Kyriba Oracle Extract Toolkit. The toolkit installs in minutes and provides two components: configuration queries and a general ledger (G/L)extract query. The configuration queries derive a chart of accounts table, revaluation rules and entity structure. Next, IT, or other personnel with access rights, execute the Kyriba G/L extract query to produce a test exposure data set. Once the data is validated, you may be asked to re-run the G/L query to produce a final data set. Your IT team will spend three to six hours on this step, including runtime. During Query Result Validation, your treasury and/or accounting team members will use the sample data generated by the Kyriba G/L extract to verify monetary asset and liability or revenue and expense account information. The Kyriba Professional Services team will produce a sample data set for your review to ensure a complete data set consistent with G/L balances in Oracle. You may also provide data on outstanding hedges, and the validated balance and hedge data is uploaded to Kyriba to calculate FX exposure and support timely, data- driven risk mitigation and cost reduction decisions. This step requires approximately two hours of time/effort. During Exposure Presentation, Treasury and Kyriba Professional Services review your current workflow and systems landscape, progress to date, the future vision for the end state of rollout, and workflow and process improvements. A demonstration of the Kyriba software with your live exposure data and a discussion of how exposure visibility can help you optimize your risk management decisions complete the review. This process requires at least two hours of treasury time/effort. Automated File Extraction, Encryption and Upload Automated File Extraction, Encryption & Upload is supported through standard protocols HTTPS (e.g. via cURL) and SFTP (Secure FTP) for automating the transfer of files to a secure staging area within the Kyriba application. Kyriba has customized these protocols with syntax to enable users to transfer files to, and trigger processing within, the Kyriba application. You can deploy scripts (samples provided by Kyriba) based on the needs of your environment, which retrieve the output generated by the Kyriba G/L Extract Program, and encrypt the file(s), before transferring them over 128-bit HTTPS or SFTP to Kyriba. During your Kyriba enrollment, our Professional Services team will supply scripts as part of the toolkit and work with you to configure them for your environment. The level of effort required to automate the file transfer is subject to the complexities of your environment but is typically measured in hours, not days. The process requires a Systems Administrator, Developer and/or DBA with privileges to create or modify shell scripts to automate the process or integrate with existing processes. Benefits of Automated File Encryption and Transmission Data encrypted at rest and in motion Creation of a straight-through process from business systems/ERP to Kyriba Automates transfer of the extracted data files directly to Kyriba increasing efficiency and time savings, and reducing errors Enables more frequent processing and analysis cycles Allows coordinated transfer of files from multiple business systems Additional security through PGP encryption and IP Whitelisting Uses industry standard utilities and protocols: HTTPS file transfer and SFTP Less operational and IT overhead   Supported Versions Oracle 11i Oracle R12 Oracle and Oracle E-Business are the trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.   Want to learn more about how to automate seamlessly across your FX management process? Check out Kyriba's latest demo session and see how Kyriba helps its clients mitigate the effects of currency volatility and reduce hedging costs.  

Application Programming Interface (API) is an interface provided by one application for other application(s) to communicate with it. APIs in treasury management software connect different systems to share cash data or execute cash management...

Application Programming Interface (API) is an interface provided by one application for other application(s) to communicate with it. APIs in treasury management software connect different systems to share cash data or execute cash management and payments workflows automatically and in real time. Despite the fact that APIs are relatively new to treasury and corporate banking, they are already everywhere in our daily life, especially for web and mobile applications. An illustrative example is the ubiquitous Google Maps, which is embedded in almost every location-based service we use, such as local taxi services, food delivery, and hotel booking apps. Underneath every inquiry is an API call to the Google Maps database, from which location related information is picked up and presented to the user instantaneously. Many financial apps have also used APIs to offer seamless data integration with other tools. For example, the popular budget and expense tracking app Mint allows app users to connect to their banks via API and then automatically syncs the data across the accounts to provide a consolidated view on their latest financials. What Is the Difference Between FTP and API Connectivity? In today’s enterprise IT landscape, FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is still the most commonly used connectivity option for data to be transferred between systems. Most often SFTP, or Secure File Transfer Protocol, is used, which means there is a layer of security to the FTP process. As both names suggest, (S)FTP is a file based transfer protocol, and it is also known as ‘batch transfer’ in treasury and payments. It works like a file package delivery service, where many files containing required data are packaged and sent directly from one system to be received or picked up by another system. For big data packages that cannot be sent as attachments in emails, FTP is very useful. But the downside is that it takes time for the packages to be delivered to the destination, because it is a step-by-step transfer process across the different systems, as files have to be selected and downloaded and further transferred at every step of the process. If it takes 5-10 minutes for each step, it will take a long time for a data package to go from one system to its final destination. Then it will take the same amount of time for any acknowledgement of information to travel back to the starting point. The downside of FTP is exactly the reason why API has attracted so much interest recently in corporate banking, treasury management, and payments processing, because it enables instant data exchange between systems simultaneously, in a secure way. When connected via an API, two (or more) systems can exchange any amount of data directly in real-time. There is no longer the need for any file packaging and transfer. What’s more, data can be made available via API to any number of systems at the same time, just like the Google Maps and the Mint app examples mentioned above, making it possible to have data available on-demand. What Are Banking APIs? In the context of banking APIs, the code in APIs facilitates communication between financial institutions and external companies. In general, there are three types of banking APIs. Private APIs, or closed APIs, are internal APIs belonging to a bank or financial institution They are used to share information within a closed ecosystem. Partner APIs can be used only by partners of the bank or financial institution. Public APIs are more commonly known as open banking APIs. Public APIs are available for third parties to use, without requiring any type of partnership. Since access rights are usually limited, open banking APIs are typically considered secure. Three Common Types of Banking APIs OPENNESS MAIN USE CASE INNOVATIVENESS Private APIs Closed system for own use Process automation and system integration In-house innovation Partner APIs For partnered access only Seamless customer experience with partner apps Innovate with agreed/selected external service providers Public APIs An open ecosystem Open banking and embedded finance Open innovation Banking APIs enable companies to include financial services with their products, for example: Digital wallets that securely store credit card information can also be used by an API to send encrypted data when the receiving customer or business asks for payment. Invoice factoring, where APIs can be used to prepay funds by 30, 60, or 90 days Insurance disbursements can be paid quickly via APIs, with no need to wait for a physical payment These banking APIs facilitate efficient and secure communication and data-sharing among multiple entities, applications, and services. Overall, the use of different types of banking APIs can help financial institutions improve their operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive innovation. What Are Premium APIs? Premium APIs, a type of private API, are APIs that banks sell directly to their corporate customers. This type of API provides customers direct access to bank data that the bank customers can then incorporate into their underlying processes, including treasury, finance, and ERP systems. Unlike open banking APIs, premium APIs in treasury are not regulated anywhere, giving banks the opportunity to monetize the significant amounts of data that the regulations do not cover. The purchasers of the data can then use it to create new and existing products. Fast, accurate information is key to decision-making and premium APIs help provide a comprehensive view by bringing together vast amounts of data from disparate areas and feeding it into one source. Potential use cases for premium APIs include: Real-time foreign exchange feeds and data for analysis, trades, and currency hedging Tax APIs, including compliance and auditing Property value calculations based on trends and local data Credit and lending data, such as credit scores and deposit balances Financial planning and budgeting for corporates and individuals Corporations will continue to identify use cases that will let banks develop, release, and monetize premium APIs, driving innovation, bringing opportunities, and providing a competitive advantage. What Are the Benefits of Using APIs for Treasury Management? The use of APIs in treasury management can bring us many benefits, mainly around convenience, efficiency, security, and instancy. For treasury, it can improve the experience in all treasury functions such as bank connectivity, payments, cash reporting, and forecasting. Convenience: consolidating information from different systems means comprehensive updates and reporting without the need to log into different banking portals. Efficiency: no more wait time for file exchange. On-request payments and real-time reconciliation minimize manual errors and improve operational efficiency, with the ability to quickly share data with stakeholders across the company. Security: security risks are lowered, with no files to tamper with and internet security protocols in place. Real-time updates mean fraudulent activities can be captured promptly. Instancy: real-time data feeds provide instant updates on foreign exchange rates, bank transactions, trades, valuations, and payments. This means your cash position is always up to date, allowing for data-driven decisions. Use Cases of APIs in Treasury Banks have increasingly adopted APIs to offer better experiences for their customers. But APIs have potential for use cases far beyond bank connections. For corporate treasury and finance, APIs have nearly limitless potential. A recent study by research firm IDC identified that 90% of finance leaders have already implemented or expect to incorporate APIs within their financial technology stack. API for Bank Data consolidation Clients who connect via APIs to their banks can truly get real-time visibility into their account balances, transaction status, or other banking data. When such data is aggregated across different banks, your cash and banking information can be presented in one dashboard, for example in your treasury management system or other cash forecasting software, enabling you to take further actions based on timely and accurate data sets. API for Real-time Payments This is probably the most well-known use case for banking APIs in treasury. It is a payment type where the transmission of the payment message and the availability of “final” funds to the payee occur in real time or near-real time. Many banks already support real-time payments with their APIs, such as CashPro by BoA, CITI, and JPMC. You can find more details from the Kyriba developer portal, and more banks are being added regularly. API for ERP-to-Bank Integration Kyriba has developed API connectors to SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, and other major ERP providers to provide real-time data flows and instant updates, like changes in payment status, to the connected ERPs. With such connectors, you can integrate your TMS workflows with your ERPs, including cash forecasting, payment initiation, payment confirmations, and GL reconciliation. API for Embedded Treasury With APIs in treasury, it is now possible to embed financial and banking data into any corporate process whenever and whenever needed, enabling great data accessibility and supporting data-based decision making. This is what is called ‘Embedded Treasury’. This is a game-changing development for treasurers, who can now access and share real-time financial data at any time and make data-based decisions more quickly and accurately, increasing treasury's advisory value to the C-suite. Example of Integrating APIs into Treasury Processes Kyriba client Hunt Companies is an early adopter of APIs. They use the Kyriba bank connector to J.P.Morgan’s bank API for real-time payments and have replaced all qualifying wire payments with RTP®, reducing bank fees from $6 on average for a wire transfer to less than $1 for RTP®, with a potential for much greater savings as more banks are added. On top of payments, Hunt Companies have also adopted the API integration between ICD and Kyriba to obtain up-to-date account data, fund availability, and market data, with which the organization is able to make informed investment decisions.

Beam Suntory’s Treasury transformation modernized their operations in a decentralized environment, and with the added complexity of navigating global volatility. A dispersed team challenged by manual processes with a need to leverage a system...

Beam Suntory’s Treasury transformation modernized their operations in a decentralized environment, and with the added complexity of navigating global volatility. A dispersed team challenged by manual processes with a need to leverage a system to accommodate growth, worked with Kyriba to future proof cash and liquidity management. The interconnected ERP, TMS and Payments systems ensures business continuity, visibility and confidence in liquidity optimization today while mitigating unnecessary risk or loss for years to come. “The level of business continuity that is supported by a global, standardized Kyriba platform that is fully integrated with other existing Treasury systems has been critical to gaining efficiencies and reducing costs.” — Petar Tomicic, Manager, Domestic Treasury   Key Challenges Before Kyriba Need for timely, global visibility to cash and liquidity for expanded, optimized investment and deployment of liquidity. Ability to provide on-demand information to Financial Leadership Team, including global capabilities, enterprise wide view of cash and liquidity and centralized financial risk management. Payments globally not standardized, leading to higher costs, processing inefficiencies, more complexity managing banking systems and controls. Bank connectivity: The time to add a new bank took many months, a limiting factor in flexible, agile bank relationship management and consolidating cash visibility. Time spent by Treasury and Accounting staff on routine processes was time consuming with various manual inputs, leading to greater possibility of errors and delays in timely financial reporting. Limited FX interconnectivity between core systems including FXall trading platform, Treasury Management system, Bloomberg terminal, and SAP ERP system. Management of intercompany netting process housed in separate bank system (beholden to that bank) with limited direct connectivity, leading to increased costs and complexity when accounting for 30+ entities globally. “Kyriba’s payments platform has a vast network of banking partners and connectivity, which makes it incredibly easy to onboard or switch banking partners when necessary, with reduced internal IT costs and ultimate flexibility.” — Brad Cowan - Senior Analyst, Treasury The Solution New payment controls and real-time connectivity for a more strategic treasury. Goals of the Project Transform treasury operations with automated processes and operational efficiency, without additional headcount Optimize intercompany netting, cash, liquidity and risk management Seamlessly integrate Kyriba, SAP, Bloomberg and FXall while standardizing payments globally as a means to gain further efficiencies, cost savings, flexibility and fraud protections Support business continuity and resilience with easier cross-training of staff More centralized Treasury processes Add rigorous financial controls Positive Outcomes with Kyriba 80% productivity improvement with automated FX and MTM process with Bloomberg, FXall, and SAP all fully connected and integrated with Kyriba - 16 hours per month saved with month end accounting entries alone 50% increase in automation of accounting entries (short term investing, loans, hedging, cash accounting) 3-6x Time-to-Value Bank Connectivity: Time to add a new bank has been reduced to 1-2 months with Kyriba Consolidated standardized global payments platform with improved business continuity and reduction in implementation costs Deploying bank fee analysis module enabled greater automation and efficiency in reporting, and has assisted in reducing fees Eliminated bank dependency and optimized interconnectivity between systems leading to a significantly improved process

In this ebook, we reveal the most common types of accounting errors, breakdowns in accounting controls, system configuration issues, and process deficiencies leading to unnecessary FX risks. Hidden Accounting Impacts We hear time and...

In this ebook, we reveal the most common types of accounting errors, breakdowns in accounting controls, system configuration issues, and process deficiencies leading to unnecessary FX risks. Hidden Accounting Impacts We hear time and time again that CFOs and Treasurers alike “don’t know what they don’t know” about their foreign currency exposure data. All too often, the first symptom of a problem shows up as a material misstatement of FX gain/loss. Usually, this is a result of what Kyriba has coined as “accounting volatility.” We use this term to describe the phenomenon of systematic, recurring inaccuracies that exist in most multicurrency ERP systems, that obscure the true magnitude of a company’s foreign currency exposure in ways that make the problem difficult to detect. In many cases, accounting volatility is reflected in the delta between hedging actions and actual FX gain/loss resulting from the underlying exposure. Background and Purpose In this ebook, Kyriba will hightlight critical issues facing treasury and accounting teams and cover shortcomings in the way companies today account for multi-currency transactions and manage the resulting foreign currency exposures. Time and again, our analysis of foreign currency exposure management processes within organizations uncovers a ticking time bomb that could (and eventually does) have material impact on a company’s financial performance and its ability to accurately reflect FX gain/loss within financial statements. Frequently, this time bomb is an undetected exposure hidden within the ERP that is masked by a variety of data integrity issues. Without adequate visibility into the source data, Treasury can only cope with/or try to manage around the problem. As a result, their decisions (even when based on sound strategies) are ineffective and even potentially counterproductive. All too often, this time bomb is detected once it’s too late. The problem ultimately surfaces in the FX gain/loss line of the income statement and the CFO is faced with foreign currency exposures that have serious economic and compliance consequences. In every case we have witnessed, the question isn’t if companies are misstating FX gains/losses, but whether how large the material impact is. Getting to the heart of the matter and preventing a disaster begins with a close examination of the ERP system(s), controls and related processes that undermine the accuracy and completeness of foreign currency exposure data. The first section of this ebook will deal specifically with the issue of accounting volatility -- a result of pervasive, self-reinforcing inaccuracies that exist in most ERP systems with regards to foreign currency -- that obscures the true magnitude of a company’s exposure in ways that make the problem difficult to detect. An examination of the processes that contribute to foreign currency exposure identification often reveals uncoordinated activities and the lack of a true process owner who has the oversight to adequately manage and drive actions throughout the entire process. In the second part of this ebook, we’ll discuss why foreign currency exposure management goes beyond Treasury and is ultimately an enterprise-wide issue. Companies that approach foreign currency exposure management from an enterprise perspective (assigning the proper ownership, authority and resources to the process) can focus their attention and energies on strategic, value-based decision making that will protect and strengthen the value of the organization. The third part of this ebook will discuss how companies can begin to transform their foreign currency management practices into enterprise-level, standard processes. The FX Exposure Management Process Owner: Starting Where the Buck Stops In almost every conversation we conduct with CFOs, Treasurers, and Accounting, a common theme emerges: an overall lack of crossfunctional coordination and collaboration within organizations with regard to activities that impact FX exposure quantification and measurement. While Treasury may be regarded as the process owner, in reality they maintain control of, and have authority over, only one piece of the puzzle. Different functional groups within an organization contribute to foreign currency exposures and their management process. The FX gain/loss line on the corporate income statement is the ultimate product for these efforts. Responsibility and accountability for that number resides with the CFO. As such, it is the CFO who assumes responsibility and accountability for the process and must ensure coordination among the contributing functional groups to ensure that this result is both accurate and acceptable within company policies. The only way to ensure the kind of cross-functional coordination required to properly manage the foreign currency exposure management process is to elevate awareness and priority of the issues throughout the enterprise. Acknowledging foreign currency exposure as an enterprise risk means assigning the proper level of oversight, accountability, and resources to the entire management process. At a strategic level, the FX business process owner must have the strategic responsibility for addressing and maintaining currency risk management decisions, processes, and policies. The FX business process owner must be able to coordinate tactical activities across multiple disciplines, and communicate effectively with Finance, Accounting, Tax, and Operations representatives from around the globe. Ultimately, they’re the stakeholder with visibility into the foreign currency exposures and management process, from data to exposure, across the enterprise. The Data Dilemma: Getting to the Source of FX Related Accounting Volatility The Challenge of Defining Exposures In most organizations, the Treasury department is accountable for managing foreign currency exposure and the related FX gain/loss. While Treasury often maintains control over the process to select hedging instruments and dictate internal risk management tactics, their ability to mitigate the effects of FX volatility depends on accurate and complete exposure data. If the data is inaccurate or incomplete, companies may execute risk mitigating actions within policy but still sustain significant FX gain/loss volatility. The real problem with foreign currency exposure data integrity issues is that they are extremely difficult to detect until a major problem has surfaced. In our experience, we frequently find off-setting errors and omissions that distort foreign currency data, falsely masking the true exposure in ways that make it difficult to isolate an anomaly and determine the source of an error. We’ve come to refer to this phenomenon as accounting volatility - a pervasive, self-reinforcing sequence of data integrity issues that become increasingly complex and intractable over time. Treasury is a customer of the accounting organization when it comes to foreign currency exposure data. Assuming that a multi-currency accounting system is in place for the enterprise, valid foreign currency exposure data is dependent upon two key premises: Multi-currency transactions have been properly recorded in the transaction currency. Accounts that are required to be revalued in accordance with ASC 830 / IAS 21 are being revalued on a periodic basis. Accounting volatility can result if multi-currency accounting entries have not been recorded appropriately, or if the revaluation process is not properly identifying accounts that should be revalued. The result in either case is a misstatement of the foreign currency gain/loss in the income statement for the organization. Either foreign currency gain/loss remains embedded within the monetary asset and liability accounts in the balance sheet, or it has been improperly recognized prematurely in the income statement. In the following section of this ebook, we will discuss these issues and provide questions that CFOs and Treasurers can ask to determine the future likelihood, and historical magnitude, of accounting volatility within their organization. Recording the Transaction One difficult-to-detect issue that has serious impact on foreign currency exposure management is the entry of the foreign currency transaction in the functional currency instead of the transaction currency. As a result, the exposure is not detectable and cannot be managed by Treasury. In addition, the foreign currency gain/loss associated with this transaction exposure is not realized incrementally with the process of account revaluation. Rather, it is realized all at once, when the transaction is cleared or settled. Another prevalent issue is the clearing and reconciliation of multi-currency account balances in functional currency instead of transaction currency. This results in invalid transaction currency balances and mismatched relationships between the transaction currency and functional currency within the ERP system. Because revaluation processes are based upon transaction currency balances, invalid balances can lead to unrealized FX gain/loss calculations and inaccurate, posted results during period-end processing. These accounting issues are evidence of a process breakdown usually attributed to employee training in the area of transaction entry. Detecting these issues requires a disciplined analytic review of the monthly foreign currency FX gain/loss for entities within the enterprise, given the foreign currency exposure relationships within each entity and changes in foreign currency rates. Intercompany Mismatches Intercompany mismatches have a significant impact on the nature, level, and complexity of a company’s foreign currency exposure. Generally, intercompany transactions are recorded in one of the functional currencies of the entities that comprise the intercompany relationship. As a rule, the intercompany account balances recorded within two entities of an intercompany relationship should net to zero on a currency-bycurrency basis. Despite this, one common source of accounting volatility is mismatched intercompany balances in which one entity has recorded an intercompany payable or receivable, while the other has either neglected to record the corresponding transaction or has recorded it inaccurately. This too is a symptom of a multi-faceted process breakdown - one in the recording of the transaction and another associated with the reconciliation process. Intercompany transactions that take place in a currency other than the functional currency of either entity creates additional exposure for the enterprise and further complicates the FX exposure management process. As described in the table at the bottom, when a third currency enters this relationship, each entity has an exposure to the transaction. There are two ways to resolve this issue and eliminate the exposure. One way is to execute two currency conversions: one entity purchases the currency, and the other entity sells the currency. Alternatively, a process must be developed to convert the third currency balance into one of the entity’s functional currencies based upon a pre-determined rate convention, followed by a single currency conversion to settle the balance. In many cases, creating an intercompany transaction in a third currency is not an acceptable business practice. Unfortunately, due to the complexity around intercompany balances, lack of visibility in transaction currency across multiple systems, multi-department responsibilities, and inadequate reporting infrastructure, it’s often unknown that this is an unacceptable business practice. ERP and Systems Configuration ERP Configuration of FX Postings Specific FX-related configuration, administration and maintenance issues in most major ERP systems add to the complexity and potential for problems with multi-currency accounting. Oracle Oracle does not define a functional currency at the company level. It is defined for a set of books. The ability to support multiple functional currencies for a company is often overlooked or misconfigured. Revaluation rules apply only in the context of a company in a set of books. If a company transacts in multiple sets of books, multiple rules may be required for the same accounts and/or currencies -- this is often overlooked or misunderstood. Revaluation processing looks at functional currency of the set of books, not the company. A non-functional transaction in a set of books with the same currency will be ignored for revaluation. SAP SAP does not define a functional currency but rather a local currency. Often times, the revaluation processes is run multiple times whenever the functional currency is different from the local currency, effectively reapplying FX adjustments. Revaluation criteria are usually managed through the use of variants (i.e. predefined parameter definitions) that are static, requiring constant manual updates to reflect current accounts and entity relationships; these updates are often overlooked. Institutions where the Controller organization is decentralized, account setup and changes in entity relationships contribute to uncoordinated revaluation criteria and the potential to either:a. Revalue some accounts b. Revalue accounts multiple times c. Revalue accounts that should not be revalued System Configuration & Maintenance Issues: Revaluation Under ASC 830 / IAS 21 Framwork As detailed previously, accounting and process issues related to transaction data quality may not be the only source of accounting volatility. In many cases, problems related to monetary asset and liability account revaluation in accordance with ASC 830 / IAS 21 guidelines contribute to unreliable FX gain/loss statements. In working with clients to set up end-to-end processes for identifying foreign currency exposure, we routinely uncover and help to resolve issues related to revaluation validity that hamper customers’ ability to properly reflect the impact of currency revaluation on their financial statements. We commonly encounter inaccurate results from improper revaluation of accounts across the enterprise, typically finding a combination of accounts that are being revalued properly, as well as accounts that are being revalued, but shouldn’t be. In most cases, companies are unaware of the problem. In either scenario, the underlying root causes of these inconsistencies can be grounded in the following factors: 1. Maintenance of the systems and processes comprising revaluation processes become inaccurate over time. SCENARIO #1 An account that should be revalued is not being revalued 1. Treasury has no visibility into this account for their exposure management process Thus, they cannot mitigate risk with regards to the underlying currency exposure 2. There is no unrealized FX gain/loss being recorded on a monthly basis The total FX gain/loss that exists within the account is sitting in the balance sheet, waiting to be realized all at once when transaction(s) making up the account balances are cleared and/or adjusted **You may encounter compliance issues as a result of this scenario 2. Initial setup of the revaluation environment within a multi-national company is complicated. SCENARIO #2 Accounts that should not be remeasured are identified for remeasurement 1. Treasury takes risks mitigating actions for these inaccurate balances (in the accounts) as part of the exposure management process An associated FX gain/loss in addition to currency conversions, hedge valuations/settlements, and the inherent cost (bank fees, forward points, and/or option premiums) associated with currency hedge transactions are recorded for the account 2. The effects of the risk mitigating currency actions have been realized with no off-setting amount that would have resulted from an underlying exposure The company will eventually discover that the account should not have been revalued and records the adjustment to reverse the recorded unrealized FX gain/loss Initial Revaluation and Process Design Setup of the revaluation environment within a multi-national organization is complicated. Initial setup requires: An understanding of the requirement to revalue monetary asset and liability accounts as prescribed by ASC 830 / IAS 21. Configuring a combination of systematic and manual processes across the accounting enterprise to accomplish the requirement. The initial configuration can be very complex, as is evident in the many different variables which must be assessed when configuration is done: Multi-system accounting environment Revaluation processes provided within each of the accounting systems that comprise the enterprise accounting framework. Each system can approach revaluation differently Revaluation dependencies on specific account setup parameters Manual processes to address accounting system deficiencies or desired business practices Centralized vs. de-centralized processes Period-end close processes Our analysis and work with companies has shown that finding the one person in the organization that understands every revaluation parameter, setting, and process is nearly impossible. The fragmentation of responsibility around this area will continue to complicate the overall revaluation framework, leading to a consistent misstatement of the FX gain/loss and an inherent ability of Treasury to successfully manage the foreign currency exposure. Maintenance of Revaluation Process Maintenance of the systems and processes comprising revaluation can often become inaccurate. Does your process include any of the following common reasons? Rapid merger and acquisition activity with lagging system integration Growth in the chart of accounts with no process for determining if accounts should be added to the revaluation list Complicated revaluation rule maintenance environment within accounting systems No common oversight, responsibility or ownership of the process – fragmentation of responsibility No periodic account review process to test effectiveness of systematic and manual revaluation processes Consistent turnover within the accounting staff, who has revaluation responsibility as part of the close process Lack of ongoing education and training Lack of consistent visibility to revaluation results and context to interpret the results Inconsistent review of FX gain/loss and not establishing a process for resolution of results outside of tolerance The Assessment of FX Risks Diagnosing Accounting Volatility: Symptoms, Questions and the Self-Assessment So far, we have discussed common foreign currency exposure data integrity issues, the role of the ERP and accounting systems administered by IT and/or Accounting, and accounting and organizational issues that contribute to the problem of accounting volatility. Next, we’ll consider the symptoms of these problems in the form of key questions that CFOs or Treasurers can pose to indicate the degree of accounting volatility within their organization. How confident is Accounting that multi-currency transactions are being recorded properly, including initial entry and clearing of the transactions? If multi-currency transactions are not being recorded or cleared properly, they can create unexpected FX gain/loss volatility. As discussed previously, if a Regional Accounting Manager records a multi-currency invoice in the local currency of the entity instead of the transaction currency, the Treasurer will have no visibility to the exposure. When the payment is cleared, the gain/loss on the transaction will unexpectedly impact the income statement. When was the last time Accounting reviewed enterprise-wide revaluation to determine if the system(s) configuration and related processes produced a result that compiled with ASC 830 / IAS 21? In the vast majority of companies that we have worked with, we have uncovered multiple ERP/accounting system setup/configuration problems and process issues which not only raise compliance concerns, but also create embedded FX gain/loss volatility that is very difficult to detect and manage. How confident is Accounting that intercompany transactions are being reconciled on a timely basis and are in balance? We commonly witness intercompany transactions that demonstrate the significant balance discrepancies discussed previously. Intercompany issues we often encounter that can cloud foreign currency exposures include: Intercompany transactions where only one side of the transaction is recorded in the GL Intercompany transactions that do not have matching balances Intercompany transactions that are not posted in the same transaction currency Intercompany transactions that are recorded in a third currency (functional currency of entity) Does Accounting perform foreign currency gain/loss analysis on a regular, monthly basis and maintain a proactive process for the resolution of exceptions? If yes, how often do they encounter unexpected results, and what is the process for investigation and resolution? If not, do they verify that the gain/loss on currency exposures is as expected and within corporate tolerance? Assessing Your Organization’s Foreign Currency Exposure Management Situation Upon addressing these key questions, you should be able to assess your company’s ability to quantify and manage foreign currency exposures. The FX Exposure Management Capability Model represented by the excerpt below, can help you determine your company’s current capabilities and define concrete goals to improve your ability to quantify and manage foreign currency exposure. We’ve developed this assessment with selections to help you identify the most applicable attributes of your FX Exposure identification and management. Once you take the assessment, the category with the most items checked will be an indicator of your company’s ability to manage foreign currency exposure. Representative extract from the Kyriba FX Exposure Assessment Foreign Currency Exposure Management: An Enterprise Issue Additional Resources Savvy corporates are adopting a roundtable approach to currency risk management. Currency has become an issue outside the halls of treasury. Modern currency aware organizations understand that currency impacts many areas of the business and that all of those areas are represented at the company’s currency roundtable. Everyone at the currency roundtable has access to accurate, complete, and timely exposure data, as well as the analytics to understand how those exposures impact their functional area -- and conversely, how decisions they make affect foreign currency exposures and the company’s overall financial performance. Currency surprises impact in obvious (and not-so-obvious ways). When a company’s revenue is regularly eroded by currency surprises it has less cash available for productive activity. That loss has ripple effects, including credit rating downgrades that raise the firm’s cost of capital and debt covenant breaches that limit its access to liquidity. Both reduce available cash and limit the organization’s ability to deliver maximum profit to shareholders. For more detail on the deeper impacts of currency surprises, check out the latest Currency Impact Report from Kyriba: Kyriba Currency Report Recommended Next Steps CFOs, Treasurers, and Accounting can turn to Kyriba FX to provide an unparalleled ability to access accurate and complete exposure data, on demand. Our platform is backed by a team of experts who continually support the currency risk management process at some of the largest organizations in the world. Put simply, teams that have identified FX related accounting to exposure management issues can rely on Kyriba to provide a solution to remediate any sources of accounting volatility and inaccuracy. In many cases, organizations choose to leverage Kyriba’s industry leading software platform to measure, monitor, and manage their currency risk management programs on an ongoing basis. About Kyriba FX Risk Management Kyriba FX Advisory Services helps treasury and finance professionals understand and manage currency impact to financial results. Organizations ranging from Amazon to Google use Kyriba FX analytics to monitor and manage the impact of currency on their business. Kyriba FX was developed as the first solution to automate foreign exchange exposure management for multinational companies, delivering unparalleled expertise and driving measurable results. To this day, Kyriba FX is focused on helping organizations quantify their foreign exchange exposure and cost-effectively insulate their company from the uncertainty of currency volatility. Whether we’re working with a Fortune 50 organization or a growing U.S. company poised to go global, we take the same approach to understanding our customer’s foreign exchange policies, processes, and objectives. Kyriba FX is a cloud based software suite that customers can deploy to cost-effectively manage their own foreign exchange exposure management process.   Want to learn more about how to automate seamlessly across your FX management process? Check out Kyriba's latest demo session and see how Kyriba helps its clients mitigate the effects of currency volatility and reduce hedging costs.

Tuesday April 25 | 11:00am ET | 4:00pm GMT | Having real-time insight into the locations of your liquidity is key to survival as financial institutions begin to unravel and the world economy continues...

Tuesday April 25 | 11:00am ET | 4:00pm GMT | Having real-time insight into the locations of your liquidity is key to survival as financial institutions begin to unravel and the world economy continues to feel like a ride at Coney Island. Join this demo webinar to learn how Kyriba helps treasury and finance professionals create agility to thrive during economic uncertainty.

Tuesday, May 2 | 11:00am ET | 4:00pm GMT | Securing budget for a treasury project during heightened volatility becomes easier when ROI can be achieved in months, not years. FX Risk management has...

Tuesday, May 2 | 11:00am ET | 4:00pm GMT | Securing budget for a treasury project during heightened volatility becomes easier when ROI can be achieved in months, not years. FX Risk management has been proven time and again to realize quick ROI gains, dramatically improving approval and success from internal stakeholders.

Executive Summary Thank you for reading this edition of the Non-Banking Financial Institution (NBFI) Survey. This survey was underwritten by Kyriba for the 2nd year in a row as they continue to serve an...

Executive Summary Thank you for reading this edition of the Non-Banking Financial Institution (NBFI) Survey. This survey was underwritten by Kyriba for the 2nd year in a row as they continue to serve an increasing number of companies in these industries. This survey and the report were written and produced by Strategic Treasurer. The previous iteration of this survey focused solely on insurance companies, but by expanding this research in 2022 to related industry verticals, we have been able to capture a greater breadth of “treasury intensive” financial companies. The majority of survey respondents were headquartered in North America (Canada, United States, Mexico), with European companies representing the next highest level of coverage. Asia-Pacific headquartered firms made up 4% of respondents. With this year’s research, we sought to better understand the priorities, plans, and activities that financial institutions were focused on. The results didn’t disappoint. You are invited to read through the top ten items from the research and see what is dramatic and notable, as well as what hasn’t changed much. We learn from each of these situations, and knowing what others are doing informs our thinking and may help adjust our priorities. Disbursement Preferences: Staff, Technology, and Then Structure NBFIs are centralizing their staff and using specialized payment technology most heavily. However, the use of pay-on-behalf-of (POBO) structures is in the early stages of adoption while showing strong signs of likely growth. Highest Priorities: Security, Compliance, Efficiency NBFIs face numerous competing demands, and security/fraud prevention (66%) dominates all other priorities, including compliance (45%). Efficiency matters too in a more limited measure. Benchmarking — Achieving a Personal Best What are companies measuring? They are most frequently tracking their current performance against their own historical numbers (62%), while a minority of firms currently perform external benchmarking: 41% against similar company types, and 24% against companies of the same size or complexity. Thank you for taking the time to read through this report. For those who invested the time to take the moderate-length survey, you have our deep appreciation. You are helping out this vital industry. Your input allows us to understand what is happening and what professionals are thinking and doing in the NBFI space. As always, those who take the survey receive more information and details from the research. It is one additional way of thanking you for your time. Key Finding Analysis 1. Heavy Users of Accounts The NBFI world uses multiple account types, and a notable minority have a high volume of accounts. These accounts cover operating activity (in this survey, we use the term “demand deposit accounts” or DDA), investment activity (custody accounts), and trust accounts (trust). DESCRIPTION OF ACCOUNT TYPES: Demand deposit accounts and current accounts: These are transactional accounts at the organization’s operating bank. Various deposits and disbursements flow in and out of these accounts, and cash is held in them. Custody accounts: These are accounts at custodial banks that hold investments/securities for the organization making investments. Securities are held in these accounts. Trust accounts: These are accounts that are managed by a trustee (typically a bank) on behalf of a third party. Activity running through these accounts is approved and executed by the trustee based upon valid and appropriate instructions. 2. Disbursement Preferences: Staff, Technology, & Then Structure How are NBFIs organizing their staff, leveraging technology, and using payment structures? The use of “centralized staff” (payment factory or shared service center) and “centralized technology” are both likely to achieve majority status shortly. POBO looks to continue its strong growth and is expected to achieve a one-third adoption level within a few years. Centralized staff: Service centers (49%) are the most used option (amount in use or being implemented). Specialized technology: Payment hub technology is highly popular, with 48% using or implementing these tools, and another 11% indicating that they are evaluating the use of this technology. Payment structure (POBO): The pay-on-behalf-of structure is in use or being implemented by 29%, with another 14% evaluating it. DESCRIPTION OF ACCOUNT TYPES: Centralized staff: This refers to a shared service center or center of excellence that handles the operational activity for, in this case, disbursement activity. These can be either regionalized or centralized on a global basis. Specialized technology: A payment hub is a common name for the technology that can support all aspects of payments. This is a system or service that allows for 1) an approval process for payments, 2) data transformation, or putting payment instructions into the proper format, 3) operational management, delivering and confirming payment information to the right payment rail or messaging platform, and 4) other services: security, validation, confirmation, etc. Payment structure (POBO): The pay-on-behalf-of structure allows a company with many subsidiaries or affiliates to use a single structure for disbursements. This structure may be a separate entity that is created for this purpose or may be an existing entity. The disbursements are routed through this POBO structure, and the individual entities/companies transfer the value of the payments and the related liabilities to that entity for processing and management. Instead of having 10 disbursement accounts with 10 similar processes, this is collapsed into one for efficiency of capital and time purposes. 3. INSURANCE COMPANY. Insurance Liquidity Concentration, & Aggregation Techniques Institutional money market funds (MMF) are the most common tool for aggregating investment balances among insurance companies. Sweep mechanisms are used by over half of insurance companies and represent an easy way of automatically ensuring all cash is invested. Notably, only 2 out of 9 companies are using insurance liquidity pools currently. This service allows for consolidated investing and segmented tracking for the participants in the insurance liquidity pool. When we combine the responses for currently in use, implementing, and evaluating, the numbers stack up as follows: Insurance liquidity pool: 50%. (Currently in use: 22%.) Investment sweep: 73%. (Currently in use: 56%.) Institutional MMF: 95%. (Currently in use: 67%.) DESCRIPTION OF ACCOUNT TYPES: Insurance liquidity pool: Primarily in the United States, insurance companies may have the options of establishing their own investment pools that support multiple companies and investment portfolios. The company can combine shorter-term funds from multiple portfolios and insurance activity and invest them in larger blocks. This reduces the number of trades and effort while allowing the individual portfolio managers to have greater liquidity while earning higher rates. Individual ownership is tracked. There are specific rules that must be followed. Many companies refer to their liquidity pool or pools as “STIP” for “short-term investment pool.” Investment sweep: Excess cash left in operating accounts or investment accounts is moved to an investment fund automatically. The excess funds are “swept” into an investment account and in many cases are returned the next day automatically 4. Non-Insurance NBFIs Have More Waterfall Payments than Insurance Companies One-third of NBFIs overall generate 11 or more waterfall payment series each year. Nearly half (46%) do not have any. Stratifying the respondents between insurance companies from the rest of the NBFIs shows that the use of waterfall payments among insurance companies is roughly half of other NBFIs: Insurance companies: − 22% have 11 or more each year. − Majority (61%) do not have any waterfall payments in a year. Non-insurance company NBFIs: − 42% have 11 or more each year. − 29% do not have any waterfall payments in a year DESCRIPTION OF ACCOUNT TYPES: Waterfall payments: There are multiple situations where an investment arrangement requires payments to be made to an entity that is at the top or middle of an entity hierarchy. Payments made to the first entity are then cascaded down through other entities until everything is completed. This cascading is referred to as a “waterfall payment,” and typically these payments flow downstream on the same date. 5. Highest Priorities: Security, Compliance, Efficiency NBFIs face numerous competing demands. Priorities help determine the emphasis and order for which activities and initiatives are staffed, funded, and completed. For this question, seven options were provided for respondents to rank in order of priority. Looking at what respondents ranked 1st and 2nd for highest priorities, it was clear that there seems to be a strong consensus about the top of the house. ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION: Willie Sutton is famous for his response to the question of why he robbed banks: “That is where the money is.” We could imagine the corollary in response to this in a similar question-answer style: “Why are you (NBFIs) focused on security/fraud prevention?” “Because there are many more Willie Suttons out there with far more automation and sophisticated tools trying to rob us.” Compliance is always a top priority for regulated businesses like most NBFIs. Fines, fees, and reputational damage are some of the key motivators. Only security/fraud tops compliance. Is this due to the cost and reputational damage being an even higher concern for NBFIs? 6. Payment Controls Are a Continuum of High to Low Adoption. Fastest Expected Growth: AI/ML Limited access and encryption (all payment files) are the only two methods used by the majority of companies. Four other services sit between 30% and 47% adoption, and another 10-17% of firms expect to add to these services. Use of AI/ML to protect against payment fraud has a 30% “plan to use” response. This represents nearly double the rate of the next highest controls. Machine learning is highly effective at detecting patterns. This pattern detection can also spot anomalies — instances where a pattern isn’t consistent. Fraudulent items can often be detected based upon the “patterns” of changes, access, and frequency, and a user can review those items before payments leave the company ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION: The principle of least privilege requires companies to restrict the access of users and credentials to only those areas/systems/data that are relevant. Then, if a credential is stolen or if an individual seeks to steal information or money, their ability to act or move around is greatly limited. This mitigates the amount of damage that can occur if one credential is compromised. Encryption of all payment files should make it more difficult to see and edit confidential banking information. The public/private key process also renders editing a file far more difficult, as the encryption/decryption process will alert the system or users of the error. AI/ML. Anomaly detection capabilities can be learned by an ML tool, and various rules for detection can also be programmed in. When this is done, the user is alerted to anomalies that need to be reviewed by a human. The alerts can be informational only (and the payment continues unless stopped by the person), or they can be part of an interdiction (the payment stops unless and until a human reviews and approves the interdicted item). 7. Measurements: Financial Performance Wins Over SLA What gets measured, we are told, gets improved. What is being measured? Two-thirds of companies trace various financial performance metrics. Staff performance is a distant second at 41%, followed by quality-related performance measures (38%). ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION: It is not surprising that in finance areas, measuring financial performance takes the top spot in this survey. However, why do not even 3 out of 10 companies measure staff professional development if people are the most valuable asset? Is there little correlation between staff development and success? Is it related to the fact that measuring staff development is highly challenging? What is the benchmark? 8. Benchmarks — Personal Best What do companies want to improve? It may be that they are measuring what is most important to them. It may be that more companies measure what they can most easily get measurement data for. Most companies track their current performance against their own historical numbers, while some performed external benchmarking. 62% measure themselves against themselves. The external benchmarks are as follows: − 41% measure themselves against similar companies (similar industry verticals). − 24% measure against companies of about the same size ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION: Company complexity has a variety of dimensions. The most common factors companies think about for comparable numbers are 1) revenue/sales and 2) industry vertical. Other factors of complexity include 1) number of systems in use, 2) how many countries the organization operates in, and 3) the number of underlying processing systems. Benchmarks are used for a variety of reasons, including: − Staff size/resources − Efficiency purposes − Confirmation as to the position of the company via leading practices − Progress over time against their own performance and others in their “peer group” 9. Collateral Management: The Most Common Manager Is…Treasury Collateral management is a risk related function that supports the operational and investment activities of many NBFIs. Treasury is the department that is most frequently responsible for managing collateral (31% of firms). More than one-fourth of firms don’t assign this role. 10. Collateral Management’s Impact on Cash Positioning: Tracked Separately. Collateral management within NBFIs appears to be relatively immature (non-integrated). Just over a third (34%) indicated that they have visibility or links to the collateral and underlying exposures. − Collateral and exposures can be seen together: 17%. − Clear view into collateral pools: 14%. − Can see the exposure and collateral within the cash positioning and forecasting process: 3%. Most firms (66%) track collateral and cash positioning in separate channels with no cohesive or unified view. ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION: The practice of collateral management appears to be, on average, somewhat informal for many NBFIs, as can be observed from the following data points: − 28% of companies don’t have collateral management assigned to a particular area. − 66% lack a unified view of collateral or track it in a separate channel than their cash positioning activity Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is a warning for all finance leaders. Check out  this on-demand webinar and hear Kyriba's top treasury and payments experts discuss the collapse, subsequent fallout, and how your organization can mitigate risk with improved liquidity planning.

This eBook explores the use cases for AI in treasury management and corporate finance, as well as the barriers preventing mass adoption of the technology. These technologies are applicable in cash and liquidity management,...

This eBook explores the use cases for AI in treasury management and corporate finance, as well as the barriers preventing mass adoption of the technology. These technologies are applicable in cash and liquidity management, payments fraud detection, documentation of treasury processes, and more. AI/ML Today While artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have gradually worked their way into everyday life in treasury and finance, but we’ve only scratched the surface of their potential. It’s important to understand that AI and ML are not technically the same thing. While the terms are often used interchangeably, they are two distinct technologies. AI is a broader term denoting intelligent machines that can simulate human thinking capability and behavior. ML, in contrast, is an application or subset of AI that enables machines to learn from data without additional programming.1 What makes AI so powerful now, as opposed to just a few years ago? The simple answer is data. We have so much more now than ever before. Both companies and consumers are using a host of applications that generate mass amounts of data, and with the right systems in place, that data can be transformed for better decision-making. Data scientists train AI models on historical data. Next, they run new data through the trained AI model to make much more informed predictions. Such models are incredibly useful for treasury and finance, which have had to make rapid adjustments in recent years to keep organizations running. Applying AI in Treasury Management and Finance With applications proliferating across so many areas, as well as the connectivity that banks and technology providers are building through APIs, treasury and finance departments have more data at their fingertips than ever before. But processing all of that data manually is nearly impossible. That’s where AI comes in. Technology providers train AI models on data that is extracted from operational applications and placed in a central repository. These can vary and have different advantages. Data warehouses store data in hierarchal dimensions and tables. Data lakes, in contrast, store massive amounts of raw data, storing it in flat architectures to allow users more freedom for data management.2 Unlike robotic process automation, which can only replicate processes, AI models can analyze data and identify trends and patterns in a fraction of the time that humans can.3 This allows for much faster and complete conversion of raw data into meaningful information that treasury and finance departments can use. AI models can be used for various treasury functions such as cash forecasting, payments fraud detection, and working capital optimization. For example, AI can drastically improve receivables management. As noted in a recent AFP Treasury in Practice Guide, a technology company’s accounts receivable (AR) team was struggling to manually process over 2,500 monthly checks, leading to major delays. Realizing that it needed to make a change, the AR team worked with its banking partners to implement an machine learning-enabled receivables solution. The solution automated the manual gathering, consolidation and formatting process that the AR team had been doing every morning, allowing most payments to process within two days. Furthermore, over time, the machine continues to learn from exceptions, improving accuracy. It has also provided the AR team with more opportunities to increase electronic payments adoption. How Machine Learning Works for Treasury Payments Fraud Detection Modern payments fraud detection software uses AI to screen payments against historical payment data pulled from a data source. All the characteristics of payments—the payment amounts, payment types, the number of payments, where they’re going, etc.—reside within that data source. A machine then analyzes that data, which enables it to identify anomalies in future activity. A number of different models can be used to pinpoint those anomalies. One of the most effective is an isolation forest methodology. This model compares all the different variables in the data source against new payments to determine the normality of those payments. Any payment that has an unusually high abnormality rank is flagged and set aside for further review. Machine learning solutions can even show users that variable comparison, providing them with insights into how that normality/abnormality rank is calculated. Users can even set their own levels for abnormality tolerance. Companies that work in industries that are high targets for fraudulent activity might want a very low abnormality tolerance, whereas organizations that are less at risk might want to set it much higher so that minor anomalies won’t disrupt payment activity. Additionally, workflows can be embedded to swiftly resolve anomalies. Real-Time Screening, Alerts and Notifications The rise of same-day and real-time payment systems has increased the need for real-time responses to fraud attempts. Modern fraud detection software uses AI/ML to screen payments against historical payment data, pinpointing any anomalies. By providing more complete data, these solutions enable data-driven decision-making. Solutions can flag any abnormal payments, providing insights into the variables that determine payment normality. Generative Adversarial Networks The lack of data around fraud can be a problem for AI models. Training AI models can thus be challenging because the algorithms often can only learn from good payments and, at best, a handful of bad ones. Generative adversarial networks (GANs) can solve this problem. GANs are deep learning models that pit two separate neural networks against each other. One network mixes real data and synthetic data together and attempts to outwit the opposing network. By training fraud detection models on these competing networks, fraudulent transactions can be more easily identified in real data. Cash Forecasting Manual processes persist in treasury, even with the advent and evolution of technologies like AI. Many treasury departments continue to rely on Excel, even though it can produce highly inaccurate cash flow forecasts that can negatively impact the business. Organizations can increase the accuracy of their short-term cash forecasting with AI-based tools that learn from the history of cash flows and continuously improve inflow projections over time. With deeper analysis of this data, organizations can better predict cash flows by season or region, which in turn reduces efforts for key functions like accounts payable by, anticipating free cash flow closing, and adjusting the payment campaign budget. AI/ML users also can select what companies, currencies and cash flow types to include, as well as adjust the forecasting period to align on short-term payment/funding/investment decisions. With interest rates increasing, treasury teams can optimize liquidity by reducing their maximum idle cash while also minimizing the risk and cost of overdraft. Treasury will be able to determine how much of its budget it can allocate towards certain expenditures over a period of time, or whether it will need to borrow funds to make certain payments. AI tools can factor in multiple variables and errors found in historical data to better estimate cash inflows and outflows over the next seven days. This allows treasury to determine how much of its budget it can allocate towards certain expenditures over that time period, or whether it will need to borrow funds to make certain payments. Soon, as these tools accumulate more data, they will be able to make predictions on mid- and long-term horizons. Check out Kyriba's latest AI-powered cash forecasting module: Cash Management AI to see how AI in treasury management can already be used fluently for short-term cash forecasting. ChatGPT and Generative AI in Treasury Management ChatGPT has become a popular generative AI app, in part because of a $10 billion partnership with Microsoft. ChatGPT is well known for its natural language processing chatbot abilities that answer any question. Yet the real opportunity for ChatGPT and generative AI is to change the way we interact with online software applications, including online search and business applications like ERP and treasury management systems (TMS). ChatGPT can also be used within a TMS where the user gives instructions to the system using keywords or questions. With a user experience (UX) that has been optimized for natural language processing, the TMS can respond to basic queries such as “What is my exposure to the Yen?” or more complex requests, including “What caused the variance in my forecast last week?”. Treasury may also find this technology to be useful in documenting treasury processes and procedures. Documentation and how-to manuals take time and effort to compile. Fortunately, ChatGPT and similar generative AI models can do all the writing for you after being fed a minimum amount of information. Take Action The demands of today, and tomorrow, dictate that CFOs and treasurers must act. While pervasive economic hardships and rising global inflation may make it difficult for companies to justify spending on new technology, they are facing massive challenges if they don’t adjust to the pace of the modern business world. Rest assured; if your peers aren’t investing in this technology yet, they will be soon. Many companies have also stockpiled their cash reserves throughout the pandemic — now is the time to begin spending some of that cash on tech enablers, one good area to look into being AI in treasury management. Treasury teams would be wise to look for a trusted partner as they explore possible use cases of AI in treasury management. There are technology providers with teams of data experts and portfolios of treasury apps available. Many tools are already in production and require minimal effort on the part of the company. As we emerge from the pandemic—a time when companies were focused primarily on survival—the focus now needs to be on growth. As more data becomes available, growth will come from those organizations that are able to harness that data and turn it into useful applications. Others will drown in it and fall behind. With AI in treasury management to assist the human, treasury teams can ensure that they are positioning their organizations for success. Related Resources Javapoint: Difference Between Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning TechTarget: Data Lake AFP: Identifying Value for Treasury: Automation, Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence PYMNTS Intelligence: How Payments Automation and Digitization Can Reduce Errors and Streamline Transactions Gartner: Success With AP Invoice Automation Requires More Than Paper to Digital ERP News: Automation for Business Intelligence Kyriba: 15-Minute Guide to Payment Hubs Want to see how AI in treasury management improves cash forecasting? Join Kyriba's upcoming monthly live demo sessions. An on-demand demo session is available here.

Tuesday, April 18th | 11:00am ET | 4:00pm GMT | Securing budget for a treasury project during economic uncertainty increases the focus on defining KPIs and effectively measuring ROI. Benchmarking allows Treasurers, CFOs and...

Tuesday, April 18th | 11:00am ET | 4:00pm GMT | Securing budget for a treasury project during economic uncertainty increases the focus on defining KPIs and effectively measuring ROI. Benchmarking allows Treasurers, CFOs and Boards to better understand the value delivered from a treasury transformation project.

A Treasury Management System (TMS) is a software application that allows companies to process cash flow, manage banking relationships and enhance the value of their cash flow. A Treasury Management System can help companies...

A Treasury Management System (TMS) is a software application that allows companies to process cash flow, manage banking relationships and enhance the value of their cash flow. A Treasury Management System can help companies manage their assets, liabilities and bank accounts through automation and integration with third-party applications. A TMS provides real-time visibility into cash positions, enables better decision-making, and improves overall operational efficiency. The system includes a range of features and functionalities, including cash and liquidity management, risk management, and payment processing. Understanding Treasury Management Systems Treasury management is the process of managing an organization's liquidity, money market instruments, banking, concentration and disbursement activities. The goal of treasury management is to constantly monitor cash inflows and outflows in order to optimize the company's liquidity position. This includes managing all the financial risks associated with running a business. Treasury management also plays an important role in financial planning: If you want to know when your business will be profitable or how much debt or equity funding is needed for expansion plans over the next few years, having accurate projections about your company's financial health is essential. Treasury management is especially important for large organizations that need to ensure they are never short on cash but also don't have too much cash available at any time. Examples of these organizations include: Banks and other financial institutions Governments Major corporations A treasury management system is a powerful tool for organizations looking to streamline their treasury operations, manage financial risk, and improve cash management. By providing real-time visibility into cash positions, automating routine processes, and providing tools for managing financial risk, a TMS enables treasurers to make informed decisions and drive business growth. While implementation of a TMS requires significant investment, the benefits of improved operational efficiency, reduced financial risk, and improved compliance can be significant, making it a valuable investment for any organization. It is also important to understand the risks of not adopting a TMS. Advantages of a Treasury Management System A treasury management system automates and streamline the financial activities of companies. They automate tasks, like payments and invoicing, which can be time-consuming and require multiple people to complete. A treasury system can be used for both domestic and international payments and can handle multiple currencies. For example, if your business imports products from overseas suppliers or exports goods to other countries, then having a TMS in place can help you manage the different currencies involved in those transactions correctly. A treasury system also provides real-time reporting of financial data. It allows you to create customizable reports to meet your specific needs. A treasury software provides tools for managing financial risk, including foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk, and credit risk and helps organizations achieve regulatory compliance and improve their relationships with stakeholders, such as lenders, investors, and suppliers. Why Do You Need a Treasury Management System? First of all, a treasury management system provides improved efficiency. Automated payments save time and reduce errors by eliminating manual data entry, as well as automating reconciliation processes for accounts payable systems. Also, automated inventory tracking allows businesses to keep track of their current stock levels without having an employee manually update them every day or week. This means fewer errors on orders. Secondly, a good system will provide real-time information about everything from cash balances down through individual purchase orders, so companies know exactly where all their money goes—and when it comes back into play again. Thirdly, it is an important tool for achieving regulatory compliance. Many countries have stringent regulations around treasury operations, including cash management and payment processing. A treasury system can help organizations comply with these regulations, reducing the risk of fines and reputational damage. How a Treasury Management System Works A treasury system is a comprehensive solution that automates and streamlines the financial processes of a business. It works by aggregating data from multiple sources, including bank accounts, payments and investment portfolios, providing a complete and accurate picture of a company's cash position. This information enables treasurers to make informed decisions about cash management and investment strategies, reducing the risk of cash shortfalls and minimizing borrowing costs. It also provides tools for managing financial risk, including foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk, and credit risk. The system enables treasurers to monitor and manage these risks in real-time, providing a comprehensive view of the organization's risk exposure and enabling proactive risk management strategies. A treasury system usually includes different modules, each focusing on an important aspect of your finances: Cash Management: A TMS tracks incoming and outgoing payments, including those made through ACH transfers. The system ensures that funds are available when they're needed by monitoring the company's accounts receivable and payable balances as well as its bank balances. Cash Forecasting: A TMS helps identify trends so treasury can adjust budgets accordingly in order to meet goals without encountering unexpected costs along the way. Risk Management: A TMS provides a comprehensive solution for identifying, assessing, and managing financial risk, including advanced analytics and reporting capabilities. Liquidity Management: A TMS monitors cash flow on an ongoing basis, allowing organizations to plan ahead for future expenses like payroll or vendor payments in order to avoid overdrafts at the bank or costly loan fees from third parties like credit card companies or payday lenders. Choosing the Right Treasury Management System Choosing a treasury system is a multi-step process. Cost is always a factor, and can vary greatly depending on your organization’s desired functionality. That’s why it’s important to: Evaluate your needs. Convincing the CFO to approve the adoption of a TMS almost always requires the treasurer to carefully build a strong business case. But treasurers can have greater success if they know how to position a treasury solution as a necessity. Decide which features are most important to you, and then look at the available options from different providers. You can compare different solutions based on those criteria, then choose one that works for your business today and into the future. Implement a TMS that will work for years to come by meeting all of your current requirements while also allowing room for growth as needed over time. Other Capabilities of Treasury Software Treasury management largely encompasses cash management, bank account management and financial transactions. Treasury management systems provide CFOs and treasurers with the visibility and reporting needed to optimize cash, control bank accounts, manage liquidity, deliver compliance, and oversee investments, debt and intercompany loans. Cash Pooling and In-house Banking: Organizations can easily manage notional and physical cash pools to offer real-time intercompany positions, interest calculations and reporting. Multilateral Netting: Treasury management systems help calculate net payables and receivables positions by participant, delivering optimized exposure management and integration with in-house banks. Bank Relationship Management: Bank account management, signatory tracking, FBAR reporting, and bank fee analysis enable improved control of bank accounts and better transparency into bank fees. Financial Transactions: Industry-best treasury management systems fully track treasury financial transactions with complete integration to payments, accounting and cash forecasting modules. Accounting and Compliance: Automatic generation of journal entries, support of all ERP solutions for automated integration with the general ledger (GL) and GL reconciliation makes it easy to comply with industry and internal regulations. Essential Treasury Software Treasury and risk management applications are essential tools for any business looking to increase cash flow and reduce costs. By automating your financial processes, they allow organizations to save time while becoming more efficient and secure. Usually evaluating the return on investment for a treasury transformation project is a complex undertaking that goes far beyond evaluating productivity savings versus the cost of the solution. Companies need to ensure that they consider all potential value components of a treasury project and its impact across the entire organization to ensure that a full value assessment is included in the decision-making process. With such intricacies and value components that are often neglected, many treasury teams look for outside guidance in calculating the potential ROI of such projects in order to ensure that they are comprehensive in their evaluations. Road to Treasury Transformation There are many different paths companies can take to achieve treasury transformation. You can start with process standardization, or payments transformation, or simply reduction of bank fees. Below are three great examples from Kyriba's client community. Kyriba client Beam Suntory chose to modernize their operations in a decentralized environment. They worked with Kyriba to future proof cash and liquidity management to protect their future growth. The interconnected ERP, TMS and Payments systems ensures business continuity, visibility and confidence in liquidity optimization. Kyriba client Lowe’s has an extremely large bank account environment with over 2000 bank accounts at 33 banks. With Kyriba’s Bank Fee Analysis, Lowe’s is able to pull reports on a macro scale to immediately identify any outliers by comparing services across banks and drilling down to a micro-level for any out-of-policy store activity. Kyriba client Align Technology built an FX Hedging Program in alignment with senior management’s goals by integrating Kyriba FX with SAP ERP and implementing Data Integrity Analysis to validate exposure and identify inconsistencies.

Advanced treasury management and data-delivery capabilities enable finance organizations to see their global cash, liquidity, and risk exposures and create value for the business. Recent disruptions, such as the pandemic and current inflationary conditions,...

Advanced treasury management and data-delivery capabilities enable finance organizations to see their global cash, liquidity, and risk exposures and create value for the business. Recent disruptions, such as the pandemic and current inflationary conditions, have thrust treasury management into the spotlight. With rising interest rates and a strengthening US dollar, many finance organizations are turning to their treasury departments to proactively mitigate currency impacts upon foreign earnings and to enhance the use of internal liquidity over capital markets. Some are also looking to reduce costs in response to inflation. These factors are putting pressure on treasury departments to elevate their operating models and to digitally transform their capabilities around financial risk, balance sheets, working capital, and payments while simultaneously reducing costs. Some organizations are responding to these pressures by accelerating their digital transformation agendas and moving core capabilities into the cloud. They are also seeking to use internal and external data more extensively by enhancing their analytical capabilities. One way to accomplish these objectives is to combine a leading, cloud-based financial system, such as Workday Financial Management, with the enhanced treasury management capabilities of a cloud-based, supplemental system, such as Kyriba. Eight potential ways to achieve ROI Greater process efficiency via treasury automation and standardized reports. Timely and accurate cash visibility. Reduced banking fees and transaction costs. More effective hedging programs to manage FX and IR risk. Enhanced liquidity management and funding opportunities. Decreased IT support and required maintenance. Improved operations and fraud detection. Greater agility and enhanced business continuity via global SaaS platforms. Treasury as a value lever: Leveraging a Supplemental Treasury Management System Supplemental treasury management systems (TMS) generally offer in-depth functionality across treasury management and accounting, bank connectivity and payments, control and compliance, risk management, and supply chain finance. Accordingly, the business case for implementing a supplemental TMS can be compelling, especially for companies that need to perform complex intercompany lending, hedging, risk valuation, foreign exchange, and other intricate financial operations. However, modernizing the treasury management function requires a combination of capabilities, including industry-specific knowledge of leading practices; functional specialties such as strategy and operations, risk management, financial advisory, tax, and cyber security; and highly experienced professionals with technical skills across the various ERP ecosystems such as Workday and Kyriba. Deloitte not only offers these diverse capabilities but also integrates them efficiently. Deloitte is also a recognized market leader in finance transformation; it has achieved the highest quality rating on Workday implementation scorecards and it is Kyriba’s only enterprise-certified alliance relationship, having received implementerof-the-year awards for the last three consecutive years. With these qualifications, Deloitte is well-positioned to help you combine a cloud-based financial management system with a supplemental TMS. This can open up many opportunities for cashmanagement cost savings and improved treasury function performance. Cloud-based solutions to enhance visibility and management of cash, liquidity, and risk exposures Leverage Deloitte’s extensive finance transformation experience, knowledge of leading practices, and familiarity with the financial management and treasury management capabilities found in leading platforms such as Kyriba and Workday. Tailored for treasury optimization As detailed in Table 1, finance leaders have the ability to alleviate many common ERP treasury-management pain points by tapping Deloitte’s extensive finance transformation experience, knowledge of leading practices, and familiarity with the financial management and treasury management capabilities found in leading platforms such as Kyriba and Workday. How can we help Deloitte can assist you in taking the next steps to modernize your treasury management capabilities by guiding you through an initial scoping session to determine a personalized path forward. During this session, we can apply our technical acumen, treasury knowledge, and finance transformation experience to help you: Assess the current state. Develop a digital finance strategy based on combining leading cloud-based systems. Identify finance transformation opportunities and create a roadmap for realizing them. Design the solution and develop an implementation plan according to leading practices. System integration and implementation support for your selected solution. Ultimately, through proprietary accelerators and pre-defined data integrations, we can help you streamline your TMS implementation, delivering it simultaneously with a cloud-based financial management implementation, or after it is complete. Time to get strategic? Treasury management trends triggered by digital disruption several years ago have only intensified under recent economic conditions. The role of the treasury function continues to grow as a value-add partner of the CFO and a strategic advisor to the business—all while core treasury goals and mandates, such as liquidity risk management and being a steward for financial risk management, have become even more important in a world of volatile markets, tight supply chains, and rising interest rates. Could it be time for your organization to get strategic about liquidity management with a cloud-based financial management system and a supplemental treasury management system? To find out, contact us.   This document contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this document, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This document is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this document. Product names mentioned in this document are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only. Deloitte is not responsible for the functionality or technology related to the vendors or other systems or technologies as defined in this document. As used in this document, ‘Deloitte’ means Deloitte & Touche LLP, which provides audit, assurance, and risk and financial advisory services and Deloitte Consulting LLP, which provides strategy, operations, technology, systems, outsourcing and human capital consulting services. These entities are separate subsidiaries of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Copyright © 2023 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.   Want to learn more about how to gain with a supplemental treasury management system? Check out this webinar to hear how Deloitte helped Exelon and Constellation Energy modernize their Treasury organization through a Kyriba implementation.

Nearly every company doing business beyond its own borders faces the challenge of developing cost-effective FX risk management programs, and each year corporations incur billions of dollars in currency related losses due to global currency volatility. Even small organizations with modest international operations can be impacted by currency exposures if treasury fails to effectively manage foreign exchange (FX).

Nearly every company doing business beyond its own borders faces the challenge of developing cost-effective FX risk management programs, and each year corporations incur billions of dollars in currency related losses due to global currency volatility. Even small organizations with modest international operations can be impacted by currency exposures if treasury fails to effectively manage foreign exchange (FX). In this eBook you will be introduced to three common manual foreign exchange profiles and examine anonymous case studies of how a company from each profile type was able to gain greater insight into currency data and exposure, improve workflows, increase overall efficiencies and withstand currency headwinds — all by modernizing and automating their FX processes. In many cases, these losses are attributable to manual, spreadsheet-based currency risk management programs and processes, which are vulnerable to human error and faulty hedging strategies — strategies that hinge on inadequate or incomplete data. Ongoing FX volatility, lack of access to accurate and timely data, and real time responsiveness to exposure and market risk changes put demands on organizations to embrace fully-automated FX risk management programs. Regardless of the sophistication or complexity of an organization, every corporation can benefit from automated FX risk management. This is true even for larger or more sophisticated companies already utilizing general treasury software or trading platforms. In fact, automated FX risk management programs can enhance the value of a trading platform, ERP(s) and other technologies. What Does Automating FX Mean? Automation involves modernizing procedures by systematizing each step of a process, eliminating the need for manual intervention along the way. Within the FX risk management programs, this may include automating processes for the data collection exposure consolidation, calculation and analysis, as well as hedge recommendation. Automation also involves seamlessly integrating multiple systems, including ERPs, trading platforms and market data providers to ensure exposures are aggregated easily and automatically with the latest technology, like APIs. At Kyrbia, we advise corporations to consider three types of FX automation when looking to enhance their FX risk management programs Data Transfer Automation to optimize the data gathering portion of FX risk management, which ensures human “touch-points” are minimized and the potential for error is reduced. Workflow Automation to identify and establish exposure benchmarks across the enterprise, ensuring consistency and eliminating currency surprises. Process Automation to introduce complete, end-to-end modernization to ensure errors are mitigated, efficiencies are maximized and risk is eliminated. The Benefits of Automated FX Risk Management Programs Although automating FX may sound intimidating, by working with the right technology and fintech provider, it can often be completed easily and quickly with quick-strike benefits. Automation eliminates the need for manual intervention, reducing the potential for costly human errors. Diminishing the need for manual involvement frees treasury professionals from having to gather data from multiple sources, giving them more time to analyze information, track exposure trends and proactively seek out other opportunities to eliminate risk. Automation transforms how treasury professionals are perceived within an organization, allowing them to be seen as resources in strategic planning. By using automated FX risk management programs, organizations also gain: Improved efficiency Significant time savings Increased FX controls Greater insights into FX exposures Reduced currency impacts to earnings Optimized FX risk management costs Managed impacts from FX risk Leveraging technology allows organizations to perform risk analytics on command, becoming less dependent on financial institutions or outsourced service providers. This provides the most flexibility, visibility, and control over an FX program while not losing time on external dependencies. By dividing the automation of foreign exchange management into three distinct profiles, we can better examine where companies stand with their current FX programs and determine what steps they need to take to achieve full automation. These three profiles are broken out by companies looking to expedite processes, create flexible & adaptable workflows, and enrich data intelligence to optimize FX risk management programs. Expedite: The “expedite” category describes corporations that are interested in incrementally improving their existing FX management programs through efficient data processing. Generally, companies that fit this profile type rely on manual processes that are vulnerable to errors. The CFO may be interested in transitioning away from a spreadsheet-reliant program and looking to automate data aggregation and facilitate in-depth exposure analyses. Adapt: Global organizations have dynamically changing exposure & risk profiles within a continuously changing foreign currency market. Organic growth, acquisitions, and restructurings can leave hedge programs frequently chasing down issues if the FX risk management program is not designed to quickly “adapt” to evolving conditions. When it comes to FX, chasing down issues ultimately puts the organization at higher risk of ineffective risk mitigation decision and negative P&L impacts. Enrich: The “enrich” category describes highly-complex organizations seeking to take advantage of efficient processes by shifting efforts to more strategic analysis. Companies in this category have optimized the blocking and tackling of operating an FX risk management program, and are now ready to leverage automation to improve data inputs and risk forecast assumptions. Hedge programs will maximize effectiveness the more hedge decisions accurately align with actual business activity. Editor’s Note Companies in each one of these profile types have distinctly different challenges and operate at varying levels of sophistication, but they all share a common trait: the need to automate their FX programs. Three Corporate Profiles, Three Automation Success Stories Every corporate environment offers unique challenges, and the following anonymous case studies illustrate how automated workflows can enhance a company’s FX risk management programs — regardless of the inherent complexities. The specifics for each company in this eBook vary— some used FX trading platforms or had previously established in-house banks. Regardless of the specifics, after modernizing their programs, each organization saw near immediate quantifiable results, including improved operational efficiencies, time savings, reduced expenses and reductions in currency-related risks. 1. Expedite: A $6 Billion Global Electronics Manufacturer Why They Automated The company relied on a manual, forecast-based, legacy balance sheet FX program requiring treasury specialists to gather spreadsheets every month from 30 entities around the globe. They consolidated the forecasts, uploading and executing the appropriate trades manually. This process took four days in total (two days for data consolidation; two for currency hedging), requiring additional steps, touch-points and manual calculations along the way – all of which amplified the potential for human error. Solution The company looked for a solution to help them design an automated program. Kyriba’s Balance Sheet FX solution offered the cutting-edge SaaS technology and back-end support needed to complement their existing forecasting processes. With Kyriba, their new FX solution enabled a streamlined data aggregation process and initial exposure analysis. This, in turn, supported the development of an end-to-end, automated workflow, which helped the FX team improve their analysis and adjustment process. The team aggregated data for all entities at a corporate level and then executed trades and hedge accounting with a seamless integrated trade execution portal. By using Kyriba's FX risk management solution, treasury could select what to trade and the trades would immediately be processed. This eliminated unnecessary steps while adding more rigid controls, reducing the likelihood of human error causing something to go wrong during the trade process. The time savings and assurances that processing errors are reduced allow the company to spend more energy on strategic analysis. Outcome Kyriba significantly improved the data aggregation and exposure calculation processes, but seeing the trend analytics and having the ability to compare datasets in the system were also vital. With their new FX risk management solution, treasurers could quickly break down exposures – by entity –and identify what drove the changes while drilling into specific accounts. This was a monumental change compared to their manual processes which did not allow for this advanced degree of reporting; nor did it offer the granular details they needed. Automation saved time and reduced the potential for error. With the click of a button, trades were moved from one system to the next. Treasury no longer needed to open different files, copy, paste and upload separately. This saved significant transaction time, which amounted to many hours saved each month due to the frequency of trades. Additional Benefits The modernized process gave the FX team more time to analyze data and identify trends. Better still, the entire process could be completed in less than a day compared to the manual process, which took about four days to complete. FX professionals could make daily adjustments in exposures, enabling them to immediately identify if – and where – the forecast was off and how to best align currency hedges. The treasury team could also lower the exposure hedge threshold while expanding the number of currency pairs tracked and traded. This helped improve the data collection to hedge execution process by 60 percent. The treasury team lowered corporate hedge thresholds to less than $200,000. 2. Adapt: A $15 Billion Consumer Goods Company Why They Automated With most of the treasury department’s efforts spent manually collecting error-prone data, company decision-makers realized they needed to upgrade their treasury infrastructure. Gathering balance sheet data alone required tapping into 38 different systems in a legacy ERP environment. This antiquated process limited opportunities for the team to focus on data analysis and risk mitigation. These issues were compounded because the company was acquiring another, smaller company at the same time. Executives tasked the FX team from the smaller company – which was already resource-challenged – with managing the post acquisition currency program. The post-acquisition balance sheet program was only hedging one-off inter-company loans and FX trades were executed over the phone. Rolling and settling hedges required constant manual intervention. Additionally, FX hedges in spreadsheets (managed by multiple employees) were an ongoing headache because the cost of wrong-way trades or over/under hedging was high. Cohesive, end-to-end automation was needed to improve efficiencies. Solution Executives recognized the need for an automated program, eliminating the risk of manual errors. The company introduced a customized backbone treasury infrastructure that drew on best practices and offered various treasury technology solutions, including a currency analytics solution, a TMS and a trading platform. For its balance sheet program, the entire hedging process was automated – including weekly collections of exposure data from local business units, ERP systems, spreadsheet uploads and user inputs. Once balances were collected, the team analyzed exposures to determine the external hedging needs. These were executed using an automated trading platform and housed in the new treasury workstation. Kyriba was chosen not only as their TMS, but the company chose its Balance Sheet FX solution to be used as a centralized FX risk center, facilitating automated data collection, exposure calculations and hedge recommendations through technology-enabled automation with the ERP systems, Kyriba TMS and trade executive portal. Within Balance Sheet FX, the team had visibility into individual entities and profit center details. Data was sourced from 38 legacy ERP systems via a weekly template (from 25 local business units) and SAP automatically pushed the data to Kyriba. Outstanding hedges were automatically transferred and uploaded to display net exposure. Kyriba then created recommended hedge actions based on the corporate policy and generated trades netted at the corporate level for all exposure balances. Trades were sent (via direct automation) for execution. Confirms were sent back to Kyriba for automated entity-hedge allocation and reconciliation.When the companies acquisition closed, Kyriba provided a strong FX risk management solution framework that made it easy to integrate the new entities. Rather than taking months to work with new entities to gather exposure data and educate new employees, the company could quickly guide entities in how to adopt FX processes and follow policies. Outcome By automating, the company revented its treasury infrastructure from the ground up. The transformation took place at the same time the small treasury team managed its day-to-day responsibilities – while the company executed six acquisitions and four divestitures. Additional Benefits The new workflow significantly reduced cumulative FX transaction net losses from$88 million to less than $2 million. The notional size of the balance sheet hedging program increased from $800 million to $2 billion. Hedge accounting documentation now saves the company $120,000 per year thanks to consolidating technology platforms. Trading fees have been reduced by more than $1.3 million in 12 months. 3. Enrich: An $8 Billion Specialty Food Company Why They Automated The company originally relied on a non-formalized, manual cash flow exposure forecasting process – one that was completed ad hoc, using numerous spreadsheets and a variety of touch-points. Data collection was inconsistent, calculations were completed manually and the potential for error was high. Across the business and reporting structures, many currency pairings were complex and represented significant risk. Reviewing spreadsheets and formulas for each forecast period was resource-intensive, requiring the treasury team to manually review each submission. Additionally, comprehensive management reporting was limited, despite the amount of time devoted to the task. Solution Prior to evaluating FX technology to address their needs, the company conducted an inventory of necessary data required to support a more formalized process and quarterly hedging cycle. The goal was to ensure – when an opportunity to hedge was identified, or the business required a hedge – the team had all the necessary data to act quickly. Once the inventory was finalized, they sought out technology that would further enhance their workflow. The company’s cash flow forecasts were integrated with Kyriba’s Balance Sheet FX reporting reflecting existing hedges, creating an initial view of net exposure by entity. After reviewing the exposure and making desired adjustments and edits, the team executed a decision process in Kyriba to recommend hedges at an entity level (applying the company’s policy-defined threshold, target ratios and level of materiality, creating a report that allocates decisions by entity, currency pair and account group). Kyriba then created trade recommendations for the company’s in-house bank, including internal and external trades, displayed within the application for review. Once recommended trades were approved, the system generated a report of external trades which are sent automatically to an integrated trade execution portal. Kyriba then received the trade confirms, allocating them back to individual entities. Outcome The new workflow empowered the company to standardize a process with currency pairs, exposure types, geographical details and entity information. With corporate-mandated standardization in place, the implementation facilitated improved reporting with complete flexibility supporting individual user-defined views. This proved to be a significant time-saver, enabling the treasury team to focus on analyzing the accuracy of the forecasts, which helped eliminate nearly all calculation errors. Additional Benefits The ability to segregate and analyze specific data sets significantly reduces the time spent on reporting. Previously, it took at least three days (per quarter) to complete; now the process takes less than six hours (including collecting and uploading data and completing board presentations). The company has seen a 50 percent increase in participation in the forecasting process. Realized increased flexibility in the reporting. The company’s new workflow offers more details on all proposed actions. The increased collaboration and visibility allowed the team to add four new entity currency pair combinations to its existing hedge program. There has also been a 50 percent improvement in corporate target hedge ratios. Conclusion Before automating, each company profiled had the potential to endure significant losses (due to human error and faulty, incomplete data). After automating, each organization – regardless of its size and complexity – saw near-immediate benefits. Most importantly, each experienced a reduction in FX-related losses, managed impact from volatility and a substantial decrease in unmanaged FX currency risk. Kyriba is committed to helping organizations improve the impact currency exposure has on corporate financial results by offering best-in-class technology and services. With Kyriba, organizations can reduce risk, reduce costs and streamline processes. Kyriba facilitates end-to-end automation, which includes direct ERP data extraction and aggregation, forecast consolidation, exposure and risk analysis generation and automated risk transfer and trade execution connectivity to banking portals and trading platforms using state-of-the-art, highly-secure SaaS solutions. If your organization is dependent on a sluggish, error-prone manual FX program, you should know adopting an end-to-end, fully-automated currency risk management program can help you achieve the kind of benefits detailed in this eBook. Kyriba has helped leading multinationals and small and mid-size companies with FX exposure, to successfully transition from manual FX programs to modernized, cost-effective programs. Want to learn more about how to automate seamlessly across your FX risk management programs? Check out Kyriba's latest demo session and see how Kyriba helps its clients mitigate the effects of currency volatility and reduce hedging costs.

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is a warning for CFOs and finance leaders who are not able to offer immediate, real-time questions on impacts to their balance sheets, income statements and cash flow. View Recording

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is a warning for CFOs and finance leaders who are not able to offer immediate, real-time questions on impacts to their balance sheets, income statements and cash flow. View Recording

Kyriba’s Liquidity Analytics is part of the comprehensive SaaS-based Kyriba Analytics reporting platform giving CFOs and treasury the ability to identify enterprise-wide, integrated cash, coupled with debt and investment data presented with superior visualization...

Kyriba’s Liquidity Analytics is part of the comprehensive SaaS-based Kyriba Analytics reporting platform giving CFOs and treasury the ability to identify enterprise-wide, integrated cash, coupled with debt and investment data presented with superior visualization and analysis. Liquidity management across the organization becomes more strategic, insightful and faster with the latest Kyriba Analytics offering: Analyzing the Net Financial Position To gain a comprehensive understanding of the financial position of a company, it is essential to analyze the variation of net debt over time. This analysis can provide insights into how the company’s liquidity has changed over a given period and whether these changes are a cause for concern. The examination of intercompany loans across subsidiaries as part of the net debt allows analyzing the role of in-house liquidity for the group. The breakdown by currency increases visibility into the associated forex exposures prior to hedging. To counter the delays in reporting typically experienced from non-integrated, spreadsheet-based tools, Kyriba’s solution brings the treasury data and financial transaction records together intraday to calculate the net debt position. By using these resources, Liquidity Analytics offers a current picture of the organization’s financial standing, enabling the CFO to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions to manage and mitigate financial risks. Building a Solid Financial Plan Liquidity Analytics allows optimized financing from the planned evolution of working capital and capital expenses. The ability to forecast the company’s funding requirements in relation to its financial resources increases the effectiveness of planning and managing the financial operations of the company. In an economic climate that is fraught with uncertainty, it is imperative for the CFO to make contingency plans that account for various business scenarios, both those that anticipate growth and those that defend against downturns. Liquidity Analytics enables stress testing of cash inflows and outflows, thus validating the strength of the financial plan against the pressure of a volatile market. By utilizing this tool, the CFO can ensure that the company’s financial plan is resilient and can withstand a variety of potential economic scenarios. Controlling Liquidity Liquidity ratios play a crucial role in determining a company’s credit rating and subsequently its cost of debt. Liquidity Analytics provides both historical variations in liquidity and its future evolution anticipated from financial planning. This analysis encompasses not only cash and cash equivalents, but also committed credit facilities. The tool can also aid in mitigating credit risk by exercising control over the allocation of the liquidity portfolio across banks, thereby avoiding any potential concentration of funds. By ensuring that the liquidity portfolio is diversified and not concentrated in a single institution, the solution helps reduce the risk of over-reliance on any one bank, thus contributing to the financial stability of the company. Analyzing the Structure of Your Debt Portfolio Analyzing and optimizing your debt portfolio over time is crucial in order to minimize interest expenses. Liquidity Analytics expands the CFO’s effectiveness in calculating and forecasting the exposure to interest rates volatility. Future interest rate what-if combined with liquidity stress test provides an estimate of the cost of the financial plan by scenario. This analysis helps the CFO make informed decisions regarding the company’s financial operations and ensure the cost of the debt is minimized in the long term. Kyriba Analytics Reporting Platform for CFOs and Treasurers Besides Liquidity Analytics, Kyriba also offers a full suite of analytics for Cash, Payments, Risks, Compliance and Supplier Finance. Liquidity Analytics What is my net debt and my liquidity? How and when best to pay down my debt? How many “days of survival” do I have? Cash Analytics Do I have enough cash? Are my cash forecasts reliable? What is my activity with banks? Payments Analytics Where is my biggest concentration of payments? Are we sending too many wires? Which users execute payments and who approves them? Risk Analytics How much is available on my credit lines? What is my borrowing profile? What is the value of my financial assets? SCF Analytics What is my supplier participation rate? How many documents have been uploaded? Which invoices are financed? Compliance Analytics Who are the users and where are they located? Which modules can they access with which rights? What data can they access?

FX Risk Management is one of the most difficult objectives handed to a CFO’s organization. Touching not only all key areas of Treasury, Accounting & Finance, but also necessitating coordination with operations & lines...

FX Risk Management is one of the most difficult objectives handed to a CFO’s organization. Touching not only all key areas of Treasury, Accounting & Finance, but also necessitating coordination with operations & lines of business.

Kyriba Mobile securely extends core treasury and payments functions from desktops to mobile devices, allowing informed, real-time decisions on the go.

Securely access core treasury workflows anytime, anywhere Complimentary for Kyriba clients, the Kyriba Mobile application extends core treasury and payments management functionality from desktops to mobile devices, empowering CFOs and treasurers to make informed, time-sensitive financial decisions at their convenience. With the mobile app you can check balances and approve payments on the go. The app enhances the productivity of CFOs and treasurers with a range of functionality, including: Validation and approval of payments On-demand dashboards Automated cash position reporting Task management Real-time, Secure Payment Approval and Signature Kyriba Mobile app provides access to real-time, secure payment information with the same approval process as the desktop application. With Kyriba Mobile, you can: Activate push notifications on your mobile device and get notified immediately when pending payment approvals are ready Filter your payments, for example only view payments with attachments Swipe to validate and approve single and multiple payments Sign payments digitally with dual-factor controls View fraud alerts with details, including: Transaction amount and status Beneficiary names, bank account details and BIC Issuer names and last action user Issuer bank, account details and BIC Stay Informed with Kyriba Analytics Kyriba Mobile app offers the same Kyriba Analytics experience as the desktop version, delivering integrated and pre-built analytics for Kyriba Cash, Liquidity, Treasury, Risk, Compliance and Supply Chain Finance modules and data. Kyriba Mobile users can: Drill down into visuals and tables Navigate public and private views Access selection, bookmarks and insights Use natural language to find insights Personalize metrics into your data Seamless Integration: Dashboard, Online Reporting and Task Monitor With Kyriba Mobile app, you can access all Kyriba reporting dashboards and run any report from any library: With a single click, access Kyriba Mobile’s Reporting dashboard menu to view the same graphics as Kyriba’s Home and Dashboard pages Search and highlight report content for a more productive mobile user experience Manage and share tasks with Kyriba’s own taskbar (the “Task Monitor”) View color-coded status updates to easily see if tasks have successfully completed or need further attention Mobile Access Security Securely connect and login to Kyriba Mobile with: Kyriba user ID and password Dual factor authentication (SMS, TOTP, Yubikey) Single sign-on (SSO) via all major providers (Okta, ADFS) Biometrics (FaceID, finger touch ID) Supported Devices The latest version of Kyriba Mobile is supported on the following devices in both English and French: iPhone® iPad® Android™ Kyriba Mobile’s easy-to-use features garner high ratings in the major app stores: Google Play: 5.0 out of 5.0 ***** Apple App Store: 5.0 out of 5.0 *****

Liquidity planning is an evolution of traditional cash forecasting surrounding the cash forecast with data which supports better-informed liquidity decisions. Liquidity planning makes the forecast actionable by connecting the outcome of cash forecasting—how much...

Liquidity planning is an evolution of traditional cash forecasting surrounding the cash forecast with data which supports better-informed liquidity decisions. Liquidity planning makes the forecast actionable by connecting the outcome of cash forecasting—how much cash the organization expects to have—with information about the levers the CFO and treasurer can pull to meet cash flow targets and mobilize cash. Treasury and the CFOs are often under immense pressure to provide the entire organization with the right level of operating capital (working capital), to meet the critical wide range of financial obligations in the most cost-effective way. Liquidity Planning expands beyond cash and liquidity management, delivering the ability to manage available funds from different sources across varying timelines to fund current operations and future obligations. Typical levers may include investment, borrowing, credit facilities, and aspects of the cash conversion cycle. Liquidity planning data tells finance teams where sources of cash are so that they can execute decisions rapidly, enterprise wide. Challenges of Liquidity Planning for CFOs CFOs and finance teams are severely constrained when it comes to liquidity and tight management of available cash flows at any time, particularly in volatile environments when inflation is high and the borrowing rates are increasing rapidly. Today’s CFO needs to move beyond inconsistent visibility into longer-term flows and be capable of making accurate strategic decisions. The following are some of the key challenges that CFOs face in liquidity planning: Managing volatility: One of the biggest challenges for CFOs is managing the volatility of the markets, which can have a significant impact on liquidity planning. For instance, a sudden market downturn or interruption (such as the recent SVB crisis) or an unexpected geopolitical event can result in a significant decrease in cash flow, forcing the CFO to quickly adjust their liquidity plan. Rising interest rates: Another challenge for CFOs is the increasing borrowing rates, which can impact liquidity planning. As interest rates rise, the cost of borrowing increases, making it more difficult for companies to access the funds they need to maintain adequate liquidity. This can be particularly challenging for companies that are highly leveraged or have a large amount of debt. Inflation: CFOs must also navigate the effects of inflation, which can impact both the cost of goods and services and the value of assets. This can make it more difficult to accurately forecast cash flows and plan for the future. Regulatory compliance: CFOs must ensure that they are in compliance with all relevant regulations, including those related to liquidity planning. This can include requirements for maintaining adequate reserves or complying with specific reporting requirements. Uncertainty in the global economy: With ongoing geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty in many parts of the world, CFOs must be prepared to quickly adjust their liquidity planning strategies in response to changing market conditions. Technological disruption: The rise of new technologies and digital platforms is also changing the landscape for liquidity planning. CFOs must be able to navigate the complexity of these new tools and platforms, while also ensuring that their company's financial data is secure. For example, the recent trend towards sustainability and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing, which has led to increased scrutiny of companies' financial practices and may impact their access to capital in the future. How to Measure the Impact of Liquidity Planning Most impacts to, and from, working capital are measured through metrics that include weighted average cost of capital (WACC), cash conversion cycle (CCC) and various debt metrics like interest expense, return on debt, etc. Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) represents a firm’s average after-tax cost of capital from all sources. WACC is calculated by multiplying the cost of each capital source (debt and equity) by its relevant weight by market value, then adding the products together to determine the total. The cash conversion cycle (CCC) is a metric that expresses the time (measured in days) that it takes for a company to convert its investments in inventory and other resources into cash flows from sales. The average interest rate can be hedged against interest rate volatility with fixed rate loans and interest rate derivatives The average borrowing spread can be secured with long-term debt and reduced with buyer invoices and inventory guarantees The average treasury spread can be enhanced by reducing opportunity cost on cash and maximizing return on short-term investments What Impacts the Timeline of Liquidity Management When cash forecasting timelines extend beyond 90 or 120 days, the visibility and accuracy of forecasts begin to diminish significantly, and companies are often required to invest for shorter tenors or commit to more debt capacity than really needed. These pressures begin to increase when strategic decisions are limited or rely on debt or the sale of assets to supply the funds required for expansion or M&A activity, for example. More and more, companies are relying upon technology to increase the available sources of liquidity information and make the task of aggregating and analyzing information from those sources more granular, accurate and meaningful. Another attribute of a leading system is the ability to continuously improve your forecasting processes through benchmarking and comparing plan to actuals or budget to actuals. Key Features of a Liquidity Planning Solution Effective liquidity planning is critical for any business, as it helps to ensure that there is enough cash available to meet financial obligations and invest in growth opportunities. To support this, there are several key features available in modern Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions that can help CFOs and finance teams make more informed decisions. One of the most important features is the ability to extend forecasting horizons. In the past, liquidity planning was often limited to short-term forecasting, which made it difficult for CFOs to make strategic decisions that would impact the company's financial health in the long run. However, with modern SaaS solutions, it is now possible to create more accurate forecasts that extend weeks, months, and even years into the future. This extended visibility allows CFOs and finance teams to plan for a variety of scenarios and make more informed decisions about how to allocate resources. Another important feature of modern SaaS solutions is their ability to aggregate and process huge amount of data sets, including cash flow projections, accounts payable and receivable, and historical performance, and provide data-driven insights into the company's financial health to help identify areas where liquidity may be at risk. This allows CFOs and finance teams to take proactive measures to address these risks, such as securing additional financing or optimizing cash management practices. Finally, modern SaaS solutions usually offer dashboards with real-time liquidity analytics to provide comprehensive view of the company's liquidity position, taking into account both current and projected cash flows, as well as existing debt and other financial obligations. By analyzing this data, CFOs and finance teams can identify areas where liquidity may be at risk and take proactive measures to address these risks. A more detailed list of key features of a liquidity planning solution includes: Flexibility and Configurability Model forecasts the way you want with as many iterations as you like, including top down or bottom-up presentations to support different types of forecasting in your organization. Formula-based Construction Include or exclude the data you want in each line item and summary total. Multiple, Parallel Forecasts Run multiple cash forecast cycles at once, designed with different data and assumptions. What-if Scenarios Model forecasts against various liquidity and risk scenarios. Excel-like Entry On-demand single click editing and copy/paste directly into the forecast. Submission and Review Workflow Collaborate with other users including notifications and comments. Variance Analysis Combine with Cash Analytics for detailed and drill-down on forecast variances. Load Data from anywhere Unify forecast data from ERP, spreadsheets, data lakes and other sources via API or file interface. AI-Enhanced Cash Flows Combine with Cash Management AI or other AI apps to include data-driven forecasts as part of your cash flow planning. What is Included in Kyriba’s Liquidity Planning Solution Kyriba’s Liquidity Planning Solution is the result of the focus on continuous innovation and product development across treasury and finance functional areas impacting liquidity management. Kyriba’s solutions help finance organizations of all sizes and industries deliver improved financial performance. The latest innovation is the Liquidity Planning and Analytics product suite, which creates a liquidity management system and solution for better working capital management and cash flow forecasting over longer horizons. Liquidity decisions are more focused and accurate with the right mix of technology and reporting, ultimately reducing the cost of liquidity availability. Kyriba’s Liquidity Solution helps treasurers find the right balance and optimal mix across varied sources of liquidity to meet obligations while keeping costs at the right level. The new user experience is easy to use, and includes features to make scenario analysis, plan comparisons and collaboration across the finance organization more actionable and insightful. With this solution Kyriba creates more confidence for the CFO and treasurer with expanded forecasting information, as well as with investment and borrowing data to make more informed liquidity decisions, making the cash forecast actionable, demonstrating the impact of investing, and borrowing decisions with real-time data and analytical insights. Kyriba’s Cash Management, Liquidity Planning and Liquidity Analytics modules give treasury teams and finance leaders in treasury, FP&A, finance, procurement and accounting the tools and interactive reporting they need to proactively manage cash and liquidity lifecycles end-to-end.

Corporate payments, or B2B payments, usually refer to the financial transactions made by a company or corporation to pay for various expenses related to its business operations. These payments may include salaries, wages, bonuses,...

Corporate payments, or B2B payments, usually refer to the financial transactions made by a company or corporation to pay for various expenses related to its business operations. These payments may include salaries, wages, bonuses, and benefits for employees, payments to suppliers and vendors for goods and services, taxes, rent or lease payments for office space or equipment, insurance premiums, and other expenses. Efficient and secure management of corporate payments is critical to the financial health of a company. Effective payment systems can help improve cash flow, reduce the risk of fraud and errors, and ensure that the company can meet its financial obligations to its employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders. What Are Some Common Types of Corporate Payments? Corporate payments usually include the following types: Treasury payments: loans, debts, investments These payments are important for the financial health and stability of a company. Loans and debts are necessary for companies to finance their operations, whether it's to purchase new equipment, expand their facilities, or pay off existing debts. Investments, on the other hand, are crucial for companies to grow their wealth and generate more revenue. By making smart investments, companies can increase their profits and expand their business operations. Supplier payments or Account Payable (AP) payments: payments a company makes to a supplier for purchased goods or services These payments are a critical component of a company's cash flow, as they ensure that suppliers are paid on time for the goods or services they provide. By making timely supplier payments, companies can build stronger relationships with their suppliers, negotiate better prices, and ensure a steady supply of the goods and services for business continuity. Tax payments: payments to tax authorities to fulfill the legal taxation obligations These payments are an essential part of a company's financial responsibilities, and failure to make them can result in significant legal and financial penalties. Tax payments can include income tax, sales tax, property tax, and other types of taxes. By making accurate and timely tax payments, companies can avoid costly penalties and maintain their legal and financial standing. Salary payments: the amount a company pays on agreed terms to its employees in exchange for job performance These payments are essential for attracting and retaining talented employees, as they provide a stable income and financial security. By making salary payments on time in the correct amount, companies can build a motivated and productive workforce, reduce turnover, and enhance their overall performance. Methods of B2B Payments Transfer B2B payments may be made through various methods, such as cash, checks, wire transfers, electronic funds transfer (EFT), credit cards, or other forms of payment.  But they are usually electronically transferred through banks. In the US and some other countries, checks are still being used, while ACH and wire payments remain the most popular methods. New B2B payments methods such as real-time payments are gaining ground globally. Recently some corporations have also started to accept crypto currency. Bank transfers can be split into domestic payments and cross-border payments. For cross-border payments, there is usually an associated foreign exchange risk. How Do Businesses Manage Their Corporate Payments? It varies company to company, but it is common that the business process owner for corporate payments is treasury under the office of the CFO. Without payments being received on time in the right amount, businesses can face late supplier deliveries or other contractual penalties which endanger all sorts of business activities. Therefore the B2B payments process (including claims and accounts payable) is considered as a business-critical process. Effective payment systems can help improve cash flow, reduce the risk of fraud and errors, and ensure that the company can meet its financial obligations to its employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders. However B2B payments processing remains inefficient in many companies, often due to the following reasons: Siloed and obsolete home-grown back-office systems: Companies may use multiple systems for different types of payments, such as separate systems for payroll, vendor payments, and expense reimbursements. This can lead to inefficiencies and a lack of visibility into overall payment processes. Manual processes with a lack of end-to-end process automation: If payments are processed manually, such as using paper checks or invoices, it can be time-consuming and prone to errors. These manual processes may require a lot of manual data entry, which can lead to typos, incorrect information, and lost documents. Legacy connectivity to banks: Payment systems may not be integrated with other systems used by the company, such as accounting or ERP systems. This can lead to duplication of efforts, manual data entry, and errors. Decentralized payment processing teams: If payment data is stored in different systems or departments, it can be difficult to get a comprehensive view of all payments being made. This can lead to inefficiencies in tracking and reconciling payments, and even worse, increased fraud risks. What Are Some Challenges with Corporate Payments? Corporate payments are traditionally challenged by their sheer volume of payment activities and manual processing inefficiency. Some of the most outstanding problems with B2B payments are: Outdated back-office payment systems requiring extensive and costly IT support Long lead time to connect to banks via bank APIs or H2H with own IT resource Unavoidable payment errors and oversights from manual processing Potential money loss from undiscovered duplicate payments Increased operational risks due to potential fraud and non-compliant payments Slowness to leverage faster payment rails (e.g., RTP®) or other nascent payment methods (e.g., Zelle) to support customers’ evolving B2B payments needs Hidden Cost of Payment Errors and Non-Compliant Payments Perhaps it is not often visible to the stakeholders in a company how much manual and analog systems can cost, or perhaps the practice has been the way it is for so long that it has just become an accepted cost of doing business. Through a step-by-step process description it is possible to demonstrate how much money businesses are losing each year in their payments processing - particularly those with cross-border activities and FX exposure. Costs can come from a few different sources and very often companies underestimate the accumulated costs that arise from these payments: Manual errors causing remitted funds to not arrive at the correct destination Duplicate payments that could be the result of a mistake or fraud Non-compliant payments that run afoul of official sanctions lists, leaving the firm open to fines and other regulatory action Our analysis finds that companies can significantly reduce the erroneous and non-compliant payments that the average business is losing by persisting with outdated processes. If only ten payments are affected each month this can result in extra annual costs of over $40,000 on average. The following flowchart shows in detail how costly a duplicated payment made by mistake can be for a given company, not to mention that in many cases these errors can be compounded as companies expand organically and by acquisition, adding layers of complexity to find out where and how such mistakes have been made.     The increasingly disparate structures produce more risk, whether FX or regulatory, and greater vulnerability to payment fraud too. Steps to standardize controls and simplify and automate processes can not only mitigate these exposures, but with more accurate information can also strengthen decision-making and lay the foundations for future growth. Below is another detailed flowchart to show how much time and money a company can lose when a foreign supplier payment fails to arrive in the payee’s account. Use of Treasury and Payment Solutions To effectively manage corporate payments, it is recommended to choose a treasury and payment solution that meets an organization's current and future business needs. One of such solutions is a payment hub, also known as a B2B payments platform or a payments processing system. Such a hub consolidates payment requests from ERPs and other payment initiating systems, transforming disaggregated and decentralized payment processes into a single source of record for all outgoing corporate payments. Corporations are changing the way they process payments. Technology, regulation, globalization of trade – all are factors driving the need for payments centralization. CFOs and treasurers worldwide recognize that fragmented and decentralized payment processes do not offer the efficiency. A cloud-based payment hub such as Kyriba’s enables global real-time access to payment data while as many users as needed can easily be onboarded. This way, the CFO and the treasury team can gain full control and visibility into the status of AP, treasury and other ad hoc payments. A payment hub can help companies streamline their corporate payments process with great efficiency, cost saving and security.. The primary benefits of centralizing payments with cloud-based payments hubs are: Visibility into outgoing cash flows Reduced payments fraud and improved operational risk management Control over payment timing Standardized procedures across all regions Increased efficiency and reduced costs Regulatory compliance.   Best Practices of Managing Corporate Payments There are many ways to design the workflows and implement the technical enablers needed to optimize your payment process. Many Kyriba clients have demonstrated successes with best practices they share with the community and their peers. For example, Cooke Aquaculture has built a robust in-house bank and a payment factory to unlock liquidity, freeing 20% of full-time employees in the financial shared service center for more strategic level work. Even more importantly, by placing focus on process standardization, Cooke has seen a result in 100% accurate and automated accounting and reconciliation from a standardized process across all entities. Another good example is from Kyriba’s client Adobe. As an organization which has 125 global users manually logging into 10+ banking portals on a daily basis to process payments and statements, the use of Kyriba’s payment hub has led to a centralized repository of 24 signers tracked and 8 bank letter templates maintained with 4 Banks connected for bank fee statement reporting and proactive fee management.

Open banking is a banking practice that gives consumers full control over their own banking or financial data so that they can decide whether any third-party financial service providers can access the data to...

Open banking is a banking practice that gives consumers full control over their own banking or financial data so that they can decide whether any third-party financial service providers can access the data to provide them with better products and services. That’s why it is also known as "open bank data”. Open banking is enabled by the use of APIs. In Europe, the legislation of PSD2 (Payment Service Providers Directive) has been a main driving force behind making open banking a reality for every consumer. Open banking has also become a hot topic for corporate treasurers because many of the Open banking use cases and their associated benefits are applicable in the business context too, especially when it comes to system integration and real-time data accessibility. What Are the Main Purposes of Open Banking? Open banking is a step forward in the future digitalization of financial services. When people ask why open banking, consider the following two main areas open banking will drive positive changes: Open innovation. Banks have always been like walled gardens. If you have two bank accounts at two different banks, most likely you have to log into two banking apps to manage your money. It is so for security reasons, but it also creates inefficiency. Now with consumer’s consent, Fintech startups can gain access to consumer data at any bank through Open API. This has boosted innovation in the financial services industry. Service customization or personalization. When consumers are no longer tied up with one bank’s own designed products and services but a whole ecosystem of apps, there is a lot of space for customization or personalization. For example, when you give your consent, third-party apps can use your banking data to offer products and services that are tailored to your financial situations. Is Open Banking Secure? It is unsettling for many people when they hear that their banking data will be shared. This is a well justified concern. There is always some associated risk when data is handled online. However, open banking security has been deeply designed into the processes and legislators in different countries are watching this space closely. For example in Europe consumers have improved security with PSD2’s implementation of Strong Consumer Authentication (SCA). Two things are important to keep in mind for open banking data sharing. First, without your consent, your banking data cannot be shared by your bank or any third party service provider. Afterwards, you also have the right to ‘unsubscribe’ any time from the data sharing. Second, even with your consent, you will not share any credentials such as log-in username or passwords. The data to be shared usually are things like type of the account, name of the account, transaction history, or balance details. What Are the Benefits of Open Banking? For consumers, the main benefits of open banking are: Full control of their own financial data Enhanced banking experience across different financial services Reduced costs with much lower switching costs Quick access to the latest and greatest Fintech innovations For corporate treasury, the main benefits of open banking are: KYC process can be streamlined with API integrations Quick access to and adoption of the latest and greatest Fintech innovations that are targeted at corporate financial challenges Real-time treasury becomes possible with the proliferation of faster payments, instant settlement, and real-time availability of balance and transaction data Use Cases of Open Banking for Corporate Treasury The following open banking use cases are often discussed in different treasury forums and can be a good starting point for corporate treasurers to consider: Real-time cash visibility: API connectivity aggregates in real time the cash position into any system of your choice–for example, it can be your TMS system or your ERP system–to make available figures from all bank accounts into one centralized view for unprecedented instant cash visibility. In practice, this means that the time and effort of logging into multiple banking portals or systems to download and consolidate the bank statements and transaction data can be saved. This also means that the cut-off time for intraday statements will no longer be the bottleneck of data reconciliation, as data arrives at your system of choice instantly. Inbound and outbound payments: API-based real-time payments can bring tangible benefits to corporate cash management because it transforms the current payment processes both in terms of speed and tracking of both inbound and outbound payments. Treasurers choosing to adopt the new world of instant payments have already seen concrete business outcomes. For example, Kyriba client Hunt Companies gained both cost saving and efficiency by being an early adopter of ACH’s RTP® network in the USA, reducing its bank fees from $6 on average for a wire transfer to less than $1 for RTP. Data aggregation for real-time decision making: Data is the real link behind various processes within an organization and poses opportunities to form cross-functional business optimization. For example, traditional FTP connectivity between TMS and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is being replaced by API for data exchange (e.g. Kyriba provides API-based ERP connectors for SAP, Oracle, D365 and Netsuite). Accurate real-time data enables better decision-making, including timely analysis and forecasts, and mitigation of financial risks. On top of that, when data becomes available in real-time, there is a new opportunity to apply other technological enablers to use the data to achieve new levels of cash and liquidity management. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) for example to automate cash flow forecasting has been gaining its ground among corporate treasurers. The possibilities with APIs are infinite. Check out more use cases enabled by Kyriba’s Open API platform and see how they can support your organization to bring your treasury, cash, payments and working capital to the next level. Challenges with Open Banking for Corporates Despite the promising future of open banking for both consumers and businesses, there are still a few challenges that remain: Lack of standardization: APIs are a new addition to the bank connectivity, and each bank has their own way of defining how they transfer data. A universal standard does not exist, which means each time you connect to a bank API, it becomes a project of its own. New technology meets old technology: Technology evolves rapidly year to year. Both banks and corporates grow their IT infrastructure over the years with numerous hardware and software additions and upgrades and system migration and updates. When a new tech stack meets the old, things do not work automatically. The idea of using APIs to connect systems for real-time data transfer is great but in reality, the task to make it happen is not to be underestimated. Balance of openness, security and data privacy: Concerns over data privacy, security and compliance have grown among legislators, regulators, companies as well as ordinary citizens. Actions are being taken in different parts of the world to ensure a balance between open innovation and data security. For example, in Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been published since 2016 to protect against data breaches. How to Use Connectivity-as-a-Service There are many ways to start benefiting from open banking. One good place to start is to look at the current and future needs of connectivity for your treasury operations. No matter what you want to do with open banking, it always starts with the connectivity, whether it is connecting to different banks’ APIs, integrating the products and services from Fintechs, or building data pipelines with strategic business partners for your own data lake. Due to the importance of APIs for open banking, it is recommended to discuss the API roadmap with your banking partners or system providers to ensure that you have enough visibility into the capabilities they will provide to meet your future business and growth needs. Choosing a technology provider and adopting Connectivity-as-a-Service is a good start for your open banking initiatives. When to Adopt Open Banking in Treasury Many companies and treasury teams with limited IT resources are still on the lookout for options to adopt the open banking technology. Due to the nature of the APIs provided by banks and financial institutes, both the number and the specifications are constantly growing and changing, posing challenges to find actual business cases or the IT resources to take them into use. However, it is important to bear in mind that existing connectivities to your banks, such as SWIFT, EBICS, and H2H, are complementary to APIs so that all data that is not yet made available via APIs can be aggregated by these existing set-ups. Therefore it is already possible for the more advanced treasury teams to begin the journey now and start preparing the set-up for open banking and real-time treasury. In addition to using existing connectivities, it is important for companies to identify specific use cases where open banking can add value, such as optimizing cash management or improving liquidity forecasting. This can help justify the investment in IT resources and ensure a successful implementation. Companies should prioritize security and data protection when working with open banking APIs. This includes ensuring that all data transfers are encrypted, using secure authentication methods, and implementing strict access controls. Finally, it can be helpful to engage with other stakeholders in the industry, such as partners, banks, and fintechs, to share knowledge and best practices. This can also help identify potential collaboration opportunities that could further enhance treasury operations through open banking.

Real-time payments are a payment type where the transmission of the payment message and the availability of “final” funds to the payee occur in real time or near-real time and on as near to...

Real-time payments are a payment type where the transmission of the payment message and the availability of “final” funds to the payee occur in real time or near-real time and on as near to a 24-hour and seven-day (24/7) basis as possible. Real-time payments are designed to be as close to 24/7 as possible, meaning that payments can be made and received at any time of the day or night, seven days a week. This is a significant departure from traditional payment systems, which may have limited hours of operation and require several business days to process payments. The terms “real-time payments,” “faster payments,” and “instant payments” are often used interchangeably to describe this type of modern payment infrastructures. While there may be subtle differences in the way these terms are used, they are generally used to describe the same type of modern payment infrastructure. These payment systems are typically domestic or regional in nature, meaning that they are designed to facilitate payments within a specific country or region. However, there are efforts underway to develop cross-border real-time payment systems that would allow for the seamless transfer of funds between different countries and currencies. Source: Prime Time for Real-Time ACT Worldwide,2022 What Are the Typical Use Cases for Real-time Payments? With the world moving to a new level of instancy, every organization should understand both the value impact and the use cases for real-time payments when it comes to its own business context. There are many great examples of how companies are using instant payments, especially with large volume low value payments, to save costs and increase speed. Below are some of the use cases Kyriba clients are benefiting from: Time-sensitive payments are perfect for real-time payments, for example emergency payroll, disaster relief, and AP exception payments from industries such as distribution and logistics. Intercompany transfers are low risk and a common use case. With real-time payments, companies can efficiently deploy working capital across their subsidiaries. Instant insurance claims disbursement is a typical example of improving customer experience with real-time payments. The same also applies in the gig economy where business or service transactions can be settled immediately on the spot. Request-to-pay is also becoming more common, where suppliers embed real-time payment instructions within an email to simplify the invoicing process, either to encourage early payment or to accelerate late payments. What Are the Benefits of Adopting Real-time Payments? There are many good reasons to add real-time payments to your payment mix, mainly because of the unprecedented visibility and transparency this new payment type brings to both the payer and the payee. Some of the most outstanding benefits of using instant payments are: Improved supplier relationships: making early or on-time payments is an easy way to improve rapport between vendors and clients. With instant payments, invoices can be paid immediately and some vendors will offer discounts for early payments. Control over working capital: faster payments mean more accurate cash visibility that allows companies to unlock working capital, releasing funds for debt repayment and/or reinvestment Increased security: with full visibility of payment details including end-to-end tracking and confirmation of credit, risk of fraud decreases Improved ROI: lower bank wire fees and reduced time spent researching, correcting, and resending failed payments translate to significant cost savings for businesses Immediate settlements: with the ability to transfer payments and pay bills 24/7, payment delays are eliminated, transaction history is current, and account balances stay up-to-date Non-repudiation: because instant payments carry a digital footprint specifying the time, date, origin, and destination of each transaction, no one can dispute that a payment was sent, received, and processed. How to Enable Real-time Payments Globally there are more than 70 countries where domestic or regional instant payments are available. For example, you can find real-time payment systems in: Americas (USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico) SEPA countries (over 25 countries supported) Asia (Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Australia, Hong Kong) In different countries and regions, instant payments might have different names too. For example: USA: RTP® by The Clearing House, FedNowSM Service by The Federal Reserve UK: Faster Payment System SEPA countries: SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) Singapore: PayNow India: Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) Corporates can access real-time payments via FTP or Bank API (e.g., CashPro by BoA, CITI, JPMC), depending on which is supported by your partner banks. On top of the bank connectivity, the following payment formats all support instant payments: JSON: a lightweight data interchange format that is commonly used in web applications, and it is often used for real-time data exchange due to its simplicity and flexibility ISO 20022 XML: a messaging standard that allows for the exchange of structured financial messages between different parties, and it is used by a growing number of financial institutions and payment systems around the world. Fixed formats: standardized formats for financial messages that are used by various financial institutions and payment systems. These formats provide a consistent structure for financial messages to ensure that they are processed correctly and efficiently. CSV formats: simple text-based formats that are commonly used for storing and exchanging tabular data, such as financial transactions. They are easy to use and can be opened and edited using a wide range of software applications, making them a popular choice for organizations. What Is a Typical Payment Flow of Instant Payments? The payment flow of instant payments can vary depending on the specific payment system or infrastructure used, but there are some common elements that are typically involved. Here is a general overview of the payment flow of instant payments: Initiation: The payment process begins when the payer initiates an instant payment request, typically through an online banking portal or mobile app. The payer may need to provide information such as the recipient's name, account number, and the amount of the payment. Authorization: Once the payment request is received, the payer's bank verifies that there are sufficient funds available and authorizes the instant payment. Transmission: The payment message is then transmitted to the recipient's bank in real-time or near-real-time. This transmission may occur through a variety of channels, such as a secure messaging network or an instant payment platform. Clearing: The recipient's bank processes the payment message and ensures that the funds are available to the recipient. This may involve verifying the recipient's account details, checking for any fraud or errors, and updating account balances. Settlement: The final step in the payment flow is settlement, which involves the transfer of funds from the payer's bank to the recipient's bank. This settlement typically occurs in real-time or near-real-time, and the recipient's account is credited with the payment amount. Overall, the payment flow of instant payments is designed to be fast, efficient, and secure, with minimal delays or processing times. This makes instant payments an attractive option for businesses and individuals who need to make and receive payments quickly and reliably. The Federal Reserve explains on its website how instant payment flow works among its network participants. It represents well how instant payments work in general, with everything taking place in as quickly as just seconds. Source: FedNow “About The FedNowSM Service” In step 1, a sender (i.e., an individual or business) initiates a payment by sending a payment message to its financial institution through an end-user interface outside the FedNow Service. The sender’s financial institution is responsible for screening the payment according to its internal processes and requirements. In step 2, the sender’s financial institution submits a payment message to the FedNow Service. In step 3, the FedNow Service validates the payment message, for example, by verifying that the message meets message format specifications. In step 4, the FedNow Service sends the contents of the payment message to the receiver’s financial institution to seek confirmation that the receiver’s financial institution intends to accept the payment message. At this point, the receiver’s financial institution will have the opportunity to confirm or deny that it maintains the specified account. In step 5, the receiver’s financial institution sends a positive response to the FedNow Service, confirming that it intends to accept the payment message. Steps 4 and 5 are intended to reduce the number of misdirected payments and resulting exception cases that can occur in high-volume systems. In step 6, the FedNow Service debits and credits the designated master accounts of the sender’s and receiver’s financial institutions (or their correspondent financial institutions), respectively. In step 7, the FedNow Service sends a payment message forward to the receiver’s financial institution with an advice of credit and in parallel sends an acknowledgement to the sender’s financial institution, notifying it that settlement is complete. In step 8, the receiver’s financial institution credits the receiver’s account. As a term of the FedNow Service, the Federal Reserve Banks anticipate requiring the receiver’s financial institution to make funds available to the receiver almost immediately after step 7. This crediting to the receiver’s account as well as the debiting of the sender’s account by their respective financial institutions happens outside the FedNow Service. Source: FedNow “About The FedNowSM Service” Examples of Real-time Payments Adoption Kyriba client Hunt Companies was among the early adopters for real-time payments in the US and is a great example to demonstrate the associated benefits. The main challenges Hunt Companies faced before the use of instant payments were as follows: Significant bank fees resulting from the huge volume of payments Lack of visibility into payment status, especially the rejected payments Significant time spent by the team to research and resend failed payments With RTP® Hunt Companies has seen the following business outcome: A reduction of bank fees from $6 on average for a wire transfer to less than $1 for RTP® An impactful number of productivity hours gained per month by Hunt’s finance team In just three months, the client has seen a 375% increase in the number of payments using RTP® month-over-month Why Are Cross-Border Real-time Payments More Complex? Cross-country real-time payments are more complex and challenging than domestic real-time payments due to several factors: Regulatory Frameworks: Each country has its own regulatory framework, which can vary widely in terms of security requirements, data privacy laws, and customer protection regulations. This makes it difficult to ensure compliance with all relevant regulations when transferring funds across different countries. Interoperability: Different countries use different instant payment systems that are not always interoperable with each other. This can make it difficult to transfer funds seamlessly between different countries, with payments formats and messaging standards differences. Settlement Systems: Settlement systems can vary widely between countries, and cross-border instant payments require a settlement system that can handle multiple currencies. It requires coordination between different payment systems and financial institutions, which usually takes time. Fraud and Cybersecurity: when real-time payments are sent across different countries, they can be more vulnerable to fraud and cybersecurity threats. There is increased risk of payments fraud due to the delays in currency conversion and settlement. What are Immediate Cross-border Payments (IXB)? There are ongoing efforts to make cross-border real-time payments a reality. SWIFT gpi and the ISO 20022 XML V9 messaging standard are both good examples of efforts to standardize payment messaging and improve interoperability between different payment settlement systems. A great advancement in this direction is the new payment initiative of Immediate Cross-border Payments (IXB). EBA Clearing, SWIFT and The Clearing House have announced that they are working together to deliver pilot service for IXB for real-time USD-Euro payments in 2023.

FX volatility is at a 20 year high, and coupled with high interest rates, the challenge of delivering predictable earnings guidance against a tightening budget has become a top priority for CFOs.

FX volatility is at a 20 year high, and coupled with high interest rates, the challenge of delivering predictable earnings guidance against a tightening budget has become a top priority for CFOs.

The scale of Lowe’s bank account environment is extremely large, with over 2000 bank accounts with 33 banking partners. Prior to Kyriba, the treasury department used a third party application for bank fee analysis,...

The scale of Lowe’s bank account environment is extremely large, with over 2000 bank accounts with 33 banking partners. Prior to Kyriba, the treasury department used a third party application for bank fee analysis, and the process was extremely cumbersome, taking 2 full days to complete, resulting in just a summary of numbers with no analytical work. "Before Kyriba, the goal of the process was just to simply get through it. No analytics...just 2 full days of pulling the data together.” Jon Korpal, Senior Treasury Analyst, Lowe’s With Kyriba’s Bank Fee Analysis, Lowe’s is able to pull reports on a macro scale to immediately identify any outliers. They now produce a complete analysis of their volumes, unit fees and total fees by account, all on a month-over-month and year-over-year breakdown. They can immediately compare services across banks and drill down to a micro-level for any out-of-policy store activity. “With Kyriba we are more easily able to zero-in on store activities. I can quickly see the stores that are generating excess fees simply because they are doing things outside of our standard policies and procedures.” Jon Korpal, Senior Treasury Analyst, Lowe’s High Turnover Requires Quick Identification of Out-of-Scope Fees The ability to quickly identify stores garnering excess bank fees is crucial in the retail environment, where employee turnover can be high. For example, a store that deposits loose change in their nightly deposit will get charged fees for doing so. If this practice is not detected and corrected right away, it is possible the employee in need of training will have moved to a different position or company by the time other software would have caught the mistake. “I’m able to get the data out of Kyriba using Bank Fee Analysis, so I’m able to spend my time focusing on the analysis side and not just trying to compile the data. I feel very confident I have visibility into eve