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Highlights
Payments
Opportunities To Improve Payments Services: Results From A Federal Survey Of Large Corporations
Sandy Krieger and Michele Braun, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
If you ask corporate treasurers and their cash management staffs what aspects of the process of making corporate payments are most important to them, it is likely they will mention minimizing losses from unauthorized debits to their firms’ accounts.
If you ask them to identify those aspects of payments services they are least satisfied with, they will probably list international payments, reaching the unbanked, bank fees and returned payments. Given this dichotomy, how is a bank or a service provider to know what problems treasurers really want solved?
Bank Relationships
The International Mirage: One Country, One Bank, One Account
Dale Sorenson, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Crossing the bridge from treasury to banking is nothing new in the finance profession. Now anecdotal evidence suggests that more professionals may be looking for new opportunities due to industry consolidation and increased automation.
The number of people employed in treasury departments has increased while the number of banking professionals has decreased, government sources say.
The number one reason for jumping the fence is a “lifestyle change,” according to industry experts.
Success Story
Cruising For Capital: Carnival Corp.’s New Treasurer Glides Into 2005 With Double The Money
AFP Staff Writer
A Series of Titanic-size acquisitions have made Carnival Corporation & plc of Miami the largest cruise ship company in the world.
Between 2002 and 2005, the company’s revenues grew from $4.4 billion to $9.7 billion, due to the acquisition of P&O Princess Cruises.
During the transition, Vice President and Treasurer David Bernstein stepped in to guide the company. But the voyage wasn’t always smooth.
Bernstein, a Harvard MBA, worked two 50-hour-a-week jobs to see Carnival through its spurt of growth.
Career Management
Going For Green Acres: Jumping The Fence From Banking To Corporate Treasury
AFP Staff Writer
The quintessential cash management problem for the typical global company is simple to describe—cash spread across multiple countries in too many banks and too many accounts.
The introduction of the euro five years ago created a greenhouse for new global liquidity practices. Although many companies have adopted new regional treasury management practices, most companies, including many large organizations, continue to manage cash in Europe in discrete, country-specific positions. A recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP disclosed that only 30% of all companies concentrate cash in Europe on a daily basis. Among companies with $2 billion or less, only 15% have centralized the cash of their European entities.
In some respects, the goal of one country, one bank, and one account is still a mirage.
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