TOMATO CATCH-UP: Newsletter Issue 153 – October 2012
Your monthly resource on working capital, process optimization and issues relating to the world of corporate treasurers from Tomato's team of bankers and IT specialists.
Since last month when we first reported on doing business in Chinese Renminbi, most of the financial publications we review have published aspects on doing business with or establishing a treasury function in China. Other than that, the key topics we read about include strategic treasury, the payment market, security and big data issues as well career advice. This newsletter reflects the dominant themes in recent finance and IT publications.
Enjoy!
Regula Spottl and the Tomato Team
In Today's Issue:
TOMATO UPDATES
- 20th Anniversary: Besichtigung des KKL Luzern mit Apéro
- Martin Schneider am Swiss Treasury Summit, 6.9.12 recap
FINANCE, BANKING AND IT
MANAGEMENT AND CAREER
MISCELLANEOUS
20th Anniversary: Besichtigung des KKL Luzern mit Apéro
Tomato orchestriert Projekte. Daher planen wir, am Dienstag 23. Oktober einen berühmten Ort für Orchester - das Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern (KKL) - zu besichtigen, wozu wir Sie herzlich einladen.
Ab 16:45 gäbe es einen Apéro mit schöner Aussicht gleich in der Nähe des KKL, um 17:45 eine einstündige Führung durch die Architektur dieses grossartigen Bauwerks. Über jede Teilnahme würden wir uns freuen! Eine rasche Anmeldung würde uns sehr helfen: kloten@tomato.ch . Bitte melden Sie sich auch, wenn sie gerne teilnehmen würden, aber an jenem Datum verhindert sind.
Martin Schneider am Swiss Treasury Summit, 6.9.12 recap
By Martin Schneider
The annual meeting of treasury specialists at the Hochschule Luzern – Wirtschaft, Institut für Finanzdienstleistungen Zug IFZ - was well attended. The discussions were to the point and questions posed by participants pertinent.
The first panel discussion intrigued me as it dealt with the work the CFO and the Treasurer share. Thanks to Jürgen Brand and Jean-Daniel Milasson from Sulzer for their openness to talk about their jobs and where they can get into conflict! From my experience I know that for the two to be a good team isn’t always easy; and it is handled differently in every company.
Another topic of discussion was also one that we’ve been asked before: Why is it that only few treasurers become CFOs? My take on this: The CFO makes decisions primarily on information from the controller’s domain. Controllers have detailed knowledge of the company’s workflows. The treasurer’s job focuses on financials such a daily cash and risk management, finances of all subsidiaries, bank accounts etc. and how to present them within the treasury and to the CFO. That’s why many treasurers have banking background.
By the way, these discussions reminded me of our Series “Tips to Treasurers” which we put together in 2005, especially 5 Common Misunderstandings between the Treasurer and the CFO.
(Full list of Tips for Treasurers…)
Verbraucher sind inkonsequent in Sachen Bankdatenverlust
Von den 8,000 Verbrauchern, die an einer Studie von Kaspersky Lab teilnahmen, sagten 60%, der Verlust von Bankdaten wäre der schlimmste Datenverlust.
Viele der Befragten benutzen digitales Banking: 57% Computer, 23% Tablets und 19% Handys. Allerdings haben nur die Hälfte dieser Benutzer alle ihre Geräte mit Passwords gechützt; gerade 46% verfügen über Back Ups, und lediglich 30% verschlüsseln sensible Dateien.
Das Resultat ist bedenklich, da Trojaner unvermeidlich sind. Kaspersky berichtete erst vor kurzen vom Troyaner “Gauss”, eine spezielle Anpassung des riesigen Schadprogramms Flame.
Die Studie wurde im Auftrag von Kaspersky Lab von Harris Interactive in Deutschland, Frankreich, Großbritannien, Italien, Spanien, Russland und den USA durchgeführt.
(Details über die Studie und “Gauss” im CIO.de Finance-Forum-Germany…)
On Sept. 6, 2012, the European Banking Federation (EBF) published a guidance document for implementing SEPA Regulation. The EBF stresses that as of February 2014, organizations must be compliant with SEPA requirements when using payment services.
Eurotreasurer’s newsletter issue 16|2012 presents a summary on p2: (Download pdf…)
Download the final SEPA Guidance issued by EBF. (pdf 24 pgs)
Check our webpage “SEPA Schedule”, a practical guide that explains what you have to take care of until 2016 for your SEPA payments!
Treasury Management Issues in China
In a recent newsletter, gtnews’s focus on China included treasury management characteristics, building a treasury and cash management foundation in China as well as ethical issues. (registration required, free)
Treasury
Management with Chinese Characteristics
By Tracy Qian and Ying yew Zee, DBS Bank
How the role treasury
managers in China has also evolved with the international evolution in China!
Building a Strategic Treasury
Function in China
By Robert Vettoretti, PwC
Global companies with regional headquarters on mainland China are looking to
have the right treasury and cash management foundation in place to allow them
to execute their regional business strategy.
Ethical Challenges for the
Treasurer in China
By Judith
Irwin, Snstitute of Business Ethics (IBE)
A growing number of
treasurers in western companies must consider the ethical issues involved in
doing business in the China.
Mastering Cash Management
from a Chinese Perspective
By Fei Kok, Norton Rose
The article reviews
various cash management models used in Chinese companies. It also describes how
commercial banks in China can best respond to the growing demand for better
cash management.
Be sure to visit our webpage Doing Business in Renminbi with current requirements and how-to links at the bottom.
Links we recommend:
Deutsche Bank -- A brief guide to offshore
RMB
Commerzbank -- Internationalisierung des Renminbi
(pdf, 36 pg, in German)
Commerzbank recently invited Martin to a breakfast meeting they held for clients. We considered it an honor to be able to share our knowledge with them.
Strategic Treasury: Key Issues and Role of Treasurer
In one of their recent newsletters, GTNews focused on strategic treasury issues. Our favorite articles in the series include:
Strategic Treasury Means Operational Excellence
By Bas Rebel
and Sebastian di Paola, PwC
The article focuses on improvements
in the key areas corporate cash culture, corporate risk culture and corporate
compliance culture.
Expanding the
Strategic Role of Treasury
By Diane Reyes, HSBC Global Payments and Cash Management
The article examines how changes during the last five years have
transformed the role of treasury into a core strategic function.
(Both articles required registration. It's free)
Also
good resource from the EuroTreasurer: Six Questions for…Yves Gerster!
Interview with Yves Gerster, group
treasurer of Dufry, on core functions, cross-border cash pools and control. We
worked with Yves Gerster some years ago and recommend his take on these issues.
(Details: EuroTreasurer Issue 16: 13 September 2012: Download the pdf)
New Payment Systems and Service Providers Challenge Payment Market
Many new electronic payment service providers have entered the payment market with great success. Since payment is the most important banking activity to society or businesses, banks are moving payments center stage.
The KPMG article “Payment Systems: A revolution in the making” describes how the new payment market is transforming the relationship between banks and their customers. It further discusses new entrants and innovation, how significant this change is; how traditional banks can respond and what the new payment landscape will look like.
IT-Security Umfrage SecurityRadar 2012
Der Bassersdorfer IT-Security-Spezialist Ispin hat mehr als 100 Schweizer Sicherheitsbeauftragte - CISOs und CIOs - über ihre tägliche Arbeit im Bereich Informationssicherheit befragt.
Laut Studie sind Business Continuity Management (BCM), Social Media, Cloud, Mobilität und Awareness dominante Themen.
Download des gratis “Summary SecurityRadar 2012” via Ispin’s homepage!
(Artikel mit Zusammenfassung in Computerworld.ch...)
Managing Business and Technological Change
While some IT roles may shrink or disappear altogether in the future, service management and automation will always need innovators and leaders. That’s what Glenn O’Donnell argues in the cio.com article “How to Prepare for IT Service Delivery of the Future”.
To remain key players and competitive, business leader have to focus less on IT and more on “industrialized automation as a way to deliver customer outcomes faster, cheaper and at higher quality. “
O’Donnel prescribes three musts for this critical transformation and offers practical considerations.
If done correctly, automation tools will speed up and enforce process execution and facilitate prompt adaptation as business and technological needs change, O’Donnell promises.
Skills Needed to Analyze Big Data
Companies increasingly deal with big data that need translating into insights and business value. They need employees who have the skills to interpret and use numerical data, text and images.
Executives need to make sure people have these skills, “along with the culture, support and accountability to go with it,” suggest Jeanne Harris in the Harvard Business School blog “Data Is Useless Without the Skills to Analyze It.”
(Full story elaborating on required skills…)
“It's More Important to Be Kind than Clever“
Bill Taylor recalls a heart-warming story about a young man, his dying grandmother, and a bowl of clam chowder from Panera Bread. „It's a little story that offers big lessons about service, brands, and the human side of business — a story that underscores why efficiency should never come at the expense of humanity.”
Relating to this story, Taylor remembers a lecture by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of amazon.com, who told graduating seniors at Princeton about his grandmother — and what he learned when he made her cry. "My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, 'Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.'"
The lesson is: Embracing technology is necessary. „Just make sure all their efficiency doesn't come at the expense of their humanity. Small gestures can send big signals about who we are, what we care about, and why people should want to affiliate with us. It's harder (and more important) to be kind than clever.“
(Blog in Harvard Business Review...)
Schweiz Tops Global Competitiveness Report
Die Schweiz belegt bereits zum vierten Mal den ersten Platz im Ranking des vom World Economic Forum WEF erstellten Global Competitiveness Report. In den ersten zehn Plätzen folgen Singapur, Finnland, Schweden, die Niederlande, Deutschland, die USA, Grossbritannien, Hongkong und Japan.
(Artikel in OSEC newsletter...)
Quelle: World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2012/2013
From the Desk of Regula Spottl, Greensboro, North Carolina
Exciting Food Event in the Greensboro Area
Fast food may be quintessential American, but it’s only one part of our food scene. Dining competitions among the best restaurants in any particular area are fabulous.
Fire in the Triad, competition dining among 16 top restaurants in Greensboro and its neighboring towns has just concluded, and I’ve followed it every step on the way. Two professional judges and the guests awarded points for various criteria to the two chefs who competed against each other in each round. These chefs used the freshest local ingredients and created 5-star quality meals.
You have to see the dishes that were prepared. Click on any of the results to see what was on the menu! Or click on the roundup with pictures, descriptions and some recipes of the highest scoring dishes!
My plan is to eat in most of these restaurants over the next year. So exciting!
Your Tomato
Regula Spottl