TOMATO CATCH-UP - Newsletter Issue 208 – February 2018

Your monthly resource on working capital, process optimization and issues relating to the world of corporate treasurers, IT professionals and bankers!

This newsletter is bilingual, English or German according to the source.

Introduction:

Today’s newsletter includes as wide variety of topics. Among them new tools, new risks, a survey about the treasury profession etc. Close to us at Tomato is an article on when engaging interim treasury personnel make sense as Martin Schneider fulfilled two positions on an interim basis last year.

Remember that for any problem you’re grapple with, ask Martin Schneider for a discussion that will clarify it. Contact Martin via email or call 044 814 2001.

Enjoy the topics in today’s newsletter.

Happy Chinese New Year to all our Chinese Readers!
新年快乐！ 2018年对于那些出生在狗年的人尤其是今年，地球狗年来说是非常幸运的一年。最后一次是地球狗的一年是1958年！

Tomato's company mascot in the chinese year of the dog:

Tomato's company mascot

Regula Spottl and the Tomato Team

Topics

When Does Engaging Interim Treasury Personnel Make Sense?

An organization might quite suddenly require a significant expansion for various reasons such as

A business expansion or restructuring
Sudden departure on key treasury staff or planned temporary absences
A change in senior management that requires new skillsets
A major initiative such as “a bank relationship overhaul or selecting and implementing a new TMS, requiring the seconded participation of permanent treasury resources, resulting in a need for interim professionals to back-fill and handle day to day operations,” suggests Jon Scott, Managing Director, Global Treasury Operations, PMC Treasury.

Read the last article within that PDF on page 62 until 64: In the Meantime: When does using interim treasury resources make sense?, in the Winter Edition of Exchange, the Association for Finance Professional’s Newsletter. Scott explains the roles senior-level, mid-level and lower-level professionals typically fulfill. He explains that interim resources are a way to “leverage highly experienced, skilled people to provide professional treasury services, especially as a first response to a staffing or organizational crisis following a corporate transaction.”

Martin’s comment on one of his interims in 2017:
Daily treasury continuation was only one part of my second interim during summer 2017. Other tasks where a new insurance contract in Asia, financing matters in the U.S. and also support coordination and negotiation on Letter of Credits between clients and involved banks. An extra challenge where the summer vacations with missing staff at banks, in local business units and at the headquarter. The interim was a major success as it opened and guided the way to new processes, staff planning and enhanced security.

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Instant Payments (SCT) Available in 8 Countries

Instant SEPA credit transfers (SCT), which went live on November 21 is optional for Payment service providers (PSPs). They can decide if they want to offer this to their customers.

“SCT Inst” can potentially encompass 34 European countries and territories: The 28 Member States of the European Union, as well as Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Monaco and San Marino.

According to the European Payments Council (EPC), SCT instant payments are currently available in eight countries (Austria, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Spain) but PSPs in other countries are expected to onboard soon (Belgium, Finland, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden). Details from EPC…

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Why Swiss Companies Benefit from eIDAS, the Digital Access to EU Markets

Electronic identification (eID) and electronic Trust Services (eTS) are crucial enablers for secure cross-border electronic transactions and the main building blocks of the Digital Single Market.

It ensures that people and businesses can use their own national electronic identification schemes (eIDs)
It creates a European internal market for electronic Trust Services (eTS) such as electronic signatures
It requires that government and public commercial services recognize standard signature formats and pan-European identities.

Read here the blog from Reto Grubenmann of KPMG

In Deutschland auch bekannt unter IVT.

eIDAS (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services) bezeichnet die Verordnung (EU) Nr. 910/2014 des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates über elektronische Identifizierung und Vertrauensdienste für elektronische Transaktionen im Binnenmarkt und zur Aufhebung der Richtlinie 1999/93/EG (Signaturrichtlinie).

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Actions Needed for Treasury to Accomplish Digital Transformation

In last month’s newsletter, under A Digital Toolkit for Treasurers, we pointed to the the Bobsguide article Digital treasury: A future state vision which summarized an extensive report by PWC.

The report explains that a treasurer has to focus on 6 actions to begin the journey to digital transformation:

Identify opportunity areas
Align internal stakeholders across a common set of objectives and expectations
Perform a competitive landscape assessment evaluating external partners
Harmonize and standardize master data
Identify technology for enhancement and/or implementation
Execute a POC and pilot

Transformations of this magnitude “typically require multiple phases, technological advancements, and cross-organizational coordination”, which requires a proactive, structured approach to dealing with and overcoming hurdles, suggest the PWC authors.

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Neue Risiken im Zusammenhang mit Digitalisierung, IoT, Analytik und Robotik

Am schweizerischen Enterprise Risk Summit 2017 standen die wichtigsten neuen Technologien und die damit verbundenen Risiken im Mittelpunkt. Die Teilnehmer wurden nach den neuen Risiken in den Bereichen Digitalisierung, IoT (Internet of Things), Analytik und Robotik befragt. In ihrem Blog stellen Prof. Dr. Stefan Hunziker und Patrick Balmer vom Institut für Finanzdienstleistungen Zug (IFZ) die Ergebnisse der Umfragen mit drei verständlichen Bildern vor.

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New Tools and Systems to Keep Track of Faster Payments

Faster payments technology has significantly changed CFOs and treasury professionals’ landscape. By combining faster payments with Open API’s, (application programming interface) the time-consuming process of collecting information mainly through intra-day and prior-day statements can be eliminated, giving finance teams a real-time view of where they stand, explains Jerald Seti, VP of financial services product management at OpenLink.

In the GTnews article Keeping Track of Treasury in a World of Faster Payments, Jerald Seti introduces new tools and systems available to help treasury and procurement keep pace in this environment. He suggests that “cloud-based solutions a viable, secure and necessary option for effective treasury management”.

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The Business of Treasury: Survey about the Treasury Profession

The Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT), based in the U.K. has issued the Business of Treasury report for the fifth time. The survey of ACT members around the world assesses their views on where the treasury profession is today. The 15-page report offers these key findings:

Treasury is increasingly strategic focusing on solving wider business challenges.
Operational treasury management is still core with treasurers adapting to a changing financial and funding landscape.
Risk management is the key growth area.
Treasury is seen as a rather varied and rewarding career that includes board exposure.
Treasurers are cautious when adopting financial technology, even though investment is increasing to meet digital opportunities and threats.
Major corporate concerns are cybersecurity, financial regulation, market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty.

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Mark McLaughlin’s Weg zum Cybercrime Expert

Marc McLaughlin ist Konzernchef des erfolgreichen IT-Unternehmens Palo Alto Networks, Mitglied des National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) und neu Berater beim Aufbau des Global Centre for Cybersecurity (angekündet am Weltwirtschaftsforum in Davos 2018).

Die NZZ berichtet über seinen Lebenslauf und seine Visionen. Für Marc McLaughlin sprachen vor neun Jahren wichtige Gründe dafür, die Herausforderung bei der damals kleinen Firma Palo Alto Networks angenommen zu haben. Es gibt für ihn fünf messbare Bedingungen, um festzustellen, ob es sich bei einem Jobangebot um die Stelle des Lebens handelt.

Seine Positionen, wie er das Internet sicher machen möchte:

Der finanzielle Aufwand für die Planung und Durchführung einer Cyberattacke muss erheblich verteuert werden. Bisher sind die Kosten für die Angreifer leider immer nur gesunken.
«Software soll gegen Software kämpfen» Der Mangel an IT-Experten sei schon jetzt gross. Eine Automatisierung der Cyberabwehr würde keinen Arbeitsplatz vernichten, sondern Fachleute für wichtige Themen freistellen.

Lesen Sie im NZZ Bericht “Wir werden das Internet sicher machen”.

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Bitcoin Mania Presents a Strain on Electricity Providers

Energy costs in North Central Washington are cheaper than in most parts of the U.S. As result, it has made this rural area a magnet for bitcoin miners. They use special powerful computers to create new units of crypto currencies, a process that involves enormous amounts of electricity to power and cool thousands of machines.

The Wall St. Journal article Bitcoin Mania Triggers Miner Influx to Rural Washington estimates that demand for electricity could double in some areas and therefore require new and expensive infrastructure, which presents a dilemma for utilities.

My question: Should these companies be obliged to pay for the electricity they use? Google and Microsoft do it. Also, I wonder whether some areas in Europe are facing the same problem.

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Switzerland Ranked Best Country and Best in Global Talent Competitiveness

Switzerland placed first out of 80 countries in the USA News Best Country ranking. The total score is based on 9 groups containing a total 65 measures. The score shows Switzerland’s underlying strengths and weaknesses. Switzerland ranked high in citizenship (2nd), business (2nd), entrepreneurship (5th), quality of life (6th) and cultural influence (7th); and low in adventure (17th), power (17th), heritage (27th) and being a mover (28th).

Switzerland also ranked first in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) not just once but twice: In the ranking of countries and Zurich in the ranking of cities. This puts Switzerland ahead of 119 countries, and Zurich in the top position among 90 cities. The index assesses countries by how well they promote their talents in the international arena. It is calculated by INSEAD, the French business school, together with Tata Communications and Adecco's support.

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From the Desk of Regula Spottl, Greensboro, NC, USA

One advantage of living in an area with many prestigious universities is that we get the chance to hear great guest speakers. Last month, I had the opportunity to hear Mohammad Yunis, Founder of the Grameen Bank and the 2006 Nobel Price Winner. Yunus told the story of his life’s work and his vision for “A World of Zero Poverty” at Wake Forest University.

Often called the “banker of the poor” and the father of social business, Yunus founded Grameen Bank as a non-profit in Bangladesh to provide small, collateral-free loans to the poor, mostly women, to start their own businesses. The bank became a model for combatting poverty through microlending.

In hindsight, it’s staggering what Yunus accomplished since he founded the Grameen bank in 1983. However, he explained how again and again, he saw a problem, mulled it over, talked to anybody who would listen and after several years found a solution that sometimes worked and at other times failed. Throughout the entire time, his vision of lifting the poor out of poverty has remained constant, but he changed his strategies and tactics again and again. What an inspiration! Yunus’ bio published by nobelprize.org.

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