TOMATO CATCH-UP: Newsletter Issue 157 – Feb. 2013
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.
You’ll find a new format in this newsletter. Instead of selecting 10 or so articles and write a short summary for each one, this newsletter features the old format for news only. For articles that present views or advice, it lists simply titles and the publisher. This way, we can offer a wider variety of resources for each segment of readers: finance, banking, and IT. Let us know how this new format works for you.
Enjoy!
Regula Spottl and the Tomato Team
In Today's Issue:
TOMATO UPDATES
NEWS
- Supplemental Information on SEPA
- A Milestone towards Deregulation in China
- New EU VAT Rules in Effect for all 27 EU Member States
- Simple.com: A New Way to Bank
- Gartner’s Guide to Monitoring Cloud Applications
VIEWS AND ADVICE
- Our Top Picks for CFOs/Treasury and Bankers in January
- Our Top Picks for CIOs/IT in January
- Our Top Picks for Management and Career in January
MISCELLEANEOUS
Tomato to Provide Insights on SEPA Readiness at Fundtech Conference London
Those companies that have not implemented SEPA readiness measures are feeling the time pressure. Some are asking us to coach them. At Tomato, we have extensive knowledge about all that is involved in getting ready for SEPA. Martin Schneider will pass on this knowledge at the
Fundtech
Insights London Conference 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 – Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Agenda…
His presentation will include:
- SEPA - act calmly but act now
- SEPA Simplify payments, Enjoy benefits, Prepare early, Aim for October 30
- Payments methods
- EU Credit Transfer Mandatory Rules
- SEPA Transfers Non-Mandatory
- Channels to the Bank and Banks Optimizations
- Financial Flow Management: The corporate Advanced Model
- SEPA Traps
- Steps: Master Data
- Steps: File Formats
- Time Frame*
* Our suggested deadline for being ready for SEPA is Oct 31, 2013 instead of the official date Feb. 1, 2014. Martin Schneider will explain why Oct 31st is the perfect date for this project.
Feel free to contact Martin with SEPA issues your company faces. 044 814 2001
Supplemental Information on SEPA
Case Study: Germany’s UTA Implements SEPA Direct
Debits
Describes start of the project, working with their bank, smoothing out
glitches, and advantages of completing a SEPA migration project
ahead of time. GTNews (requires registration, free)
SEPA:
Time Is Running Out
This TreasuryToday article suggests that most
companies require between 6 and 12 months preparing for the SEPA switch. They further advise that most important is to
have the IBANs and BICs ready. “The validation of existing account counterparty
details as well as moving that database to IBAN and BICs respectively is
absolutely crucial.”
A Milestone towards Deregulation in China
In a pilot, multinational corporations (MNCs) in China can lend surplus cash to overseas entities in RMB. The Treasury Insight article Further steps to RMB internationalisation suggests that "adding RMB into overseas treasury pools offers companies new choices and the flexibility to centralize treasury management and optimize funds usage by tapping excess cash in China that many corporations have accumulated in RMB."
This is a pilot program subject to PBoC’s screening process, which considers only MNCs with solid reputations and risk management policies in place in China as well as at the global/regional treasury center.
The article explains the pilot program and the step-by-step deregulation measures ofthe past three and a half years. Full story…
New EU VAT Rules in Effect for all 27 EU Member States
From January 1, 2013, new EU value-added tax (VAT) rules came into effect for all 27 member states. The regulations have two primary objectives: to reduce cash flow issues for small businesses and to encourage wider adoption of both domestic and intra-EU e-invoicing.
The GTNews article New E-invoicing Rules to Spur Adoption in 2013, offers an in-depth look at the regulations, the new options and, in some cases, the mandated requirements they present for businesses, suggests Nigel Taylor of GXS. Full story… (registration required, free)
In 1998, Bill Gates sagte: “Banking is essential, banks are not”. Simple.com bestätigt Bill Gates’ Aussage. Mit dem Slogan “Get ready to leave your bank” wirbt in den USA die erste „Un-Bank“ Simple.
Der NZZ Blog Die Un-Bank, die die Grossbanken das Fürchten lehren will erklärt, Simple sei eine Smartphone-App mit zugehöriger Debit-Karte, mittles der man Zahlungen erledigen und Bargeld besorgen kann etc. Review...
Gartner’s Guide to Monitoring Cloud Applications
Gartner’s Guide features the trends in application performance management technologies. It includes “recommendations on how to integrate mobile devices, public and private clouds, VDI and more to quickly identify and resolve end-user problems.” PDF 16 pages...
Top Picks for Treasury and Banks
Relaxed Basel
Rules Don’t Increase Bank Risk
By Andrew Sawers,
editor of CFO European Briefing
CFO.com
Treasurers Need to Talk about Forecasting
Treasury Today
Managing
Financial Transactions: How Treasurers can Unlock the Full Potential of their
ERP
GTNews
What
the Best Finance Functions Look Like
Less time collecting
data, more time analyzing it. Skills requirements and how to meet them!
CFO.com
Our Top Picks of Articles for CIOs/IT in January
More
CIOs Are Gaining Stature As Business Strategists
CIOs are gaining business credibility, improving customer focus and raising
IT’s strategic profile, according to CIO.com’s 2013 State of the CIO survey.
6
CIOs Share Their Strategic Visions for 2013
CIO.com
10
Resolutions for CIOs to Kick-Start the New Year
Michael Friedenberg, president and CEO of IDG Enterprise, introduces
his top 10 resolutions for CIOs, including losing weight (the legacy IT kind)
and lowering your handicap (professional weaknesses).
CIO.com
Forrester
Outlines How IT Organizations Will Control the Cloud
Five tips for controlling the cloud without stifling developer innovation
CIO.com
Your Cloud Computing Strategy: The Use Case Is the Starting Point
Clouduser.de
BYOD
Planning and Costs: Everything You Need to Know
A
breakdown on BYOD's hidden costs and tips on how to make BYOD work for your
business
CIO.com
What
Makes a CFO Great?
Question answered in part with how much time do you spend in front of
customers?
CFO.com
Must-Have
Project Management Skills for IT Pros
CIO.com
Maybe Management Isn’t Your Style
When offered a management position, ask yourself some important questions
before accepting. The role may or may
not suit you.
New York Times
WEF Davos 2013: Overall Mood a “Sigh of Relief” and Caution
To summarize the mood and most dominant thread weaving through thousands of conversations at the World Economic Forum is not an easy task. Wharton management professor Michael Useem achieves it well in his thorough analysis with quotes that capture the mood perfectly. He has been doing this for 11 years, and I find in his analysis great lessons for us in business and in civil life.
I highly recommend A 'Sigh of
Relief' at Davos: Confidence and Caution Shared Center Stage.
Full
story…
From the Desk of Regula Spottl, Greensboro, North Carolina
The film “jOBS” about Steve Jobs, played by Ashton Kutcher, is coming out soon. I can’t wait to see it!
In CIO.com, Tom Kaneshige recently featured an impression of how Ashton Kutcher prepared for and played Steve Jobs in the film.
The most insightful part of the article involves Kutcher’s view of Jobs. "For me, Steve Jobs is an iconic hero who embodies three key qualities” said Kutcher. They include:
- Laser-like focus which includes the ability to say no to hard things; It’s easy to say no to easy things, but hard things…
- Compassion for the consumer.
- Willingness to not settle for the status quo, not settle for what life gives you. "It's really the essence of the film, that deeply affected me," says Kutcher.
Your
Tomato
Regula
Spottl