e-Forex-Nov-23

SPECIAL REPORT
Source: Nordea’s 2023 Treasury Survey: Brave new world
Corporate treasury automation: How technology is solving pressing needs
“Another driver of automation is the need to do liquidity and
risk management more frequently and accurately, which is
very tough with a manual process.”
Matti Honkanen
appropriate actions to mitigate that
risk is vital.”
Honkanen states that defining
the scope of automation can be
challenging and suggests a set of
steps to work through the decision.
“I encourage you (treasurers) to start
asking yourself
“What are the tasks where we have
some obvious solutions available”,
“what are the tasks that take the most
time”, and “What are the things that
we should do more frequently and
more accurately?” he says.
“I would also urge you to start
with the ones that are easiest to
implement. It does not need to be a
huge improvement, the key is to get
going. Then you will learn how you
can tackle even nastier problems.”
THE SOLUTIONS LANDSCAPE
If defining the scope of automation
is challenging, choosing a solutions
provider is even more so. van
Daatselaar notes that with costs
pushed to lows over the past 20 years,
price should not contribute majorly to
a firm’s buying decision.
“Credit relationships are a stronger
driver than ever when it comes to
the direction of FX flows,” he says.
“Beyond credit, what does a bank
bring to the table in terms of multichannel
access? Decision support?
Automation? Passing data through
from an ERP platform and scheduling
workflow that only needs exception
handling has to be part of the solution
set that Treasurers aspire to embed.”
He notes that TreasurUp has seen
an increase in banks reviewing their
legacy infrastructure to meet new
demands. “Transformation programs
that extend into the broader banks’
technology delivery are commoditizing
the microservice-enabled environment
needed to deliver nimble digital
platforms,” he says.
van Datselaar continues, “Many banks
are already curating a subset of fintech
partners to combine with in-house
solutions and deliver an enhanced
FX experience that transcends the
traditional payments and payments
hedging booking tools.”
Stark notes that the best solutions
provider helps treasurers land a big
impact on their organisations. “A
good solutions provider empowers
the treasurer to be the chief data
officer,” he says. “This helps them
communicate to the CFO, CEO, and
the Board the impacts of currency on
revenue, earnings, and cash flow and
how these risks have been and will
continue to be managed.”
He explains that this view stems from
a belief that a solutions provider
must assist in transformational
improvement, not just automation.
“Mitigating FX risk is a constantly
changing program for most
organisations in response to rapidly
volatile currency markets,” he says. “FX
risk management is not an automation
story; it is about supporting the
treasury’s data strategy.”
“As always, the most important
question in choosing any partner is
who is reliable,” Nordea’s Honkanen
says. “Among those who pass this first
criterion, you should choose the ones
that can help you with problems that
matter most. And then again we come
back to the question of what activities
you should automate.”
Areas with the greatest efficiency improvement potential
He cautions against overthinking
this. “The most important thing is
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