News, Treasury news / 19 April 2013 /
ACT Borrower’s Guide to LMA Loan Documentation for Investment Grade Borrowers has been comprehensively updated to highlight key issues for companies in negotiating bank loan documentation. (more…)
News, Treasury news / 5 February 2013 / HM Treasury
Today marks the next step in the Coalition Government’s ambitious plans to reform the UK banking sector. The Banking Reform Bill, introduced in the House of Commons today, will deliver the most radical reform to banking in this country in a generation. (more…)
December 2012/January 2013 / 4 January 2013 / Frances Faulds, Columnist, FX-MM
With multi-dealer and single dealer platforms attracting equal amounts of flow, FX-MM’s Frances Faulds finds that e-FX platforms have set their sights on growing through greater customisation and integration with the end user.
Multi-dealer and single-dealer FX platforms have grown up together and, as such, both face the same challenges ahead, as electronic trading overtakes voice-broking, users demand still more from their trading systems and the popularity of mobile devices continues to grow. As the market begins to reach maturity all e-platforms are using technology to differentiate their services and improve stickiness, whether it is from greater integration or the additional functionality of the platform.
Robert Wade, Head of Corporate Electronic FX Sales at Deutsche Bank, says that the multi-bank platforms provide a useful avenue to execute. He says: “I don’t believe it is an ‘either/or’ situation. Corporates in particular use a number of different avenues for execution and this goes from plain vanilla, cross-border cash management services all the way up to sophisti – cated algorithmic trading.” (more…)
News, Technology news, Treasury news / 15 October 2012 / Kyriba
Kyriba, the leader in cloud-based treasury management solutions, has launched the Kyriba Mobile application for iPad and iPhone, providing easy, on-the-fly, access to the Kyriba SaaS platform. Kyriba Mobile is the first native iPad and iPhone application that extends core treasury management functionality to mobile devices, empowering executives to make informed, time-sensitive financial decisions while away from the office. (more…)
September 2012 / 10 September 2012 / Frances Maguire, Columnist, FX-MM
As delegates prepare to head to Monaco at the end of September for EuroFinance’s flagship International Cash Management and Treasury conference, Frances Maguire looks at what’s in store at this year’s event.
Themed around what it takes to achieve the agile treasury that can withstand volatility and create stability, this year’s EuroFinance conference looks set to tackle the key issues of the day.
Katharine Morton, Director of Programming at EuroFinance, says that treasury agility, and attaining a robust treasury that is agile enough to cope with the current uncertainty and volatility in the global economy, will be the master theme around which the conference is built. She says: “In the plenary sessions we will be looking at what information treasurers need to make the right decisions to make their way through the uncertainty and how to beat the odds. It’s an exciting time to be a treasurer with both challenges to surmount and opportunities to identify – the conference will showcase the companies who are expert at both sides of this risk/reward equation.” (more…)
June 2012 / 12 June 2012 / Frances Maguire, Columnist, FX-MM
There has been a steady increase in the use of algorithmic and automated trading strategies since the interbank market was opened up to the buy-side. Frances Maguire looks at what it will take for this market to mature.
Following a successful pilot back in 2005, EBS, the world’s largest FX dealing network opened up what was previously only an interbank market to hedge funds and buy-side users. Others followed, and it proved to be a turning point for the FX market, giving the buy-side access to interbank liquidity and enabling them to be both price takers and price makers, and heralded the growing use of algorithms by the FX market that we see today.
Buy-side firms are adopting FX algorithmic trading strategies supplied by the large banks, such as Barclays Capital, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan, to access multiple liquidity pools and execute large orders with the least market impact. (more…)
April 2012 / 5 April 2012 / Frances Maguire, Columnist, FX-MM
Frances Maguire talks to the providers of white labelling solutions about the impact the technology and the increasing maturity of the sector is having on how FX is labelled and sold.
The FX market is becoming increasingly competitive and commoditised and for this reason it lends itself well to the different flavours of white labelling. Rather than reinventing the wheel, banks and brokers can harness tried and tested technology on which to build their business, whether they are entering the market for the first time or reengineering an existing business line.
The term white labelling covers a wide range of services from soft services enabling the distribution of non-execution services or the access to, and blending of, liquidity in key currency pairs for mid-tier banks to full provision of technology and hosting of an eFX platform. An API white label connection, or cloudhosted application, enables smaller banks to rebrand analysis and research from a larger bank to provide services to their customers. (more…)
March 2012 / 9 March 2012 / Frances Maguire, Columnist, FX-MM
The management of foreign exchange risk is driving a need for multi-asset trading and positionkeeping risk management platforms to eliminate as much post-trade operational risk as possible. Frances Maguire looks at the solutions that are helping firms manage FX risk.
Increased volatility in the FX markets, particularly in the Eurozone, has been driving both brokers and the buy-side alike to find smarter ways to manage the impact of FX risk across all asset classes. Several differing strategies are emerging as a result of this. This is leading to increased automation to eliminate operational risk, post-trade, as well as the increased use of FX options and the inclusion of FX trading in multiasset class trading platforms.
These trends also include the move to more centralised treasury technology to gain better visibility of positions in order to manage risk, streamlining corporate-to-bank connectivity, which may include managed SWIFT connectivity and eBAM, as well as using hosted private cloud environments to remove the burden of IT maintenance and enable treasury departments to focus on liquidity management. (more…)
Whitepapers / 24 February 2012 / Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Uncertainty generated by the debt crisis in the eurozone has added to the challenges faced by treasurers. Making judgments about sovereign and counterparty risk is difficult, especially for companies not headquartered in the region. This paper explores the potential advantages of engaging external expertise to free up treasurers’ time to focus on core, value-added treasury tasks during such turbulent times. It analyses the broader benefits of contracting out treasury services in terms of increasing efficiency and lowering costs at a time when resources are limited. Additionally this paper assesses the capabilities of organisations that provide treasury services, and what treasurers must consider before taking this course. (more…)
February 2012 / 3 February 2012 / Frances Maguire, Columnist, FX-MM
The credit crisis and the resultant spotlight on liquidity management have meant that Treasury Shared Service Centres (SSCs) are back in fashion. But, as Frances Maguire finds, this time round, technical advancements and cloud computing have meant they are an even more viable and attractive solution.
Since 2009, corporate treasurers have been trying harder to bring together payments and receivables in a bid to centralise treasury and manage liquidity at a higher level but now the technology is available to enable them to have greater day-to-day control and visibility across all aspects of a centrally managed cash flow, through a shared service centre.
Independent research commissioned by Logica saw 79% of 150 treasurers interviewed giving visibility and control over cash as the most important benefit in their payments factory roadmap.
Tim Brew, Head of Marketing, Global Financial Services at Logica, says a shared service centre can bring greater visibility, control and insight from treasury operations. He says: “With multiple siloed systems, it can be difficult to build an accurate picture of payments patterns and find opportunities to optimise cash in the business without resorting to complex offline processes and spreadsheets. With an SSC, businesses can gain a bird’s eye view of all payment flows, processes, timelines, suppliers and costs – and use this to both more accurately forecast cash flow and find new efficiencies.” (more…)
February 2012 / 3 February 2012 / Frances Maguire, Columnist, FX-MM
The explosion of FX trading has made execution performance and low latency critical and with predictions that algorithms will account for more than 25 per cent of FX trade volume by the end of 2014, Frances Maguire talks to the providers of next generation trading technology to see what’s in store.
Until now much of the focus of FX trading technology has been on trying to overcome the fragmented nature of the market by aggregating price streams and creating dashboards that give the trader a single view of the market, even to the extent of creating a virtual FX ‘exchange’ from what is an over the counter (OTC) market. Now the focus is on latency, and while it is accepted that it can never be lowered to the levels found in the equities market, improvements are being made, and also similar to the equities market, the possibility of being able to show best execution in the FX market is being mooted.
Scott DePetris, Chief Operating Officer of Portware, says that while the focus is still very much on providing access to liquidity pools, aggregation technology for market data and analytics reporting, Portware is also providing a lot more information to make trading decisions than traders have ever had before in the FX market. (more…)
December 2011 / January 2012 / 5 January 2012 / Frances Maguire, Columnist, FX-MM
While 2011 will go down as the year that FX forwards and swaps were exempted from the Dodd- Frank Act, it has been a long year of waiting for the regulators to detail the new era of clearing and collateralisation, finds Frances Maguire.
In April 2011, the US Department of the Treasury issued a long-awaited determination to exempt foreign exchange swaps and forwards from the mandatory central clearing requirements of the US Dodd-Frank Act, ending months of uncertainty since the law was passed in July 2010. FX options, currency swaps, cross-currency swaps and non-deliverable forwards will not be exempt. Nor are other OTC swaps that corporates use, such as interest rate and credit default swaps. Furthermore, although FX swaps and forwards will be exempt from mandatory central clearing, the US Treasury stressed they will still be subject to rigorous new reporting requirements and strengthened business conduct standards, notably, the creation of a global foreign exchange trade repository, which will dramatically expand reporting to regulators and to the market more broadly. (more…)
News, Technology news, Treasury news / 13 October 2011 / Reval
Reval has announced the launch of its enhanced, all-in-one Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for integrated enterprise treasury and risk management. The unveiling of Reval version 11.1 marks the first time complex risk and deep cash and liquidity functionality is combined into a single SaaS solution capable of managing the treasury requirements of more sophisticated organizations. Conference attendees can visit Reval at booth number L46. (more…)
June/July 2011 / 24 June 2011 / Carole Berndt, Global Head of Treasury Solutions, EMEA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Nicholas Blake Managing Director, EMEA Corporate Sales, J.P. Morgan Treasury Services and Dominic Broom, Managing Director and Head of Market Development, BNY Mellon Treasury Services, EMEA and Eleanor Hill, Editor, FX-MM
Should eBAM be more firmly on the treasurer’s agenda? What level of automation is achievable, and indeed acceptable, where cash management is concerned? What are the true benefits of partnering with a bank that operates collaboratively within the industry? Our expert panel answers all these questions and more…
For many treasurers, the mere mention of efficient cash management is enough to elicit a deep, protracted sigh. No matter how much time and effort goes in to developing cash management strategies or processes, there are always improvements that can be made, and worse than that, there is nearly always someone else out there doing a better job of it. Well, that’s how it often seems anyway, but is this really true? And if so, what can be done to improve matters? (more…)
Events, News, Treasury news / 18 May 2011 / Eleanor Hill, Editor, FX-MM
Aside from the intriguing juxtaposition of ‘finance’ and ‘faith’ that the gala dinner at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral presented, conversation on the floor at this year’s ACT Annual Conference (10th & 11th May) centred around risk, regulation and recovery. (Needless to say, any chatter surrounding the aptness of the dinner venue was blown out of the water on arrival at the stunning Cathedral on the Tuesday evening – in particular once the Dean, The Very Revd Justin Welby, had addressed the ‘congregation’ and revealed his corporate treasury roots.)
© Russell Publishing Limited, 2010-2013. All rights reserved | Website design and development by e-Motive Media | Terms & conditions of use | Privacy policy
Login Status