Completing these notarisation-related tasks can be even more challenging if a corporate finance team has to search for mobile notary services using their own time and resources.

The good news is there’s a solution for the time-consuming nature of properly notarising a document. A mobile notary can ease the process, travel on-site, and verify high-profile documents. That’s super convenient under normal circumstances, but even more critical during times like this when people are working remotely during a pandemic or quarantine.

For those corporate finance teams debating the importance of a mobile notary, here’s an outline of how a mobile notary can serve you and save the day in the face of unexpected time crunches. When you’re ready to find a notary near you, keep these tips in mind to ensure that you partner with a reputable, reliable company that guarantees client satisfaction.

What is a mobile notary?

A mobile notary is a notary public who travels from one location to another to notarise signatures. Not only do mobile notaries adhere to typical business hours, but most of them can also work on weekends and after hours. Because a mobile notary can accommodate any working schedule, their on-site services can save a corporate finance team a significant amount of time and money. No longer are the days of lagging notary services.

While most people view recruiting a mobile notary as a difficult task, the truth is the process is quite simple. Multiple agencies can connect corporate executives to notaries.

How do mobile notary services work?

Typically, mobile notaries work with clients' schedules. Because a mobile notary travels anywhere, you won’t be limited to notaries in your local area. No matter where your locations are based, a mobile notary will come right to your doorstep.

Notary service fees are usually standardised. However, the costs can vary based on your location. A mobile notary can charge additional costs depending on your state of residence.

Because a mobile notary travels anywhere, you won’t be limited to notaries in your local area.

Benefits of using a mobile notary

Using a mobile notary can benefit your financial business in several ways, including the following.

Efficient transactions

When you're working in the finance industry, you know that efficiency is the key to success. Traveling from one location to another can be tedious and time-consuming, especially if you need to travel long distances. Instead of spending your precious time traveling or waiting in traffic, you can hire a mobile notary. Because notarisation is their full-time job, they can quickly travel to your preferred location to notarise your financial documents with ease.

A major incentive of a mobile notary is their flexible schedule. They can notarise your documents at any time of the day, including during regular business hours, after normal business hours, and during weekends.

Flexibility

Many notaries offer flexible scheduling and provide comprehensive notary services with no order restrictions—meaning you have the freedom to choose the kind of services you need and the time you need it. It also ensures that a corporate finance team can access additional assistance during their busy days, and avoid paying for unnecessary services during slower days. Such flexibility makes mobile notary services the best option, as they save you money and keep your business running efficiently. Most importantly, it keeps clients satisfied.

No location limitations

Many mobile notaries travel throughout the country. They will come to any given location: whether you are at home, your place of business, vacation home, office, or any other place you find comfortable. Time restrictions don’t limit these mobile notaries, so these trained professionals can make on-site visits anytime, anywhere, depending on your schedule.

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Reasonable costs

The cost of mobile notary services varies greatly depending on state laws. Each state has standardised fees that indicate what professionals can charge for their notary services. Mileage and travel expenses determine the overall cost. Regardless of the additional expenses a mobile notary service charges, the bottom line is that mobile notaries are cost-effective considering the energy and time you save.

Accuracy and efficiency

Mobile notaries are trained professionals who provide accurate and efficient financial services. Besides notarising high-profile documents, these professionals also provide client support and conduct follow-ups. By shaving off time spent worrying about the safety of your documents, you direct this energy towards your day-to-day operations. Without distractions, you’re free to tend to crucial responsibilities and ensure your customers’ needs are addressed.

Final thoughts

Thriving in the corporate finance world requires a commitment to the most minute details— which is why your corporate finance team must choose the right mobile notary for your business.

There are several reputable and reliable mobile notary agencies to choose between. Devote the time necessary to locate the most accredited agencies nearest your location. In your search, consider factors such as qualifications, reliability, credibility, costs, and flexibility to get the most out of your mobile notary services.

Currently, $350 trillion worth of financial contracts reference the LIBOR rate worldwide. Banks and other financial institutions are now required to phase out any agreements that utilise LIBOR as a benchmark and transition to an alternative reference rate by the end of 2021. While this may seem like a long time from now, the process will likely be lengthy and complex. To ensure a smooth transition, banks and other impacted organizations will need to begin preparing well in advance. Right now, only 19% of firms say they’re ready. Neil Murphy, VP of global business development at ABBYY, discusses how these companies can best prepare for the changes to come.

The transition process will be no mean feat. It will involve creating task forces, sorting through immense volumes of documents, adopting new technologies, re-negotiating current agreements and developing entirely new financial products. Preparing early and thoroughly is critical for minimising risk from every angle – financial risk, legal and compliance exposure, and operational disruption. Planning ahead will also facilitate a smooth process for customers, helping maintain – or even increase – client satisfaction and retention.

While the transition may seem daunting for some organisations, it doesn’t have to be. To begin preparing, businesses need to understand what LIBOR is and how it will affect your business, including which products will be impacted, what the replacement options are, and what exactly the complex transition process will involve. Let’s start from the beginning.

What’s behind the transition?

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the LIBOR rate is based on specific types of transactions between banks which now do not occur as frequently as they used to, making the rate less reliable. The governing bodies that oversee this index have stated that they cannot guarantee the rate will be available after 2021.

Certain private-sector banks which are currently required to submit information that is then utilised to set the LIBOR rate will stop being required to do so after next year, which means the rate will subsequently not be an accurate reflection of its underlying market. At this point, the quality of the rate will likely degrade to a degree at which it is no longer credible, which could cause LIBOR to stop publication immediately.

The end of LIBOR is imminent, which makes preparing for the transition and implementing alternative reference rates in advance an imperative for financial institutions. All types of banks and financial institutions will be impacted, from small regional banks serving local consumers to large global financial institutions providing commercial services to multinational enterprises. In addition, related industries, such as insurance, will also be impacted by the discontinuation of LIBOR. Even industries that are completely outside of the financial sector will feel a ripple effect.

The end of LIBOR is imminent, which makes preparing for the transition and implementing alternative reference rates in advance an imperative for financial institutions.

What’s the impact?

From 30-page mortgage agreements to 340-page commercial loan contracts, every type of financial product that utilises LIBOR will be impacted. First up is derivatives, including interest rate swaps, cross-currency swaps, commodity swaps, credit default swaps, interest rate futures, and interest rate options. Bonds will also be impacted, including corporates, floating rate notes, covered bonds, agency notes, leases, and trade finance. As for loans, the impact will be far reaching, from syndicated to securitised, business loans, real estate mortgages, private loans and even certain types of student loans. In short, any type of loan that utilises a variable interest rate based, in whole or in part, on LIBOR will be impacted.

There will also be an impact on short-term instruments such as repos, reverse repos, and commercial paper, and on securitised products like mortgage-backed securities (MBS), asset-backed securities (ABS), and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Finally, in the retail sphere, it will affect loans, mortgages, pensions, credit cards, overdrafts and late payments.

To replace LIBOR, there will be various Alternative Reference Rates (ARRs), which will vary by geography.

How should we prepare?

Many companies have thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of LIBOR-based financial agreements circulating within their organisations. There are some global investment banks whose volume of related contracts reaches into the millions.

There will be many necessary steps in a successful transition. One of the most important is assessing where LIBOR is used across all business operations and identifying each individual contract, agreement and related document. Without a doubt, finding, collecting, and compiling every contract that utilises the LIBOR rate will be an extensive and complex process.

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Whether it’s a small- to mid-size bank or a large financial institution with hundreds of thousands of contracts, sifting through, reading, and pinpointing every document that references LIBOR will be cumbersome, costly and time-consuming if conducted entirely manually. The right technology, particularly those that are powered by AI and content intelligence technologies, could transform this process. They can sort through volumes of documents, accurately identifying relevant contracts thanks to advanced OCR and NLP technology, and automatically extracting relevant data. The right tools go a long way in simplifying the complex document-related processes involved in the LIBOR transition.

Identifying all related contracts is only the first step, however critical it is. After all relevant agreements have been compiled, the next step is to transition each individual contract to the new alternate reference rate. For many financial institutions, there will likely be a significant degree of re-negotiation involved in this process, particularly for contracts governing high-value financial products or agreements serving commercial clients.

The transition process is one that will likely involve many business units – from legal and compliance for managing risk, to product management for creating new offerings, to marketing and PR for developing effective communication strategies for customers, investors and stakeholders. Successfully navigating the transition will require a clearly defined roadmap, long-term vision, and the right technology. This combination will be crucial for firms to be prepared for the transition, and to ensure their business isn’t adversely affected by it.

While the deadline for transitioning from LIBOR may be over a year and a half away, time is still definitely of the essence. For businesses that want to minimise financial and legal risk, ensure a seamless transition, maintain their market share, and ensure customer loyalty, the time to begin preparing is now.

At some point, most companies will need to borrow money, whether it’s to fund the growth of the business, to manage cash flow or to purchase new equipment. There are plenty of business loan lenders in the market, but it’s important that you take your time to find the right product for your business. Below, Gary Hemming, expert at ABC Finance, outlines for Finance Monthly the basic considerations to make when looking into getting a business loan.

Finding the Right Type of Business Loan

The first step in securing funding is to take time to understand the different types of business loan products. The easiest way to do this is by speaking to an experienced business finance expert, ideally a whole of market, fee-free broker.

The different products available tend to have very different costs, both in terms of monthly repayments and the total charge for credit.

Calculate Your Budget Upfront – and Stick to it

Most lenders use computerised risk profiling systems to calculate the interest rate of each loan. This means that the rate charged can end up much higher than the lenders advertised ‘headline rate’.

As the expected costs can gradually creep up as the lender sees things that they feel increase their risk, setting a budget is key. A number of small steps up in the proposed monthly repayments can lead to you taking on a payment that is really stretching the limits of being affordable.

You can protect yourself against this by setting a maximum repayment upfront and sticking to it. Be prepared to walk away if the risk of taking out the loan outweighs the benefits.

Make Sure You Have the Documents Needed to Apply

Although each lender has their own requirements, there are some common documents that are almost always needed. These are your business bank statements and trading accounts.

Lenders will usually need 3 months business bank statements. These can either be scanned and certified by a suitable professional, or PDF copies downloaded via online banking.

2 years accounts are requested by most lenders, with PDF or scanned versions usually accepted. If your business does not have 2 years accounts, the lender will usually want as much evidence of trading performance as possible.

Management accounts will strengthen your application where accounts are either unavailable or if the latest accounts are more than 9 months old.

Be Clear on How Long You Need the Money for

There are a number of unsecured business finance products available and they all work in slightly different ways. It’s important that you’re clear upfront why you need the money and for how long.

If a cash injection is needed into the business and there is no large event upcoming that will be used to repay in full then a business loan is a strong option.

Where funds are being used to specifically fund a large one-off order, or contract, then there may be better options available, such a trade finance.

Equally, if you’re looking for a facility that can be used longer term and that will grow with your business, a business loan may prove too inflexible. In that case, revolving credit facilities and invoice finance may well be better suited to your needs.

An experienced broker will be able to advise you on some of the most suitable finance products for your needs within a few minutes of your initial chat.

Once You’re Completely Comfortable - Apply

Once you’re completely comfortable, and only then, apply for your business loan. If you apply with multiple lenders, you will be credit searched by each one on application.

Although it can seem like a smart move as you will get quotes from more than one lender, too many credit searches can actually reduce your credit score. To prevent this from happening, it’s important that you take a more measured approach.

You can do this by understanding the lender's criteria and interest rate bands – the rates charged depending on the risk presented to them – upfront.

Once you’ve found what seems like the most suitable, and likely cheapest option, apply with them first, while your credit score is at its strongest.

Shred-it, as a member of the Canadian Fraud Prevention Forum, has identified five everyday paper documents that – if disposed of improperly – can undermine the information security of an organization and its employees, and increase the risk of fraud.

A typical organization generates about 1.5 pounds or almost 0.7 kg of wastepaper per employee each day¹. This includes formal business records, like legal and tax paperwork, as well as everyday paper items. These everyday documents can contain highly confidential and sensitive information, but are often overlooked in data protection strategies and are not disposed of properly. The loose records and papers that tend to linger around workstations and offices can subject organizations to fraud and individual employees to identify theft. It's key for businesses of all sizes to recognize that information security risks can originate from a variety of paper documents.

"The first step in protecting your business from the significant financial, legal and reputational damage fraud can cause is to understand all the areas of vulnerability within your organization," says Kevin Pollack, Senior Vice President, Shred-it. "If sensitive information is unintentionally left available to fraudsters, an organization can be exposed to serious information security issues, and the potential for fraud – at both the organizational and individual level – significantly increases."

With the shift towards online storage and a "paperless office", the majority of fraud prevention and data protection strategies focus on protecting digital information. Yet, purging the office of all sensitive and unnecessary paper and records is an important component of a successful fraud mitigation strategy and will protect your business' customers, employees and reputation.

To help businesses embed document management best practices into employee behaviour and encourage frequent document destruction, Shred-it has identified "Five Everyday Documents" that should be shredded to reduce the risk of fraud:

1. Shipping Labels – In an attempt to be environmentally conscious, it is standard practice for businesses to break down delivery boxes for recycling. One step that is often forgotten is to remove the address label from the package, which can potentially include the business address, tracking codes, work orders or account numbers. When breaking down boxes or packages, businesses should remove and securely dispose of the address label.
2. Receipts – Business professionals often have the opportunity to expense client lunches or business necessities paid for out-of-pocket. The receipts associated with these expenses, which contain personal and/or corporate financial information, are often left on desks and easily accessible to fraudsters. Once submitted to the accounting department or recorded on client invoices, receipts should be shredded.
3. Printed Presentations – While the majority of presentations are developed and delivered digitally, many employees still provide hard copies to clients or colleagues. This tendency can result in an unnecessary number of printed documents floating around the office, which can put an organization at risk if the presentation includes sensitive informative.
4. Resumes – It is common for Human Resource professionals to print candidates' resumes during the hiring and interview process. The information found on a resume not only includes personal contact details, but a record of previous employment, academic history and participation in any committees or organizations. All printed resumes should be kept in a secure, locked location or stored digitally in a password-protected file. Once resumes are no longer needed they should be destroyed.
5. Boarding Passes – According to cybersecurity experts, fraudsters are able to read the barcodes on boarding passes and gain access to passengers' contact information, future travel plans and frequent flyer accounts². Travellers should be careful not to leave paper versions of their boarding pass in public areas or in their seat pocket. Use an electronic boarding pass on your phone or shred the paper copy following your flight.

In the hands of fraudsters, the personal and professional information found on a wide range of seemingly harmless slips of paper can open up your organization and your employees to fraud. To help mitigate this risk and educate employees on their roles and responsibilities for data protection, business leaders should train employees on how to properly handle paper documents and encourage frequent destruction of documents. Additionally, implementing information security programs like a Shred-it All Policy and a Clean Desk Policy eliminates the guesswork of what is and isn't confidential and ensures employees don't accidentally leave confidential information in an unsecure bin. As an added environmental benefit, all shredded material is recycled.

(Source: Shred-it)