Finance Monthly July 2019 Edition

8 www.finance-monthly.com NEWS - MONTHLY ROUND-UP THE MONTHLY ROUND-UP Nigel Green, the Founder and Chief Executive of de- Vere Group, spoke with Finance Monthly after the social media giant set out details of Libra, its own digi- tal currency, to be launched next year. Mr Green affirms: “Face- book’s launch into cryp- tocurrencies tells us two things. “First, the role of traditional banks will decline at a quick- er rate than many had previ- ously predicted. Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency will be able to transact across tra- ditional payment rails. They have partnered with PayPal, Mastercard, Visa and Stripe, amongst others to fuel mer- chant acceptance of the digital currency. “If you have cryptocurrency on these payment methods, the purpose of and use for WHAT FACEBOOK’S LIBRA TELLS US: TRADITIONAL BANKING IS FINISHED traditional banks will surely shrink. “Cryptocurrencies and FinTech [financial technol- ogy] solutions are already taking business away from banks. They are filling a gap left by the tra- ditional way of doing things as the world speeds up and becomes increasingly glo- balised and digitalised. “The jump into cryptocurren- cies – which are the future of money – by Facebook which already has 2.7 billion users can really only be seen as another nail in the coffin for banks.” He continues: “Second, tech giants entering the cryptocurrency sector in- dicates that digital mon- ey, as a concept, is fully mainstream and inevita- bly the way the world is going. This is something we have been arguing for a long time now – despite protestations from financial traditionalists. “Where Facebook leads, others will inevitably follow, and this will quick- en the pace of mass adoption of cryptocurren- cies.” The deVere CEO con- cludes: “This is a major development in the crypto- verse and it is surely just the beginning. This is set to revolutionise how people access, manage and use money across the world and it will positively disturb the wider banking sector. Bank- ing as we have known it until now is coming to an end.” European CEOs and tax leaders are transform- ing their tax departments through technology to support broader organisa- tional goals, according to KPMG’s latest Global Tax Department Benchmark- ing Survey. Barriers to growth According to the 2019 KPMG, Global CEO Out- look, less than 1% of CEOs in Europe identi- fied tax risk as a barrier to growth. Mindful of this po- tential `blind spot’ among chief execs, tax leaders have a responsibility to re- mind them that while they may be relaxed about the impact of tax risk on their growth plans, the most commonly identified barri- ers to growth will all have tax implications: the re- turn to territorialism (18% of CEOs), emerging and disruptive technologies (18%) and environmen- tal and climate change (17%). Transforming the tax department CEOs are showing a healthy appetite for inno- vation, and KPMG’s tax research suggests that tax leaders in Europe and around the world are primed to support their plans by driving transfor- mational change. Using technology to improve processes, exploring out- sourcing and co-sourcing opportunities to gain ef- ficiencies, and invest- ing in new skills for their workforce are three areas of particular focus for tax departments. About half of respond- ents expect a moderate increase in their use of co-source resources from tax providers (49%) and finance Shared Services Centers (52%). Almost as many respondents (43%) plan to increase their use of centres of excellence for key functions such as TAX LEADERS USING TECHNOLOGY TO DRIVE CHANGE IN THE BOARDROOM