Finance Monthly April 2020 Edition

What are you seeing as the most important corporate payments trends affecting treasurers right now? Perhaps more than ever, corporate treasurers are navigating uncertainties and opportunities created by 1) global growth and 2) emerging technologies. The challenges of the current environment largely stem from the fact that corporations are now evolving into international businesses at an accelerated pace. Some studies have shown that more than a third of corporations now have operations that span 11+ countries, rely upon six or more different banks, and deal with payments in six or more different currencies. The corporate growth driving these circumstances is often the result of acquisitions, which means integrating unfamiliar IT systems and infrastructures within existing payments systems and technologies. This reality places tremendous pressure on corporate treasurers from two directions. First, treasurers need to cope with the technical conflicts and associated challenges of getting disjointed IT systems and payment data stores distributed across the world to cooperate. Second, the rapid pace of growth requires treasurers to wrangle this breadth of global portals, accounts, clearing systems and formats while finding ways to achieve greater efficiency. This means adopting modernised payment solutions able to support seamless operations – even across cross-border, cross-system, and other operational frictions where the seams are all too apparent. Payment volume also continues to rise; some studies show that nearly half of corporations are generating more than 10,000 global payments every month. That unprecedented volume and complexity not only means daunting workloads but also increases in formatting errors and other inaccuracies which can result in delayed payments and increased fees and costs. Corporate treasurers are well aware of the challenges and opportunities of this predicament and are actively pursuing solutions and technologies that enable simplified, error- free straight-through processes and real- time payments. Additionally, the introduction of ever- more regulatory compliance requirements demands that corporate treasurers stay on top of the latest changes. For a specific Thismonthwe hear fromRoger Comins - aDirector of Product Management at GTreasury – a company that provides a digital treasury management platform. Below, Roger discusses trends that are affecting treasurers right now, real-time payments and the future of open banking. OPEN BANKING’S POTENTIAL TO BRING TREASURERS’ DREAMS OF INTO REALITY Roger Comins Director of Product Management at GTreasury REAL-TIME PAYMENTS BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - REAL-TIME PAYMENTS 36 www.finance-monthly.com