TOMATO CATCH-UP: Newsletter Issue 182 – March 2015
Your monthly resource on working capital, process optimization and issues relating to the world of corporate treasurers, IT professionals and bankers!
This newsletter is multi-lingual, English or German depending on the source.
Not all the news we are reporting resonate with our experience. They won’t with yours either. We bring them up to challenge our knowledge and experience and to get a grip on the ever-changing landscape of options on how to best run finance and IT. In the last few weeks, data security has been in the news more than any other topic. That’s why we are reporting on three articles that we found useful.
Enjoy the variety!
Regula Spottl and the Tomato Team
Topics
- Can Fraud Be Reduced by a Group-Wide Payment Engine?
- Brown Bag Lunch in Winterhur
- ISO Konferenz: Top Event, Zürich, 5. März 2015
- China weitet Cash Management aus
- EPC Report on SEPA Challenges and the Future
- Fintech-Messe London: 5 Trends 2015
- Corporate Data Security: IT’s Dilemma
- Devising an Effective Data Security Communication Plan
- Fostering a ‘Culture of Security’ is Key in Protecting Data
- Building Resilience is Key to Stress Management
- Psychological Difficulties Holding Employees Bank
Can Fraud Be Reduced by a Group-Wide Payment Engine?
By Martin Schneider
Companies are increasingly confronted with financial fraud. Fraud from external sources involves hacking or social engineering. We discussed this in German in the February newsletter and have since had several talks with clients who see the need to deal with this risk. The following is the result of these discussions.
When fraud happens, measurements are more difficult to establish when local e-banking has been used because the action is local and the group has no visibility. I am convinced that if a corporate uses a group central software where the locals release their payments, it’s easier to find out how and why fraud happened. This will help to implement specific measurements and in turn will reduce fraud.
Once central group payment solutions have been established, HQ Treasury and Controlling can learn to understand payment behavior of all the local branches. From my experience, they are eager to understand local payments and to coach and support the local finances.
Since staff of the local branches know their suppliers and clients, it is preferable that they keep releasing payments decentrally on the centrally monitored group software.
In our presentation on Decentralized Payment Factories we elaborate on three possibilities (p. 4-6). Check the graphs for each one and feel free to contact me for a review of your situation and status in regards to fraud prevention. 044 814 2001 or email me.
Brown Bag Lunch in Winterhur
Von Martin Schneider
Diese Woche trafen sich Corporate Treasurers zu einem Brown Bag Lunch in Winterthur. Wir diskutierten diese Themen in einem Kreis von 6 Personen:
- Aktueller Status zu FinFrag („EMIR Schweiz“)
- SIC4 der Schweizer Zahlungsverkehr bis 2018
- Cashpooling im Licht des Bundesgerichturteils
Haben Sie Interesse an einem Mittagsseminar im Sinne des Brown Bag Lunch an Ihrem Ort? Lassen Sie uns das wissen und besprechen Sie mit Martin Schneider, welche Themen Sie gerne besprechen würden.
iso20022.ch Top Event, Zürich, 5. März 2015
Jährlich lädt die heutige PPI Schweiz (vormals Recon IT) die Spezialisten des Schweizer Zahlungsverkehrs zu einer Zusammenkunft mit Vorträgen und lockerer Ambiente ein. 160 geladene Gäste, Schweizer Banken, Postfinance und Tomato nahmen am Anlass teil, um den Vorträgen zu folgen und anschliesslich die Details zum grossen Schweizer Zahlungsverkehrsprojekt, das bis 2020 dauert, zu diskutieren.
Eine Übersicht über Änderungen im Schweizer Zahlungsverkehr finden Sie auf tomato.ch
Auf der Site von iso20022.ch/ finden Sie in ein paar Tagen auch die Slides der Vorträge. Oder fragen Sie Martin Schneider!
China weitet Cash Management aus
Die chinesische Zentralbank PBoC weitet die Cash-Management-Lockerungen der Freihandelszone Schanghai auf das gesamte Land aus.
Unternehmen können ab sofort Payment- und Receivables-on-behalf-Strukturen und Netting von Forderungen und Verbindlichkeiten in China landesweit einsetzen. Auch grenzüberschreitendes Renminbi-Cash-Pooling für Unternehmen mit Sitz in der Freihandelszone Schanghai ist erlaubt. Laut Desiree Backhaus gibt jedoch wichtige Einschränkungen.
Details im dertreasurer.de Artikel China erleichtert Cash Management landesweit.
EPC Report on SEPA Challenges and the Future
The EU Commission addressed the future of EU payments at the “Emerging challenges in retail finance and consumer policy Conference” on Nov. 18, 2014 in Brussels. EPC’s website includes pdfs of the presentations and a link to the report on the conclusions reached. (pdf 49 pgs).
Of primary interest is the “Conference conclusions - Payments – improving users’ experience and looking into the future” on p. 46. Find it via the final report…
Fintech-Messe London: 5 Trends 2015
An Europa’swichtigster Fintech-Messe in London präsentierten mehr als 72 Firmen ihre Innovationen. Auch Schweizer Firmen wie z.B. UBS, Crealogix und die PostFinance waren mit einer Delegation dabei.
Laut Artikel Fintech: Fünf heisse für Trends 2015 in www.finews.ch gab es “mindestens fünf Trends, die im Auge behalten werden müssen. Bei den Lösungen handelt es sich um Apps, die norwegische, britische, schweizerische (Crealogix), österreichisch-deutsche usw Firmen präsentierten.
Die Apps erfüllen diese fünf Zwecke: 1. Sparhelfer, 2. Datenschutz, 3. Personalized Video” (ein tool von Crealogix), 4. Nutzerfreundlichkeit und 5. Gebühren minimieren. Details…
In English:The 5 hottest new trends in fintech, published by treasuryinsider.com. These trends are money (micro)management, pre-emptive security, personalised video, clever, integrated dashboards and scrapping bank fees on overseas payments.
Corporate Data Security: IT’s Dilemma
Are employees at risk of mishandling confidential corporate data when they are under pressure? The study Corporate Data: A Protected Asset or a Ticking Time Bomb? conducted by the Ponemon Institute in October 2014 with more than 2000 employees (practitioners and end users) in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany has revealed:
- A lack of internal controls: 71% of end users believe they see data they shouldn’t see, and 80% of IT practitioners say their organization doesn’t enforce access to company data only on a need-to-know basis.
- Exploding data growth compounds the challenge: 75% of end users believe that the growth of data sources has significantly affected their ability to find and access data. 60% of IT practitioners find it difficult to find files that are not on their computers.
- Ticking Time Bomb: “End users believe their companies are 3x more likely to accept heightened security risks than productivity declines”, and only 22% of IT practitioners believe their employers place a high priority on the protection of company data.
The study highlights the dilemma IT practitioners who are charged with preventing data leakage face and it offers solutions for keeping critical business information secure without lowering the productivity of employees. Blog with link to the report (pdf 34 pages)
Devising an Effective Data Security Communication Plan
Considering the increasing data security risks, companies have to make sure that their workforce understands the threats. A recent article in computerworld.ch cited research that this is not the case in Swiss companies.
In the cio.com article How to Create an Effective Data Security Communication Plan, Larry Ponemon, Chairman and Founder of the Ponemon Institute, a research “think tank” dedicated to advancing privacy and data protection practices, lists and elaborates on the factors companies need to consider when devising an effective data security communication plan. Full story…
Fostering a ‘Culture of Security’ is Key in Protecting Data
Information security involves two levers: One centers on technology and includes processes, controls, rules and regulations. The other is the “culture of the organization: its values, beliefs, principles, behaviors and managerial practices”. Sigal Barsade, a professor of management at the Wharton School, suggests that “organizational culture is a critical lever.” After all, it is behavior that makes technology effective.
In the Knowledge@Wharton article Embedding a ‘Culture of Security’ Is the Best Defense, Barsade, Robert Coles, chief information security officer at GlaxoSmithKline, and Sheetal Mehta, global head of enterprise security solutions at Wipro Technologies, explain this idea. To access the pdf (4 pages), click here…
Building Resilience is Key to Stress Management
Studies have shown that stress levels in the workplace are higher than ever. Stress has an impact on workers’ health as well as the health of the company. Stressed workers are less engaged, which causes a drop in productivity. They are also out sick more often.
What causes so much stress? Employers and employees see the causes of stress differently. Research by Towers Watson shows “the top three things stressing workers out are inadequate staffing, low pay and unclear and conflicting job expectations.” Employers on the other hand ranked the top stressors as “lack of work life balance, inadequate staffing and failing technology.“
To temporarily relieve stress workers can opt to exercise, take deep breaths or a temporary change of scenery. However, long-term, individuals must learn to develop resilience to the pressure caused at work. This comes more naturally to some than to others, but overall, developing resilience can be learnt, says Dr. Rajeshree Parekh, Asia Pacific Director for Health and Corporate Wellness at Towers Watson, a leading global professional services company. Full story in a treasurytoday.com article…
Psychological Difficulties Holding Employees Bank
The mindset of employees has a huge impact on companies’ efficiencies, energy and harmony. That’s why managers need to understand the various emotional problems that weaken the daily performance of staff.
The chapter The Psychological Obstacles Holding Employees Back in The Book of Life, a British online publication on capitalism, work, relationships, culture etc., lists six problems and explains specific situations where they come into play. Reading the list, you may well be able to identify people in your team who exhibit such problems. These people may be in the wrong jobs and respond to help if their specific issue is addressed.
The problems include: Denial, defensiveness, social awkwardness, excessive pessimism, excessive optimism and manic independence. Full story…
From the Desk of Regula Spottl, Greensboro, NC
Personal Finance Lessons from Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin, one of the founders of America, was, apart from being a politician, an entrepreneur, inventor, philanthropist and philosopher. His advice on frugality, industry and other virtues is often repeated. His wisdom offers many personal finance lessons that apply today. They include:
- Understand the true value of things. Don’t pay for something that looks good but is not worth the money
- Be Self-Sufficient. Learn how to do things rather than buy everything
- Invest in Yourself. Buy books, education, experiences
- Surround Yourself with Friends Who Share Your Values, and you grow together
- Don’t Compromise Your Integrity for Money
- Time Is Money
- Steady Diligence Is the Way to Wealth
- The Accumulation of Money Is a Means to an End. He wrote that “after his death he’d rather have it said of him “he lived useful,” than “he died rich.”
Read the anecdotes and biographical details that led to this list!
Source: 8 Personal Finance Lessons from Benjamin Franklin by Brett & Kate McKay in The Art of Manliness.