TOMATO CATCH-UP: Newsletter Issue 172 – May 2014

Your monthly resource on working capital, process optimization and issues relating to the world of corporate treasurers, IT professionals and bankers!

Introduction:

Projects and processes are the key issues that concern treasury and IT staff on a daily basis. Strategies apply mostly to management but perhaps it shouldn’t be that way. One article suggests that strategies ought to be on all IT staff’s mind. Anyway, issues concerning career, job satisfaction and company culture are also very important. This newsletter highlights all these issues.

Enjoy the variety!

Your Tomato
Regula Spottl and the Tomato Team

 

Topics

Your SEPA Strategy for 2014

By Martin Schneider

Now that you have SEPA in place, your strategy is to profit from its benefits. SEPA facilitates a new level of cash management centralization with consolidating bank accounts as the key.

Martin Schneider has compiled some key points to consider:

Each bank account takes time and costs money as it involves
- Cash management
- Reporting
- Keeping bank access with signatures up to date
- Preventing fraud
- Audit time
- Updating documentation due to staff changes

If your business is in B2B and in the Eurozone, consider using one transaction bank only. See our presentation at the Insights London Conference, Feb 2013, p 16. 

Still, instead of closing bank accounts, you may be better off with a dormant account since opening a new account is time consuming. Weigh your options!

In addition, local documents and contracts are increasingly kept at headquarter level due to centralization, risk management and also for audit purposes.

Fewer bank accounts means more transactions with the bank(s) you work with. Your bank may have a lower price for higher payments volume. Find out or negotiate!

Is your company located in countries where SEPA is not completed (CH, CZ, UK, DK, SE or others)? Use your acquired skills to roll out SEPA in these countries NOW. Don’t wait until you lose the knowledge and expertise you acquired in 2013. Remember, your company has to do it no matter what at the latest by Oct 2016. Do it now, get the budget!

Any uncertainties? Martin Schneider will gladly review your issue. Call him at 044 814 2001 or write an email to martin.schneider@tomato.ch

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2. Unifying Multiple Complex SAP Reports

In our February newsletter, we introduced Pietro Lunati, our expert for reporting issues.  As result of his most recent assignment, a client was able to capitalize on his expertise in data mining of various IT systems and combining the data into one report.

Up to now, this client used several SAP reports for handling their bank credit lines; he also added data from another system manually. Due to the complexity, the client compiled the report just once a year and it took more than a day to complete it.

Pietro helped this client to unify the existing reports with a very simple procedure so that the new report requires just a few minutes and is now run monthly, but it could also be run daily!

If you encounter a similar or related issue, contact Pietro.Lunati@tomato.ch

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Event: Treasury Forum on Smart Payments, Zurich 20.5.2014

Das Thema des diesjährigen Treasury Forums: Smart Payments - Better Decisions

An der Veranstaltung geben TIS und PAN einen Einblick in die aktuellen Entwicklungen im Bereich Schweizer Zahlungsverkehr SIC4 und dem konzernweiten Zahlungsverkehr.

Treasury Forum 2014: 20. Mai 2014,14:00 – 16:30 Uhr, Zürich
Event Sprache: deutsch
Details zu Themen, Datum, Zeit, Ort und Anmeldung...

For our English-speaking readers:

TIS offers two payment modules:

  • Module BTM picks up mass payment files from your SAP and transports them via TIS cloud to your bank where it will be executed. TIS has already built connections to many banks.
  • TIS’ second module is BAM, a module that mirrors all bank signatures and users.

In 2013, Tomato evaluated TIS, Cogon and other solutions for an international client. If you’d like to know more about our experience and knowledge, ask Martin Schneider for more information and/or visit the event in Zurich.

Tomato’s expertise in mass payments dates back to 1996. Early on we supported the telecoms Swisscom, Sunrise, Orange, and Cablecom with mass payment projects via ESR, direct debits and credit card payments. In 2004, Martin Schneider was chosen to represent the Swiss telecom industry for the planning and introduction of LSV+ (new Swiss direct debit).

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Public Lecture at University Zürich about Banking Regulation

Anat Admati, Bankenökonomin und Professor an der Stanford University, sprach am 29. April auf Einladung des Instituts für Banking und Finance an der Universität Zürich über Abgründe, Hintergründe und Auswege rund um die Bankenregulierung.

Prof. Admati, hat gemeinsam mit dem deutschen Ökonomen Martin Hellwig das 2013 erschienene Buch «Des Bankers neue Kleider: Was bei Banken wirklich schief läuft und was sich ändern muss» verfasst.

In ihrer „public lecture“, wiederholte Prof. Admati, dass das Eigenkapital der Banken massiv erhöht werden müsse. „20 bis 30 Prozent sollte die Eigenkapitaldecke betragen. Nur so könne man verhindern, dass letztlich im Krisenfall nicht der Staat, respektive der Steuerzahler einspringen und die Banken retten müsse.“

Report der Universität Zürich: „Eigenkapital von Banken: Drei mal nichts bleibt nichts”

Interview mit Prof. Admati in Finanz und Wirtschaft „Der freie Markt versagt im Bankensektor”.

For our English-speaking readers:

Interview mit Prof. Admati in Finanz und Wirtschaft, English version: The free market really fails in Banking

Book, “The Bankers’ New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It".

Prof. Admati’s Profile at Stamford...

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Politische Entwicklungen erhöhen Druck auf den Steuerstandort Schweiz 

Die Schweiz ist bezüglich Gewinnsteuerätzen im internationalen Vergleich attraktiv. Sie muss jedoch auch im Bereich der steuerlichen Sonderregime konkurrenzfähig sein, berichtet Peter Uebelhart von KPMG.

Im Blog “Steuerstandort Schweiz unter Druck” erklärt Uebelhart, die politische Entwicklungen von EU, OECD und G20 (besonders der BEPS-Aktionsplan) hätten den Druck auf die Schweiz beträchtlich erhöht, so dass die Schweiz gezwungen sei, “im Rahmen der Unternehmenssteuerreform III eine innen- wie aussenpolitisch akzeptierte Lösung zu finden, die die steuerliche Attraktivität sichert”.

In einem Video-Interview geht er auf die Frage nach der Zukunft des Steuerstandorts Schweiz ein. 4:11 Min.

Weitere Informationen: Swiss Tax Report 2014

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Case Study: ABB’s Global Trade Finance Solution

ABB, the Swiss power and automation technology corporation, operates in approx. 100 countries. Peter Gisler is its group vice president and head of export and trade finance. In the case study “ABB Rolls-out a Global Trade Finance Solution”, published in GTNews, Mr. Gisler explains their situation before and after.

Before: ABB had been operating a decentralized set of different trade finance solutions around its global network of subsidiaries and joint ventures. They lacked central visibility of the trade finance business, which made the use of bank credit facilities hugely inefficient. Duplicating similar business processes came at enormous cost.

After: They optimized credit line use, gained global visibility of the business, improved reporting and compliance and implemented an efficient and cost-effective solution.

Details about this ambitious project in Case Study: ABB Rolls-out a Global Trade Finance Solution (registration required, free. If you are not able to log into this article, let us know and we’ll pass it on to you)

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Press Release: SEPA for Cards

In a press release on April 29, 2014, the European Central Bank issued a new report on “Card payments in Europe – a renewed focus on SEPA for cards”. The huge growth potential for card payments in all EU countries makes it imperative that market participants work on establishing a competitive card processing market and developing and subsequently implementing technical standards, according to ECB.

The press release explains “the basic concepts, provides aggregate statistics at the European Union (EU) level, and presents the Eurosystem’s views and policies on SEPA for cards. The ultimate aim of SEPA for cards is a harmonised, competitive and innovative European card payments area.” Details…

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Renewed Focus on IT Performance Management

Running IT like a business was a radical concept when it was first proposed in early 2000. Even though it promised benefits, the concept wasn’t widely adopted by CIOs. That has recently changed, according to the article “The IT Performance Management Revival” by Deloitte and published in the Wall St. Journal.

Leading companies are now refocusing on IT performance management, especially in their oversight of IT infrastructure because it gives them “greater control over IT spending, enhanced visibility into IT costs, and improved understanding of the impact of those costs on the business.” Full story…

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The Enterprisers Project for CIOs

The Enterprisers Project is an open-sourced dialogue about how CIOs are driving the future of business. Its aim is to bring together business-minded IT leaders to “discuss the evolving role of CIOs as they drive business strategy and inspire enterprise-wide innovation.”

The project is a collaborative effort between CIO magazine, Harvard Business Review, and Red Hat. CIOs are invited to share what’s working for them, what is on their mind, and insights they’ve gained.

Enterprisers see CIOs role as “part strategist, part collaborator, part futurist, part diplomat….a person who has the power to inspire a culture and a discipline of enterprise-wide innovation.”

Browse the website to find out about the project, the conversation and resources.

I have a subscription to their news and will use one or the other article in this newsletter.

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Ten Imperatives for CIOs

John Dodge, the community manager at the Enterprise CIO Forum, submitted these tips, which he compiled based on his experience, to the Forum.

  1. Use IT performance metrics to prove your value.
  2. Agility is key.
  3. Be a player in political battles.
  4. Operational excellence is key.
  5. Have a Big Data strategy.
  6. Innovate or die!
  7. Embrace consumerization and BYOD because it’s happening regardless of you.
  8. Constantly review and rejuggle your organization.
  9. Be a leader, which means taking risks and acting on the direction set by the CEO and board.
  10. Focus on strategic initiatives first, and technology fifth.

Mr. Dodge explains each item, adds anecdotes and offers links to specific resources to the 10 points. Full story…

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From the Desk of Regula Spottl, Greensboro, NC

A couple of weekends ago, I visited New Bern, a town with 30,000 inhabitants near the North Carolina coast. Settled in 1710 by Swiss immigrants, it is the second-oldest European-American colonial town in the United States. After the American Revolution, New Bern became wealthy and quickly developed a rich cultural life. Now, it’s a quaint town, perfect for boating, shopping, dining, taking tours of historical homes etc.

What I found amazing is that there are “Berner Wappen” everywhere, same as the flag of Bern, Switzerland!

Really impressive was C Foy Tonsorial Parlor! C. Foy has been called a master barber, historian, and philosopher. You can get a haircut, wet shave, neck massage, manicure etc. Here’s how one reviewer described it: “Surprisingly upscale, C Foy Tonsorial Parlor is tucked into a comfortable corner in downtown New Bern. C Foy knows what he's doing. From the "prep work" and the hot towels to the shave itself, to the aftershave ritual, there was nothing that he didn't attend to carefully and thoughtfully.”

Don’t miss browsing the C Foy Tonsorial Parlor’s website!

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