Blog Archives - TreaSolution, Inc - Treasury Consulting & Training

Percentage of Treasury Workstation Functionality That Is Successfully Implemented

5/12/2015

Treasury Workstation Utilization

This treasury best practice metric indicates that most treasury workstations (treasury management systems) are not fully implemented.   One reason why TreaSolution asked this question on our Treasury Survey is because we've visited and spoke with many treasury practitioners who indicated that they have a treasury workstation but are not using all of the available functions. Therefore, TreaSolution wanted to document the utilization of treasury workstation that have been purchased and implemented.

There are two main reasons why a treasury workstation is not fully implemented.   1.) The organization did not select the best treasury workstation for their current and future requirements, and/or 2.) The treasury workstation implementation project lacked sufficient budget, resources and/or qualified personnel.

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Workstation Selection & RFP Consulting
Treasury Workstation Implementation
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)

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Treasury and Cash Management Products that Organizations Plan on Purchasing and Implementing

5/12/2015

Treasury Management Services

It's always interesting to discover which treasury management banking products treasury practitioners are interested in purchasing. This graphic indicated that there is a lot of demand for Electronic Bank Account Maintenance (eBAM), Mobile Banking Services, Bank Treasury Workstation, SWIFT for Corporates, and Electronic Billing and Payments. The services that are not in demand are probably already implemented by most treasury departments (i.e. Federal Wire Payments, Prior Day Reporting, Current Day Reporting, Positive Pay).

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Benchmarking Reports
Treasury Best Practice Review
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)

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Treasury Workstation Functionality Implemented by Organizations

5/12/2015

Treasury Workstation Functionality

Most treasury workstations (treasury management systems) provide a core cash management module which includes bank communications, cash reconciliation, cash positioning, etc. In order to create a system that can be applicable to many organizations the treasury workstation vendors typically allow the client to implement other functional al-la-carte based upon their requirements. In this treasury best practice graphic you can see that the most popular functions (beyond cash positioning) to be implemented are Cash Accounting, Cash Forecasting, Debt Management and EFT's. The least popular treasury workstation modules are Bank Fee Analysis (mainly because most organization utilize spreadsheets for this function), Risk Management, Inter-Company Loans, Foreign Exchange, etc.

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Benchmarking Reports
Treasury Workstation Selection (RFP)
Treasury Workstation Implementation
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)

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The Main Reasons for Buying a Treasury Workstation or Treasury Management System

5/12/2015

Reasons to Implement a Treasury Management SYstem

There are many reasons why an organization would buy a treasury workstation (treasury management system). Although there seems to be one main reason: IMPROVED OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY. This is not surprising because the facilitation of corporate treasury management with spreadsheets is typically a manual and time intensive process. Some of the other benefits of implementing a treasury workstation are Improved General Ledger Integration (15.38%), Improved Internal Controls (7.69%), and Improved Reporting (7.69%). In many organizations, the implementation of treasury technology can improve all of the factors listed above in a material way.

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Benchmarking Reports
Treasury Workstation Selection (RFP)
Treasury Workstation Implementation
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)

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Being a Strategic Treasurer - Measuring Your Treasury Department's Strategic Value

5/12/2015

Strategic Treasurer

The Value of Being a Strategic Treasurer

TreaSolution has documented a dramatic increases in the strategic value of many treasury departments. The shift from a process-oriented treasury department to a key strategic organizational resource primarily started during the financial crisis. During the 2008 - 2009 time-frame most corporate treasurers were on the CEO's speed-dial due to the lack of liquidity, counterparty risk, etc. Since the financial crisis many treasury departments have experienced a strategic renaissance within their organizations. Many strategic treasurers demonstrated their ability to navigate rough waters during financial crisis. As a result of this success, many CEO's have rewarded strategic treasurers by 1.) including the corporate treasurer in more organizational strategy discussions, and 2.) increasing the scope of the treasury department's responsibilities. This is why over 41% of survey respondents indicted that their treasury department is of "High Strategic Value" to their organizations.

Do you act as your organization's strategic treasurer? What are some are some ideas that can help organizations that need a more strategic treasurer? Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Benchmarking Reports
Treasury Best Practice Review
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)

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Corporate Treasury Department Roles and Responsibilities

5/12/2015

Treasury Department Responsibilities

It is not surprising that 100% of survey respondents indicated that their treasury department is responsible for treasury operations and bank relationship management. What is notable is the relatively high percentage of treasury departments responsible for Financial Risk Management (86.6%) and Insurance Risk Management (59.79%). If fact, more respondents indicated that their treasury department is responsible for Financial Risk Management than Debt and Investment Management! The responsibilities of treasury departments have grown since the financial crisis. Hence the growth of more tangential strategic treasury functions such as Insurance and Financial Risk Management.

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Benchmarking Reports
Treasury Best Practice Review
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)

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Percentage of Companies that Have Implemented a Treasury Workstation (Treasury Management System)

5/12/2015

Treasury Workstation Implementation

There are many factors that must be taken into consideration when deciding to select a treasury workstation (treasury management system).   One key component is treasury department complexity.   In other words, are your treasury operations complex enough to justify the selecting and implementing a treasury workstation?   This question is answered differently by each organization.   A company with domestic operations and two bank relationships is going to answer this question differently than an international organization with over fifty bank relationships.

Generally, treasury management complexity grows as organizational revenue increases.   This is clearly demonstrated in the chart above. Many organizations that are less than $250 Million in annual revenue lack the treasury management complexity (and an actual treasury department) to justify a treasury workstation. Starting at about $250 - $500 million in annual revenue, organization generally start to develop actual treasury departments due of increased treasury management complexity.   The utilization of treasury workstations becomes a serious consideration as organization approach $1 billion in annual revenue. Above $5 Billion in annual revenue, most organization require a treasury workstation due to the exponential growth of treasury management complexity and scope of operations.

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Benchmarking Reports
Treasury Workstation Selection (RFP)
Treasury Workstation Implementation
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)

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Main Treasury and Cash Management Bank Marketshare

5/12/2015

Cash Management Bank Marketshare

This is a story of the BIG 3... The top three financial institutions listed in the above charge represent over 63% of the Treasury Survey's responses! The second-tier of main cash management banks represent just under 18% of the responses. Combined, nine financial institutions comprise approximately 81% of main cash management bank status.

This does not mean that other financial institutions don't have excellent cash management services and products.   In fact, many organization have numerous bank relationships.

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Benchmarking Reports
Treasury Best Practice Review
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)

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Treasury Professionals Awareness of Electronic Bank Account Maintenance (eBAM)

5/12/2015

Treasury Survey Respondents By Title

5/12/2015

Industries Participating in TreaSolution's Treasury Survey

5/12/2015

It's clear that TreaSolution's Treasury Survey data represents a diverse range of industries to provide a comprehensive overview of current treasury management best practices. TreaSolution's treasury survey participants work in the treasury departments of 19 industries. The industries represented in TreaSolution's treasury survey results are:

Agriculture
Automotive

Banking

Business Services
Education

Energy

Financial Services

Government
Manufacturing (Light)
Manufacturing (Heavy)
Media & Publishing
Medical / Healthcare
Mining

Mining
Real Estate
Retail
Technology
Telecommunications
Transportation

Percentage of Companies Renegotiating Their Credit Facility

5/12/2015

Credit Facility Renegotiation

Renegotiating credit facilities is an important responsibilities for corporate treasurers and CFO's. TreaSolution wanted to document what the churn rate was for credit facilities on an annualized basis. As illustrated from the above chart, in 2013 almost 42% of treasury survey respondents indicated that they were going to renegotiate their credit facility. This is a rather large percentage which, if consistent in subsequent years, indicates that credit facilities will be renegotiated on average every 2.38 years (i.e. 100% / 41.98%). TreaSolution feels that the low interest rate environment and greater availability to credit may had led to an increase in credit facility renegotiations.

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Benchmarking Reports
Treasury Best Practice Review
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)

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Do Credit Facilities Influence Bank Relationships?

5/12/2015

Percentage of Companies that Have a Credit Facility

5/12/2015

Would Organizations Benefit from Corporate Mobile Banking?

5/12/2015

Cash and Treasury Management Services Not Needed By Organizations

5/12/2015

The Percentage of Organizations That Would Benefit from Electronic Bank Account Maintenance (eBAM)

5/12/2015

The Frequency Organizations Analyze Bank Fees

5/12/2015

Percentage of Organizations that Analyze Bank Fees

5/12/2015

Average Number of People Employed in Treasury Departments

5/12/2015

Average Number of Banks Participating in Credit Facilities

5/12/2015

Average Number of Treasury Management Bank Relationships Per Company

5/12/2015

Treasury Management Sales - Services & Product Opportunities

5/12/2015

Treasury management sales officers understand that a successful treasury sales strategy must meet the client's exact business requirements.   The chart listed above indicate which treasury and cash management products have been adopted by treasury clients.   The most popular treasury management sales products are current day reports, prior day reports, Fed wire payments, positive pay and controlled disbursement accounts (CDA).    These services are sufficiently saturated in the treasury management sales marketplace.

Treasury management sales officers might be interested in discovering which services have not yet been extensively implemented.   Services like Electronic Bank Account Maintenance (eBAM), SWIFT for Corporates, Outsourced Account Reconciliation, Mobile Banking, Payroll Cards and Bank-provide Treasury Management Systems represent treasury management sales opportunities.   Less than 40% of the treasury survey respondents indicated that they utilize these services.   There a lot of upside potential here...

The lack of treasury management product utilization represented on the top of the chart is most like due to three reasons: 1.) There is no business case to implement said treasury services / products, 2.) The treasury services / products are too expensive, or 3.) The treasury practitioners are not aware that such services and products available.   Reason #1 can not be influenced by the treasury management sales officer. On the other hand, Reasons #2 & #3 can be addressed by a treasury management sales team.

What is your financial institution doing to ensure that your clients are aware of new treasury services and products that are available to them? Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
Treasury Benchmarking Reports
Treasury Intelligence Reports (FI's)
Client Services Optimization (FI's)

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Average Number of Bank Accounts Sub-Categorized by Revenue

5/12/2015

Average Number of Bank Account Sub-Categorized by Revenue

This treasury best practices metric clearly demonstrations the exponential growth in treasury and cash management complexity for organizations that have greater than five billion dollars in annual revenue. This metric is inclusive of all surveyed industries. When specific industries are analyzed this overall trend can vary significantly.

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
For Corporations / Non-Profits: Treasury Benchmarking Reports | Treasury Best Practice Review
For Financial Institutions: Treasury Intelligence Reports

Average Number of Bank Accounts Per Bank Relationship

5/12/2015

Average Number of Bank Accounts Per Bank Relationship

As you can see, there is a clear growth pattern up to $5 billion in annual revenue. Then a decrease in average number of bank accounts / bank for organizations with greater than $5 billion in annual revenue. One of the main reasons for this decrease (to 13.86) is that very large organizations tend to have a marked increase in the amount of bank accounts and bank relationship utilized.

Do you agree or disagree with this data? Please feel free to use the comments to post your thoughts or questions.

Relevant TreaSolution Services:
For Corporations / Non-Profits: Treasury Benchmarking Reports | Treasury Best Practice Review
For Financial Institutions: Treasury Intelligence Reports