Welcome to coverage of financial-i’s sixth annual Leaders in Innovation Awards, which recognise global transaction banks and financial hardware and software providers that have clearly differentiated themselves by innovating across more than 50 categories in wholesale transaction banking. Our awards categories encompass:

• Securities services
• Payments & cash management
• Trade & Supply Chain
• Business solutions

Best practices for a company’s disbursements processes start with the acknowledgement that procurement, accounts payable and treasury are all integrally involved, says Nancy Atkinson.

The new ISO 20022 standards may promise to streamline payments, but the system is being hampered by slow takeup and a lack of cohesion and regulation. There needs to be a more defined global implementation process, reports Rebecca Brace.

When the recession first took hold, transaction banking developed a reputation for reliability and stability, but with the financial crisis biting deeper, cracks are beginning to show. Banks are now faced with a plethora of issues; regulation, low interest margins, the need to offer higher levels of customer service and to exploit opportunities in emerging markets. Heather McKenzie reports

Flaunting your assets - Paul DeDomenico has worked in the accounts receivables industry for many years, and now as vice president and head of Global Corporate Receivables Programs at NYSE Euronext, he is working with The Receivables Exchange (TRE) to provide companies with an alternative form of financing based on auctioning their receivables to investors. DeDomenico tells financial-i why this new flexible structure offers so many benefits to companies.
 

Continental Drift - Africa is a large continent made up of different markets with varying levels of sophistication. However, Andrew Daley, managing director, head of corporate banking, Europe and Middle East, Standard Bank, says the continent is rapidly evolving, and its relationship with Chinese bank, ICBC, is bringing greater financial muscle to bear in the mining and power sectors, as well as providing RMB-based solutions to facilitate trade between Africa and China. 

Staying on the rails - Network Rail’s Finance Shared Services (FSS) was created in 2004 following a major company restructuring. Steve Swientozielskyj, head of FSS, says his team has generated in excess of GBP 30 million in working capital improvements and millions in annual cost savings. Its quest to be world class in all aspects continues, as his team strive to reduce billing errors, eliminate inefficiencies and unnecessary costs.

The amount of cash on hand for major corporations in Europe and the US has increased to the point where they are hoarding trillions, says Brian Shanahan, associate principal at REL Consultancy, part of the Hackett Group Company. But will this be enough to cushion them against a potential fallout from sovereign debt and a weakened banking sector in the eurozone?

Like most treasurers, Royston Da Costa, group assistant treasurer, treasury systems and development, Wolseley Group Services, dreams of a one-stop-shop treasury management system that provides cash visibility, enhanced cash forecasting and counterparty risk information at the press of a button. He is some of the way towards fulfilling that dream as part of a major treasury systems project.

Welcome to TCS’s second Capital Markets Forum held in association with financial-i magazine. This second forum was held at the British Bankers’ Association Pinners Hill on the 25 October, and focused on TARGET2-Securities (T2S). TCS has been working with clients in Europe for a number of years. In fact, we helped clients in the early days actually move from national currencies to the euro.

Europe’s planned tax on financial transactions needs to be better thought through. If not, it could trigger a major loss of transaction volume, says John Gubert.

Capital markets worldwide are undergoing dramatic changes, with regulation and consolidation likely to create a very different market environment over the next decade. However, this will not necessarily bring about material benefit to investors, says John Gubert.

Conditions are volatile but trade and supply chain finance continues to make steady progress, says A.R. Malaket who paints a predominantly optimistic picture for the business in the coming months.

In a volatile and uncertain economy, the supply chain is a company’s secret weapon to put money to work, says Drew Hofler, senior manager, Financial Solutions, Ariba.

Supply chain finance programmes do not always benefit SMEs, and banks have not shown much inclination to offer financing options, despite government pressure. A new auction-style solution is now benefiting smaller companies, reports Rebecca Brace.

While high-profile insider trading scandals continue to impose reputational damage on banks, Jackie Harvey, professor of Financial Management at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, says it is difficult to ascertain the real extent of financial crime.