A world leader in the development and production of motion control technology, the company’s International Treasury in Europe wished to evaluate and select a new treasury management system in order to create a much more integrated corporate treasury environment, to replace existing spreadsheets used to manage the world-wide treasury function, and as a prerequisite to relocating to Luxembourg . Corporate Treasury based in the US , with responsibility for the company’s domestic cash management, were also included. BRC undertook a best market practice review and benchmarked the following treasury and cash management features and functions against other leading global corporate treasury operations: 

The company was established in 2005 to manage the retail, real estate, and financial investments of a number of businesses owned by the Group in North America, UK , Western and Eastern Europe, Asia and the Baltic.  Treasury risk was managed centrally in order to ensure alignment of treasury management with corporate objectives, optimise access to debt capital and to ensure that treasury operates within a controlled environment. All financial risks were managed centrally by Group Treasury and in close co-operation with the CFO of each business unit. Risks managed centrally included group liquidity including surplus cash and short term facilities, funding from financial institutions and the capital markets, interest rate risk associated with borrowing and investment of surplus funds, foreign currency risks associated with transactional cash flows and translation of overseas net assets, management of the debt portfolio to minimise the cost of borrowing, credit and operational risks arising from treasury activities, and bank relationships, ie, the credit process and investor (debt) relationships. BRC led a project to develop new detailed treasury policy documents for the Group covering liquidity management, investment management, funding and interest rate management, and foreign currency risk management. Each policy document included sections on the identification and measurement of the risks involved, policy objectives, provisions and guidelines as well as authorisation procedures.

One of the largest privately owned insurance and reinsurance broking groups in London with operations throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia Pacific, needed to implement a new structure based on best international market practice in order to introduce greater efficiencies, more effective procedures and processes, and improved visibility with respect to its global cash, treasury and liquidity management activities. A Group holding company based in London provided a central finance function which included financial management and reporting, cash and liquidity management, Treasury (FX) and risk management.  BRC conducted a review to identify where the Group was most exposed to currency as well as interest rate and instrument risk, transactional risk, dividend hedging, inter-company activities, balance sheet exposure including external loans and goodwill, hedging policies and potential IFRS issues. Risk management techniques were proposed in relation to policy approval procedures, reporting activities to senior management, the decision making process, authority levels, and approved instruments. In addition recommendations were made to mitigate foreign exchange risk, which included strategies and techniques for managing these risks, as well as in relation to foreign exchange trading activities and processes and procedures in Treasury to ensure that the company was able to adopt best market practice.

A major local banking group in the Caribbean that delivers personal and business banking services and provides wealth management and insurance services identified a need to deliver improved technology into the front, middle, and back office functions of its treasury and cash management operation. The primary objectives were to significantly enhance the treasury function in terms of cash management, transaction management, risk management and reporting, to provide flexibility for growth based on international best market practice and the ability to deal in new instruments, to remove the need for manually intensive processes and to introduce an enterprise-wide solution based on straight through processing, sharing of a common database and to provide analytical tools to improve decision making. Existing policies, procedures and processes were reviewed by BRC in order to highlight where change was required and to develop a new treasury business process model in line with both best market practice and user requirements. BRC also assisted in the development of a business case in support of a request for a substantial capital investment in technology and managed the entire tender process ranging from production of a Request for Information (RFI), webex demonstrations of an initial short list of systems and evaluation of the responses to the RFI, development of a detailed Request for Proposal (RFP) and response evaluation, user workshops and implementation through to selection of the preferred system and implementation planning.

The cash management strategy of one of the largest business services companies in the world, operating in over 50 countries throughout Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Africa , had developed out of a number of domestic cash management structures into a predominantly regional overlay structure involving more than 230 banks. On average in excess of 5 different banks were used in each country and beyond setting absolute exposure limits, central treasury had done little to influence local banking and cash management practices. However, a number of key benefits were identified which could be achieved by moving to a more integrated global banking model at all levels with the additional potential to provide a banking framework in support of the company’s ongoing ERP and business re-engineering rollout. The first part of the project involved BRC in a global data gathering exercise from each of the overseas business units in terms of local banking arrangements, currency cash flows and transaction volumes followed by recommendations as to the most efficient structure that would enable Group Treasury to provide greater centralised cash management control while at the same time continuing to provide the necessary local banking arrangements. We also assisted in the development of the business case for change and subsequently managed the entire tender process including production of a detailed Request for Proposal, analysis of the responses and identification of the preferred global banking partners. In addition, BRC assisted in the evaluation and selection of a replacement treasury management system that would deliver not only Group Treasury’s requirements but that also could be used remotely by the overseas business units to deliver cash forecasts and access their inter-company account statements.

With 18 lead facilities located in Austria , France, Germany , Italy , South Africa , United Kingdom and the United States , and employing more than 2,500 people, this company is the world's largest producer of lead. It has an estimated market share of 19.5% of which over 80% is recycled lead which involves the manufacture of refined lead from scrap lead sources. A market leader in its industry sector, therefore, and a company which had grown largely through acquisition, it found itself faced with increased commodity price volatility and greater complexity in monitoring and managing treasury transactions. Furthermore, in recent years the company had generated significant levels of surplus funds throughout the Group which made investment and cash management even more important. The Group Treasury function was based on extensive use of Excel spreadsheets and manual procedures with data being captured from different systems in order to complete many of the key operational activities. A review of current practices, processes and policies with respect to Treasury activities at both a corporate and operational level was undertaken by BRC in order to identify how the treasury and cash management function could be brought up to the standard of best market practice consistent with the size, diversity and organisational structure of the Group and a demanding reporting environment. The review concluded that in order to reduce the inherent risk associated with Excel based records and to improve control and reporting capabilities, Group Treasury should implement a fully integrated treasury management system. The process involved BRC in the production of a detailed requirements specification and participation throughout the tender process and subsequent workshops. Approval was given to implement the preferred solution and BRC assisted with the final contract negotiations to ensure that Treasury’s requirements were properly reflected in the final licence agreement. In addition, BRC advised throughout implementation planning and assisted in managing the implementation project.

Group Treasury in a major UK property investment company had been using an in-house developed treasury management system to manage a substantial debt portfolio comprising a large number of bonds as well as a large number of bank facilities, as well as to handle the associated drawdowns, renewals and interest payable functions. In addition, the system was also being used to manage a derivatives portfolio with respect to the interest portion of the debt programme, and cash deposits. A Treasury review project was initiated in order to consider the options to deliver improved technology, ie, either to implement substantial upgrades to the in-house treasury management system or to replace it with a proprietary system. BRC completed a best market practice review of the treasury operation, benchmarking requirements against the existing system and typical proprietary systems, and assisted Group Treasury in the development of a business case to justify the purchase of a third party treasury management system. Board Approval was subsequently given and BRC worked with Group Treasury in the evaluation and selection of a suitable alternative system, assisting in the development of a detailed request for proposal, evaluation of each of the supplier responses, organising and participating in workshops designed to simulate Group Treasury’s business process model, and in the identification of the preferred solution.

 

Group Treasury in a UK based engineering company with operations in 35 countries, around 200 active legal entities and 300 reporting units, and with approximately 50 staff world-wide involved in treasury and cash management, identified a need to replace its existing treasury management system in order to create a much more integrated treasury and cash management business process model based on best market practice. In addition to implementing a solution in Group Treasury key objectives were to deliver the same solution to the subsidiaries, introduce one time data entry to improve transaction processing and management reporting, and to create an environment that would cater for future change. BRC’s role included undertaking a best market practice review of the existing treasury business process model and benchmarking requirements against the existing system used and potential alternative treasury management systems. The results led to the replacement of the existing system with one of the alternative systems. The process involved BRC in the production of a detailed requirements specification, participation throughout the tender process and subsequent workshops. Approval was given to implement the preferred solution with BRC assisting with the final negotiations and agreement with the selected supplier and advising on the implementation planning. BRC went on to provide project management services which involved project planning, project management and acceptance test planning.

BRC assisted a US global multi-national in the rebuilding of its European Treasury operation. The scope of the project included   a review of the current European Treasury organisation structure benchmarked against best international practice, an examination of the treasury and cash management functions being carried out in four principal countries, ie, the UK , Belgium , Greece and France and   less complex functions in the Nordic Region, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and recommendations for a more streamlined treasury organisation and workflow and suggested staffing needs and job descriptions.BRC carried out a best market practice review which focused on procedures, processes and controls, working capital management, treasury management and financial risk management, based on the use of a questionnaire designed to obtain a clear understanding of each country’s treasury and cash management operations in a consistent format. Key deliverables were a report on findings and recommendations for change based on best market practice, a new treasury organisation structure for Europe based on one physical centre of excellence, and a new business process model for managing treasury on a regional basis. The report also identified and prioritised the steps that needed to be taken in order to deliver the required improvements.