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A New Era for Treasurers and their Technology
Presenting Reval’s Treasury Technology Assessment Survey
by Peter Reynolds, Regional Vice President, Western Europe, Reval
At Reval, we are committed to understanding clearly the needs and aspirations of corporate treasurers in order that we can continue to deliver solutions and services that meet and exceed our customers’ expectations, both now and in the future. Consequently, 2012 marks a landmark year for Reval and our clients in two key respects: firstly, we entered the year with our new Treasury and Risk Management solution, and secondly, we conducted our ground-breaking Treasury Technology Assessment Survey, the results of which are presented in this article.
Research Methodology
The research included 122 companies in UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Nordics. We deliberately made the decision to exclude existing users of Reval’s products. The results also represented a cross-section of industries, excluding financial services, which we will focus on specifically in a future research project. The survey was divided into three sections: an overview of treasury technology, treasury advisers and priorities for 2012. Based on feedback from participants, we will conduct the survey annually, potentially by individual country, as well as three separate surveys for the financial services industry. Establishing an objective, structured approach to the changing needs of corporate treasury departments is an important element of Reval’s market engagement.
Risk Management
1. Survey Results
We asked respondents initially about their current treasury management systems (TMS). Twenty-six per cent did not currently have a TMS, which was a higher proportion than we would have expected. We then discussed survey participants’ approach to risk management. The main themes that emerged were credit risk, fraud risk, liquidity risk, compliance risk, analytical risk, reputational risk, and morale and productivity risks. For example:
a. Credit risk
A key issue was credit risk, inevitably prompted by the global financial crisis. With continued market uncertainty, particularly in Europe, treasurers’ credit risk concerns have not yet been alleviated.
