A Turning Tide for Trade

There's never been a more exciting time to be in global trade. While the headlines continue to be dominated by geopolitical challenges, positive forces are setting the scene for a promising 2019 and beyond.

Meliá Hotels' treasury team was looking to access faster and more flexible liquidity as means of speeding up the cash conversion cycle. They decided to implement a receivables finance programme with HSBC that would respond to the company's current and future needs.

Working capital conversations between banks and corporates have typically focused on individual bank products, rather than the specific needs and challenges of the corporate – leaving opportunities and efficiencies on the table. But that’s all changing now, as Adeline de Metz, UniCredit, explains.

Technologies such as artificial intelligence have the potential to make it easier for treasurers to gain visibility and control over their cash. But simply investing in these technologies is not enough to achieve working capital efficiencies.

Increased pressure from investors and consumers is driving corporates to hold their suppliers increasingly accountable to sustainable and ethical standards. However, technological innovations are making sustainable SCF more of a tangible reality for treasury professionals in all areas of the industry.

At a time of unprecedented uncertainty, cross-functional data dashboards and machine learning could help treasurers to break down barriers and unlock hidden working capital efficiencies across their organisation.