Cash & Liquidity Management
Published  7 MIN READ
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What Matters Today – #3: Relationships

by Nicholas Blake, Corporate Sales Executive, EMEA, and Melanie Wells, Client Services Executive, EMEA, Treasury Services, J.P. Morgan

In the last two editions of TMI, J.P. Morgan has explored some of the issues that matter most to treasurers today, focusing firstly on risk management and secondly on efficiency. In the third article in the series, we look at the importance of relationships between corporations and their banking partners and how banks such as J.P. Morgan are ensuring a strong, positive relationship from the first engagement through many successful years of working together. Over recent months, when both banks and corporations have been under stress, the right relationships, built on trust and open communication, have been essential in weathering the difficult times.

Building a client services organisation in a global bank is a challenging and complex task.

The importance of relationships between banks and their clients has been discussed a great deal since the financial crisis first struck. Supporting clients through good times is easy, but it is in challenging periods that a bank can stand out from its competition by delivering the relationship support that is easy to sell but hard to deliver. Typically, many people assume that a relationship with a bank refers to the willingness or ability to provide credit; in reality, banks assist their clients in a variety of ways. An effective relationship between a bank and its client requires a clear and detailed understanding of the client’s business and challenges, both as an individual company and across its industry. This enables the bank to propose the most effective solutions to business problems, some of which may not yet have even  become apparent, such as regulatory changes affecting a particular industry. Equally important is for the client to understand its banking partner’s long-term strategy and be confident that it fits in with their own growth strategy. 

A proactive approach

J.P. Morgan has had a culture of fostering confidence and trust for many years. By leveraging expertise as a trusted global provider, the firm looks to help clients easily and reliably collect, move, concentrate and invest their cash. A relationship based on trust relies on straight talking. Just as J.P. Morgan would expect a client to tell us if we were not delivering according to their expectations, so too will we tell a client if we think its treasury or cash management strategy is at odds with its corporate objectives. Clients are looking for their banks to be proactive in delivering solutions, anticipating their business challenges and providing foresight of new regulatory requirements. Maintaining close relationships with each client is the only way that a bank can gain the necessary level of understanding to be able to add value to a client.