Treasury Strategy & Transformation
Published  7 MIN READ
Please note: this article is over 13 years old. If you feel this article is inaccurate or contains errors get in touch here . Many thanks, TMI

A Custom Approach to Treasury Outsourcing

by Roger Saunders, Lloyds Banking Group

Treasurers have become increasingly aware of the opportunity to outsource their treasury operations to banks’ agency treasury services (ATS) in recent years. What is often less apparent is the differentiation that exists between ATS, and how this affects the type of services that an agency treasury can provide. In particular, many ATS’ business model is to provide a standardised service to treasury clients, which in turn enables them to leverage economies of scale. However, at Lloyds, we have focused on delivering a highly personalised, custom solution for each client, enabling us to meet their current and evolving business needs and exceed their expectations.

The rationale for treasury outsourcing

Treasury is increasingly recognised as a business-critical function, and as such, it is imperative for every organisation to establish the most appropriate policies, procedures, people and technology. The cost and complexity of achieving this can be considerable, however, in particular for companies which lack the scale and scope of treasury activities to justify the investment required. For example, to achieve the necessary controls over treasury processes, there needs to be adequate segregation of duties so that the same person is not responsible for both dealing and settling transactions. As an alternative, treasurers have the option of outsourcing their treasury operations to a specialist agency treasury, typically within a bank, that produces the daily cash position, conducts the day-to-day transaction processing and produces the necessary reporting. This enables internal treasury staff to concentrate on more strategic activities, such as financing, risk management, and business advisory, without losing control over daily activities. As treasury activities are conducted in accordance with the treasury policy, and treasurers have full visibility over all transactions, they benefit from a best practice treasury environment without the need to invest in the necessary infrastructure.

In the past, treasury outsourcing was most popular amongst US multinationals, that outsourced their European treasury activities to agency treasuries in Dublin, Ireland, taking advantage of the favourable tax situation. This is no longer the case, and while the number of organisations outsourcing their treasury remains relatively modest, agency treasuries now serve the needs of a wide diversity of companies. There are three key reasons why some treasurers have been reluctant to outsource their treasury activities to a third party: