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Technology

CryptoTechnology
September 22, 2022

How to Climb the Crypto Learning Curve

Just-released NeuGroup Peer Research reveals that despite the turmoil in the cryptocurrency market, treasury’s efforts to become crypto-ready remain on track. The summer of 2022 wrought havoc on the cryptocurrency market; however, the extreme volatility did not undermine corporate treasuries’ resolve to become more crypto-fluent. While the headlines were disturbing, crypto payments have now become an inevitability for companies, and to ignore crypto can mean missing important strategic growth opportunities. In our most recent NeuGroup Peer Research report, A Treasurer’s Guide to Becoming…
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BankingTechnology
September 15, 2022

The Need for Speed: How APIs Simplify Bank Connectivity

Real-time bank connectivity is the future—but NeuGroup members have yet to embrace APIs. In a recent NeuGroup member survey, 64% of respondents said they currently do or plan to have real-time connectivity to bank data, but only 16% said they’re currently using bank APIs—one critical key to real-time data. This is likely due to the overwhelming number of APIs that different banks use, and a lack of standardization. As you can see in the chart below, 29% of members that…
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Technology
August 26, 2022

Bloomberg Terminal Inflation: ~9% Price Hike on Jan. 1, 2023

Terminal subscriptions will rise $195 per month, Bloomberg tells clients, citing global inflation. In a move that will affect many corporations and their banks, Bloomberg is raising the cost of subscriptions to its financial data Terminal by about 9%, citing rising expenses for labor, materials and “escalating competition for talent,” according to a letter from the company to clients dated Aug. 25.   The increase will bring the total cost to $2,500 a month or $30,000 a year for a…
Justin Jones
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Financial Planning and AnalysisTechnologyTreasury Management
August 25, 2022

Transformation and the IT/Finance Partnership

Collaborating with IT is essential for transformation success, and new tech solutions may precede process redesign. Finance transformation goes way beyond automation and the implementation of new tech solutions, to include process redesign and talent development. Its goal is to build new finance capabilities, by optimizing processes and reducing the time it takes to collect, compile and cleanse data. The upshot is that staff can focus on higher level activities, such as business partnering and strategic planning. But the modernization…
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Talking ShopTechnology
August 25, 2022

Talking Shop: Recommending a Workflow Tool for Bank Services

Editor’s note: NeuGroup’s online communities provide members a forum to pose questions and give answers. Talking Shop shares valuable insights from these exchanges, anonymously. Send us your responses: [email protected] Member question: “We are interested in knowing if anyone is using a workflow tool to manage processes such as bank account openings. Our current process can involve a number of manual interventions between receiving a request for banking services from a business unit to working with the bank on documentation requirements. “We use ION’s…
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TechnologyThe NeuGroup Insights Interview
August 11, 2022

Treasury, Tech and Tennis: Cloudflare Treasurer Christine Jensen

Christine Jensen’s vision for a top-notch treasury at Cloudflare: NeuGroup’s Strategic Finance Lab podcast, episode 6. Christine Jensen brought 15 years of experience working at corporations including eBay and Johnson Controls to Cloudflare last August when the fast-growing cloud platform and cybersecurity company hired her to run treasury. To build a top-notch treasury team, she’s drawing on best practices and perspective learned at other corporates in the US and abroad, her proven ability to thrive under pressure (she’s a three-time…
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Cash & Working CapitalTechnology
August 11, 2022

Better Accuracy, Smarter Insights: Digging Into NeuGroup’s Cash Forecasting Survey

Members benchmark and share approaches to making forecasts more accurate and more valuable. A recent debriefing session analyzing the results of NeuGroup’s May 2022 Cash Forecasting Survey made clear that beyond discussions of methodology, accuracy, technology and the effort required, lies this fact: Treasury needs to clearly define the purpose of a cash forecast and identify the audience who will use it to make decisions that help meet strategic goals. In other words, if the information in a forecast is…
Justin Jones
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FXTalking ShopTechnology
August 11, 2022

Talking Shop: Benchmarking Cash Flow Hedging

Editor’s note: NeuGroup’s online communities provide members a forum to pose questions and give answers. Talking Shop shares valuable insights from these exchanges, anonymously. Send us your responses: [email protected] Member question: “Here are some benchmarking questions about cash flow hedging: 1. “What percentage of cash flow exposures do you hedge?2. “What instruments do you use to hedge?3. “How far into the future do you hedge?4. “Given the current strength of the US dollar, are you contemplating changing your FX hedging program?” Peer answers, question 1 (hedge…
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Cash & Working CapitalTechnology
July 28, 2022

The Undiminished Prominence of Excel

Why the overwhelming majority of treasuries producing cash flow forecasts still use Excel and won’t likely stop anytime soon. Despite decades of technological advances, Excel remains the predominant tool that treasury teams use to generate cash flow forecasts, according to the results of NeuGroup’s May 2022 Cash Forecast Survey (see chart below). That includes teams that have a treasury management system but use Excel along with it because the TMS doesn’t offer the same degree of modeling flexibility. Yes, a…
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ComplianceCryptoTechnology
July 28, 2022

KYC: Know Your Crypto

Conversations with members reflect a need to screen for sanctioned accounts and illicit activity. Here are some options. With no end in sight to the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia, corporates eyeing cryptocurrency opportunities are asking pressing questions about screening and investigating counterparties in transactions involving crypto. At a recent meeting of NeuGroup’s digital assets working group, one member expressed concerns that an NFT his company had sold could be resold to someone in Russia, with a portion of…
Justin Jones
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