As a membership association for treasury, it’s our mission to ensure our events deliver insight and expertise for treasurers everywhere. That’s why our treasury events are led and shaped by treasurers themselves.
The ACT Smart Cash Management Conference, 14-15 March 2018, is no exception, and has long been a thriving hub for all things cash management. This year we have recruited four influential, experienced professionals [or practitioners] to join a Cashback panel focused on the programme content to ensure the audience is provided with fresh thinking. The panel will meet throughout the conference and provide live commentary and insight from sessions.
In the second of our series meeting the moderators, we spoke with David Shinkins from Barclays.
For your definitive cash management update, make sure you book your place today to hear from David and the other speakers in March.
How would you describe your role at Barclays?
I’m Head of UK Cash Management, which means I head up the sector sales activity for the UK and Barclays corporate bank across all our payment and liquidity teams.
What are the major cash management trends you are seeing across the UK?
Clearly, the world of cash management is evolving. The primary area of focus is regulation and the level of disruption for our clients. Whilst regulation is disruptive to clients, it also provides opportunities for them. At the same time, the core fundamentals of cash management remain: effectively managing the balance sheet, liquidity and funding for deposits, managing cash flow and making sure you have the most adequate controls in place. We’re also seeing a big focus on cyber-security and fraud. Corporate treasurers increasingly need to have robust controls and effective cash management in place.
You mentioned there are opportunities for clients amongst this regulatory disruption. What do you think these opportunities are for treasurers?
I’d definitely say open banking and PSD2. This will provide treasurers with the potential to access new types of customers and offer new services to users. Regulation is effectively driving the opening up of payment systems in the UK. That’s where all the exciting innovation is coming from, its driving a lot of change.
Why is this exciting for corporate treasurers?
Well, for sectors where cash usage is heavy, these industries are seeing the most disruption from a payments perspective. Whether it’s from a consumer, or even internally, when it comes to the types of payments being managed, it’s the treasurer’s responsibility to ensure it’s reconciled in the right away and to make sure they are adapting to the needs of individual stakeholders. With disruption and innovation both affecting the user experience, treasurers need to adapt their internal controls to meet their own business needs.
So how’s it being disrupted? There are two core parts. One is, the way regulation is disrupting the industry it’s enabling – you can become a direct participant in the payment schemes. So, organisations need to meet the right criteria, which is really quite interesting. And we are seeing clients apply for the ability to do that. The second is around new service providers coming in. So, for example on PSD2, there is a concept called strong customer authentication – new products they can buy and sell on the marketplace – and these actually lead to enabling strong customer authentication which is required by the regulator. So there are significant commercial opportunities coming out of regulation.
What are you looking forward to seeing at this year’s ACT Smart Cash Management Conference?
A number of things. For a start, getting insight from clients, and members of the ACT, to understand their particular needs and how they are responding to challenges in the cash management landscape. The second is having the opportunity for debate across a series of topics, whether its fraud, regulation, FX or payments – and how those landscapes are continuing to evolve. Whether you are a corporate, a bank, a regulator, or a disruptor, we are going to see some interesting points of view across the two days.
Treasurers are increasingly expected to connect better with individuals, teams and stakeholders across their organisations – but also their bank. How do you think the bank/treasurer relationship is evolving?
Primarily the relationship is becoming more connected. Treasurers are looking for far more from their bank today than just a transactional relationship. They are expecting their banks to provide real thought leadership and to provide different types of insight into the way their entire ecosystems are evolving.
Treasurers and the CFO are together becoming key to enabling other areas of the business to engage with their banks. So, for example, we are typically finding engagement with other stakeholders – not just the treasurer, but also the marketing director, or the chief information officer. And that’s a big evolution in treasurer and bank interaction, as it’s not just about the bank account relationship anymore. Treasurers are increasingly the sole access point into the organisation.
As for what treasurers expect of banks, I think the expectation is that their relationship teams know them, and their industry. Banks are being increasingly held to account for knowing the treasurer’s business and the challenges their sector presents to them, as well as spotting opportunities for them to provide growth.
So, crystal ball time – what do you think we will be talking about in a year’s time?
I think there will be a couple of things. We will obviously be fast approaching Brexit – the implications of it and what they mean, and we will be in a much clearer position by that point. Secondly, the impact of regulation and what has come in during 2018. Have they really disrupted industry or not? We won’t know until those regulations come into force. And, thirdly, what innovation will there continue to be in the sector? The one thing about the cash management and payments industry is that it will continue to evolve and develop, often at a rapid pace!
Visit the conference website to find out more and book your place!
For the latest updates, ensure you follow #SMARTCASH18 and @actupdate on Twitter. You can also view the latest programme and booking information here. If you have any questions, suggestions or ideas for interesting content or events you want to attend, please get in touch with me on LinkedIn or Twitter, @jhbb