The decision to outsource should be made as part of your company’s long-term strategy, not purely to reduce immediate costs. Treasurers are interested in outsourcing liquidity management, particularly cash pooling and management of inter-company loans. Outsourcing liquidity management was considered ‘hot’ five years ago, but is now common practice for both corporates and their banks. Choice of service provider is vital as reversing the outsourcing process is difficult if things go wrong. Questions to consider include: will outsourcing reduce staffing requirements and eliminate the need for support services such as IT, and will it eliminate high levels of spending on infrastructure? The levels of automation offered by your service provider are crucial.
