Bank Connectivity Solutions - Fides Treasury Services Ltd.€¦ · banking channels of messaging and value transfer.. Treasury must ensure that transactions are secure and in compliance

TREASURY AGGREGATORSBank Connectivity Solutions

The Definitive Guide to Treasury Aggregation Technology SolutionsThis Report is Part of Strategic Treasurer’s Annual FinTech Analyst Coverage Program.

Consultants in Treasury

Streamlined Payments & Reporting

Enhanced Security & Simplified Compliance

Comprehensive Cash Visibility

2019 ANALYST REPORT

https://strategictreasurer.com

Welcome to the 2019 Treasury Aggregators (TA) Analyst Report, your definitive guide to insightful connectivity in the Digital Age. Our team created this publication with one overarching goal in mind—to equip our readers with critical information as they seek answers to complex treasury technology questions.

Should my organization adopt an aggregation technology solution? If so, which system offers the functionality mix my firm requires? Will an implementation be too difficult and disruptive for my team and our organization? How do I streamline the process to achieve optimal results? After months of market research and comprehensive data analysis, we’ve compiled this report to help treasury practitioners make more contextually informed decisions regarding innovative financial programs.

We hope the coverage within, which revolves around current and projected challenges across the industry, will help readers overcome obstacles, enhance treasury operations and improve workflow. Let’s get started!

STRATEGIC TREASURER, LLC525 Westpark Drive, Suite 130Peachtree City, GA 30269

For inquiries regarding inclusion in this and other issues of our Analyst Report Series, please contact us at: [email protected] +1 678.466.2222

CRAIG JEFFERY | Founder & Managing [email protected] | +1 678.466.2222

BRIAN COCHRUM | Director of [email protected] | +1 678.466.2227

ADVISE ASSIST INFORM

Copyright © 2019 by Strategic Treasurer. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction by any means in whole or part without permission is strictly prohibited. The information contained in this report has been prepared by Strategic Treasurer unless otherwise noted. We make no representations, express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. This is a report meant for informational purposes. It should not be construed as offering legal, financial, or other advice.

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04 Global Expansion & Growing Complexity

05 Connectivity 2.0: Digital Bridge-Building

06 Treasury Aggregation 101

08 Need for Treasury Aggregation Tech Mounts

▪ Rapid Economic Globalization ▪ An Evolving Payments Landscape ▪ Increased Compliance Expectations

11 Do I Need a Treasury Aggregator?

12 Payment Challenges for Treasury ▪ Where Are the Pain Points? ▪ The Evolution of Payments & Cash Management

15 Top TA Advantages ▪ STP & System Integration ▪ Enhanced Automation ▪ Information Reporting ▪ Greater Control ▪ Streamlined Connectivity: Payments & Reporting ▪ Centralization of Company-Wide Payment Processes ▪ Funds Transfer Cycle ▪ Additional Functionality

19 Solving the Complexity in the Middle ▪ Greater Visibility & Control Over Cash Positions ▪ Enhanced Compliance Management ▪ Comprehensive Security Coverage

22 The Treasury Technology Landscape ▪ Complex Problems & Sophisticated Solutions ▪ Phasing in Digital Transformation ▪ Analyzing Treasury Spend & Investment

24 Looking Forward: The Future of Treasury Aggregation

▪ Faster Payments vs. Enriched Information ▪ APIs vs. Blockchain ▪ Mobile Applications

27 Putting It All Together

28 Vendor Analysis

54 Works Cited

Table of ContentsTechnology Providers

Reach Further. Connect Faster.

STRATEGIC TREASURER | Market Overview

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Copyright © 2019 All Rights Reserved

C onnection is a fundamental element of treasury and finance. Escalating complexity and expanding endpoints increase its value..

INTRODUCTION TO AGGREGATION

In recent years, continued economic globalization and technology advancements have allowed organizations to work with partners around the world at an escalating pace. While these capabilities are valuable for firms looking to expand their footprint, the comprehensive web of financial connections between corporates and their business partners can be difficult to establish and maintain. This is particularly true for international businesses dealing with high payment volumes. In most cases, it is treasury’s responsibility to manage the stream of activity, much of which originates in numerous currencies and passes through a variety of banking channels of messaging and value transfer..

Treasury must ensure that transactions are secure and in compliance with sanctions and regulations worldwide. Thus, for organizations sending out many thousands of payments every month, the process of managing this activity can quickly become complicated and make it difficult for treasury to keep operations up-to-date and in line with evolving needs and expectations. From this environment of global payment complexity that leaves many treasury departments seeking increased efficiency, connectivity, safety and visibility, along with adherence to applicable statutes, treasury aggregators (TAs) were born.

In this report, the Strategic Treasurer team provides in-depth analysis of aggregation technology, enrich practitioner knowledge and encourage bolder, more informed decision-making in a progressive arena that demands nothing less. From the numerous product options, functionalities and workflows at play in today’s bank connectivity ecosystem to the unique processes, networks and formats available across this vibrant industry, we strive to illuminate aggregation intricacies and explain the transformation of moving parts therein.

Global Expansion & Growing Complexity

Specifically, we hope to help readers:

Understand what a treasury aggregator is and how it’s different from other types of financial technology.

Evaluate the business case for TAs, including a breakdown of the drivers and challenges elevating the need for their services.

Pinpoint the unique benefits provided by these solutions.

Identify best practices for selecting and implementating a TA and its integration with a treasury management system (TMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), et al.

Review the products and services suites offered by leading treasury aggregation technology providers.

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Connectivity 2.0: Digital Bridge-Building

T he services to rapidly move, validate and control data and payment information effectively is far more accessible to greater numbers of generations now more than ever.

INNOVATION-DRIVEN SOLUTIONSIn the realm of modern treasury, forward-thinking tech disruption can be the keystone of successful operations.

One such innovative game-changer gaining traction among industry thought leaders is the treasury aggregator, defined as a system that offers enhanced, multi-threaded capabilities for reporting, handling payments and coordinating other bank account management (BAM) services, all streamlined into a single, efficient connection point. If this smart technology is not yet on your treasury solutions radar, however, you’re not alone.

In a recent Strategic Treasurer survey of financial professionals, only 7% of respondents said they used a treasury aggregator or payment hub (2019 Compliance Survey). In separate market research on global payments, just 5% of participants indicated they planned to invest in TA technology in the coming year.

To better understand this powerful product, picture its functionality as a brand-new, pothole-free toll road in your bustling city: The substantially shorter commute times! No congestion! Such visibility! Just as our motor pathways can effectively transport people and materials from one location to another—so too does a treasury aggregator expertly link a corporation and its banks.

Sticking with this metaphor, but mixing it up a little, consider what your life might look like in a society without streets and interstates to simplify travel, enable commerce and hasten communication efforts between cities, states and countries. Pretty bleak, right? Conducting business activities and navigating our lives would be far more complex without access to smooth, efficient, expedited connection. The same idea holds true for treasury aggregators. Just as establishing proper transportation infrastructure can improve quality of life and lessen travel time, the construction of a robust financial connectivity framework allows for the safe, effective exchange of information between organizations and banks.

In the realm of modern treasury, forward-thinking tech

disruption can be the keystone of successful operations.

Figure 1: What types of payment technologies do you intend to significantly spend on in the next 12 months? (Top six responses shown)

28%

31%

28%

24%

24%

5%Treasury Aggregators

APIs (Application Programming Interface

TMS Payment Module(s)

ERP Payment Module(s)

Bank Portals/Payment Services

AP Automation Technology



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W hile not all financial professionals have a working knowledge of this terminology or technology, the concept of a TA isn’t new. In general, this advanced tool specializes in B2B payments and cash

management, with a specific focus on bank connectivity.

A STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATION

Defined formally, a treasury aggregator is a sophisticated solution that enables an organization to connect with its banks—via SWIFT, non-SWIFT, H2H and other networks—through a central portal or platform. They’re a centralized hub that cuts the noise and joins an organization to all the disparate dots representing its banks and related supply chain participants.

Aggregators can link up to virtually any bank, regardless of location data format standards, connectivity protocols or complexity. This technology enhances internal visibility and supports a company’s transformation from mere transactional operations to strategic.

Through this solution, organizations send, streamlined payment information and receive quality—controlled information reporting functionality. This is done in a context of additional security, enhanced compliance and greater flexibility than traditional connections. Although there are other operations a company may incorporate into an aggregator package—like bank fee data rate information—vendors do not always include them in standard bundles.

Treasury Aggregation 101Aggregators can link

up to virtually any of a

client’s banks, regardless

of location data format

standards, connectivity

protocols or complexity.

This technology enhances

internal visibility and

supports a company’s

transformation from

mere transactional

operations to strategic.


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Also of note, there are some TMSs that provide connectivity options like those of an aggregator, in addition to the other modules and functionalities they offer. The continued development of both aggregator abilities and those of other treasury solutions has effectively blurred the lines between some of these. While the number of companies offering these services continues to grow, however, it remains a relatively niche market. For this reason, the role of aggregators as connectivity specialists

must be considered for firms with numerous connection points.

Currently, the automation and efficiency offered by leading TAs is vital for treasury in streamlining payments and reporting workflows, as well as simplifying tech infrastructure. And because the role of a corporate treasurer extends well beyond the day-to-day duties and into vital management oversight, many practitioners have learned to do

more with less. Market changes can exacerbate the challenges treasury faces, subsequently reinforcing the notion that visibility and connectivity must be streamlined.

In summary, the overall goal of an aggregator is simple: facilitate global connectivity—a task growing more complex by the hour that continues to increase in complexity.

Payments(Core Aggregator)

Vendors specializing in payments manage all of their clients payment operations and reporting processes, while maintaining bank connections through SWIFT, other networks and direct channels.

Debt & Investments(Add-on Functionality)

Vendors focusing on debt/investments cover a broad set of tools (CDs, money market mutual funds, commercial paper, bonds, etc.) and ensure analysis opportunities across customizable metrics and client-specific breakouts.

FX Management(Add-on Functionality)

With FX trading and analysis functionality, vendors can offer deep levels of integration with trade platforms, providing the ability to centrally manage an entire trade cycle and use a wide array of instruments, like forwards, futures, options, spots and swaps.

Risk Management(Add-on Functionality)

With risk management vendors, you can expect a comprehensive approach: the highest level of risk analysis and hedging functionality; data-rich dashboards for analyzing company-wide and project-specific exposures; stress testing; and limits on component-monitoring.

Compliance & Security(Core Aggregator)

Core features include monitoring payments with OFAC sanctions lists, clearing documentation workflows to handle KYC policies, encrypting data at rest and in transit, and allowing for multifactor authentication, dual controls and additional configured components.

Cash management serves as the basis for most aggregator solutions, as the provision of connectivity to an organization’s banks and accounts typically results in excellent visibility to positions and balances.Cash Management & Visibility (Core Aggregator)

Treasury Technology Functionality Framework



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Need for Treasury Aggregation Tech Mounts

T hrough industry surveys and discussions with both corporate practitioners and fintech vendors, we see three primary catalysts driving firms to purchase a TA: 1) rapid economic globalization; 2) a shifting payments/financial messaging landscape; and 3) evolving compliance and security expectations.

RAPID ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION

Today’s businesses increasingly operate on a complex global scale. According to Strategic Treasurer’s 2019 Compliance Survey, nearly half of respondents use more than ten banks worldwide, while one-third of participants in this year’s Global Payments Survey said they regularly handle 3-5 different currencies in daily transactions. More than half of those surveyed indicated that they operate in six or more countries. For these firms, the ability to deliver and exchange financial messages quickly and securely is a must.

Treasury Payments

Complexity

BANKS

46% of corporates use 10+ banks worldwide.

39% of corporates use 3-10 banks worldwide.

CURRENCIES

PAYMENTVOLUMES

16% of corporates have over 500 banks accounts.

18% of corporates have 25-100 banks accounts.

11% of corporates regularly make payments in 21+ currencies.

56% of corporates regularly make payments in 3-20 currencies.

32% of corporates say 50-100% of their global payment volumes are made via ACH.

53% of corporates say <25% of their global payment volumes are made via wire/RTGS.

BANKACCOUNT

Figure 2: Treasury Payments Complexity


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AN EVOLVING PAYMENTS LANDSCAPE

Since the 1970s, the dominant configuration for exchanging financial messages has been the SWIFT MT (ISO 15022) format. It remains the most commonly used system today, with SWIFT driving its ubiquity. A newer model arrived on the treasury scene in 2004: ISO 20022. This XML-based structure—widely considered the standard for today and the future—is much more flexible and open in its design than previous versions, prompting many in the industry to update their financial messaging formats.

Beyond financial messaging, there are a variety of payment networks to which many treasuries need connectivity, like SWIFT, EBICS, Bacs and the ACH network. On top of these, most businesses also maintain direct (H2H) connectivity to a select number of banks. To help reduce connectivity complexity, treasurers are looking to TAs to establish and maintain all necessary points of contact on their behalf.

30+21-3016-2011-156-103-521Banks Currencies

18%18%

17% 17%16%

6%

9% 9%

7%

2%3% 3%

4%

14%

26%

30%

North America: 28% used one currency, 13% used 16 or more.

Europe: 8% used one currency. 28% used 16 or more.

Regional Variations in Currency Use

34% of corporate respondents use 6+ banks for payment generation.

12% use more than 20.

39% of corporate respondents regularly generate payments in 6+ currencies.

11% use more than 20.

Bank Use

Currency Use

Figure 3: Corporates: How many banks and currencies do you generate payments with?

Figure 4: Corporates: In the past year has treasury staff:

Increased

Don’t know

Stayed the same

Decreased

23%

12%

64%

1%



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11%

48%

41%We have never had any problems

We have experienced someproblems and delays

We have experienced significant delays

Banks’ KYC & Documentation Requirements Impact OnboardingIn Strategic Treasurer’s 2019 Compliance Survey, almost half of respondents said they had experienced some problems and delays with payments or onboarding of new clients/vendors due to banks’ KYC and documentation requirements.

INCREASED COMPLIANCE EXPECTATIONS

The sheer volume of regulations organizations must abide by in the modern era has resulted in a complicated and often frustrating compliance landscape.

Regulations like FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Reporting) and FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), issued by governing bodies like OFAC have substantially increased the burden placed upon companies regarding compliance procedures. If handled improperly or altogether avoided, these regulations can have severe consequences, including serious legal action and heavy fines.

TAs assist on the compliance side of operations by conducting sanctions screening and data validation checks on all incoming and outgoing financial messages. In many cases, TAs will also provide their clients with tools for managing bank account information—including signers and balances—which help with the FBAR filing process.

Figure 5: How do bank KYC & documentation requirements impact the timing of your payments or onboarding of new clients/vendors?

Regulations like FBAR

(Foreign Bank Account

Reporting) and FATCA

(Foreign Account Tax

Compliance Act), issued by

governing bodies like OFAC

have substantially increased

the burden placed upon

companies regarding

compliance procedures.


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You frequently experience difficulties with financial messaging formats and remittance info. Currently, there is no single, standardized set of financial messages. Instead, there are numerous standards in place for both payments and reporting. This introduces the potential for format translation errors, compatibility issues, incomplete or inaccurate remittance information and a lot of confusion about payment status and cash flows. Most aggregators, however, support the full scope of formats and can even reformat incoming/outgoing messages to ensure their compatibility with other systems and parties.

You have grown quickly and now operate in multiple regions across the globe. While a company expanding from one country to another country in the same region branching out into more countries in other regions results in a much greater set challenges. There are regulatory and cultural differences to consider; bank customs can vary by region; technology availability can be limited; and security exposures might result in larger fraud threats. If treasurers find themselves facing any or all of these obstacles, an aggregator could help maintain centralized payments and reporting structure without foregoing any expansion opportunities.

You just acquired a subsidiary and are now juggling multiple treasury/payment platforms. Managing payments is hard enough on its own, but when multiple back-office or internal platforms are in the mix, a lack of integration and centralization—coupled with overly repetitive, manual processes—can result in segmented, error-prone workflows. If these disparate system architectures exist within your organization, or if an acquisition/merger has left you with decentralized operations, an aggregator can help consolidate payments and reporting to give treasury more control and oversight.

Payments-related security/compliance concerns have caused major headaches. The status of modern fraud is regularly ranked as the largest risk treasury professionals face in their daily activities. Given the sophisticated and automated methods criminals use and the sheer frequency of attacks, the need for enhanced security tools and workflows is usually top-of-mind for many companies. At the same time, an ever-growing list of compliance and documentation requirements for both banks and corporates can cause significant delays as payments are executed. For businesses in need of enhanced security tools and compliance features around payments activity, an aggregator can provide substantial assistance.

For some practitioners, it may be difficult to identify situations in which an aggregator would be useful. To prevent missed opportunities, we created a list of scenarios that could be enhanced by a TA.

Do I Need a Treasury Aggregator?



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Payment Challenges for Treasury

W hen looking at the financial environment today, there is no single issue behind all of treasury’s payment challenges. Instead, there are a variety of obstacles, from complex remittance advices

to massive payment volumes, that must be navigated.

WHERE ARE THE PAIN POINTS?

Over the full course of a tech implementation, there are a variety of areas where delays can quickly spring up. From training employees and onboarding banks to testing the solution and staying within budget, the ability of treasury and the organization at large to stay on track without delays and additional costs requires careful planning and strategic oversight.

In a recent survey of treasury professionals, we asked respondents who had undergone a TMS implementation to indicate what they expected the largest challenge to be, compared to what it ultimately was. While it was TMS and not treasury aggregation tech under consideration, this data still provides a unique look into the diverse concerns and challenges practitioners may have to overcome during an implementation.

The reality is that issues can quickly spring up from numerous areas, and as such, treasury must be prepared to handle a diverse array of obstacles. The graphics to the left provide an overview of the data regarding treasury’s TMS implementation experiences.

Taking longer than the alloted time

Expectation Reality

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

13%

14%

Transitioning from the old to the new solution

16%

14%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Learning how to use the technology

14%

11%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Bank onboarding

13%

9%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Sticking to the implementation roadmap

20%

11%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Effective communication with the vendor

13%

23%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Figure 6: Top Implementation Challenges


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THE EVOLUTION OF PAYMENTS & CASH MANAGEMENTTreasury practitioners carry out cash management and payments responsibilities more frequently than any other function. At the same time, these roles are commonly sidetracked by manual workarounds and time-consuming workflows. How are leading firms leveraging technology to maximize efficiency in these areas? Over the course of the past several decades, the title of “treasurer” has been most increasingly linked to the oversight of managing and executing payments. But while the funds transfer arena continues to be a core focus for treasury, this is not their only area of responsibility.

Today, most treasury departments are entrusted with duties ranging from accessing the debt and capital

markets, global cash positioning and forecasting to liquidity management, financial risk management, payment execution/reporting, compliance and fraud monitoring, and bank relationship management. Although not all these tasks require treasury’s undivided attention, the challenge of managing their full list of responsibilities has escalated rapidly over the past decade. This has especially been the case in the wake of the financial crisis, which spawned a whole new set of compliance requirements, risk-related concerns, and a much greater emphasis on liquidity management and working capital. At the same time, the rise of fraudulent schemes, particularly those that target treasury, have only further burdened treasurers.

As the challenges impacting treasury persist, one of the most effective avenues by which practitioners

can gain ground is using enhanced technology solutions—specifically, those that can automate or streamline heavily manual workflows.

For many treasury professionals, some of the most manual processes that exist internally center around payment generation and approval, as well as subsequent reporting functions. With many companies maintaining multiple bank relationships and possibly hundreds of accounts through which thousands of payments are sent every week, the automation of payments and associated tasks can provide immense time and cost savings.

This is where fintechs, and more specifically, treasury aggregators, come into play. Once a corporate’s banks have been onboarded to an aggregator, the system can be relied upon to

46%34%

39%

30%

25%

23%

66%

21%

21%

No

Yes

Key Treasury Functions Got NeglectedOver 1/3rd of treasury teams cannot perform all their responsibilities. For these teams, cash forecasting and risk management are the functions that most commonly fall to the wayside.

Fraud Monitoring

Exception Handling

Relationship Mgmt

Debt/Investment Activity

Compliance Mgmt/BAM

Financial Risk Mgmt

Cash Forecasting

Figure 7: Over 1/3rd of Treasury Groups Cannot Perform All Their Duties

Corporates: Are there currently any responsibilities you don’t have time to perform?

Corporates: What are these responsibilities? (Select all that apply)

(In relation to items >20%)



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execute the full scope of electronic funds transfer (EFT) activity generated by various departments in an organization. This includes both high-value, low-volume payments typically conducted by treasury, as well as low-value, high-volume payments generated by other departments, like AP. Authorized users can generate payments directly through the aggregator’s portal at any time, allowing custom payment workflow development for initiation and approval.

Additionally, if an organization would prefer to initiate payments from an ERP or TMS, the aggregator can be configured to receive funds generated from these systems and deliver them through the

appropriate bank channel. To manage the entirety of a corporate’s payment activity, aggregators must maintain compatibility with a broad range of financial messaging formats, including EDI/BAI, SWIFT MT and ISO 20022.

Aggregators must also maintain a library of proprietary standards commonly used by individual banks over direct (H2H) connections. Maintaining compatibility with each messaging standard is crucial for aggregators, as it reduces the likelihood of experiencing issues with an unsupported format and speeds up the implementation process. This compatibility process is much like the sending and receiving of payments: the TA gets info from bank

systems, validates the contents and reformats the message to a standard or template with internal system compatibility.

For their clients who request it, aggregators can export bank statements into Excel or convert them to a PDF to make reporting and analysis an easier endeavor. Reports and statements can also be directly transmitted to a TMS or ERP; if there is no TMS or ERP, they can log in to the aggregator’s portal and use the platform as they would a TMS. Many aggregators offer a TMS-style user interface that provides custom dashboards and other cash management features for this purpose.

Funds Transfer

Information Reporting

Execute / deliver payments generated in another system (TMS / ERP) to the designated bank or entity.

Generate payments directly through the aggregator portal for delivery to the appropriate bank.

Payment Generation (Aggregator Portal)

Security Compliance

Validate message content and reformat financial messages generated by the corporate into a standard that is accepted by the bank system.

Data Validation & Message Reformatting

TREASURY AGGREGATORCORPORATESYSTEMS

BANKPARTNERS

Payment Execution

Statements can be delivered to an ERP or TMS by the aggregator, or downloaded via an Excel or PDF file.

Statements can be viewed directly through the aggregator’s portal by users operating without a TMS or ERP solution.

Direct Access(Aggregator Portal)

Receive reports/statements from banks, validate content, and reformat messages into a standard compatible with corporate’s back-office systems.

Data Validation & Message Reformatting

Pass-Through to ERP/TMS

PMT Files

Reports

TMS

SWIFT

DIRECT (H2H)

ERP

SCF

PAYROLL

HR

OTHER

MT101

Pain 001

EDI820

BAI2

MT940

Camt045

Optimized Payment Processing


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W hen thinking of implementing new technology and all that the process entails, you may see endless roadblocks and costs; this need not always be the case.

STP & SYSTEM INTEGRATION

As already stated, treasury aggregators perform the tasks and functions associated with funds transfer and information reporting processes that occur between a corporation and its banks. While this might sound easy, there are a multitude of steps to complete for things to run smoothly (e.g., sanctions filtering, data validation checks, security precautions, message format conversion and establishing connections to the appropriate banks). Developers created treasury aggregation technology to streamline payments and reporting activity so that their clients’ systems and banks could interact seamlessly with less manual intervention. They

equipped aggregators with the ability to maximize the level of integration with back-office ERP and TMS systems, with many vendors partnering with TMS and ERP providers to ensure the highest level of compatibility between solutions.

In this way, aggregators can effectively play the facilitator in managing payments and reporting workflows between a bank system and a corporate. For payments, aggregators allow for funds transfer instructions to be generated directly through their portal, but they also allow for the pass-through of payment files from an ERP or TMS directly to the bank. Once a payment is executed, aggregators then optimize the flow of payment confirmations and

reporting so that treasury can receive updates in near real-time. Again, clients can view these statements directly through the aggregator’s portal or passed along for availability within a TMS or ERP.

In either case, information can flow freely from banks through the aggregator and then to the necessary back-office system without users having to use multiple bank portals or manually extract data from bank files. And while it may take time during an implementation to build out the necessary workflows and channels to ensure this level of integration and efficiency, the ultimate result is a much greater level of visibility and control over cash flows for treasury, accounting and executives.

Top TA Advantages

Back Office Systems & Workflows External Connections

Treasury Management System (TMS)

FX Mgmt. & Rates Risk AnalysisBank Account Management

Payment ManagementCash Forecasting Cash Visibility & Positioning

AccountingReconciliations

Financial ReportingAP/AR Workflows

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

FX ACTIVITY(FXall, 360T, etc.)

MARKET DATA(Reuters, Bloomberg)

Treasury Aggregator (TA)

Funds Transfers Reporting Security Compliance

Aggregators effectively play the middle-man between corporate back-office systems and banks to provide streamlined payments and reporting workflows.

Financial MessagingSWIFT MT, ISO 20022, etc.

Statements & Reports BAI2, MT940, camt, etc.

Payments & Funds Transfer EDI820, MT101, pain, etc.

SWIFT

H2H (DIRECT)FTP/SFTP

EBICS

BACS

NACHA

OTHER

Bank Partners

Sample Technology Infrastructure



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ENHANCED AUTOMATION

TAs can increase the level of automation realized by organizations in their daily operations by providing streamlined and integrated workflows. This is preferable, as it reduces the number of segmented processes that exist within treasury, thus cutting down the level of manual intervention and labor required. For instance, a payment initiated by treasury that has been successfully delivered to a bank can automatically have a confirmation message and balance report generated for it, so treasury can know the status of settlement and the system will update the company’s cash position in real time without requiring manual input.

INFORMATION REPORTING

The steps treasury aggregators perform to deliver balance reports and other information from banks to organizations are very similar to the funds transfer cycle, only it occurs in the opposite direction. For information reporting, treasury aggregators receive reports sent by all an organization's banks in their format of origin (MT940, BAI2, camt, etc.). After performing data validation checks on each message, they convert the messages into the desired format of the corporate and deliver them to the end system (TMS, ERP, etc.). As with payments, TAs ensure all balance reports and other information delivered through their system remains secure.

GREATER CONTROL

As a result of the benefits an aggregator provides, a cumulative effect gives treasury greater control over its processes. The increase in visibility ensures that practitioners can identify and handle errors and inefficiencies, as well as possible fraudulent activity, much more quickly. This centralization of payments operations allows for more effective management and control of liquidity. It also reduces the threat of fraud by cutting down the number of company-wide payment systems and access points and by creating consistent and more effective controls. Finally, the automated processes provided with aggregators reduce the workload on treasury for performing mundane tasks and free up time to focus on other areas of operation. These automated processes also reduce the number of errors that occur through manual labor.

Centralized Information & Payment Hub

TMS

RECONCILIATION

ERP

PAYMENT SYSTEMS

BANK

TMS

RECONCILIATION

ERP 1

ERP 2

PAYMENT SYSTEMS

BANK

TREASURY AGGREGATOR


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Figure 8: In evaluating developments over the past 5-10 years, do you believe the bank connectivity landscape has grown more or less complex?

29%

50%

8%

13%Less complex

No real change either way

More complex

Significantly more complex

STREAMLINED CONNECTIVITY: PAYMENTS & REPORTING

Once a payment has been executed, treasury aggregators can direct confirmation messages and bank statements back to the corresponding corporate system and end user, regardless of how that information is received. The treasury aggregator can receive information from bank systems, validate the contents and reformat the message to ensure its compatibility with the corporate’s internal systems.

CENTRALIZATION OF COMPANY-WIDE PAYMENT PROCESSES

A major benefit of an aggregator’s payment hub services is treasury’s ability to view transactions occurring across every department of an organization. In many firms, treasury uses a payments system that is separate from other departments, causing a delay or gap between payments from AP and payroll being sent and treasury being notified. With a payment hub, treasury can view payment requests and transactions occurring throughout an entire company in real time, improving their ability to conduct cash forecasting and liquidity management operations and giving them enhanced positioning accuracy.

MessageFormat

Transaction

DaraAggregation

InformationReporting

Processes are configured once and then automated message formats are standardized, data is aggregated through a central portal, cash positions are updated in real time or near real time.

Siloed Payment Systems(By unit, subsidiary, department, etc.)

TMS

AGGREGATOR/PAYMENT HUBERP 1

ERP 2

Aggregating & Centralizing Disparate Payment Systems



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PortabilityWith some TAs, companies do not lose any bank connections if they decide to change TMS or ERP vendors. This is an enormous benefit to those preparing a move to the cloud. Portable bank connectivity is a much simpler option than adding other fintech offerings that only use/support API connections.

ScalabilityOrganizations can start eliminating manual spreadsheet work—or bulky treasury infrastructure—by adding one product at a time. These scalable options provide an entry to web-based access, with the option of adding more banks, accounts and payment providers in the future.

FlexibilityTAs can be used as a standalone bank connectivity solution or in conjunction with a TMS or ERP for seamless, straight-through processing.

ExtensibilityMany TAs offer API connections to help extend solutions, effectively providing a one-stop shop for connectivity. Firms don’t have to throw out their current infrastructure to begin a digital transformation. Treasury aggregation tech is a smart, thoughtful way to combine the old with the new.

Additional Functionalities

FUNDS TRANSFER CYCLE

TAs begin the funds transfer process by taking in payment instructions from any department within an organization (e.g., payroll, accounts payable or treasury). The aggregator can originate payment instructions from these groups in the preferred format of the initiator, like MT101, EDI820 or pain001 message. The system provided by a TA allows for the set up of approval processes that require multiple signatories for payment initiation and generate alerts for payments that exceed a designated amount. After a firm approves the payment, aggregators will then screen and validate the message to ensure it does not violate any known sanctions list or contain inaccurate/incomplete information. During this process, any message

flagged as defective will be sent to a resolution queue, and a notification will go out requesting further action. The TA can reformat the file, which can mean converting MT messages into pain messages, pain messages into a bank-specific proprietary format, etc. Finally, the aggregator will deliver the message through the appropriate channel and to the required bank.

ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY

Aggregators can also provide other options related to cash positioning, forecasting and bank account management. Once a TA has connected an organization to all its banks and is facilitating the exchange of information, they

are able to provide real-time updates on cash positions and balances across bank accounts, subsidiaries/branches and regions, a service that significantly increases visibility. In addition to this function, many aggregators can also keep track of account information, such as signers on bank documentation, and prepare reports on compliance activity as part of their bank account management (eBAM) offering. Treasury aggregators provide this data as available, which gives treasury up-to-date and accurate information. TAs are generally able to deliver this information using a set of dashboards and interactive interfaces, allowing for easy viewing and effective analysis of cash flows, balances and positions.


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T here is no “one-size-fits-all” configuration or process for solving modern connectivity challenges. The ongoing development of standard APIs, financial messaging formats and other technologies, however, has highlighted several elements treasurers must account for to ensure their infrastructure is

optimally developed.

GREATER VISIBILITY & CONTROL OVER CASH POSITIONSIn treasury, cash management is typically a primary responsibility that requires constant oversight. But for organizations that maintain numerous bank relationships, operate with hundreds of bank accounts and generate thousands of payments every day, this process can become quite complex. Furthermore, for companies operating without any sophisticated treasury solution, the process of maintaining visibility to cash may require manually logging into bank portals to view transaction activity, and in many cases, exporting this information into Excel, or another system. for further analysis and

upkeep. Finally, for firms with multiple subsidiaries, receiving regional payment activity from these branches without sophisticated connectivity is often delayed, and information arrives in a diverse array of formats, which makes it practically impossible to achieve consistent and timely visibility to all cash positions. Due to these factors, achieving real-time or even same-day visibility to cash remains out of reach for many in the industry. There are ways, however, to optimize these processes.

As a treasury aggregator centralizes an organization’s payments activity, a primary benefit for treasury is increased visibility and control over cash. This advantage is afforded to corporates by aggregators

through the connectivity maintained to all the bank accounts in use. When payments and subsequent reports and statements pass through the aggregator, changes to cash positions are immediately registered in the aggregator’s system. This information can then quickly pass into a client’s TMS or ERP for purposes of updating other modules and ledgers, and it makes treasury’s task of maintaining visibility to cash positions much easier compared to other methods. For those not using a TMS or other treasury solution, an aggregator can also provide views of cash positions directly within its portal and allow for reports to be generated via Excel or PDF as necessary.

Solving the Complexity in the Middle

TREASURY AGGREGATOR

BANK A

CORPORATE USERAGGREGATOR PORTAL/INTERFACE

TMS/ERPPORTAL

BANK B

BANK A $1,052,350.63

BANK B R$6,000,335.98

BANK C £845,211.50

BANK D €212,840.00

COMPANY A: GLOBAL CASH POSITIONBANK B

BANK B

Bank StatementsCash BalancesAccount/Signer Mgmt.Alerts/Notifications



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ENHANCED COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENTFor those operating globally, there are an increasingly complicated set of compliance considerations surrounding payments activity. While banks continue to be burdened with most of these requirements, the increasing oversight of payments activity by governing bodies like FinCEN and OFAC has resulted in additional compliance considerations for corporates, too.

This includes an expanding and changing list of “sanctioned” parties that organizations are prohibited from doing business with, as well as obstacles stemming from lengthy and confusing bank KYC requests and documentation. Where sanctions are concerned, there is now a heightened responsibility placed on corporates for screening payment activity against sanctions lists to ensure that business is not conducted with known terrorist or criminal groups.

These lists cover thousands of individual names, aliases and businesses and are in a constant state of change as sanctions programs evolve. The penalties for violating a sanctions arrangement are quite severe if a corporate is found to be negligent, with fines against a single company having ranged up to $100 million in the past few years.

Understandably, for those with hundreds of bank accounts and thousands of payments being generated every day, ensuring the compliance of each transaction can be difficult and time-consuming. To address this challenge, many aggregators will screen all payment activity conducted through their system. They will also conduct standard “data validation” checks on messages to verify that certain details like names, field entries, amounts and dates are correct. The standard protocol for a message that does not pass these checks would be to halt its progress in the payments cycle and send it to a resolutions queue. The aggregator would then alert the client that a message has been flagged and provide details as

to why the message was halted and where to follow up and address the issue.

While these checks may not seem important to some corporates, a recent survey found that almost 10% of companies had either sent or received funds to/from a sanctioned party in the past year. Considering the hefty penalties that can be levied, the addition of these compliance services can go a long way in providing protection against legal or compliance-related risks. Beyond sanctions screening, aggregators may offer additional compliance modules or features, like account management or bank fee analysis. These components typically allow users to add or remove account signers, manage bank documents and information, and analyze fees and costs across various bank relationships. These features are ancillary, however, and not considered a “core” element of aggregator services; as such, their availability will vary depending on the vendor.

DATA VALIDATION SANCTIONS SCREENING

TREASURY AGGREGATORCORPORATEENTITY

BANKPARTNERS

Payment FilesTMS

ERP

Payment Files

Date Duplicate EntryIncomplete Fields Inaccurate Input

OFAC Lists GovernmentsOrganizations Individuals

Messages that do not pass an aggregator’s data validation or compliance checks are sent to a “holding” queue, and an alert (email/text) is sent to the client, notifying them of the issue. The client can then take further action to address the problem.

Duplicate Entry Off-Limits Organization

Banks will often screen payments on their end as files are received and transmitted.

SWIFT typically conducts their own set of compliance and data validation checks on messages.


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COMPREHENSIVE SECURITY COVERAGEOne of the most crucial services a treasury aggregator provides is in the area of security. This is especially true in today’s fraud-laden environment. For vendors, the scope of these security measures includes protecting info in transit to or from a bank, as well as information at rest or stored internally on the aggregator’s network or server.

First, aggregators must secure access to the portal itself. In order to accomplish this, many vendors use IP filtering support that restricts access to the server from unauthorized IP addresses so that only those addresses registered to the client can gain entry. Additionally, the use of a token, such as a key

fob or USB drive, is often required for users signing into the system so that, in the case that passwords and usernames are stolen, criminals would still need a physical token in order to gain access. Regarding the security of data at rest within these systems, the leading standard for security within U.S. data centers is SSAE 18. Specifically, any vendor with data centers that are SSAE 18 compliant means that an independent team of analysts have verified that the controls used at the data center provide reliable system security, integrity, and privacy.

In addition to securing access to their network, aggregators must also protect info exchanged with banks and other external parties. In these cases, most aggregators will hash totals on payment info, a method of identifying any anomalous changes to values or

account numbers that occur while messages are en route to banks. Aggregators can require approvals on payments from authorized users and can “lock” a file after it has been approved to prevent tampering or alteration. System settings can also be formatted so that payments over a certain amount require two approvals before being processed. As info flows to other internal systems, aggregators typically use an SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) connection. For additional privacy, many providers will funnel SFTP traffic through a virtual private network (VPN) and require that payment files be PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) encrypted. While you can never completely guarantee safety, the provision of these multiple security layers drastically reduces the chance of a loss occurring and gives treasury much greater control over payments information and activity.

Payment details and statements routed from a bank are typically encrypted using the bank's security components.

Bank InformationData accessed through the aggregator's cloud is

only available to authorized users, and is protected via VPN/SFTP connections.

Files in Transit

To protect information in transit, aggregators will commonly hash payment totals, use e-signatures to lock payment details, and make use of VPN or SFTP secure connections.

Files in Transit

Banks typically provide and manage their own security components for sending and storing payment details and other sensitive information.

Bank Security

Data/information housed within a TMS or ERP will be protected by the security components

inherent to those systems.

Internal Systems

Entry to the aggregator’s portal is secured using a variety of techniques, including usernames/passwords,

USBs or key fobs and IP filtering support.

Most data centers used by aggregators are SSAE 18 certified, meaning they are annually inspected and

approved by an independent third-party.

Data Storage

Aggregator Portal

Clients must protect information used within their perimeter through the installation of robust

firewalls and anti-virus software.

Aggregator Client

TREASURY AGGREGATOR

Aggregator Security Components



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T o help you understand the unique roles, positions and fits of the various options out there—including ERPs, TMSs, bank portals, TAs and more—consider the broad range of responsibilities with which treasury is tasked. It makes sense to have correspondingly capable technologies available to address

these needs.

COMPLEX PROBLEMS & SOPHISTICATED SOLUTIONSWith the introduction of SaaS-based technology and other cost-effective options, the fintech industry has blossomed into an environment with hundreds of vendors and thousands of products. While many are specialized in areas like compliance or reconciliations, there are other, more comprehensive solutions that address the full scope of treasury’s

operations. Such technologies may be installed directly at an organization's site, hosted externally via the cloud or even downloaded onto a mobile device. Depending on the level of functionality provided, their use may be limited to only a few employees, or it could span numerous departments and hundreds of people. While the specific tech environment of any organization can vary, the infographic below

provides an overview of a potential configuration for a larger, complex corporation. This graphic depicts the types of systems that may be used to drive efficiency and automation and touches briefly on the key functionalities addressed through each solution. Additionally, the position of the treasury aggregator is highlighted here to emphasize its role in streamlining payments and reporting workflows.

The Treasury Technology Landscape

Treasury Management System (TMS) Treasury Aggregator (TA)

Supply Chain Finance (SCF)

P.O. & Invoice Processing Vendor Management Payment Processing Document Management Exception ManagementSpend Management

Business Intelligence (BI) Solutions

Data Storage Information RepositoryBusiness Silos

FX Mgmt. & Rates Risk AnalysisBank Account Management

Payment ManagementCash Forecasting Cash Visibility & Positioning

AccountingReconciliations

Financial ReportingAP/AR Workflows

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Dedicated Reconciliation Misc.Employee PaymentsPensions

Reconciliations Payroll Admin

BANKS/NETWORKS

CUSTODIANS & TRUSTEES

OTHER PARTNERS

FinancialMessaging

Statements & Reports

Payments & Funds Transfer

Payment Management Bank ConnectivityInformation ReportingCash Visibility Compliance MonitoringSecurity & Fraud Prevention

Third-Party Business Partners

Back Office Systems & Workflows External Connections

FX ACTIVITY(FXall, 360T, etc.)

MARKET DATA(Reuters, Bloomberg)

Sample Technology Infrastructure


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PHASING IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Treasurers might be eager to implement a fully cloud-based TMS, but having the necessary budget and staff may be another story. A thoughtful and strategic approach to phasing in new tech selectively to make the most impact will save costs and make for a smooth transition for treasury staff and the departments relying on them for data. For example, bank connectivity and data aggregation tend to be areas of continuous pain for treasury. High volumes of data must often be manually collected from each individual bank portal. Regarding organizations working with more than a handful of banks and accounts, up to half of a treasury analyst’s time can easily be spent solely on bank statement reconciliation—all done manually. Focusing on bank connectivity using a TA could be the right first step to digital transformation.

ANALYZING TREASURY SPEND & INVESTMENT

Looking at specific areas of treasury’s technology investment, we have seen elevated focus and spend on payments and cash reporting tools, as well as in the areas of reconciliations, bank account management, and enterprise security. There is also a heightened interest in advanced analytics and reporting features. As treasurers look to implement these functionalities, SaaS-based solutions have been the go-to source.

Over the past decade or so, SaaS technology has dominated new sales in treasury, and continues to top the list of prioritized product types among corporates. In fact, compared to other technologies like blockchain or APIs, many treasurers see cloud solutions as being the most important for their operations over the next 3-5 years. Although a fair number of installed solutions (non-SaaS) continue to be utilized within the financial environment, new purchases of these products have grown increasingly uncommon as more cost-effective and flexible options become available. However, in circumstances where strict IT policies or rigorous security measures are required, installed systems may still be used to satisfy certain internal parameters.

Other

Supply ChainFinance

FX ExposureIdentification

FX Trading &Settlement

Invoicing

EnterpriseSecurity

Financial RiskMgmt

Reconciliation

CashReporting

Bank AccountMgmt

CashForecasting

Payments

Treasury

MO

DE

RA

TE

SP

EN

D

EL

EV

AT

ED

SP

EN

D

38%

36%

33%

32%

26%

20%

19%

15%

14%

13%

11%

10%

4%

Figure 9: We intend to make significant information technology investments in the next year in the following areas: (Select all that apply)



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Looking Forward: The Future of Treasury Aggregation

FASTER PAYMENTS VS. ENRICHED INFORMATION

When it comes to payments, the pace of development we have witnessed over the past several years has been dramatic. This is especially true with regard to speed. Historically, standard ACH rails delivered domestic payments with next-day settlement. The use of same day ACH and RTP (Real-Time Payments) in the U.S. now has funds settling within hours—or even minutes—of execution. The same is true with Bacs in the UK and several other domestic clearinghouses worldwide. RTGS systems and wires, while often more expensive, can provide real-time settlement of funds for both domestic and cross-border payments. But despite rapid improvements in the realm of speed, there has been less headway regarding the enrichment of financial messaging formats and remittances. More treasury practitioners today believe the timing of payments is more important than the details, or comprehensive remittance advices.

Currently, many of the message fields and remittance options available via standard payment channels are limited, with only a limited number of characters allowed for each message. While the introduction of XML-based messaging and ISO 20022 formats have helped, these standards have not been adopted everywhere, and many businesses continue to operate without them. Even in cases where ISO 20022 is used, there are local variations that may cause processing errors if systems are not configured properly. And because many of the payments that treasury executes involve multiple invoices or require detailed instructions, these limited remittance fields can cause confusion for the recipient and result in delays or errors in the application of funds. Moving forward, the inefficiencies created by insufficient information will need to be addressed by technology vendors and payment networks alike. Interestingly, these two features flip-flopped this year. Whereas survey respondents in 2018 deemed enriched payment information more important than speed of settlement, one-third of participants in 2019 ranked these details as the least important facet of payment.

Figure 10: Please arrange the following payment features in terms of importance.(1-most important to 5-least important)

Enriched paymentdetails (Comprehensive

remittance advices)

Timing/Speedof payments

38% 16% 13% 6%27%

4% 27% 24% 33%12%

1 2 4 53


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APIs VS. BLOCKCHAIN

Within the past 5-6 years, we have seen interest in blockchain emerge and expand in popularity, particularly due to the prominence of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and the development of payment networks, such as Ripple. As blockchain increasingly penetrates the financial landscape, numerous use cases have been developed that aim to provide organizations with greater efficiency, control and transparency across areas like reconciliation and transaction management.

When it comes to the impact of blockchain on payment operations today, however, there are other “emerging” technologies, like application programming interface (API), seeing significantly greater traction. In fact, more than three times the number of corporates who participated in a recent Strategic Treasurer survey said they have already adopted APIs vs. blockchain. In the next two years, 21% said they plan to implement an API solution, compared to only 12% who indicated they would leverage blockchain. Overall, more than half of those surveyed said they currently use or intend to use APIs, while a little over one-third expressed current or future interest in blockchain.

As a result of PSD2—a directive aimed at making bank information more accessible to fintechs and other third-parties to support innovation—APIs are set to play a massive role in streamlining integration between bank systems and those of other entities. As APIs already in use are standardized and enhanced, the result is a greater level of automation and integration between financial systems.

As blockchain increasingly penetrates the financial landscape, numerous use cases

have been developed that aim to provide organizations with greater efficiency, control,

and transparency across areas like reconciliations and transaction management.

Figure 11: Which of the following technologies are you using/interested in using in treasury?

APIs

Blockchain/DLT

5% 21%12%

17% 14%21%

Currently using or implementing

Will use within 2 years

Will use within 5 years


STRATEGIC TREASURER | Technology Providers

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For consumers, mobile banking applications are soaring in use as smartphone technology has given rise to a whole new era of commerce. This level of traction has quickly led banks and fintechs to develop mobile applications for the commercial sector, as well, with tiers of functionality that can mirror a TMS or bank portal. As these solutions are brought to market, providers are clearly anticipating strong growth in the industry. In fact, when corporates were asked in a 2019 survey how

important it is for their bank to invest in commercial applications for handheld devices, almost half said they considered it an important initiative. Regarding a related question, 39% of these same respondents indicated their comfort level with mobile B2B payments had improved, while only 3% said it had declined.

Given these percentages, organizations are clearly projecting high levels of development and growth in the commercial mobile banking sector. Drilling down into the topic of B2B mobile apps even further,

one-fifth of participants said they believe payment execution needs the most enhancement going forward, while most seemed somewhat satisfied with the current job being down on security features and transaction approvals (tied at only 11%).

While there are still improvements to be made before the broader corporate environment begins to use mobile banking apps, continued development in this sector should increase adoption levels gradually occur over the next decade.

Figure 14: What feature of B2B mobile applications do you believe is in MOST need of enhancement moving forward?(Top six responses shown)

Figure 12: Corporates: How important is that your bank(s) invest in commercial banking applications for mobile devices?

Figure 13: Corporates: Please indicate your comfort level with mobile payments for B2B transactions.

Payment Execution Alerts &

NotificationsSecurityFeatures

InformationReporting

User InterfaceTransactionApprovals

20%

15%

14%14%

11%

11%

49% 33% 16%

VERY IMPORTANT/IMPORTANT

NEUTRAL (NEITHERIMPORTANT/UNIMPORTANT)

UNIMPORTANT/NOT AT ALL IMPORTANT

39% 50% 3%

IMPROVED/SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED

STAYED THE SAME DELICINED/SIGNIFICANTLY DECLINED


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Putting It All Together

What are the key takeaways of this report for treasury practitioners? Here are some points to consider:

GLOBAL PAYMENTS GROW INCREASINGLY COMPLEX. As companies continue to expand internationally, the array of messaging formats, networks, currencies, banks, accounts, etc. that must be managed add considerable strain. While various initiatives are aimed at reducing this complexity, the current environment requires compatibility with a variety of networks, formats, and systems.

DISPARATE TECH STACKS ARE A PRIMARY HURDLE.This complexity is compounded when considering that many organizations initiate and manage payments through multiple systems. The lack of a central hub for managing payments creates numerous manual checkpoints, which are both error-prone and time-consuming.

VARIED NETWORKS & FORMATS ADD FURTHER STRAIN. The need to maintain compatibility and connectivity with numerous formats and channels can be overwhelming. Due to this complexity, survey respondents listed payment management as one of the most time-consuming functions to perform.

THE SOLUTION? TREASURY AGGREGATORS & PAYMENT HUBS. If treasury is to eliminate the payments complexity bogging them down, they must adopt enhanced solutions that can automate and streamline this activity. Adopting aggregators or payment hubs that centralize payment activity through a single platform enabling treasury to manage payments more effectively.

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STRATEGIC TREASURER | Technology Providers

The first section of our 2019 Treasury Aggregator Analyst Report examines the modern treasury aggregation ecosystem, including valuable insights from this year’s robust market research, as well as a comprehensive overview of trending topics within the space. In the pages to come, the second half of this essential guide provides a more in-depth look at individual providers of aggregation technology, including a company summary for each, notable milestones in development and the breakdown of their various solution sets.

Each of the vendors highlighted in this report provides the level of bank connectivity services necessary to be classified as a treasury aggregator. Some vendors, however, have extended the functionalities offered through their system to include additional features and components like risk management, accounting, debt and investments.

While these functionalities are desirable to many treasury teams, they are not the focus of this report, and as such, are only mentioned briefly in the corresponding vendor sections. The intent of this analysis from a functionality standpoint will be on bank connectivity, security, compliance, payments and reporting.

While the organizations featured in the following pages contributed their own original content, Strategic Treasurer did maintain authority over the final, published version of the report to ensure our audience receives an accurate, unbiased, thorough, wholly-informational analysis of 21st-century treasury aggregation technology in an industry undergoing significant change.

Vendor Analysis


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PAGES 30-33 PAGES 34-37 PAGES 38-41

PAGES 42-45 PAGES 46-49 PAGES 50-53


AXLETREE SOLUTIONS | Technology Providers

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Headquartered: North Brunswick, NJ

Founded: 2001

CEO: Mohan Murali

Ownership: Privately Held

Treasury Mgmt. Components & SWIFT

Services (On-site; Private Cloud; Hybrid Cloud)

SOLUTIONS & SERVICES

� Cash Forecasting

� BAM & FBAR

� Financial Messaging

� Bank Reporting

� Systems Integration; APIs; File Transfer

� Cash & Liquidity Mgmt.

� Bank Fee Analysis

� Funds Transfer & Payments

� Financial Message Format, Translation & Conversion

Axletree currently consists of over 70 employees servicing over 66 clients.

Axletree has over 70 active clients located in each major region of the world.

Axletree has office locations in North Brunswick, NJ; Chennai, India; Montevideo, Uruguay; Mexico City, Mexico; andMadrid, Spain.

MARKET POSITION

In August 2019, Axletree opened their new office in Mexico City, Mexico. Mexico City increases Axletree’s presence in the LATAM market.

Axletree opened a new office in Madrid, Spain in August 2019, servicing the EU market.

New Office Openedin Madrid, Spain

WH

AT

’S O

N D

EC

K

Axletree was the first SWIFT Service Bureau in North America for banks & corporates.

Invested in the largest, Resilient SWIFT Infrastructure among SWIFT Service Bureaus globally.

Axletree services global clients with over 100 SWIFT destinations.

Processing over $20 billion in daily transactions.

TOP STATISTICS

AXLETREE SOLUTIONS CLIENTS

New Office Openedin Mexico City, Mexico

All content was produced by Axletree Solutions and edited by

Strategic Treasurer.

www.axletrees.com

+1 732.296.0001

[email protected]

http://www.axletrees.com/

mailto:info%40axletrees.com?subject=


axletrees.com

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Headquartered: North Brunswick, NJ

Founded: 2001

CEO: Mohan Murali


Treasury Mgmt. Components & SWIFT

Services (On-site; Private Cloud; Hybrid Cloud)


� Cash Forecasting

� BAM & FBAR

� Financial Messaging

� Bank Reporting

� Systems Integration; APIs; File Transfer

� Cash & Liquidity Mgmt.

� Bank Fee Analysis

� Funds Transfer & Payments

� Financial Message Format, Translation & Conversion

Axletree currently consists of over 70 employees servicing over 66 clients.

Axletree has over 70 active clients located in each major region of the world.

Axletree has office locations in North Brunswick, NJ; Chennai, India; Montevideo, Uruguay; Mexico City, Mexico; andMadrid, Spain.

MARKET POSITION

In August 2019, Axletree opened their new office in Mexico City, Mexico. Mexico City increases Axletree’s presence in the LATAM market.

Axletree opened a new office in Madrid, Spain in August 2019, servicing the EU market.

New Office Openedin Madrid, Spain

WH

AT

’S O

N D

EC

K

Axletree was the first SWIFT Service Bureau in North America for banks & corporates.

Invested in the largest, Resilient SWIFT Infrastructure among SWIFT Service Bureaus globally.

Axletree services global clients with over 100 SWIFT destinations.

Processing over $20 billion in daily transactions.

TOP STATISTICS

AXLETREE SOLUTIONS CLIENTS

New Office Openedin Mexico City, Mexico

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Axletree Solutions delivers secure, mission-critical services across the financial transaction ecosystem through innovative technology. Our ecosystem leverages multiple global channels, industry standards and protocols enabling enterprise-wide seamless bi-directional connectivity to all your counterparties with format agnostic data flows. The result is end-to-end visibility and traceability to all your enterprise financial transactions. This ecosystem is supported round the clock by a multi-lingual, certified team. Our mission is delivering complete peace of mind to our global clients.

Axletree Solutions was established in 2001 in North Brunswick, New Jersey. The CEO of Axletree since the company’s founding has been Mohan Murali, and the company has been and continues to be privately held. Axletree’s first client was officially connected to SWIFT in 2003, and the company has moved rapidly since then to establish themselves as one of the leading providers of SWIFT connectivity in North America. Axletree was the first North American company to receive the SWIFTReady Connectivity Best Practice label (2011) and the first American company to receive the SWIFT Premier Operating Practice Label (2014)—both of which are notable achievements that demonstrate Axletree’s position in the American market. Axletree also has been recognized as one of the top 100 tech companies founded by Indians in the USA and was recently listed as one of the “Ten Most Promising Finance Management Software Providers” by CIO Review.

Although providing SWIFT connectivity services is Axletree’s primary area of business, the company has continued to expand their areas of operation, most recently with the launch of their Treasury Management System, Treasurytree, in 2012. With the addition of Treasurytree to their product line, Axletree now has the capability to integrate their SWIFT messaging services with their TMS, which enhances Straight-Through-Processing (STP) and allows them to more effectively market their products. Now, clients have the option of incorporating treasury management, compliance, and integration solutions through Axletree. These functionalities complement Axletree’s SWIFT capabilities, which is a plus for clients who require such services. As a means of further streamlining their bank connectivity offering in this area, Symmetree was introduced by Axletree in 2013 to provide a full range of integration, transport, and reporting services for enterprise customers. Symmetree is able to deliver advanced reports of financial transactions, transport files and messages seamlessly and securely across all processing nodes, and provide SWIFT compliant, any-to-any format integration and validation.

While Axletree is headquartered in North America, they have personnel distributed globally, with offices in Chennai, India, and Montevideo, Uruguay. As Axletree continues to expand their scope of coverage globally, these offices will play vital roles in supporting regional clientele and in providing effective customer service. As Axletree’s customer service teams are located globally, they effectively provide 24/7/365 “live” phone and email support for clients.


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PRODUCT OVERVIEW

\ Symmetree Integration: Symmetree is an advanced tool providing a full range of integration, transport, and reporting services for enterprise customers. Unlocking your backend systems that form the digital backbone of your enterprise is crucial in an increasingly customer experience focused world. It is imperative that IT organizations can aggregate data from multiple Backoffice systems thereby freeing them from the disjointed silos that they reside in. By orchestrating your data flow through a single integration platform, the organization is laying down the building blocks for automation and straight through processing. Symmetree is more than a simple middleware ETL tool for applications and data feeds. Its scalable architecture permits you to build APIs and microservices on top of it – thus extending your data pipelines and empowering organizations to be more agile.

Symmetree tackles the challenge of seamless, format-agnostic financial messaging between external parties and an organization’s internal systems. The solution can integrate proprietary back office applications with the SWIFT & other networks by bridging the gap between different messaging formats.

Symmetree Integration provides customers with SWIFT compliant any-to-any format integration and validation. It supports CSV, XML, ISO 15022, ISO 20022 and any other proprietary format.

Symmetree Transport seamlessly and securely transports files, messages and transactions across all processing nodes & protocols, protecting the integrity and confidentiality of customer data.

Symmetree Reporting provides enhanced reports of the financial transactions, enabling intelligent and strategic decision making.

\ Treasury Automation: Treasurytree is a centralized SaaS Treasury platform addressing the challenges of financial data spread across multiple departments, geographical locations, and currencies. This online portal automates processes and minimizes manual work, providing full visibility into your organization’s finances.

ELECTRONIC BANK ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT (E-BAM): e-BAM lets you keep track of signatories authorized to open, manage and close bank accounts. Manage your bank relationships with unparalleled control, being able to view all accounts across all geographical locations.

CASH MANAGEMENT: The Cash Management module provides clear visibility into the global cash and liquidity of all your treasury operations. You can make better funding and investment decisions with up-to-date information and a thorough analysis of your cash availability.

Axletree Solutions & Services

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FBAR REGULATORY COMPLIANCE: The FBAR Report Generator delivers automated Foreign Bank Account Reporting in compliance with the requirements of the United States Treasury.

CASH FORECASTING: The Cash Forecasting module allows you to forecast more efficiently and with greater accuracy. Create forecasts for daily to yearly cash positions and any time interval in between. Now you can reduce excess liquidity, predict future shortages and optimize interest income. Detailed cash flow projections and variance reports on demand will support your analysis.

BANK FEE ANALYSIS: The Bank Fee Analysis module allows you to analyze electronic bank fee statements (EDI 822, BSB, camt.086) in an easy to read format. Use comparative bank fee analysis to negotiate better prices with your banks and automatically verify fees charged against contractual agreements to identify discrepancies.

FUNDS TRANSFER: The Funds Transfer module simplifies all aspects of wire transfers. Speed up funds transfers with user-defined custom templates for repeated transactions. In addition, the GUI

shows the work flow, providing at-a-glance task transparency and unparalleled ease of use.

\ SWIFT Solutions: SWIFT is a connectivity network that is used for banks, corporates, and securities companies to exchange financial messages between each other. There is a wide range of message types that can be utilized. For Corporates, SWIFT messaging can be used for getting daily cash balances, executing payments and receiving bank fee statements. For Banks, SWIFT messaging can be used for trade finance, executing trades as well as providing more streamlined cash management & payment products to your corporate clients. For securities companies, SWIFT Messaging can be used for cash management activities but also utilized for executing trades and communicating with counterparties. The messaging capabilities of SWIFT extend further than just trade finance, cash management and payments with seven other messages types that are customizable to meet your business needs. SWIFT gives your organization the ability to streamline all financial communications through a single secure channel, driving efficiency and lowering costs. Axletree Solutions is the top provider of SWIFT Connectivity in North America with guaranteed SLA uptimes of 99.99%.

SWIFT SERVICE BUREAU: As a top provider of SWIFT service bureaus in the world, Axletree offers customers a powerful bank connectivity solution that guarantees superior service and value. Customers worldwide rely on the services of the Axletree SWIFT Service Bureau to exchange their financial messages reliably and securely. Our customer service engineers offer “live” 24x7x365 continuous global expertise and support delivering complete peace of mind.

SWIFT GPI: The gpi initiative enables end-to-end traceability, same day availability of funds and unaltered remittance information for payment wires over SWIFT (MT101 and MT103 messages) creating increased levels of automation in business and trade.

\ Banking & Financial Institution Compliance Solutions:

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE: Achieve complete peace of mind with automated compliance monitoring solutions: Transaction Monitoring, Sanctions / PEP Screening, Legal Reporting, KYC Risk Profiles and Customer Onboarding. Assistance with regulatory needs including but not limited to: Case Backlog clearing, Lookback Mandates, Gap Analysis, Risk Assessment, KYC Remediations and Tuning & Validations. Prime Compliance Suite upgrades from 9.x to 10.x. Axletree is the only approved partner for FIS PCS upgrades, remediations and tuning.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AXLETREE SOLUTIONSContact Us: axletrees.com +1 732.296.0001 [email protected]

Axletree GPI Payments Dashboard



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BELLIN | Technology Providers

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Founded: 1998

CEO: Martin Bellin

Ownership: Private Equity Backed

Headquartered: Ettenheim, Germany (Global)Boston, Massachusetts (US)

In 2018, 333 corporates processed payments worth $1.09 trillion in 43.72 million transactions with BELLIN.

BELLIN processes statements from hundreds of banks in 124 countries every day.

BELLIN supports over 20 local formats & 43 bank-specific XML formats.

Since 2013, BELLIN has onboarded 175+ corporates to the SWIFT Network.

TOP STATISTICS

BELLIN’S CLIENTS

tm5 (Cloud Solution)


� Cash & Liquidity Management

� Global & Secure Payments

� Bank Connectivity

� In-House Banking

� Investment & Debt Management

� FX Management

� Commodity & Interest Rate Exposure Mgmt.

� Fraud Protection

� Implementation Guidance

� Treasury Consulting

200+ employees + partners, 5 offices, active in 150+ countries, serving 500+ clients in 35,000+ companies, & 80,000+ users.

Strategic partners of BELLIN are located in Japan, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands & Denmark.

BELLIN maintains offices in Boston (US), Vancouver (CA), London (UK), & Karlsruhe (DE) with annual revenues <25M.

MARKET POSITION

BELLIN is working on a number of important new features including

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An integrated vendor verification blacklist/whitelist solution

Bank mandate management functionality

Easy SAP integration with support for SAP S4/HANA

Implementation of a new cash management process

All content was produced by BELLIN and edited by Strategic Treasurer.

www.bellin.com

+1 800.251.5385

[email protected]

https://www.bellin.com/

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Founded: 1998

CEO: Martin Bellin

Ownership: Private Equity Backed

Headquartered: Ettenheim, Germany (Global)Boston, Massachusetts (US)

In 2018, 333 corporates processed payments worth $1.09 trillion in 43.72 million transactions with BELLIN.

BELLIN processes statements from hundreds of banks in 124 countries every day.

BELLIN supports over 20 local formats & 43 bank-specific XML formats.

Since 2013, BELLIN has onboarded 175+ corporates to the SWIFT Network.

TOP STATISTICS

BELLIN’S CLIENTS

tm5 (Cloud Solution)



� Global & Secure Payments


� In-House Banking

� Investment & Debt Management

� FX Management

� Commodity & Interest Rate Exposure Mgmt.

� Fraud Protection

� Implementation Guidance

� Treasury Consulting

200+ employees + partners, 5 offices, active in 150+ countries, serving 500+ clients in 35,000+ companies, & 80,000+ users.

Strategic partners of BELLIN are located in Japan, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands & Denmark.

BELLIN maintains offices in Boston (US), Vancouver (CA), London (UK), & Karlsruhe (DE) with annual revenues <25M.

MARKET POSITION

BELLIN is working on a number of important new features including

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An integrated vendor verification blacklist/whitelist solution

Bank mandate management functionality

Easy SAP integration with support for SAP S4/HANA

Implementation of a new cash management process

COMPANY OVERVIEW

BELLIN is a leader in corporate treasury technology. The group serves over 500 corporates across 35,000 companies with over 80,000 users in more than 150 countries with easy-to-use, easy-to-implement, cloud-based treasury solutions. Founded by Martin Bellin, himself a former treasurer and CEO of the BELLIN Group to this day, BELLIN has been championing technology made for treasurers by treasurers since 1998. With US headquarters in Boston and global headquarters in Germany, BELLIN is an international company with over 200 dedicated experts, fully committed to customer success.

BELLIN provides solutions for corporate treasury, catering to a range of clients from large MNCs to SMEs. With the treasury management system tm5, BELLIN makes a fundamental difference by providing solutions that enable treasury departments to excel with their day-to-day activities and strategic planning. tm5 serves all corporate treasury functions and provides group-wide treasury visibility, mobile and in real time. BELLIN solutions cover cash management and forecasting, bank polling, embedded aggregator/bank connectivity, domestic and global payments, payment fraud protection, debt and investment management, foreign exchange management, commodity and interest rate exposure management, multilateral netting and in-house system implementation and treasury consulting.

One of the core principles of BELLIN’s philosophy is that the workload of treasury should be shared across the organization. BELLIN refers to this as the concept of “Load Balanced Treasury.” With its web-based and no per-user fee TMS, BELLIN enables treasurers to connect all stakeholders in their organization and provides them access to one standardized platform from anywhere in the world. Treasurers can use tm5 as an engine for accurate data collection. The results are strategic decisions built on the complete picture of what’s happening across the group.

BELLIN’s mission is to delight multinational organizations with the most innovative treasury solutions. The service-oriented company focuses on creating long-term relationships with clients and aims to enable people at all levels of expertise. They successfully combine technology and consulting know-how in-house. BELLIN can look back on a number of industry-firsts, including first to offer a 100% web-based treasury management system (2004), first to offer a SaaS-based treasury solution (2005), first to offer fully integrated payments functionality (2006) and first to offer embedded direct SWIFT connectivity (2013).


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PRODUCT OVERVIEW

tm5 enables domestic, cross-border, multi-bank, and multi-currency payments. When integrated with an ERP system, tm5 enables payment factory functionality. ROBO/POBO is also supported. BELLIN has a proven track record of setting up customers quickly on standardized and secure connectivity. The tm5 mobile app, BELLIN Connect, can be used for payment approvals with 2-factor authentication. In-house banking functionality enables subsidiaries to initiate, negotiate, and capture requests to central treasury with intercompany deals tracked in detail.

\ Cash Management, Forecasting, Bank Polling, In-house Banking: tm5 enables bank polling, cash positioning, cash forecasting, and in-house banking. Users retrieve and process account statements in a variety of formats, including BAI, SWIFT, and ISO 20022, and reconcile bank transactions with forecasted cash flows. Gain complete cash visibility with real-time access to account balances and cash flows.

\ Domestic & Global Payments: The fully integrated payments solution covers both domestic and international payments, as well as connectivity options including SWIFT L2BA (incl. SWIFT g4C), proprietary host-to-host connections, and domestic standards, such as EBICS, FTX and MBS. Connectivity options can be combined in line with requirements. With connectivity to 11,000 financial institutions worldwide, tm5 enables domestic, cross-border, multi-bank, and multi-currency payments. When integrated with an ERP system, tm5 enables payment factory functionality. ROBO/POBO is also supported. BELLIN has a

proven track record of setting up customers quickly on standardized and secure connectivity. The tm5 mobile app, BELLIN Connect, can be used for payment approvals with 2-factor authentication. In-house banking functionality enables subsidiaries to initiate, negotiate, and capture requests to central treasury with intercompany deals tracked in detail.

HOST-TO-HOST CONNECTIVITYBELLIN has active host-to-host connections to banks worldwide, including all major financial institutions, and can implement new connections as needed. There are no associated costs for using a third-party communications channel or

for individual transactions, making this the type of connectivity most preferred by companies with large transaction volumes.

BELLIN SWIFT SERVICEBELLIN is the number one provider of SWIFT Alliance Lite2 connectivity and has its own dedicated, certified SWIFT infrastructure. Since introducing the service in 2013, over 175 corporates have been connected. Through the BELLIN SWIFT Service, clients can receive account statements and send payment files. With the new adoption of the SWIFT gpi for Corporates (g4C) integration, all BELLIN clients can now

BELLIN tm5 Payment Gateway

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benefit from fast cross-border payments as well as payment tracking directly in the tm5 system. Also, the SWIFT connection forms the basis for using other services, such as BELLIN’s dedicated confirmation matching solution, the BELLIN Matching Service, or trade finance solutions.

Advantages of the BELLIN SWIFT Service at a glance:

▪ Direct integration of SWIFT into tm5 ▪ Flexible packages for reporting, payments, etc. ▪ Coordination of entire onboarding process by

BELLIN ▪ BELLIN as central port of call for SWIFT-related

questions ▪ Centralized billing model with no invoices from

SWIFT ▪ Fast and traceable payments with SWIFT gpi

for CorporatesDOMESTIC CONNECTIVITYLocal connectivity standards can be implemented in a very short timeframe. The implementation is straightforward and represents a staple for small- and large-scale payment projects alike. BELLIN supports the FTX (CH), MBS (AT) as well as EBICS (DE, AT, CH, FR) channels. For EBICS alone, BELLIN has set up and manages over 2,000 contracts on hosted payment gateways and monitors communication to and from banks.

\ Payment Formats & File Conversion: BELLIN supports an extensive number of local and international payment file formats. Clients can combine different connectivity channels and formats to best meet their specific requirements. If needed, standardized files can be converted to bank-ready formats, considerably reducing efforts in the ERP or HR system.

\ Secure & Mobile Payment Authorization/ Fraud Protection: tm5 comes with a dedicated mobile app, BELLIN Connect, that can be used for approving payments and supports two-factor authentication (2FA). This makes it convenient for users to approve payments on-the-go without sacrificing security. In combination with tm5, it can be made mandatory to use 2FA for every login and every payment approval. BELLIN Connect also allows users to receive push notifications on a mobile device that enable users to monitor payments and to intervene quickly if needed.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BELLINContact Us: bellin.com +1 800.251.5385 [email protected]

BELLIN Payment Security Tools Workflow

BELLIN Account Balances Dashboard



mailto:welcome%40bellin.com?subject=

BOTTOMLINE TECHNOLOGIES | Technology Providers

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Headquartered: Portsmouth, NH

Founded: 1989

CEO: Rob Eberle

Ownership: Publicly Held

In 2018 Bottomline was a finalist at the Emerging Payments Awards in the Leading Emerging Payments Organisation category.

Bottomline has active clients operating in 92 countries across the world.

In 2018 Bottomline won several awards for its market-leading solutions, including Best in Payments Processing for its Universal Aggregator solution (Card & Payments Awards), B2B Payments Innovation of the Year (Payments Awards) and Email Product of the Year (Document Management Awards) for PTX.

TOP STATISTICS

BOTTOMLINE CLIENTS


� Payments & Cash Management for

� Global Payment Connectivity & Aggregation

� Cyber Fraud & Risk Management

� Digital Banking

� AP & Financial Document Automation

� Legal Spend Management

� Healthcare solutions

Bottomline currently services over 10,000 clients across their entire solution suite.

Bottomline’s annual revenue in 2018 totalled $420 million.

Bottomline has 1,700 employees across more than two dozen offices worldwide.

MARKET POSITION

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A complete Treasury Aggregator Solution on one centralized cloud-based platform, which integrates statement data and processes complex payments, simplifying all payment formats and connectivity.

Bottomline’s own regulated BIC which enables the sending and receiving of SWIFT messages on behalf of customers so they do not need to go through the complexities of joining SWIFT themselves.

BIC as a ServicePayments & Cash Management

Treasury Aggregation

www.bottomline.com

US & Canada: +1 800.472.1231

UK +44 118.925.8250

All content was produced by Bottomline Technologies and edited

by Strategic Treasurer.

https://www.bottomline.com/us


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Headquartered: Portsmouth, NH

Founded: 1989

CEO: Rob Eberle

Ownership: Publicly Held

In 2018 Bottomline was a finalist at the Emerging Payments Awards in the Leading Emerging Payments Organisation category.

Bottomline has active clients operating in 92 countries across the world.

In 2018 Bottomline won several awards for its market-leading solutions, including Best in Payments Processing for its Universal Aggregator solution (Card & Payments Awards), B2B Payments Innovation of the Year (Payments Awards) and Email Product of the Year (Document Management Awards) for PTX.

TOP STATISTICS

BOTTOMLINE CLIENTS


� Payments & Cash Management for

� Global Payment Connectivity & Aggregation

� Cyber Fraud & Risk Management

� Digital Banking

� AP & Financial Document Automation

� Legal Spend Management

� Healthcare solutions

Bottomline currently services over 10,000 clients across their entire solution suite.

Bottomline’s annual revenue in 2018 totalled $420 million.

Bottomline has 1,700 employees across more than two dozen offices worldwide.

MARKET POSITION

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A complete Treasury Aggregator Solution on one centralized cloud-based platform, which integrates statement data and processes complex payments, simplifying all payment formats and connectivity.

Bottomline’s own regulated BIC which enables the sending and receiving of SWIFT messages on behalf of customers so they do not need to go through the complexities of joining SWIFT themselves.

BIC as a ServicePayments & Cash Management

Treasury Aggregation

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Bottomline Technologies, a leading provider of financial technology, was founded in 1989 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The world of business payments is at the beginning of a digital transformation. Bottomline is uniquely equipped to address the changing needs of the market and transform the way businesses pay and get paid. Bottomline offers a broad set of technology solutions, each grounded in real-world business payment experience.

Originally providing software for printing laser checks, Bottomline has transformed their portfolio as technology and customer demands have evolved to now offer an array of innovative financial technology solutions used by banks, financial institutions, and corporations both domestically and internationally. Solutions currently offered by Bottomline include, Payments and Cash Management for Treasury Aggregation, Global Payment Connectivity, Cyber Fraud and Risk Management, Digital Banking, AP and Financial Automation , Legal Spend Management, and Healthcare Solutions. Bottomline became publicly traded (NASDAQ:EPAY) in 1999 following a successful IPO. This transition enabled Bottomline to raise significant capital, and to date, the company reports annual revenues of over $420 million. This available capital has allowed Bottomline to combine with companies whose products have provided valuable enhancements and client channels to complement their already robust solutions and extensive customer base. In addition, Bottomline is able to maintain a well-funded research and development programme for the continued advancement of their product line.

In 2018, Bottomline expensed over $67 million in research, development and engineering costs. Due to the constantly evolving payments landscape, Bottomline maintains a close relationship with key associations and regulatory bodies to ensure that all solutions remain compliant and that future payment needs are anticipated. The fast-evolving methods by which both consumers and businesses want to pay has led Bottomline to not just map required processes but add value through improved visibility, speed, security and the ability to quickly and easily add functionality to suit different business needs, both for the present and future. Recent innovation has focused on payment fraud and risk management and aggregated payment channels, now offered by Bottomline via its cloud-based platform.

In addition to their headquarters in New Hampshire, Bottomline has nine office locations spread across the United States, as well as an office and customer support centre in Toronto, Canada. Outside of North America, Bottomline has multiple offices and customer service centres in Europe and Asia, with regional headquarters located in the UK, Singapore and Australia. Collectively, Bottomline's customer service centres operate 24/7 and are available by online portal, phone and email. Bottomline’s expanding footprint today employs 1,700 full-time employees and supports a global client base in 92 countries.


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PRODUCT OVERVIEW

Bottomline provides a complete Treasury Aggregator Solution on one centralized cloud-based platform to integrate statement data and process complex payments, simplifying all payment formats and connectivity. It incorporates a full range of cash lifecycle activities, including global multi-bank connectivity, powerful cash and liquidity management tools and market-leading compliance assurance and risk management solutions.

\ Multi-Connectivity Network: Bottomline’s ability to support multi-connectivity requirements, payment types and formats are vital for maintaining automation across the full payment lifecycle. The platform delivers an agnostic and seamless connection to a wide range of financial messaging networks, including SWIFT, EBICS, and other proprietary infrastructures such as Faster Payments, Bacs, CHAPS, Bank of England, and Host to Host. Additionally, our BIC as a Service solution offers indirect access for corporates wanting to leverage the SWIFT network without the cost or overheads of SWIFT membership for statements reception (FIN MT940) and single MT01 payment ( with a specific list of registered partner banks).

\ Format Transformation: Managing the co-existence of different standard message formats, sophisticated content, and event-driven workflows and business process automation, Bottomline’s solution simplifies and standardizes all formats and protocols to deliver interoperability between legacy, national, SWIFT, SEPA, XML messaging standards and many other proprietary formats.

\ Transaction Reconciliation: Delivers real-time reconciliation and facilitates rapid escalation and resolution of discrepancies with extensive exception and investigation queries. It includes comprehensive automatic matching for both internal and external data sources in any format, addresses regulatory compliance and significantly reduces operational risks.

\ Cash Management: An end-to-end cash and liquidity management solution that delivers, accurate, real-time visibility into global cash positions regardless of bank, currency or location. Recognizing that Treasurers have become strategic

advisors to their business, Bottomline offers three core components to facilitate this: Statement Manager, Payment Manager and Cash Manager. The Cash Manager aggregates the status of all payment flows from Payment Manager and up to date cash balances from Statement Manager. The modular design and real-time dashboard capability enables complete visibility and the flexibility to create bespoke intelligence reports. Detailed monitoring of payments and statements at a granular level enables an accurate real-time view of visibility across organizations for more effective cash management and working capital optimization.

Payment & Cash Management (PCM)

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\ Digital Transformation & Ease of Implementation: Bottomline offers a reliable, quick and cost-effective implementation for Treasurers to achieve digital transformation. The approach is to divide projects into smaller and more manageable steps; utilizing Bottomline’s BIC as a Service meaning that customers can send and receive SWIFT messages on behalf of all customers without needing to go through the complexities of joining SWIFT themselves. This means that Bottomline solutions can be implemented and live within just a few weeks, with treasury teams being able to receive and view real-time statements from their main banks on an easy to use portal.

Additionally, the payments & cash management solution is highly standardized and many aspects are pre-configured, which has a really positive impact on implementation timelines because of the packaged nature of the solution. With its automated, standard base deployment, customers can start testing early. If required, the standard package can then be easily adapted for a customer’s specific needs. The platform has a standard workflow which can be modified easily by the system administrators through the cloud-based user interface. With limited training, systems administrators can add new banks and business units. The payments & cash management standard environment comes with embedded routing rules and standard format integration and creation. It automatically processes a range of formats, for example, MT940 and 942; PAIN 002 Payment Status Report; MT101; PAIN 001, and Bacs Standard 18. Customers can, therefore, be taken through the various project phases very quickly: Development, Quality Assurance, User Acceptance Testing, and then Live.

\ Cyber Fraud & Risk Management: Real-time fraud detection and prevention capabilities provide comprehensive financial and reputational security for organizations. Bottomline provides protection against a wide range of fraudulent activity such as payment diversion, payroll and invoice fraud and deception and external cyber threats. Sanction filtering, against both public and client-specific lists, incident management and compliance monitoring are also available. Fraud and risk management solutions are highly configurable and now form an integral component in the Financial Messaging portfolio with dedicated monitoring for SWIFT and other networks.

\ Customer Service & Implementation: Customer support is a critical function for maintaining business and payment continuity for Bottomline’s clients. Depending on the level of service required, customers have access to a variety of support channels ranging from a self-service knowledgebase and customer care portal, through to providing information on case status, patches available for download, FAQs, technical notes, and up-to-date user manuals. Phone and email support are also available 24/7 with real-time connectivity to Bottomline Staff.

STANDARD SUPPORT provides unlimited phone, chat and web access to customer support during call centre hours and unlimited access to Bottomline’s Customer Care portal. Product upgrades and releases are offered at no additional charge, although implementation support may be purchased separately. Secure transfer of any application or system files is also available.

24X7 EMERGENCY SUPPORT provides extra security if customers experience a production down emergency outside standard help desk operating hours. For customers that routinely execute business-critical activities out of hours, this option is beneficial. On-call technicians diagnose and address all system outages so that production can resume as quickly as possible.

BOT TO M LI N E ' S PR IO R IT Y S U PP O RT PROGRAM goes beyond incident level assistance and provides advanced support services with direct access to senior technicians as the first line of support. Priority Support customers also benefit from proactive communication with technicians to review issues, action plans, release schedules, and address any support needs.

OUT-OF-HOURS SUPPORT is available for customers who require assistance outside of Bottomline’s standard business hours and is typically used by customers moving into production on a new system or when completing hardware upgrades. Bottomline’s out-of-hours and implementation support provide blocks of on-call services with knowledgeable Bottomline technical representatives. Additionally, on-site weekend support is available.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BOTTOMLINE TECHNOLOGIESContact Us: bottomline.com US & Canada: +1 (800) 472 1231 UK +44 118 925 8250



ECS FIN | Technology Providers

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Headquartered: White Plains, NY

Founded: 1999

CEO: Dr. Jacob Aruldhas


IMS Product Suite & Services


� IMS Gateway

� IMS Payments

� IMS Securities

� ECS Fin’s SWIFT Service Bureau

� IMS Data Governance

� ECS Digital Banking Platform

� Host-to-host (PBs, Custodians & CBs)

� Customer Onboarding

� Cloud Solutions

ECS offers their IMS product suite as Installed, Hosted or SaaS solutions. Their hosting service, IMS Cloud, doubles as their SaaS offering.

MARKET POSITION TOP STATISTICS

ECS FIN CLIENTS

IMS Payments and IMS Securities are both certified by SWIFT. IMS was granted the PA DSS Compliance certification in September 2019. The ECS Business Solutions are certified for SWIFT GPI and carry ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and CMMI Level 5 Compliance certification in India.

Major bank in Argentina choses ECS Fin’s SWIFT GPI module in 2019. The module comes with full workflows for banks and corporates. The main advantage of the module is that it can be implemented without any disruption to existing systems or internal technology infrastructures. The module provides SWIFT tracker information to the source systems and corporate customers in real-time.

ECS have offices in the United States, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia with around 130+ staff.

Annual Revenue < $25M Aggregation Customers < 100

Approximately 85% of ECS’s revenue is gained through sales of their IMS products, and 15% through their SWIFT Service Bureau offering.

Targeting primarily Fortune 1000 organizations, ECS Fin has acquired 50+ clients since their inception.

IMS Payments comes with the Ripple-Ready module, which has an exclusive dashboard with supporting components like cash mngt, compliance checks,statement management, reconciliation, and advanced reporting.

ECS Fin has already introduced both SWIFT GPI and real-time payments capabilities with The Clearing House.

Major Bank in ArgentinaAdapts SWIFT GPI Module

IMS Wins MajorCertification

www.ecsfin.com

+1 914.902.0101

[email protected]

All content was produced by ECS Fin and edited by Strategic Treasurer.

https://ecsfin.com/

mailto:info%40ecsfin.com?subject=

https://ecsfin.com/

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Headquartered: White Plains, NY

Founded: 1999

CEO: Dr. Jacob Aruldhas


IMS Product Suite & Services


� IMS Gateway

� IMS Payments

� IMS Securities

� ECS Fin’s SWIFT Service Bureau

� IMS Data Governance

� ECS Digital Banking Platform

� Host-to-host (PBs, Custodians & CBs)

� Customer Onboarding

� Cloud Solutions

ECS offers their IMS product suite as Installed, Hosted or SaaS solutions. Their hosting service, IMS Cloud, doubles as their SaaS offering.

MARKET POSITION TOP STATISTICS

ECS FIN CLIENTS

IMS Payments and IMS Securities are both certified by SWIFT. IMS was granted the PA DSS Compliance certification in September 2019. The ECS Business Solutions are certified for SWIFT GPI and carry ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and CMMI Level 5 Compliance certification in India.

Major bank in Argentina choses ECS Fin’s SWIFT GPI module in 2019. The module comes with full workflows for banks and corporates. The main advantage of the module is that it can be implemented without any disruption to existing systems or internal technology infrastructures. The module provides SWIFT tracker information to the source systems and corporate customers in real-time.

ECS have offices in the United States, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia with around 130+ staff.

Annual Revenue < $25M Aggregation Customers < 100

Approximately 85% of ECS’s revenue is gained through sales of their IMS products, and 15% through their SWIFT Service Bureau offering.

Targeting primarily Fortune 1000 organizations, ECS Fin has acquired 50+ clients since their inception.

IMS Payments comes with the Ripple-Ready module, which has an exclusive dashboard with supporting components like cash mngt, compliance checks,statement management, reconciliation, and advanced reporting.

ECS Fin has already introduced both SWIFT GPI and real-time payments capabilities with The Clearing House.

Major Bank in ArgentinaAdapts SWIFT GPI Module

IMS Wins MajorCertification

COMPANY OVERVIEW

ECS Fin helps financial institutions and corporations navigate the digital ecosystem through process optimization with its comprehensive line of transaction processing solutions. Its mission is to help customers transition from digital readiness to digital maturity. Headquartered in New York, ECS Fin has over 100 employees in 6 countries including the USA, Colombia, Ireland, Malaysia, the UAE, and India.

ECS Fin started in 1999 as a transaction processing consultancy. While providing professional services to Fortune 100 companies, it observed the inefficiencies and challenges faced by organizations during application integration, enterprise messaging, transaction processing, data governance, and reporting. The processes used were complex, cost-intensive and time-consuming, leaving customers unable to derive real value from the existing solutions. With the goal of assisting major corporations and large banking groups, ECS Fin conceptualized a holistic processing solution in 2006, and successfully deployed its first module of the Integrated Messaging Services (IMS) in 2009. With a series of message administration services, transaction processing modules, connectivity services, and supporting components, it introduced a modular approach for its customers, giving them the flexibility to either use a product individually or reap benefits by implementing the complete solution.

Since then, ECS Fin has been innovating products for global and regional payments, cash management, financial messaging, compliance, digital banking, open banking, API gateway, and post-trade processing. ECS Fin follows a systems approach to transaction processing addressing the entire financial value chain end-to-end. By optimizing the integration of systems and data, it makes operations more efficient. It delivers the entire solution in a few weeks using a try/buy proposition. The prospect's users and operations team can try out the application interfaces, derive meaningful value, and only then commit resources, time and investment for a complete roll-out of the solution. Today, ECS Fin serves banks, investment managers, fund administrators, hedge funds and multi-national corporations worldwide. Its clients include a major fund administrator as well as a major investment manager in the USA, a major oil company in Latin America, a commercial bank in Asia and a large bank in Africa. The ideal clients for ECS Fin, given its focus on building highly sophisticated and enterprise-oriented solutions, are corporates and financial institutions with annual revenue of several billion dollars and up.

ECS Fin is also a SWIFT service bureau operator and has received SWIFT certifications for its Payments and Securities product every year since 2010. It has also secured the PA DSS Compliance for its IMS product in September 2019 and the SWIFT GPI certification for its Business Solutions in August 2019.

https://ecsfin.com/

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PRODUCT OVERVIEW

\ IMS Gateway: ECS Fin’s Enterprise Message Hub & Service Bus is a high-performance financial messaging hub and integration solution that provides institutions with a seamless connection to a wide range of financial messaging networks, payment providers and market infrastructures. This includes connectivity to SWIFT, SEPA, real-time schemes, CHIPS, Fed wire, ACH, Ripple and Blockchain for sending and receiving financial messages. The platform has in-built validation, parsing, and mapping functions that eliminate the need for coding even when the transformations are very complex. IMS ensures complete interoperability between SWIFT, legacy, domestic, XML messaging standards, and open APIs. It is a scalable platform with built-in modular capabilities for data transformation, automated financial messaging and compliance checks helping organizations across industries to accelerate their modernization programs.

\ IMS Payments: IMS Payments, ECS Fin’s Enterprise Payment Hub is a well-organized transaction processing system that can manage and control the entire range of payments, messaging and connectivity. It optimizes and automates all known workflows for efficiently creating, managing, controlling, clearing and settling payment instructions through all available channels for a country covering domestic as well as international payments. It includes cash management, reconciliation, statement management, compliance check, data governance, and reporting. IMS Payments meets the requirements of a high-visibility payment hub for banks and processes different payment types, currencies, and systems using a single, integrated platform. The platform supports modular design and micro-services architecture. Banks can launch new products and innovations much faster across

different payment types – ACH, RTGS, SWIFT, SWIFT gpi, and real-time payments along with core supporting components and services.

IMS Payment Factory for Corporates module is an integrated corporate cash management platform for corporate treasurers. It is a complete, straight-through processing solution that provides a secure single-channel inter-bank and corporate-to-bank connectivity. Corporate treasures can process payments, gain real-time access to current and past cash positions, manage corporate liquidity, and leverage automated delivery tools for account management. For corporates wanting additional treasury services capabilities, the module offers capabilities around quick customer onboarding, direct treasury integration across multiple banks and systems and efficiently process electronic invoicing transactions. Corporate treasury can also benefit from the reconciliation of payments or invoices against payments.

IMS Payment Gateway for Corporates module offers direct-to-bank connectivity to corporations and grants them secure access and reliable connections to banking partners. The platform supports both direct and indirect connectivity (SWIFT or any other exchange network). Corporations can access their bank’s services more quickly and cost-effectively. They can also benefit from plug-and-play connectivity to the platform using various channels and send payment instructions for multiple types of payments, either domestic or cross-border, and route payments to their banking partners with seamless integration. An interconnected payment and treasury platform helps corporate treasurers get standardized reporting and consolidated view of their statements across all their banking partners. IMS Gateway with embedded payments and treasury solutions and bank connectivity has the most comprehensive approach to bank communication and supports built-in validation for data validation, duplicate checks,

INTERFACE&

DASHBOARDS

ACH PAYMENTS ACHN. America

Schedules Audit Trails Routing Reports Alerts Repairs Compliance

S. America

Europe

Far East

Asia

Australia

RTGS

SWIFT

Exchange

Ripple

Corporates

Portals

RTGS PAYMENTS

SWIFT PAYMENTS

TRADE SETTLEMENT

RECONCILIATION

CASH MGMT

COMPLIANCE

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Enterprise Message Hub, Payment Hub & Post-Trade Processing Hub

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compliance checks, and AML filters and with back-office systems.

IMS Payments supports the RTP module with an enterprise-wide approach to real-time payments that serves both corporate and retail customers across a variety of payment types, channels, networks, and currencies. The platform provides all the necessary connections through the orchestration layer for domestic and global immediate payment gateways as well as RTGS modules, and intelligent routing of transactions. The real-time payment hub offers a channel integration layer to receive payment requests across various channels and through the API integration layer connects to the internal payment hub services for real-time fraud checking, reconciliation, AML/KYC, intra-day liquidity cash positions and third-party banks/networks.

IMS SWIFT gpi is a payment module for real-time cross-border payments within IMS Payments. It can be engaged as a standalone application or as one of the modules in the platform. The platform is PREMIER Certified by SWIFT. It addresses all activities for sending international payments from instruction to the final settlement to the beneficiary. With IMS SWIFT gpi, banks can transform their cross-border payments and improve the speed, transparency, and predictability of payments.

\ IMS Securities: ECS Fin’s IMS Securities is a one-stop solution for efficient, compliant, and technologically evolved, post-trade processing for electronic end-to-end trade settlement. The platform is Gold Certified by SWIFT. It addresses all activities related to post-trade transactions like trade confirmation, settlement, fund transfer, reconciliation, reporting, and more. The solution can defragment, manage, and control the entire range of post-trade processing activities. These include allocations, matching, affirmation, settlement to

reconciliation, data governance, and reporting. IMS Securities automates all these activities with a series of securities processing and money movement modules, supporting components, data integration, and connectivity services.

\ ECS Fin’s SWIFT Service Bureau: ECS Fin’s Premier Certified SWIFT Service Bureau is a single-window-platform that helps SWIFT members outsource their requirements of a fully managed connectivity platform and get reliable and secure connections to beneficiary banks, correspondent banks, trading partners and its customers on one side while establishing STP with internal applications of the enterprise on the other side. Connecting to SWIFT via a Service Bureau, ECS Fin manages the connectivity and administrative requirements as a service, thus achieving lower total cost of ownership for financial institutions, as well as lower administration and operational costs compared to an on-premises solution. Financial institutions can benefit from plug-and-play connectivity to the platform using various channels and send/receive financial messages either domestic or cross-border, and route payments and post-trade processing settlement instructions to their banking and trading partners with seamless integration. An interoperable platform helps financial institutions get access to their own data in their own datacenter and get standardized reporting and consolidated view of their statements across all their correspondent banks. ECS Fin’s SSB is embedded with SWIFT connectivity and has the most comprehensive approach to financial messaging and supports built-in functionality for data validation, duplicate checks, compliance checks, and AML filters and with back-office systems.

\ IMS Data Governance: Data Governance by ECS Fin takes accountability of all the captured and transmitted data, organizing and storing the data for easy viewing, retrieval, summarizing, and reporting.

The data covers messages, acknowledgments, documents, notes, reference data, and all related elements. It benefits banks, central banks, financial institutions, capital markets, corporates, healthcare firms and government departments. The system grants controlled access to govern data utilization to authorized personnel and also secures what each user is allowed to see and do once access is gained. To strengthen the audit trail, the system stores the documents as attachment links to the underlying transactions or transmitted messages and all events associated with the life cycle of a message or a transaction are stored with links to the underlying entity.

\ ECS Digital Banking Platform: ECS Fin’s Digital Banking Platform offers a flexible and scalable architecture for banks to adopt a digitally-first banking model and provides a unified customer experience across retail and corporate customers, digitizing business workflows and processes in the middle office and back-office. With a digitally savvy customer interface and with the presentation layer banks can not only integrate across portals, mobiles, phone banking, IVR, APIs but also with the channels of the future. On the bank’s side, the operating model helps in optimizing end-to-end processes with innovative capabilities, support compliance, duplicate checks and launch new products and services to customers using intelligent data. The platform is available as on-premise deployment and on the cloud.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ECS FIN

Contact Us: ecsfin.com +1 914.902.0101 [email protected]

https://ecsfin.com/

https://ecsfin.com/

mailto:info%40ecsfin.com?subject=

FIDES | Technology Providers

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Headquartered: Zurich, Switzerland

Founded: 1910

CEO: Andreas Lutz

Ownership: Credit Suisse Group

Fides ARS & EFT (Available as installed

& through the SaaS-based Fides

Multi-Banking Suite)


� Account Reporting

� Bank Messaging

� SWIFT Service Bureau


� Systems Integration

� File Transfer

� Payments & Cash Management

� Data Validation & Sanction Screening

Fides’ professional services staff currently services more than 3,000 active customers.

Fides is a wholly-owned subsidiary of global banking giant Credit Suisse.

Fides is the only multi-banking connectivity provider that globally offers a unique hybrid connectivity service.

MARKET POSITION

In the first half of 2019, Fides started the implementation of 115 client projects, an increase of 30% compared to the previous year. Fides relocated to new offices in Zurich in Sept. 2019.

Fides has received multiple awards and acknowl-edgements over the past year, including being named Best Multi-Banking Solutions Company of the Year / Global by LeFonti and, jointly with partner Cashforce, Best Use of Artificial Intelligence in Treasury Management – 2019 from Global Finance Magazine.

Client-Focused Multi-Banking Excellence

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More than 210,000 SWIFT messages, including batch files, are processed through Fides’ system every day.

Active users of Fides’ system span 170 countries and connect to more than 10,000 banks worldwide.

Fides’ payment platform processes over $5.5 trillion every year.

TOP STATISTICS

FIDES CLIENTS

Global Growth

www.fides-treasury.com

+41 44.298.65.66

[email protected]

All content was produced by Fides and edited by Strategic Treasurer.


https://www.fides.ch/en/

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COMPANY OVERVIEW

Fides centralizes and simplify global multi-bank connectivity and transaction communications. Our solutions enable corporate treasury and finance teams worldwide to expand their reach and communicate broadly. Fides delivers critical multi-bank account statement, payment workflow and reporting capabilities that allow treasury and finance teams to easily, accurately and securely communicate with their banks through any possible channel such as SWIFT, EBICS, add, APIs or any alternative network. With Fides, corporates can securely execute and manage transactions regardless of their banking portfolio or geographic location.

Founded in 1910, Fides’ has been committed to helping corporations optimally connect and interact with their banks for over a century. The company has been focused on multi-banking and connectivity since 1985, when its bank account balance and transaction reporting service, Fides ARS (Account Reporting Service) was launched. The Fides EFT (Electronic File Transfer) payments solution was released a few years later. Since that time, the company has continued to improve on the functionality, feature sets and UX of its products. Fides also offers clients the ability to choose the connections that best meet their needs. One benefit of working with Fides is their breadth of offerings. In addition to supporting SWIFT for Corporates onboarding and hosting of corporate BICs as a member of the SWIFT Shared Infrastructure program, Fides offers clients the ability to use the Credit Suisse Group financial BIC. This can help speed up onboarding for corporates and also provides additional connectivity options including multi-network, dual-BIC solutions.

The company has developed or enhanced more than 200 file format converters to help customers communicate with all of their banks globally. Fides' ability to help clients securely connect to any bank through any channel, combined with its industry-leading payments and messaging solutions, Fides EFT and Fides ARS, has made Fides a multi-banking provider of choice. Within the past year, Fides has released new versions of its multi-banking suite, which enables customers to access the solutions without needing an on-premises installation or system integration.

Headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, Fides is an independently operated subsidiary of Credit Suisse. Fides has one of the world’s largest bank connectivity networks and helps more than 3,000 active clients communicate with more than 10,000 banks globally. The company’s geographic reach spans 170 countries across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions. Fides also partners with a number of treasury management system (TMS) and ERP vendors, including ION/Reval, Sage, and TreasuryXpress to enhance their clients’ global multi-banking capabilities.

Headquartered: Zurich, Switzerland

Founded: 1910

CEO: Andreas Lutz

Ownership: Credit Suisse Group

Fides ARS & EFT (Available as installed

& through the SaaS-based Fides

Multi-Banking Suite)


� Account Reporting

� Bank Messaging

� SWIFT Service Bureau


� Systems Integration

� File Transfer

� Payments & Cash Management

� Data Validation & Sanction Screening

Fides’ professional services staff currently services more than 3,000 active customers.

Fides is a wholly-owned subsidiary of global banking giant Credit Suisse.

Fides is the only multi-banking connectivity provider that globally offers a unique hybrid connectivity service.

MARKET POSITION

In the first half of 2019, Fides started the implementation of 115 client projects, an increase of 30% compared to the previous year. Fides relocated to new offices in Zurich in Sept. 2019.

Fides has received multiple awards and acknowl-edgements over the past year, including being named Best Multi-Banking Solutions Company of the Year / Global by LeFonti and, jointly with partner Cashforce, Best Use of Artificial Intelligence in Treasury Management – 2019 from Global Finance Magazine.

Client-Focused Multi-Banking Excellence

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More than 210,000 SWIFT messages, including batch files, are processed through Fides’ system every day.

Active users of Fides’ system span 170 countries and connect to more than 10,000 banks worldwide.

Fides’ payment platform processes over $5.5 trillion every year.

TOP STATISTICS

FIDES CLIENTS

Global Growth


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PRODUCT OVERVIEW

\ Fides Account Reporting Solution (ARS): Fides ARS was designed to allow clients quick and easy access to viewing overall liquidity and account statements from their banks at any time. Fides ARS can be integrated with a client’s TMS/ERP system or managed through the Fides web-based multi-banking suite. Fides ARS improves upon the outdated process of manually collecting account data from a client’s banks by consolidating all account information, including balances, transactions, and booking texts, and providing it centrally via a set of user-friendly dashboards. The process involves converting all messages into a standardized format, verifying the account statements, allowing the customer to choose a preferred format (MT940/42, BAI, AFB120, camt.052/053/054, etc.), and providing options for downloading data, such as in Excel or as a PDF. Fides ARS does not require any special infrastructure or installation. Access to the Fides Multi-Banking Suite is available to clients 24/7. Updates and upgrades to the solution are performed regularly.

\ Fides Electronic File Transfer (EFT): Fides EFT simplifies the global transfer of individual and bulk payments to banks and consolidates the financial messaging process so that any and all messages can be sent and received by corporates through one portal. Although the majority of clients use Fides EFT for payment purposes, it can be utilized for the full range of MT and MX (ISO 20022 XML) formatted messages, including those used for trade finance or FX trades. Fides EFT serves as a central location to manage and execute payments and provides an efficient method

of monitoring all payments. Automated access is available through a client’s TMS/ERP, but a client can opt to manually enter and approve payments through the Fides Multi-Banking Suite. Fides EFT is able to process and send payment orders globally to a multitude of different banks and uses enhanced data validation and enrichment processes to ensure client information is delivered securely and quickly. Updates and upgrades to the solution are performed regularly.

\ Fides Multi-Banking Hybrid Model: The unique Fides Hybrid Model is a multi-network, dual BIC service option that allows corporate treasury teams to optimize and expand their banking reach effectively and help with banks’

SCORE readiness. Fides’ hybrid approach ensures that clients have access to a solution that is tailored to their individual connectivity needs. Based on requirements and communication channels, Fides will recommend, establish, and maintain the most effective multi-banking connectivity configuration. These connections can be made via SWIFT, EBICS, Host-to-Host (H2H), APIs or any other combination thereof, using Fides’ proprietary Hybrid Model. This ensures that clients have a multi-banking model that works the way they need to conduct business. Additionally, the Fides Hybrid Model improves accuracy and consistency of payment and transaction messages by validating and correcting all files prior to release, ensuring that files are compliant and bank-ready.

Fides Multi-Banking Hybrid Model

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CLIENTS USE THE FIDES HYBRID MODEL TO:

▪ Validate and comply with rigorous messaging requirements ▪ Eliminate gaps in SCORE readiness ▪ Ensure global banking coverage ▪ Increase speed-to-market ▪ Reduce costs of maintaining individual

connections and SWIFT costs.

The service is completely managed by Fides, so we are also your one stop for support.

IMPROVED USER INTERFACES FOR BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCESTo better serve all sizes of corporations, particularly those without the need or capacity to implement a Treasury Management System (TMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Fides has recently released a new version of its web-based Multi-Banking Suite, which enables customers to access account reporting and electronic file transfer services online, without needing an on-premises installation or system integration.

Fides Hybrid Model

Fides Account Reporting Dashboard

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FIDES

Contact Us: fides-treasury.com +41 44.298.65.66 [email protected]



mailto:hello%40fides.ch%20?subject=

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Headquartered: San Diego, CA

Founded: 2000

CEO: Jean-Luc Robert


Kyriba Treasury & Finance Solutions



� Payments

� Working Capital

� Real-Time Payments Fraud Detection

� FX + Risk Management

� Business Intelligence


Kyriba surpassed $110M in revenue in 2018, and was recently valued at $1.2B as part of an investment transaction with Bridgepoint Equity.

Kyriba has 750+ employees in 12 global offices worldwide. The team supports more than 2,000 clients in 100 countries.

Kyriba has been named the clear leader for treasury and risk management by technology analyst firms such as IDC and Aite Group.

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20% – Percentage of Kyriba clients listed in the U.S. Fortune 500.

$160,000,000 – Amount that Bridgepoint Equity recently invested in Kyriba for product innovation and customer support.

83,000,000 – Number of bank transactions processed monthly on the Kyriba SaaS-based network.

2,000+ – Total number of Kyriba clients in 100 countries worldwide.

TOP STATISTICS

KYRIBA CLIENTS

Kyriba announced the launch of the Active Liquidity Network, which connects key treasury and finance applications with vital external partners and information sources to help increase enterprise value and performance.

Kyriba will be hosting the Kyriba Live Treasury & Finance Summit at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas from Feb. 24-28, 2020. The event will be the first in series of global conferences in London, Paris and Japan.

Kyriba Live 2020 Scheduled for Las Vegas

Kyriba Launches New Active Liquidity Network

www.kyriba.com

+1 858.210.3560

[email protected]

All content was produced by Kyriba and edited by Strategic Treasurer.

http://www.kyriba.com

mailto:treasury%40kyriba.com%20?subject=


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Headquartered: San Diego, CA

Founded: 2000

CEO: Jean-Luc Robert


Kyriba Treasury & Finance Solutions



� Payments

� Working Capital

� Real-Time Payments Fraud Detection

� FX + Risk Management

� Business Intelligence


Kyriba surpassed $110M in revenue in 2018, and was recently valued at $1.2B as part of an investment transaction with Bridgepoint Equity.

Kyriba has 750+ employees in 12 global offices worldwide. The team supports more than 2,000 clients in 100 countries.

Kyriba has been named the clear leader for treasury and risk management by technology analyst firms such as IDC and Aite Group.

MARKET POSITION

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20% – Percentage of Kyriba clients listed in the U.S. Fortune 500.

$160,000,000 – Amount that Bridgepoint Equity recently invested in Kyriba for product innovation and customer support.

83,000,000 – Number of bank transactions processed monthly on the Kyriba SaaS-based network.

2,000+ – Total number of Kyriba clients in 100 countries worldwide.

TOP STATISTICS

KYRIBA CLIENTS

Kyriba announced the launch of the Active Liquidity Network, which connects key treasury and finance applications with vital external partners and information sources to help increase enterprise value and performance.

Kyriba will be hosting the Kyriba Live Treasury & Finance Summit at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas from Feb. 24-28, 2020. The event will be the first in series of global conferences in London, Paris and Japan.

Kyriba Live 2020 Scheduled for Las Vegas

Kyriba Launches New Active Liquidity Network

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Kyriba empowers treasury and finance teams to transform how they activate liquidity as a dynamic, real-time vehicle for growth and value creation, while also protecting against financial risk. Kyriba’s pioneering Active Liquidity Network connects internal applications for treasury, risk, payments and working capital, with vital external sources such as banks, ERPs, trading platforms, and market data providers. Based on a secure, highly scalable SaaS platform that leverages artificial and business intelligence, Kyriba enables more than 2,000 companies worldwide to maximize growth opportunities, protect against loss from fraud and financial risk, and reduce costs through advanced automation.

Kyriba is headquartered in San Diego, with offices in New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Dubai and other major locations.

MISSION

Kyriba empowers clients to transform how they view and use liquidity as a dynamic catalyst for growth and value creation.


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PRODUCT OVERVIEW

Kyriba offers a comprehensive cloud platform for treasury and finance that helps forward-thinking teams enhance key capabilities for cash and risk management, payments, and working capital management. Unlike other treasury systems, connectivity is fully integrated into Kyriba’s SaaS platform. Connectivity and payments can be separately subscribed to or implemented as part of a larger treasury project.

\ Key Platform Highlights:

Kyriba Connectivity: Kyriba is a SWIFT-certified global cash management provider offering multi-bank connectivity as a service as well as integrated connectivity within our cloud treasury management system. Kyriba manages millions of transactions every day, to and from banks, to support cash management, payments, and trading workflows.

A unique differentiator for Kyriba is the variety of connectivity solutions that can be offered, l including combinations of connectivity protocols to optimize costs, automation, and security. All connectivity services are fully managed and monitored by Kyriba on behalf of our clients so no additional resources are required by the client to automate connectivity and integration. Kyriba offers the following connectivity services:

▪ Direct Connections, including APIs ▪ Concentrator Service ▪ SWIFT Alliance Lite2 ▪ SWIFT Service Bureau ▪ Regional and Country Protocols

Kyriba Active Liquidity Network

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DIRECT CONNECTIONS: Kyriba offers ‘direct- to-bank’ host-to-host connections via API or FTP which require no intermediary services or networks, minimizing transaction costs and bank fees. Host-to-host connections are often used for high volume bank relationships in combination with other connectivity methods to minimize connectivity costs.

CONCENTRATOR SERVICE: Kyriba’s Concentrator Service allows organizations to utilize a SWIFT BIC11 specifically provisioned for Kyriba clients, instead of becoming a SWIFT member. Kyriba’s Concentrator Service is priced per account offering the most flexibility, lowest cost and quickest onboarding experience for SWIFT bank reporting.

SWIFT ALLIANCE LITE2: Kyriba is an authorized reseller of SWIFT Alliance Lite2 for Business Applications (L2BA). L2BA is fully integrated to Kyriba’s cloud solution, enabling complete automation, straight-through processing and no internal IT effort for bank reporting, payments and other SWIFT messaging.

SWIFT SERVICE BUREAU: Kyriba’s SWIFT Service Bureau offers clients their own SWIFT BIC, fully managed by Kyriba. Leveraging MQ messaging for higher transmission speeds, Kyriba’s SWIFT Service Bureau is specialized for higher connectivity volumes and/or those wanting a completely managed SWIFTNet service, including complete monitoring of end-to-end bank connectivity.

REGIONAL AND COUNTRY PROTOCOLS: Many countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and the UK offer regional networks that support connection to that country’s banking partners. Kyriba connects to dozens of these country protocols including Zengin, Anser, EBICS, BACS, CBI and EDITRAN, among others.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT KYRIBA

Contact Us: kyriba.com +1 858.210.3560 [email protected]

Kyriba Dashboard



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STRATEGIC TREASURER | Works Cited

▪ Figure 1, Page 5: 2019 Strategic Treasurer & Kyriba Global Payments Survey.

▪ Figure 2, Page 8: - 2019 Strategic Treasurer & TIS Compliance Survey. - 2019 Strategic Treasurer & Kyriba Global Payments Survey.

▪ Figure 3, Page 9: 2018 B2B Payments & WCM Strategies Survey. Strategic Treasurer & Bottomline Technologies.

▪ Figure 4, Page 9: 2018 Strategic Treasurer & GTreasury Cash Forecasting & Visibility Survey.

▪ Figure 5, Page 10: 2019 Strategic Treasurer & TIS Compliance Survey.

▪ Figure 6, Page 12: 2017 Strategic Treasurer & TreasuryXpress Treasury Technology Survey.

▪ Figure 7, Page 13: 2019 Strategic Treasurer & TD Bank Treasury Perspectives Survey.

▪ Figure 8, Page 17: 2019 Strategic Treasurer & Kyriba Global Payments Survey.

▪ Figure 9, Page 23: 2018 Strategic Treasurer & GTreasury Cash Forecasting & Visibility Survey.



▪ Figure 12-14, Page 26: 2019 Strategic Treasurer & Bottomline Technologies B2B Payments Survey.

Works Cited


TREASURY FRAUD & CONTROLSOffers comprehensive analysis of treasury's experiences with specific types of fraud and evaluates the security tools and methods used by organizations to protect their financial assets and information.

TREASURY PERSPECTIVESGauges practitioners’ viewpoints, strategies, and preferences on a range of topics including economic growth, compliance, security, payments, capital markets, risk, and technology use.

B2B PAYMENTSProvides valuable insights related to the overall payments complexity and challenges being experienced by practitioners. It focuses on unique solutions and tactics employed by organizations to optimize payment processes and maximize efficiency.

GLOBAL PAYMENTSStudies the various payment technologies, tools, and services used by organizations for faciliating global payments activity and analyzes the key areas of complexity currently impacting the payments landscape.

STRATEGIC TREASURER MARKET RESEARCH

As part of our ongoing market research initiatives, Strategic Treasurer conducts 10+ industry surveys every year on a variety of topics ranging from cash management and payments to fraud and compliance. These surveys are collectively completed by several thousand corporate,

banking, non-profit, government, and higher education respondents every year. Below is a list of our current industry research initiatives.

Treasury ComplianceKeeps track of treasury’s shifting strategies and responsibilities for managing bank account information and maintaining compliance across the full scope of their daily operations.

Liquidity Risk Analyzes organizations' short-term investment and risk management strategies to uncover trends related to how firms are optimizing their liquid assets and identifying and mitigating associated risks.

Supply Chain Finance Evaluates the use of SCF technology within the corporate environment, as well as the strategies and technologies put in place by firms to manage vendor relationships, streamline cash conversion cycles, and optimize working capital.

Cash Forecasting & VisibilityStudies the operational and technological components deployed by organizations for maintaining visibility to cash positions and forecasting cash flows.

Higher Education Focuses specifically on understanding the unique challenges and operations of financial personnel within the realm of higher education and how their experiences compare to those of their peers in the corporate environment.

Treasury Technology UseAnalyzes the use of technology within the treasury environment, with a focus on the utilization of Treasury Management Systems (TMS) and organizations’ unique experiences with implementing, using, and upgrading these solutions.

How Are Your Surveys Classified?

The surveys highlighted on the left-hand side of this page comprise Strategic Treasurer's Premier Survey program, which offers comprehensive analysis (100+ questions) across each area of focus. The surveys highlighted directly above are part of our Standard Survey program, which provides robust coverage (30-50 questions) of the selected topic. To learn more about our market research initiatives, visit our website at strategictreasurer.com/surveys.


http://strategictreasurer.com/surveys

STRATEGIC TREASURER IMPLEMENTATION SOLUTIONS

TechnologyImplementation

How Can We Help? \ We develop and lead the vendor

selection process to ensure you

select the "best-fit" solution.

\ Create a realistic project roadmap

that contemplates the unique

requirements of your organization.

\ Manage the implementation from

design, project kick-off, bank

onboarding, and testing, through

go-live and post-project analysis.

Interested? Contact Strategic Treasurer today:

[email protected] +1 678.466.2220

525 Westpark Drive, Suite 130 ● Peachtree City, GA 30269 +1 678.466.2220 ● [email protected]



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Documents

Bank Connectivity Solutions - Fides Treasury Services Ltd.€¦ · banking channels of messaging and value transfer.. Treasury must ensure that transactions are secure and in compliance