The impact of regulation is still looming over the needs of corporates. Julian Oldale, head of global transaction services (GTS) origination, North America at RBS explains in this video how the needs of his clients – US corporates doing business in Europe – are changing, and how they are looking to rationalise their treasury operations.
Much of the difficult work has been done by corporates to be in line with the standards of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and now they are in the next stage of considering how to take advantage of the new pan-European landscape and centralise their treasury centres. For example, rather than managing several bank accounts across various markets in Europe, they can now streamline and have their euro accounts in one country that can still function across the other markets.
Regulations, such as Basel III and the liquidity coverage ratio, mean that corporates are having to rethink what to do with their excess cash. How to get yield on cash is still a question for corporates, but Mr Oldale explains that security is still more important. The main issue, he says, is still counterparty risk and making sure that their cash is being held by a secure institution. Even though the financial crisis happened years ago, its impact still lingers and security still trumps yield.
Aside from the impact of the financial crisis and the subsequent regulation, corporates needs have also changed because of technology. Mr Oldale explains in this video how this has brought the biggest change to the industry in the course of his 20-year career.
