BUYER’S

GUIDE

Treasury
Management
Systems

2010
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Editor: Ben Poole

benp@gtnews.com

Replacing Your TMS

Deputy editor: Joy Macknight
joym@gtnews.com
Section editor: Anne Petrie
annep@gtnews.com

- a Major Operation
Publishing manager: Mia Leaning
mial@gtnews.com
Chief executive: Mike Hewitt
mikeh@gtnews.com
Art and design: Tim Parker
Given that a treas- to make the business case for a new parkerinc@mac.com

ury management
system (TMS) is
considered to be the
heart of a corporate
treasury, replacing it
is akin to the busi-
ness undergoing
open heart surgery. The risks involved
are huge, added to the fact that many
treasurers do not have much experi-
ence conducting such a major opera-
tion.
This buyer’s guide is an attempt to
help treasurers pinpoint what they
need to know, examining what new
functionality is available, outlining how
system and how to choose the right
TMS for your company, and follow-
ing the debate as to whether to build
in-house or buy off-the-shelf. Last, the
guide includes a functionality matrix,
which describes the systems on offer
from TMS vendors.
As with any major surgical operation,
going into the procedure well-pre-
pared, well-informed and confident in
the outcome means that you have a
much better chance to coming out the
other side a stronger, faster and more
efficient treasury organisation.
Joy Macknight,
editor, a buyer’s guide to TMS
Client relationship director:
Adela Buglass
adelab@gtnews.com
Business development manager:
Katharine Christian
katharinec@gtnews.com
gtnews, an Association for Financial
Professionals®’ company headquartered
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readers’ privacy is assured.

CONTENTS
TMS Functionality: Risk, SWIFT and SaaS As treasurers lean harder on their
13 treasury management systems (TMS) to provide an accurate, global view of their
business, what new functionality is available?

Making the Business Case for a New TMS ‘Expense management’ and
17 ‘corporate streamlining’ are two phrases that have stalked the corridors of treasury
departments since the credit crisis hit. How can treasurers make the business case
for a new TMS?

Choosing the Right TMS With the vast array of TMS on the market, how should
11 treasurers go about choosing one? What are the most important considerations and
how they can be weighed against the all-important bottom line?

Expert Opinion Six corporate treasurers offer their know-how in choosing a TMS,
14 describing the process that they went through, including any hiccups, and also give
some advice to others embarking on the same journey.

To Build or to Buy? Why are some corporate treasuries turning their backs on off-
16 the-shelf treasury TMS and looking to build their own in-house?

Directory of Service Plus a functionality matrix of 26 treasury management systems.

18
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 a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

TMS Functionality:
Risk, SWIFT and SaaS
Today, treasurers are leaning harder on their treasury
management systems (TMS) to provide an accurate, global view
of their business. Joy Macknight explores the new functionality
on offer, in a quest for the all-singing, all-dancing TMS.

T
he uncertainty in the global financial
markets has caused corporate
treasurers many headaches,
particularly regarding credit availability,
monitoring and managing counterparty risk,
and incoming regulations that might affect
banking, tax and accounting.
Corporate treasurers are increasingly kept
awake at night worrying about a lack of cash
visibility and accurate cash flow forecasting.
Limited control and transparency makes it
difficult for treasurers to view their global cash
position and optimise working capital across
all their banking relationships. They need to
get meaningful and timely information across a
multitude of systems.
Kevin Grant, chief executive officer (CEO)
at IT2, says that recent treasury trends can
be broken down into pre- and post-global
was quite diverse and included straight-
through processing (STP) and process
management, different aspects of risk
management, such as scenario analysis and
VaR [value-at-risk], SOX [Sarbanes-Oxley]
compliance, and new accounting regulations
such as FAS 133, FAS 157 and IAS 39.
The reaction to the crisis provoked quite a
dramatic change, with the emphasis shifting
to functionality supporting the new priorities
of enterprise-wide cash and counterparty
exposure visibility, which are, arguably, a shift
back to basics.
“This new focus has encouraged higher
levels of treasury connectivity with banks and
internal remote business units, for example
via SWIFT and corporate intranets, to ensure
that complete and up-to-date information
is collected from around and beyond the
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financial crisis. “Before the crisis, the focus corporate enterprise,” he adds.

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In addition, the treasurer’s role is

expanding to include oversight in areas
not hitherto under a treasurer’s remit.
Paul Bramwell, senior vice president of
treasury solutions for SunGard’s
AvantGard, says that while
the workload is increasing,
the number of people to do
the job remains the same or
diminishes. He believes that
there is a desperate need for
automation tools to manage
the redundant manual
processes.
This is where treasury management
systems (TMS) step into the picture. As
Justin Meadows, CEO of MyTreasury,
an electronic trading platform, says:
“The TMS should be the golden system
- the driving centre for treasurers and
everything that they do. It needs to be
fully integrated and be able to provide
an overview of all data that the treasurer
would want, down to the most detailed
level and up to dashboard level, with
warning alerts, etc.”
And many TMS vendors are
responding to the challenge. Over the
past two or three years, according
to Paul Wheeler, managing director
for Wallstreet Treasury at Wall Street
Systems, the level of functionality has
become functionally rich and more
stable, even down to the lower end of
the mid-tier in terms of products.

IMPROVED FUNCTIONALITY
Three areas of new functionality that has
made an impact in the past few years
include:
Business intelligence, risk and
reporting capabilities
Alongside a general back-to-basics
approach, there is a re-emergence of
concerns about risk management and
the ability to identify and control those
risks. As a direct result of the economic
climate, greater pressure has been put
on corporates to embrace the treasury’s
role in risk at a business level. Up-to-
date information is now required on
demand.
Bramwell says: “There is a more
consolidated focus on being able to
identify where risks lie and treasury
is using technology to automate the
process of highlighting and identifying
the risk. The platforms are there to
identify exposures, whether that’s cash,
FX [foreign exchange], interest rate risk
or credit risk.”
Wheeler believes that the industry
is beginning to find ways to get closer
to the overall risk cycle of a business:
“TMS vendors are beginning to embrace
the fact that the treasury function is
needing to holistically manage exposure
across the broader business than
just treasury. We see treasury’s remit
expanding and it comes down to having
very solid information around the total
business, not just what historically might
have passed through treasury.”
SWIFT connectivity
The crisis brought counterparty risk,
in terms of banking partners, to the
fore and therefore the opening up of
SWIFT to corporates has to some extent
relieved the reliance on bank proprietary
connectivity. Corporates can now join
SWIFT directly through a Member
Administered Closed User Group
(MA-CUG), Standardised Corporate
Environment (SCORE) or Alliance Lite,
or outsource their connectivity to a
SWIFT service bureau. Corporates want
to become more bank independent/
agnostic and gain the ability to switch
banks more easily.
According to Joergen Jensen, director
at Nasarius, a cash and treasury
management consultancy in the Nordic
region, SWIFT is now becoming a
standard way of integrating to banks not
just for corporate TMS but all payment
systems. This point hits on the second
reason why corporates are changing
their bank connectivity - to improve the
visibility of their cash across all their
banks.
That enhanced level of connectivity
allows treasury to be able to provide
an ‘as real-time as possible’ view on
exactly where its cash lies within the
business. “I suffered through that in
my previous life in corporate treasury,”
says SunGard’s Bramwell, “where I
just didn’t have access to those kind of
balances, despite having subsidiaries
reporting cash balances and local debt.
The moment you find out that that level
of reporting is inaccurate is when there’s
a disaster.” He believes that SWIFT has
been part of an improvement in visibility
and accuracy.
SunGard is exploring the idea of

4

a bank aggregation portal, where it
uses SWIFT connections to provide a
global view of a firm’s cash, beyond
just what sits inside the treasury
application. “Many companies want
their subsidiaries to be to able to
remotely check their balances, search
for outstanding transactions, etc, but
wouldn’t necessarily want to give them
access to a treasury application,” says
Bramwell. “Therefore an aggregation
portal is something that can be
useful. It’s outside the core treasury
application and can be deployed as a
service in the cloud that’s hosted and
managed by SunGard, for example,
and used by corporates as and when
they need it.”
Delivering via SaaS or cloud
Bramwell touched on the latest trend
in terms of technology: software-as-
a-service (SaaS) or cloud technology,
where the TMS is hosted by the
vendor, effectively outsourcing the
technology and maintenance.
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Wallstreet’s Wheeler explains:
“Because there’s been significant
retraction of investments around
internal IT focus in treasury, treasurers
have been left a lot more to their own
devices to manage IT - some have
even become IT specialists, certainly in
the mid-tier. Therefore, many are keen
to lean on the vendors to begin to take
that burden away from them.”
Wheeler believes that the SaaS
offering has matured so much in
the crisis period that it is no longer
a fad - it has become the norm.
“Treasury won’t subside back to
installed solutions,” he says. “Clients
are saying that they are going to adopt
this approach even more now that their
budgets are opening out. They are
beginning to look to the future.”
Many look to SaaS solutions as a
quick way to deploy solutions to gain
greater control. Martin Bellin, general
manager of BELLIN, a web-based
integrated treasury management
platform used by Virgin Atlantic and
Semikron, says that BELLIN’s fastest
roll out was four weeks, but usually
it takes about two to three
months. “The idea is a
web-based TMS, which can
be deployed quickly and
doesn’t require expertise
to use,” says Bellin. “One
of our partners calls it ‘glocal’
because it’s global and local at the
same time.”
ON THE CUSP -
EMERGING FUNCTIONALITY
eBAM and personal digital signatures
SWIFT has been developing electronic
bank account management (eBAM)
and, hand in hand, personal digital
signatures or SWIFT Secure Signature
Key (3SKey), which enables eBAM.
eBAM is a way for corporates to take
control of their bank accounts and
know who their signatories are, where
they are, etc, effectively having all
the mandates under central control.
SWIFT has been working with banks
and corporates in pilot programmes
and launched eBAM in April, while it
plans to launch 3SKey in October.
Commodity hedging
Commodities are something that an
increasing number of corporates want
to hedge and are therefore asking
their TMS supplier to deliver this
functionality. Nasarius’ Jensen says:
“This is something where maybe five
years ago treasurers were content
- either they did not do commodity
hedging or they were trying to manage
it in Excel or with workarounds in their
treasury system using FX instruments.
But this was not a good solution
because of its limited functionality,
particularly with regards to reporting.”
Due to new environmental
There is a legislation, many corporate now
desperate want to trade CO2 emissions. “More
need for companies suddenly want to be able
automation to trade emissions and are asking for
tools to support within the system, particularly
if they want to do hedge accounting,”
manage the
says Jensen. “I think the systems
redundant providers are now adding more
manual functionality to commodities on the
processes instrument side and also in terms
of handling the hedge accounting
functionality, which is quite complex.”
AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT
Cash flow forecasting
One area where treasurers are calling
out for help is the whole world of cash
forecasting. Zanders consultant, Mark
Taylor, explains that it is so difficult to
do because it is still heavily dependent
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on human input: “Forecasting is not
a specific science, is it? It’s an art
which uses statistical techniques and
models, but different industry sectors,
companies and people use different
inputs and techniques.”
Speaking from experience, SunGard’s
Bramwell says: “In my day in corporate
treasury, one of the things that we were
insistent upon was that we needed useful
information in terms of forecasts, so that
we knew what we were hedging. Because
without forecast information, you are just
guessing what you’re hedging, and you
may actually end up creating exposures
instead of reducing them.”
IT2’s Grant believes that the role of
a TMS in supporting easier cash flow
forecasting is to offer a user friendly,
web-based solution, ideally reflecting
local style and terminology so that the
forecast process is easy to use - and is
therefore more likely to be used more
effectively.
“Forecasting entities should certainly
receive analytical feedback on their
performance, and perhaps receive some
kind of pricing benefit from the in-house
bank for good forecasting performance,”
he says. With today’s web-based
technology and connectivity, barriers
are more likely to be behavioural as
opposed to technical, so treasurers
need to communicate sensitively
and interactively when rolling out a
forecasting solution.”
Integration/interoperability
Although previously treasurers might
have had a transaction management
package and then export data into a
risk management system for valuations,
for example, Jensen says that today
treasurers expect everything in one
package with integration across the
whole group worldwide, as well as
integration with the enterprise resource
planning (ERP) systems.
But there is still work to be done in
this area. Andrea Klein, vice president
global financial services, Oracle, says:
“TMS have been integrated with ERP
applications, but this has been done
through proprietary, custom integration.
Thus, if a treasurer wants to change
either the TMS or ERP on their side,
or the bank wants to change payment
applications or cash management
systems on its side, the process is long
and costly.”
Klein believes that building
integration and ensuring data
consistency across various systems
has a worthwhile payback and return
on investment (ROI) in terms of
automation, controls, security, and
6
better decision-making.
Trading
MyTreasury’s Meadows highlights that
trading is a key part of what treasurers
do – yet most TMS do not do multi-
The TMS supplier trading. “They are more
should be the focused on the cash management
side, trade booking, processing and
golden system
confirmation matching, position
- the driving reporting, etc. It is surprising that you
centre for can’t actually generate and execute a
treasurers trade from a TMS, either through its own
internal capability or by interfacing with
a platform such as ours,” he says.
Today corporates set up trades
within their TMS on the basis of the
information there, and then simply
export those to a trading platform where
they are executed automatically. Once
executed, they are inputted back into
the TMS.
Some TMS vendors have integrated
trading functionality. SunGard has its
own SGN money market portal, for
example, where a corporate can trade
online for money market fund (MMF)
investments.
“As soon as you enter the trade, the
transaction is brought into the system
automatically; it’s confirmed, and
settled automatically. And, of course,
any balances are held within the TMS,
as well as the trading portal,” says
Bramwell.
THE ALL SINGING, ALL
DANCING TMS
Zanders’ Taylor comments that vendors
have long been racing towards an ‘all
singing, all dancing’ TMS, which did
everything that everybody wanted.
This has been helped in some ways by
consolidation in the marketplace; this
year alone, Wall Street Systems bought
both City Financials and Speranza
Systems.
But the question remains, is a
treasury better served by a vendor
whose support team is covering
multiple products, or is fully focused on
one product? MyTreasury’s Meadows
thinks that it is better to have specialist
platforms and integrate them with TMS
providers at the outset.
“If it is built in-house, then it will
end up being the lowest common
denominator and won’t address all
the specialist needs. However, I can
envisage a situation where the trading
part is viewed as an integrated element
of the whole treasury management
function, and therefore is embedded
within TMS. But I think it will have to be
through the acquisition of a specialist
supplier, and integration of that product
into the overall product suite,” he says.
Should TMS providers look to be ‘all
singing, all dancing’ or should they look
more to interoperability and partnering?
IT2’s Grant believes that the answer
is both. “It is clearly desirable to have
all necessary treasury management
functionality available in a single system,
and it is also necessary to integrate
with complementary external systems,”
he says. “Technically, the ideal may
be pictured as a functionally complete
TMS solution, based on a single central
database that is updated in real time,
robustly integrated with essential
external systems. This approach
minimises synchronisation and other
technical, timing issues, and helps to
assure that reporting is instantaneous,
up-to-date and accurate, by eliminating
unnecessary islands of technology.”
Oracle’s Klein reminds us that
ERP vendors are expanding deeper
into TMS territory: “ERP systems
continue to take market share from
legacy TMS providers as customers
recognise that the ERP functionality
improvements over the last 10 years
now address most - if not all - of
their core treasury requirements. In
addition, they are starting to see that
embedded integration offers tangible
business benefits to both the treasury
department and to IT. It makes sense
to evaluate them as part of the TMS
decision-making process.” Q

Making the
Business Case
for a New TMS
‘Expense management’ and ‘corporate streamlining’ are two phrases that have stalked the corridors
of treasury departments around the world since the credit crisis hit. Against this backdrop,
Ben Poole examines how treasurers can make the business case for a new TMS.
hile the recent financial
W crisis did much to
elevate the role of the
treasurer, it also resulted
in widespread cost cutting and
expense control in the corporate
world. The new financial environment
has seen treasurers taking on greater
responsibility and a larger work
portfolio, while finding that their
resources - in terms of budget and
staff - have been frozen or reduced.
Against this environment, all
spending will be thoroughly scrutinised
and treasurers may find themselves
in for a challenging time when trying
to justify new purchases, particularly
for something as comprehensive and
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
expensive as a treasury management
system (TMS). How can treasurers
address this challenge, and what are
the main business points that can
support a treasurer when pitching to
senior management and IT purchasing
managers?
WHERE IS THE CASH?
Cash flow is the main cause of
financial risk within a business,
so it is vital that treasury has an
accurate, timely and transparent
view of the company’s cash position.
This needs to cover areas such as
accounts payable (A/P) and accounts
receivable (A/R), between treasury
centres in different countries and
the various foreign exchange (FX)
exposures that these generate, as
well as across banking relationships,
covering account fees, interest rates,
etc. As TMS can seamlessly integrate
a variety of areas of treasury activity,
from electronic dealing (e-dealing)
to reporting, confirmation matching
to cash forecasting, they can provide
an accurate view of enterprise-wide
cash flows to help effectively manage
the liquidity and improve investment
returns. In addition, the transparency
allows treasurers to compare lending
rates between different banks and
move away from expensive borrowing.
But getting control over cash
visibility is not simply a case of
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plugging in a TMS and finding that
all your treasury worries are over.
Quite often, the implementation
of a new TMS goes hand-in-hand
with a restructuring of the treasury
function along more centralised
lines as treasurers follow an ongoing
quest for efficiency. If you want to
streamline the way that you process
your A/P and A/R, the chances
are that a centralised approach to
treasury management is the best
way to achieve this and then gain
the benefits of cash visibility already
mentioned. A centralised approach,
together with a TMS, helps strip out
the ‘dead wood’ from many processes,
and instead puts the focus on a
treasury management structure that
receives automated updates from the
various business units and banking
relationships, rather than trying to
collect disparate data on myriad
spreadsheets. In turn, the enhanced
quality of data will benefit overall cash
and liquidity management, while
merger and acquisition (M&A)-related
integration will be simplified against
this backdrop.
Senior management, including
those as high as board level, have
been particularly keen on timely and
accurate cash and liquidity information
since the credit crisis first struck.
These parts of the business have since
been educating themselves on every
nuance of liquidity management,
corporate financial compliance issues
and banking relationships, and require
real-time information on these topics
at a moment’s notice. Companies that
were operating largely decentralised
organisational structures, especially if
the majority of treasury work was being
conducted manually on spreadsheets,
will have been particularly hard-
pressed to provide the relevant
information quickly and accurately. By
contrast, a centrally-managed treasury
with a TMS is ideally positioned to
provide this information.
RISE OF RISK MANAGEMENT
The variety and depth of risks that
treasurers have to manage today is far
in excess of that which existed before
the credit crisis. Large corporates can
find that they don’t have an overall
view of risk, which can lead to risks
being missed or mismanaged. A good
TMS will provide a wide range of
functionality to help treasures measure
and manage financial risk. In addition
to providing monitoring capabilities for
limits, TMS can also provide scenarios
analysis and modelling capabilities to
8
model the effects of cash flows and
guide risk management decisions. A
treasury that relies on spreadsheets
will have no way of finding out its
real-time cash positions, and indeed
this is also not always an option with
enterprise resource planning (ERP)
systems.
Take counterparty risk as an
example. Before the credit crisis, it is
fair to say that, for many companies,
the scope of their counterparty risk
measurement began and ended with
the ups and downs of their derivative
portfolio against counterparties. Today,
corporates are looking to add their
balance position, credit facilities and
bank exposure to this mix, highlighting
how just one risk has escalated post-
credit crisis. In this area, a TMS can
assist the treasurer by allowing them
easily to set the risk parameters in line
with their counterparty risk policy, as
well as producing customised reports
to that effect.
As is clear from the first two
topics in this article, visibility over
a corporate’s cash position and the
management of financial risk are
intrinsically linked. The constantly
shifting sands of a corporate’s cash
position across the organisation need
to tracked accurately and in real time
in order for a treasury department
to maximise the company’s
liquidity and ensure best practice
in risk mitigation. Today, TMS offer
enhanced functionality in areas such
as bank account administration
and treasury reporting, in addition
to corporate connectivity to SWIFT,
as a way successfully managing
these two large challenges. This
is not something that a treasury
operating largely on spreadsheets
will be able to get a handle on.
While spreadsheets can be a cheap
and available short-term solution,
these corporates will be potentially
missing crucial risk exposures and
losing money through poor cash
management. The business case for
a TMS here is clear.
MAXIMISING BANKING
RELATIONSHIPS you’d track a package on a courier’s
TMS can help corporates to integrate website. It can also help in better
with financial services providers’ managing the fees and aggressively
systems, enabling them to have real- managing compensation.
time access to data from banks. For The possibility of integrating
example, banks have invested in electronic bank account management
up-to-the-minute balance reporting (eBAM) with a TMS is intriguing at this
capabilities that a TMS can give you point. This is surely the next logical
access to. In the payment hub space, step for both of these two products,
payments and cash movements can enabling a treasurer to centrally
be tracked through the TMS, just as manage cash flows and risk across

the organisation, while simultaneously
having the ability to open, move and
close bank accounts, for example.
TMS vendors will have to keep up to
speed with the standardised message
types that SWIFT are developing in
their eBAM programme, but this is a
concern that they should be able to
address easily, leaving corporates with
a powerful bank relationship tool as
part of their integrated TMS.
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
INFORMATION
REPORTING
When it comes to information reporting,
TMS can offer a number of advantages
for corporates. One of the main
challenges that treasurers face when
using spreadsheets or ERP systems
for this function is the lack of real time
information available in areas such
as payables and receivables. A well-
deployed TMS can provide right data
to the right people at the right time to
improve control, decision making and
reducing expenses. Banks have portals
that are capable of directly sending the
reporting information that corporates
need directly to their system in a
seamless manner. ERP systems can
do this integration, but TMS tend to
be more versatile and flexible because
of their specific focus on treasury
processes.
The benefit of having this real-time
view is that the treasurer has greater
freedom to make key decisions over
whether they should look at investing
or borrowing, safe in the knowledge
that they have up-to-date and accurate
information. In addition, as this process
is automated, it reduces the workload
on an already-stressed treasury
department.
ENHANCED EFFICIENCY
As with any system, the automation
that a TMS brings can improve
efficiency and productivity by removing
manual processes and improving
accuracy. In a situation where you have
multiple users in multiple areas of the
company, a TMS can define workflows,
meaning that the right people have the
right access to the right information.
This identity and access management
(IAM) role lets the system do the work
for the treasurer once the entitlements
have been set up and the workflow
established.
This also adds a very important
level of security to treasury operations.
Spreadsheets by their very nature are
insecure and open to abuse. With a
TMS, access to all data can be set
by treasury and access privileges
managed depending on whether
staff move departments or leave the
company. This should drastically
reduce the prospect of data theft or
manipulation. In addition, the TMS
can provide a ‘paper trail’, detailing
which user has accessed or input
which data at which time, which can
be vital for internal auditing purposes.
An end-to-end TMS can replace
multiple spreadsheets that rely on
the manual keying in of data, and
therefore removes the prospect
of human error that exists here.
In addition, this frees up treasury
staff from having to deal with time-
consuming and repetitive data entry,
and they can instead focus on the role
Cash flow of treasury analyst and become more
is the main productive this way.
cause of
CONCLUSION
financial
TMS offer clear business benefits
risk within a over the use of spreadsheets and
business some ERP modules in a number
of areas. They allow visibility over a
company’s cash position, leading
to more accurate cash forecasting
and the liquidity and working capital
advantages this permits. In addition,
the variety and depth of financial
risks that corporates face in the post-
credit crisis world are far easier to
make sense of and manage through
the use of a TMS than other options.
When it comes to interacting with
banking partners, a TMS can enable
corporates to get real-time account
information at the click of a button.
They are also able to provide a wide
array of reporting information when
called upon.
And last, but not least, the efficiency
that a TMS can bring to a treasury
department cuts across several areas -
by removing manual input, the system
reduces the potential for human
error, allows a small treasury team to
achieve an exponentially large amount
of accurate work, and provides for a
security of data that can help treasurers
sleep at night. In terms of making the
business case to senior management
or IT purchasers, these points should
help to make a positive impact.
In addition to these points, the
treasurer has additional resources
available that they can draw on when
putting together the business case
for a TMS. Get close to the business,
understand why business units
operate in the way they do, and have
a two-way, open conversation about
how a TMS can improve financial
management across the organisation.
Not only will this help build the
business case, but it will also be
invaluable when it comes to choosing
the best fit TMS for your company.
Advice on how to put together the
business case can also be sought
from your main relationship banks.
After all many of the main banks have
TMS offerings of their own in some
shape or form. By speaking to your
main bank, you can hopefully get
valuable advice to help in building a
solid business case. Q
9
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 a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Choosing the
Right TMS
C
hoosing a treasury
management system (TMS) With the vast array of treasury management systems
is a rare occurrence for most
treasurers - and one that they (TMS) on the market, how should treasurers go
consequently have little experience
with. It is also a process that affects
about choosing one? Anne Petrie investigates
numerous business units, from IT
to accounting, and whose accuracy
the most important considerations and
has important ramifications for the how they can be weighed against
regulatory compliance of the business.
Defining a business’ needs carefully the all-important bottom line.
before choosing a TMS reduces the
risk of dissatisfaction, and planning out
the project in detail will help ensure
that it is implemented on time and
on budget. Treasurers should also
consider whether to bring in third party
assistance or have the TMS hosted
externally.

DEFINING THE
ROLE OF THE TMS
The first step in choosing a TMS is to
define the needs of the business, in
order to communicate these clearly
to TMS vendors. Jeffrey Wallace,
managing partner at Greenwich
Treasury Advisors, says that the lack of
an initial list of specifications will cause
problems later. “Treasurers sometimes
believe they just need to push a button
and the system will work exactly as
they expect, which, of course, is the
complete opposite of what really
happens,” he explains.
Determining the expectations of the
executive board, particularly in areas
such as reporting, is vital, as is ensuring
that these are clearly articulated to the
treasurer. “Particularly in the last two
or three years, boards have expected
answers to questions on counterparty
exposure and the treasurer hasn’t
always been able to give an answer
straight away,” says Mark Lewis,
director, corporate treasury at Wall

11
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
W
Street Systems. “The board tends to
be surprised by this, but the reporting
process doesn’t allow the treasurer to
do that. If they want that level of visibility
of global risk and cash liquidity, then
there is a cost associated with that.”
Therefore, setting budget parameters
for a new TMS is also essential because
there is always a trade-off between
cost and functionality. “Defining your
requirements in line with budget and
implementation costs is an important
area to consider before you start looking
at vendors and systems,” Lewis says.
A growing awareness that cost-
control can come at the expense of
a successful implementation has
continued, even in the wake of the
financial crisis. “Treasury people are
very aware that there is a substantial
cost to the implementation, just as
there is a cost to a TMS. Maybe 10 or
15 years ago, at least with some of the
smaller systems, they wouldn’t have
even considered that,” Mark Taylor,
consultant at Zanders Treasury and
Finance Solutions, comments. Some
firms might consider using a consultant
or vendor to research requirements and
even install the TMS.
Alan Francis, partner at Manex
Treasury Systems, recommends
researching systems used by similar
companies, whether by size, company
culture or industry. He suggests drawing
up a matrix of instruments that the
system will be required to process, plus
other required functions such as front/
back office split, flexibility of reports,
user segregation, and interfaces to
dealing portals and other systems.
“I also recommend identifying key
points of your specification and scoring
alternatives on the basis of need/would
like/must have,” he says.
IN-HOUSE OR REMOTELY
HOSTED?
When choosing a TMS, many treasurers
face a difficult decision between a web-
based, vendor-hosted solution and an
in-house system. A key advantage of
the former is the lack of disruption to
a company’s IT department and also a
reduced possibility of implementation
delays. In addition, a web-based system
can give the global headquarters
greater control over cash management.
“This decision requires an examination
of who is going to be using the system;
is it going to be just headquarters or out
in the field?” Wallace asks.
Security concerns, however, can
lead a treasurer to opt for an in-house
solution. For some companies, the
advantages of having complete control
12
over their data in an attempt to reduce existing treasury processes), or whether
the possibility of it being hacked they want a customisable system
outweigh the possible challenges tailored to their specific requirements.
of integrating a new TMS into their Taylor equates the customisation
technology infrastructure. Some are process with using Excel: “With many
concerned that their data may be systems you can do basic processes
impounded - for example where a UK but to really get the power of it, you
company’s data is hosted on a US need to set up the TMS in the way
server. This can be an issue in certain that suits your business, for example
industry sectors, for example the oil to receive reports out in the correct
industry, where clients and the host format. Although the vendor may have
country might have competing interests. a set of standard reports, what you
“For example, the Federal Reserve or need for your operation is probably non-
the CIA may want to see the data to standard.”
check for money laundering,” Zanders’ Greenwich’s Wallace suggests
Taylor says. “Now, you can argue that if that adjusting a company’s internal
you’ve got nothing to hide you shouldn’t processes to fit the software is more
worry about that, but people do not efficient in the long run than the
want foreign powers taking control of other way around. “It is important
their data.” to recognise that TMS
Another issue to consider whether vendors have
to outsource the TMS installation will
depend on budget restrictions, as
well as the size and organisation of
the company. In cases where a large
number of existing processes are not
centrally managed, the amount of
business re-engineering needed is
likely to require a significant amount of
external support. “Re-engineering the
lot will take some help from external
sources,” Lewis says. “However, those
of our clients that have the resources to
manage the TMS internally do exactly
that.”
CUSTOMISING THE SYSTEM
Whether hosting a TMS in-house
or externally, a treasurer needs to
determine to what extent they want to
buy an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution (for
which they may have to re-
engineer their

spent a lot of time talking to many
people with regards to how to handle
these common treasury processes.
They are much more likely to be best
practice than a company’s own Excel
process,” he says. “But, of course,
adjustment takes time. Most corporate
treasuries are understaffed and there
is always a crisis du jour, which is more
interesting than doing the trivial and
tedious work of setting up a treasury
workstation.”
Adjusting existing processes carries
its own set of challenges, both technical
and staff-related. Manual processes,
often with Excel spreadsheets, will have
evolved over time, and staff will be
accustomed to working in a particular
way. Where vendors have to undertake
a considerable amount of programming
to match the existing processes, this
can cause problems when an upgrade
is necessary. This can, in turn, result in
a static system that isn’t upgraded, as
custom programming can be costly.
VENDOR REFERENCES
Because a treasurer will have
to live with their chosen
TMS long after
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
implementation, it is important to
do a thorough reference check and
test case scenarios. In obtaining
references, you should look at product
quality and the cost of upgrades and
support, in addition to implementation
efficiency. The latter should include
the time it takes to input historic data
and train users. “Longer-term, post-
live account management is vital,”
says Wallstreet’s Lewis. “You need to
understand what your expectations
are and ask the right questions. Some
vendors are more prone to let you get
on with it, while others see it as a long-
term relationship that will grow.”
Vendor demonstrations are an
integral part of the selection process.
If a company’s requirements have
already been clearly identified, only a
small number need to be considered
in depth after the initial demonstration.
Manex’s Francis suggests that at least
three systems are considered, based
on research of systems in use with
competitors/similar companies. “Try
for a spread of licence/implementation
costs from lower to top end - and look
for value for money,” he explains.
However, Lewis argues that three
is probably “overkill” unless there are
some very difficult requirements. “After
the initial demo, you could probably
choose two and take it from there,” he
says.
Putting together the right type of test
case scenario, as well as taking into the
account the lifecycle management
of specific transactions, is an
important part of this process
that is often missed. “That’s
where we’ve seen a lack
of input from clients.
They rely far more on
previous clients’
references to
validate the
vendor’s ability,”
Lewis says.
Greenwich’s
Wallace suggests
giving vendors sample
transactions to which the
client already knows the answer
ahead of their demonstration for
the vendor to run through in real
time. This allows for a better basis
for comparison, he says, rather than
allowing the vendor to showcase
their system’s best features, with less
reference to the client’s requirements.
“That will give you a good idea of how
the system, reporting and inputting
work. It forces them to depart from
their script and respond to your script,”
he explains.
Since a good treasury workstation
will interface with the general accounts
ledger, involving the accounts team
at this stage is crucial, as is ensuring
that the TMS easily interfaces with the
ledger. “All the system vendors claim
to handle the general ledger, and for
the most part that’s probably true, but
you also will want to check that using
references,” Wallace says. Subsidiaries
can also test the system from their
perspective, as remote users who
will receive the information from the
treasury centre.
At the price negotiation stage, it
is important to play the vendors off
against each other. “Negotiate hard,”
Wallace says, “for most vendors pad
out their prices so that they can bring
them down. Similar to buying a car,
it’s always worth remembering that
salespeople have quotas.”
Given the current market conditions,
the past few years have seen
treasurers focus more on the stability
of the vendor. Consolidation has been
rife in recent years - SunGard alone
has acquired more than 10 treasury
workstation vendors. Larger vendors
therefore represent a lower risk than
their smaller counterparts. According
to Lewis: “There is no point in buying a
system from a vendor that is unlikely to
be around in the long term unless your
plans are not long term.”
However, this would not be a
concern for all firms. For example
spin-off companies seeking an instant
solution to get up and running as
quickly as possible often intend to
move to a heavier-weight system when
the business is more established.
Orphan system risk, where the
TMS’ technology is not updated owing
to a lack of development money, is
also a real risk with smaller vendors.
However, some smaller vendors
accuse their larger rivals of ‘milking the
annuity stream’ of their acquisitions
without updating the technology.
CONCLUSION
Defining your needs and ensuring a
standardised testing demonstration
takes place will lay the foundations
for a successful TMS implementation.
For a process that will happen rarely
for most treasury departments,
choosing the right system is
paramount. Therefore, taking time
to define business requirements, as
well as implementation and hosting
capabilities, and involving all the
relevant stakeholders will help to
ensure that the chosen TMS fulfils the
expectations of the business. Q
13
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Jörg Bermüller,
Expert Head of Cash &
opinion Risk Management,
Merck
What treasury The Merck group selected AvantGard Quantum, QRisk
management plus an additional eTreasury module from SunGard
for its TMS. It was the intention of treasury to
system (TMS) do
implement a new system to improve the existing risk
you use and why and reporting management tools. We were focusing
did you choose it? on the connectivity with our existing IT periphery,
plus looking for further process optimisation in areas
such as deal entries, bookings, etc during the whole
project. We chose SunGard because we were of the
opinion that the system meets our requirements in
the best and most efficient way, and that it provides
the quality that we expect.
Describe the Treasury initially analysed the demand for a new
system. Following this, we defined the specific
process you
requirements together with an external consultant
went through in and launched a request for proposal (RFP)
choosing your containing 373 questions to the most well known
TMS. TMS providers. After analysing the feedback, we
created a shortlist of four service providers. The four
remaining providers had to go through a one-day
workshop showing their skills in a live environment.
One of the requirements was that they had to show
us their capabilities on our specific and extensive
test cases. After a preliminary decision we entered
into a detailed scoping phase. This was the solid
basis for the final contract.
Were there any During such a huge project we discovered different
hitches during hitches, both internal and external. The first internal
discussion pertained to the fact that we didn’t choose
implementation
SAP as our TMS provider. Consequently we had
and how did you special internal meetings on the pros and cons of
overcome them? SAP. In the end we were able to convince our internal
IT department. Right from the start we established
an internal steering committee that helped overcome
any problems. External problems with the provider’s
consultants were escalated throughout the SunGard
hierarchy, up to top management if needed.
This was an agreed approach with the chief
information officer (CIO) of SunGard.
What advice can Clearly define your need, do a proper RFP and
you give others an intensive scoping phase to avoid surprises
embarking on the during the contract negotiation. A smooth and
well-executed project will only be achieved if your
same journey?
company provides enough internal resources. A
dedicated project leader is key; otherwise you will
get lost in the overall workload and in co-ordinating
across internal departments such as IT, back office
and accounting. The same close treatment is
required for external consultants.
14
Damian
Glendinning,
Treasurer, Lenovo
We don’t really use a TMS in the usual sense of
the term. We use SunGard to manage our foreign
exchange (FX) trades and positions, doing all the
important mark-to-market and hedge tracking work.
We do not use a TMS for cash management: we have
a single cash management bank worldwide. All the
information on our cash balances worldwide is in
the same place: the bank’s internet banking system.
We get a complete global daily cash report by simply
downloading the statements. We also use this
system to initiate all our payments from a central
location. The result is simple, effective - and cheap.
The decision to use a single bank worldwide was the
result of an acquisition: we needed to set up cash
management for 67 countries in four months. There
was no time or resources to set up a traditional
TMS. I have been pleasantly surprised by how well it
works - we have a daily report of our worldwide cash
balances. The choice of SunGard was the result of
a RFP. The most important single criterion was their
willingness to host the system on the web. It was
also essential to have a platform that fully supported
our use of FXall - we required the ability to do
automatic confirmations via the internet.
The benefit of keeping things simple is that there
is less to go wrong. Things have generally worked
smoothly from the outset. The main issue we have
faced on the cash management side is realising
one of the main benefits of using a single bank
worldwide: a single set of interfaces from our
systems for settling payments, mostly payables and
payrolls. We have realised that, over the years, the
banks’ infrastructures has evolved on a country-by-
country basis, and they struggle to handle a single,
uniform input. This is particularly true of payroll,
where confidentiality issues and the absolute need to
be timely complicate matters.
It is difficult to give advice to others - so much
depends on your company and its circumstances.
But I would strongly advise looking first at your
operations: it is best to simplify a complex operation,
rather than install a complex system to manage
the complexity. If you can, try to avoid installing a
system internally: doing everything over the internet
significantly reduces the burden of maintaining
systems and managing the security aspects. It
also means that you stay within a standardised
environment - this usually helps reduce problems
with interfaces. Above all, keep it simple.
Richard Smith,
Assistant Group
Treasurer, Mondi
Mondi, an international paper and packaging
company, with production operations across 31
countries and revenues of €5.3bn in 2009, created
a new treasury function in 2007. Technology was
considered a key driver to automate as many tasks
as possible, achieve straight-through processing
(STP) and minimise the number of staff in the
department. Mondi chose City Financials (now part of
Wall Street Systems’ treasury solutions portfolio), as
it was the best solution to meet these requirements.
Mondi set out to define the TMS project objectives:
STP, integration, control, and automation. The
detailed requirements were then compared to the
various TMS available on the market. Five shortlisted
vendors were invited to pitch. City Financials stood
out from the competitors’ offerings because the
integrated solution met both our practical and
regulatory requirements. Market leaders further
validated our choice - we took the time to speak to
professional contacts in other companies’ treasury
departments.
The Wall Street Systems implementation went
very smoothly due to the excellent implementation
manager and the management buy-in at Mondi. With
hindsight, we underestimated the effort required to
extract and cleanse static data from our old system.
Fortunately the data entry skills of our Wall Street
Systems implementation manager became the stuff
of legends!
Be very clear about the project objectives. These will
guide not only the selection of the TMS provider and
partner but also during the implementation process.
Also, management buy-in is essential because of the
impact on the workload of the treasury department.

Tony Kwee,
Assistant Treasurer,
Flextronics
We use tm5 from BELLIN. Initially only our Vienna and
Singapore treasury centres were using the system to maintain
FX positions. Both were very happy with the system and
support. We then considered tm5 for our broader treasury
needs since it offers cash management and payments
functionality. The fact that the system is delivered via
application service provider (ASP) is also a plus. But a major
deciding factor was the willingness of BELLIN to develop a
collaborative partnership with us. This was critical since
Flextronics is a large company with a complex structure of
hundreds of subsidiaries operating in 30 countries.
I interviewed many multinational company treasurers
and consultants (and bankers) who have gone through or
participated in a TMS selection process. It became clear
from these discussions that functionality is only part of the
consideration. The key takeaways were identifying the end-
state requirements and having the right team to get through
the development and implementation process. BELLIN’s
willingness to establish a partnership to collaboratively work
with us, its reasonable development costs, plus being an ASP
solution (contributes to a reduction in internal support and
maintenance costs) all made our decision easy.
Our hitches were principally related to the ability to collect the
necessary operating details from across our subsidiaries to set
up the TMS. Our implementation was more complex because
of the high number of enterprise resource planning (ERP)
systems operating throughout our company. However, BELLIN’s
standard interface with the TMS allowed us to quickly on board
these systems. BELLIN drove the integration points with our
banks and significantly reduced the development burden on
our IT team.
First, define the strategic vision for the TMS within treasury
and communicate that vision throughout the organisation.
This helps set expectations and better ensures that all
affected organisations understand and align to the overall
vision. Second, do not limit your search to a solution that fits
your existing processes, but rather think along the lines of best
practices and how you could align your processes. In our case,
we have a very unique situation that was best addressed by
BELLIN which took the time to understand our processes and
how to accommodate them.
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Carol Power,
Group Treasurer, Cable
& Wireless Worldwide
We’re using IT2. As a start-up treasury in a demerging
company we had no room for slippage in our timetable for
selection and implementation. I had to be confident that
IT2 could deliver the solution we needed. I was impressed
by IT2’s process management facilities, ease of reporting
and functional completeness. Above all else, I developed the
necessary level of trust in the IT2 team - that they understood
our needs, and that they had both the means and commitment
to fulfil them. I felt that IT2 would fully support the realisation
of my vision for treasury.
The demerger timetable demanded that we had to move
quickly and decisively, so we evaluated the relative closeness
of fit of the alternative solutions for automating our treasury
workflows. With no treasury team in place at the time, I
concentrated on verifying vendor references and also on
discussing the matter with fellow treasurers and other experts.
From my perspective, the opinions of professionals whom I
trust and respect were very important factors. There’s always
some element of faith in making such decisions. In our case,
the combination of consistent and positive external feedback
enabled us to make this important choice with a sufficiently
high level of confidence.
I’m glad to say that we encountered no major hitches in
the implementation. The implementation project plan was
deliberately generous in the allocation of vendor team effort,
to provide contingent resources because of our timetable
constraints and my lack of resources. We also focused on
a first phase that addressed our core requirements, again
because of our special corporate situation. In the event, we did
not need to use all the allocated IT2 resources, so the project
came in under budget.
I would stress the importance of involving all internal and
external stakeholders in the process, to ensure high quality
results and genuine shared ownership of the resulting
solution. For the implementation - especially under rigid
time constraints - you need to develop a viable project plan
with the vendor, clearly linked to key deliverables such as
the critical processes, integrations and reports. You need to
monitor progress against this plan closely, so that you can
identify problems before they happen - and eliminate them. As
ever, it’s the professional and personal qualities of the people
involved that determine how smoothly the project progresses.
Gary Williams, General
Manager Treasury,
Mitsubishi Corporation
International (Europe)
IT2 was selected some years ago when Bank of America
offered it to their cash management customers. The overriding
reason for choosing the system was its ability to seamlessly
transmit payments and import bank statements without
having to use an additional system. Second, we wanted a
system that was relatively easy to implement, was intuitive
and could be accessed remotely as we had plans to commence
a European treasury function. We needed a tool to consolidate
all the region’s cash flows, thereby gaining visibility of both
daily and future cash positions. Our requirements in terms
of types of transaction capture were, and still are, fairly
straightforward.
When selecting our TMS we didn’t really consider any other
vendors, as the inherent bank communication function was
our key requirement. However, my advice on the evaluation
process would be to suggest organising a test pack of
transactions along with expected output results under
various scenarios. The configuration of a database may be
an unwelcome overhead from a potential supplier’s point of
view, but as a customer it is important to be confident that
the system will meet your main requirements. Second, ask for
a reference visit and meet with people who have lived with
the system.
There were a few hitches during our implementation. These
were possibly caused by responsibilities and expectations
between respective parties. Either way, it is essential that
when a system is implemented the customer fully understands
how the system is configured and consequent dependencies in
order to keep any re-work to a minimum.
There is a natural tendency to ensure that the TMS will satisfy
every single requirement and, if so, that it is configured to
support all of them by the time it goes live. While the main
providers will probably satisfy the majority of functionality
requirements, including bank and dealing platform interfaces,
it is not necessarily a good idea to try and go live on all
functionalities. A distinction needs to be drawn between
‘must haves’ and ‘desirables’ on go-live. It is important for
the customer to be firm on this point or risk project slippage
and extra cost. Sometimes areas such as accounting or parts
of risk management may be carved out and implemented at
a later point, as long as any dependencies have been set up
correctly.
15
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
n the days before treasury
I
management systems (TMS) or
other specialist treasury software
was available, many of the larger
corporate treasuries built their own
systems in-house. Some of these
homegrown systems became so
successful that new companies were
created to commercially market the
systems. In other cases, technology
companies saw a window of opportunity
and bought the rights to the systems,
incorporating them into their own
treasury product suite.
With the growth of the TMS market,
in particular, most companies realised
that there was no longer a need to build
in-house. Although this sentiment is still
quite prevalent, I have recently spoken
to a number of corporates who decided
to build their own treasury technology. I
found this very surprising and decided
to investigate further.
The main reason not to build your
own TMS often comes down to cost.
And there is certainly an argument
here. Surely it is cheaper to buy a
system than to build one yourself?
Most treasury systems vendors would
certainly agree with this. Another
reason to buy instead of build is that
existing off-the-shelf systems should
have the functionality to give you
everything you could ever need and
more.
It is precisely these two arguments,
however, that are used by corporates
who have built their own systems to
justify why they have done so. On the
cost side, the companies that I have
spoken to argue that the main reason
they have built in-house is because the
systems they investigated did not give
them the functionality they needed. To
add this functionality, they say, would
have cost them a lot of money and did
AUTOMATION
Activity
Process electronic fund transfers
Produce accounting entries
Manage cash positions
Manage short term investments
Manage in-house bank accounts
Manage cash flows
Manage long term investments
Manage debt
Manage policies and procedures
Develop cash flow forecasts
Manage financial risk
Manage banking relationships
Analyse bank fees
16
To Build
or to Buy?
David Kelin, partner at Zanders, looks at the reasons some
corporate treasuries are turning their backs on off-the-shelf treasury
management systems (TMS) and looking to build their own in-house.
not guarantee they would get what they huge value on the fact that they can
had asked for in the first place. make changes to their systems at
What is typical of these corporates is any time and that the work gets done
the belief that they are unique in their quickly, on time and to an agreed
requirements and off-the-shelf software budget. This is important, particularly in
just does not satisfy these needs. All a fast-paced treasury environment.
the companies I spoke to said that they I cannot truly believe that, all costs
went through an evaluation process considered, it is cheaper to build
of standard systems and in the end your own treasury systems. But
concluded that there was a compelling there are also other considerations
case to build their own. that need to be examined. One of
There are a number of other the biggest headaches that treasury
factors that they see as important. departments experience is the linking
Within companies that build their own of disparate systems, otherwise known
systems, there is a great belief in their as interfacing. This raises inevitable
IT department. Treasury and IT work questions, such as who is responsible
well together. Development teams for interfacing two or three systems
exist which understand the individual from different vendors, and who
treasury requirements and can provide supports them once established always
the aftercare support that is crucial. causes discussions. If you build
There is also a lot of focus on flexibility. your own, then this problem is
One company told me that they place seen as more controllable.
A recent Association for
Financial Professionals,
(AFP) survey adds some
useful data to the discussion.
Rate Rate reflects the percentage of The study revealed that in
84% respondents that significantly use general, high-volume activities
65% technology within the particular tend to be more automated
48% business process.
36% In general, high-volume activities tend
37% to be more automated than activities
29% that are knowledge intensive.
29%
25% The number of observations of
the automated peer group relative
19%
to the manual peer prohibited
17%
the statistically valid conclusions
18%
regarding impact of automation on
14%
costs, resource requirements, and
6% cycle times.
Source: Association for Financial Professionals’ Annual Treasury Benchmarking Survey 2009

than activities that are knowledge
intensive. This conclusion agrees
with what was generally understood:
technology is very useful for automating
those activities that may have been
centralised but require a lot of manual
effort. This would include such activities
as payments, managing cash positions,
creating accounting entries, etc.
It is interesting to note that many
corporates use the argument that
technology frees people up from the
somewhat mundane treasury activities.
This means that they can concentrate
on the more decision-making activities,
thus making their roles more interesting
and rewarding. This study agrees with
that premise. However if this is true,
then technology is not being used
as much for those decision-making
activities as previously thought. At the
bottom of the list are activities such as
cash flow forecasting, managing risk,
and analysing bank fees. These are
activities that require decision-making
based on data presumably derived from
treasury systems.
Returning to the question of buy
versus build, the research indicates
that those companies who opted to
build did so because they were unable
to find a system that fitted their needs
and they all had a very strong in-house
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
IT team who were supportive of the
approach. They felt that their treasury
had unique requirements that could not
be met by off-the-shelf systems.
However, this is an expensive
approach. For the majority of
corporates there are systems available
which will cover the majority of their
needs. Research indicates that the
greatest failure by a corporate is not
making full use of the system once it
is installed. This must also be a
failure of the system vendor, as
surely it is in their interest to make
sure that their clients use the
system in the best way possible.
It seems that at least some
companies have had enough and
voted with their feet. However, one
thing is certain - to build your own
implies that you must have deep
pockets. Q
17
 a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

BELLIN
BELLIN is one of the leading providers of fully-
integrated solutions for corporate treasurers.
BELLIN provides hundreds of corporations
and thousands of associated companies
around the globe with completely web-based
treasury management systems (TMS) and
integrated payment gateways. The design of
the solutions allows companies of various
sizes to optimise internal processes and to
fulfil compliance and security requirements.
Corporates ranging from mid-caps to large
multinationals, such as Virgin Atlantic Airways,
Semikron, Flextronics or Liebherr, are happy
with a system implementation process that
adheres to tight timelines and budget. BELLIN’s
solutions include cash management, payment
processing, liquidity planning, deal capture, risk
management, intercompany reconciliation and
netting, and credit management.
BELLIN’s experiences are based on in-depth
knowledge of treasury processes. Most of the
consultants are former treasurers with many
years of experience. That is why BELLIN offers
consultancy around treasury processes in
addition to software solutions. Our customers
are helped to merge their business processes
with the capabilities of powerful systems in the
best possible way. Other services are application
service provider (ASP), software-as-a-service
(SaaS) and hosting of systems with up to 24/7
hotline support, market data provision and local
support.
The BELLIN partner network covers local
services in Germany (where its headquarters is
located), Canada, the UK, Sweden, France and
Austria.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

1. Consultancy
Whatever it takes to set up the project and run it, even working
to tight timelines, a team of professionals will guide, consult and
help the company to achieve its committed objectives.
s Implementation management and monitoring.
s Group-wide supervision and support, considering all the
different aspects and requirements of local treasury business.
s Process review and optimisation, e.g. for cash pools, hedging
analysis and strategies, domestic and international payment
processing, and liquidity forecasting.
s Temporary staff.
2. Software
s tm5 - LoadBalancedTreasury
The core idea behind tm5 is the concept of ‘load balanced
treasury’. Business logic and technical architecture supports
this concept. It is all about bringing the system to the local user
for their benefit, instead of centralising tasks in one spot. Local
teams, including central treasury, can operate on their own
terms - replacing spreadsheets and exchanging data with other
companies and organisations for reconciliation purposes. This
has tremendous advantages for all companies and departments
within complex organisations. With BELLIN, everyone operates
their local treasury requirements from one platform, which
contains all the information. The central treasury retrieves
whatever is required to run treasury management, effectively
replacing the daily task of data collection. tm5 does not only offer
daily cash management capability, including multi-bank and
multinational e-banking solutions, but also flexible mid- and long-
term liquidity forecasting. Additionally BELLIN offers solutions for
clearing internal payment flows, as well as single invoice-based
reconciliation for intercompany balances. BELLIN clients have
recently won the Adam Smith Awards and twice rated ‘highly
commended’.
if there is any trouble during the operation, we fix the problem or
provide you with a consultant at your side for further assistance at
any time. I am convinced that this will be the future in the day-to-
day banking business - and this is even more interesting for small
and medium-sized companies,” says Martin Bellin.
3. Services
BELLIN provides the full range of services for your treasury:
s Consulting
s Application implementation, configuration and customisation.
s Complete treasury reviews.
s Optimisation of processes and strategies.
s Temporary staff members.
s Software
s tm5 - a fully web-based solution for global treasuries in
different configurations.
s tm5 classic for international operating multinationals.
s tm5 limited with a certain extend in configuration and
usability.
s tm5 light for smaller businesses but high complexity.
s Payment2Go - the web-based SaaS payment platform.
s Services
s Financing options for the purchase and rental of the end user
licence.
s Hosting, ASP and SaaS.
s Worldwide local support for all subsidiaries.
s Market data.
s Connectivity for payment processing to several banks (Citi,
Deutsche Bank, Bank of America. Lloyds and many more)
and organisations such as SWIFT.

s Small business international payment processing with BELLIN’s

hosted solution Payment2Go. “Most companies accept banks CONTACT INFORMATION
just like the weather. With our multi-bank and multinational web For further information please contact our sales department:
portal, all you need is a URL and a password. Now the company Ettenheim/Germany - Tel: +49 7822 4460 0
can concentrate on their core business and gets independent Vancouver / Canada - Tel: +1 604 677 2593 100
Email: sales@bellin.de
from systems offered by banks. Since it is a fully-hosted solution, Website: www.bellin.de

19
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www.it2tms.com
 a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

IT2 Treasury Solutions

IT2 Treasury Solutions’ worldwide team of more
than 100 treasury technology professionals is 100%
dedicated to the design, development, delivery
and support of the IT2 Treasury Management
System. IT2’s activities are firmly centered on our
core corporate competencies of treasury expertise,
software innovation and service excellence.
There are more than 230 IT2 clients worldwide,
80% of which are corporate treasuries; the
remainder comprises a diverse range of financial
institution treasuries. IT2’s clients are distributed
across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, the
Middle East and South Africa, and include
blue chip organisations such as GSK, Etihad
Airways, Hysan Development Co, Pirelli
International, SABMiller, Tyco International and
Volkswagen International Finance.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

s IT2 enables cost effective best practice treasury solutions to
be implemented by treasuries of all sizes and levels of complexity. The secure route to
IT2 is shipped with libraries of best practice treasury processes,
reports and interfaces, providing a secure base for accelerated treasury best practice
implementation. In operation, IT2’s treasury processes enable
workflows, policy, and automatically-updating documentation
to be combined into one integral and complete solution, for
cash, treasury and financial risk management, including hedge
accounting solutions and a fully-integrated nominal ledger.

s IT2 includes up-to-date integral solutions for managing and

analysing counterparty risk, and for bank account administration
(including eBAM), providing visibility of enterprise-wide cash
and financial risk, in real time. IT2 solutions are fully scalable,
and can flexibly be extended for the management of assets,
commodities, futures, leases, payment factories and capital
markets operations, where needed, for the complete fulfillment of
client requirements.

s IT2 solutions provide very high levels of security, control

and transparency. Detailed audit trails of all treasury activities
provide further levels of reassurance of operational accuracy and
robustness to internal and external auditors.

s IT2 NET facilitates 24/7 web-based communications between

treasury and global networks of remote business units, supporting
deal requests, netting invoice transmission, cash forecasting
and reporting, including external and in-house bank statement
distribution.

s IT2’s uniquely integrated and complete solution enables

treasury teams to focus on their professional duties, with full CONTACT INFORMATION
confidence in the high quality of the underlying technology.
IT2 UK
Eyot Gardens House, 23 Eyot Gardens London W6 9TR
Tel: +44 20 8741 3553

IT2 USA
12th Floor, 1515 Broadway New York, NY 10036
Tel: +1 212 520 6612

IT2 Hong Kong

Suite 8, 20F One International Finance Centre
1 Harbour View Street, Central
Tel: +852 2167 8111

Email: info@it2tms.com

21
GTreasury provides the ONE Enterprise Treasury
Platform for both web-based application service
provider (ASP)/software-as-a-service (SaaS)
services and on-site treasury workstation
installations to over 350 companies in 90
countries. All support and development efforts
and those of its partners and clients are
focused on one seamless system.
GTreasury is totally dedicated to serving the
treasury management functions of government
agencies, corporations, and banks worldwide.
This is our only business. All of our company’s
support and development efforts and those
of our partners and clients are focused on a
single, seamless system. We firmly believe this
approach results in a richer product line, lower
overall costs, long-term security, and a proven
choice for our users.
“One of our biggest wins with GTreasury was
our ability to use the core product with minimal
customisation. This speaks to the completeness
of the system. Minimal custom work also
reduces the risk we have when we upgrade to
the next generation of the GTreasury system
and being able to use the core product allowed
us to go live very quickly.”
- John Boudreau - Treasurer
SABIC Innovative Plastics, Pittsfield, MA

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Benefits Core Functions
s Global visibility and transaction initiation on all bank accounts. s Dynamic cash positioning.
s Scalable - over 50 modules. s Robust reporting.
s Configurable - user friendly. s Secured funds transfers.
s Enhanced forecasting.
s Single platform - both ASP/SaaS and on-site.
s Adaptable dashboards and graphs.
s Experience - personnel have on average 15 years industry s Flexible back office integration.
experience. s Advanced account reconciliation.
s High performance. s Comprehensive debt and investment management.
s Proven. s Foreign exchange (FX) exposure management.
s Bank and account administration.
s Bank fee analysis.
Why GTreasury?
s Outstanding customer service. CONTACT INFORMATION
s Overall ease of use coupled with comprehensive functionality
G Treasury SS, LLC
that is unparalleled in the marketplace. 3 Corporate Drive, Suite 110, Lake Zurich, IL 60047
s ONE focus on treasury management systems (TMS). Tel: 847.847.3706 Fax: 847.847.3716
Website: www.gtreasury.com

Wall Street Systems

Wall Street Systems (Wallstreet) helps corporations of all
sizes manage liquidity, cash flow, achieve effective risk
management and transform their treasury operations.
For the mid-sized corporation, Wallstreet delivers
integrated, on-demand and cost-effective treasury solutions
for all aspects of corporate treasury requirements. Powerful
cash, deal and risk management, together with integrated
accounting to meet regulatory requirements, are made
available via simple web browsers.
For the world’s largest and most sophisticated treasury operations,
Wallstreet delivers simplification of complex treasury through a single
integrated and strategic platform. With immediate visibility and control;
compliance, payment volumes, parallel accounting (multiple GAAP),
multiple in-house banks and integrated payments, Wallstreet ensures
unprecedented treasury return on investment (ROI) and risk mitigation.
Wallstreet also now offers a leading electronic bank account management
(eBAM) solution, enabling your company to manage bank data, corporate
signatories and account exposures across all global accounts rapidly,
accurately and securely.
Corporations who use a treasury solution from Wallstreet have the peace
of mind of working with a long-established, financially
robust solutions partner. Wallstreet has the world’s largest
global treasury systems practice with more than 75 go-lives
each year, 2,000 people years of expertise and many senior
industry figures. And with an unrivalled implementation track
record, Wallstreet clients know their treasury operations are in
safe hands.
With the recent incorporation of City Financials and
Speranza Systems, now more than 250 of the world’s leading
corporations rely on treasury solutions from Wallstreet. Clients
include GE, IBM, Toyota, Daimler, Merck & Co, Fujitsu, Kellogg’s, Volvo,
Nasdaq and Vodafone.
Wall Street Systems has a 20-year heritage and an outstanding reputation
for quality and responsive service. The company is a privately held
corporation, and is majority owned by Warburg Pincus, a global private
equity investor. It operates out of 13 offices worldwide.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Email: info@wallstreetsystems.com
Website: www.wallstreetsystems.com

MyTreasury
MyTreasury is the leading global electronic
trading platform specifically designed to meet
the money market and foreign exchange (FX)
trading needs of treasury investors. It is part
of the electronic broking division of ICAP,
the world’s premier interdealer broker and
supplier of post trade services.
MyTreasury was launched initially to offer
offshore money market funds (MMFs) to
European treasury investors, now has 100%
of IMMFA MMF providers live on the platform
and offers over 250 share classes across
OpusCapita
With almost 30 years of experience in cash
management solutions, OpusCapita helps
companies to become more agile and efficient
by automating financial processes. The
fourth-generation software, OpusCapita 4G, is
groundbreaking in its field and the most user-
friendly finance software available anywhere.
OpusCapita’s customers include thousands
SunGard AvantGard
AvantGard offers a full suite of solutions for
liquidity management focused on treasury,
payments and receivables management.
In addition, AvantGard offers connectivity
from these solutions out to a broader
ecosystem including FX management,
eBAM, SWIFT, banks, collection agencies,
credit data, market data, money market
funds (MMFs) and more. Further, as a
SWIFT Global Partner, SunGard AvantGard
helps corporations improve corporate-
to-bank connectivity, which includes
Thomson Reuters - Treasura
Treasura brings the power of a robust
treasury management solution (TMS) to
the web, enabling increased productivity
at lower costs and implementation
timeframes, while eliminating the need
for IT maintenance and support. Treasura
is the most highly adopted web-based
treasury solution leveraging 20 years of
experience serving the needs of treasury
professionals.
With Treasura, you can:
s Automate data gathering to eliminate
delays and errors from manual processes.
s Organise your treasury information to
fit the operation and management of your
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
more than 140 funds. MyTreasury has over
400 individual users in over 220 investor
organisations ranging from local governments
through all sizes of corporates to major
financial institutions.
MyTreasury is the only trading platform to
offer fully automated trading with all funds,
requiring no manual intervention and no
assignment of trading authority to the third
party platform provider. MyTreasury has also
been integrated with all the major treasury
management systems (TMS) to deliver fully
of companies and public sector organisations
in the Nordic countries and the software is
used in more than 50 countries. The company
collaborates with banks, information providers
and other software vendors to provide
organisations with the best possible solutions for
cash flow automation.
OpusCapita’s 120 financial management
providing several options to connect to
the SWIFT Network and to manage that
connection. From basic cash management
to sophisticated risk analysis, investment/
debt management, trading, netting, etc.
AvantGard Treasury can meet a wide range
of requirements.
The AvantGard global services team
delivers domain expertise and best practices
as part of a full-scale implementation with
detailed training, and ongoing support
services. ASP, hosted solution and managed
treasury processes.
s Gain a consolidated view of your
cash positions across multiple banks,
currencies, and business segments.
s Implement sophisticated rules to ensure
policy compliance.
s Conduct in-depth cash and forecast
performance analysis.
s Manage your portfolio of investments,
debt, FX, and derivatives.
s Improve controls with automation and
audit-friendly workflows
Why choose Treasura?
s 100% web-based: access Treasura
automated trade booking and settlement.
MyTreasury has extended its geographical
operations to include Hong Kong, China and
Singapore as well as into the US with the
addition of onshore funds to the platform.
The scope of the platform is currently being
extended to offer term deposits, certificates of
deposit and FX by the end of 4Q10.
Website: www.mytreasury.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7000 5163
Email: info@mytreasury.com
and IT professionals work in offices in Helsinki,
Stockholm, Copenhagen and Tampere. In 2009,
the turnover was over €13.8m. OpusCapita was
established in 1984 and is privately owned.
Website: www.opuscapita.com
Tel: +358 207 463 200
Email: info@opuscapita.com
services delivery are also available to help
reduce total cost of ownership and offer a
comprehensive approach to solution delivery.
Over 2,500 organisations and more than
25,000 professionals in 40 countries rely on
AvantGard to gain real-time view of global
cash and risk; improve cash flow and lower
DSO; mitigate corporate credit risk; expedite
payments execution and manage banking
relationships.
Website: www.sungard.com/avantgard
from anywhere, at any time, without ever
compromising your security and control
processes. If you know how to use the
web, you know how to use Treasura.
s Cost-effective: Treasura is subscribed
to ‘as you go’ for only the modules you
need.
s No software to install: minimise your
implementation costs and timeframes,
and your need for internal IT support.
Website:
http://financial.thomsonreuters.com/treasura
Tel: +1 (604) 682-2862
Email: Treasura@thomsonreuters.com
23
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

TMS Functionality Survey 2010

SYSTEM NAME ACORN ATOM BELLIN TM5 CHESAPEAKE FINACLE
SYSTEMS TREASURY
SMARTTREASURY
1. Dealing - Financial Instruments
Foreign exchange
Spot O O O O O
Forwards O O O O O
Foreign exchange (FX) swaps O O O O O
FX options (over-the-counter (OTC)) O O O O O
Debt interest rate products
Money market loans and deposits O O O O O
Bankers’ acceptances O O O O O
Euro commercial paper (ECP) - discounted, multicurrency O O O O O
Euro medium-term note (EMTN): multicurrency O O O O O
Bonds: ad hoc O O O O O
Money market funds (MMFs): investments Z O O O O
Securities O O O O O
Derivatives
Short-term: forward rate agreements (FRAs) - multicurrency O O O Z O
Interest rate swaps O O O Z O
Cross currency swaps O O O O O
Swaptions O O O O O
Interest rate options O O O O O
Financial futures Z O O O O
Electronic dealing
Can the system link to one of the main e-dealing systems
such as 360T, Currenex or FXall? O O O O O
2. Cash Management
Balance and transaction management
Automated scheduled delivery of
bank balance and transaction reports. Z O O O Z
Manual delivery of bank balance information
and transaction reports. O O O O O
Reconciliation
Automated scheduled reconciliation of bank
statements and TMS position. O O Z O Z
Manual reconciliation on an ad hoc basis. O O O O O
Ability to import a reconciliation file from an
external source, such as SAP. O O O O Z
Performed within the TMS on a total balance basis. O O O O Z
Forecasting
Ability to record and report treasury transaction flows. O O O O O
Ability to record and report interest flows. O O O O O
Ability to record and report cash calls (inter-company funding). O O O O Z
Ability to perform comparative analysis between
forecast and actual figures. Z O O O Z
Confirmations
Ability to link to a confirmation matching service? Z O O O O
3. Accounting
Support an internal and integrated, ledger or sub-ledgers? O O Z O O
Provide an interface to an external accounting system? O O O O O
4. Reporting
Maintain a library of reports that a user can adapt? O Z O O O
Have a internal report writing feature? Z O O O O
Link to an third party report writing tool? Z O O O O
5. Security
Does the TMS conform with security principles,
such as ‘four eyes’, segregation of duties, etc? Z O O O O
6. Risk
Is there a risk management module that allows users
to calculate and measure risk? O O O O O
7. Target Company Size
Small (US$500m and below) O O O O O
Medium-sized (between US$500m and US$1bn) O O O O O
Large (greater than US$1bn) O O O O O

24
 a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

O full functionality, Z some functionality, Ono functionality

FINDUR - FINLOGIK FTI STAR GTREASURY HANSE ORGA INTEGRATED IT2 KYRIBA
CORPORATE TREASURY TREASURY TREASURY
SOLUTION WORKSTATION SYSTEM (ITS)

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O Z O O O O

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O Z O O O O O
O O O O O O O O

O O O Z O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O Z Z O O O
O O O Z O O O O
O O Z Z Z O O O

O O Z O O O O O

O Z O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O

O Z Z O O O O O
O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O
O Z O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O

O Z O O O O O O

O O Z O O O O O
O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O
O O Z O O O O O
O O O O O Z O Z

O O O O O O O O

O O O Z Z O O O

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
Only those vendors that filled out the gtnews TMS Functionality Survey between July - September 2010 are included
25
a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

TMS Functionality Survey 2010

SYSTEM NAME MICROGEN OLYMPIC OPENLINK OPUSCAPITA ORACLE -
MUSKETEER BANKING FINDUR FLEXCUBE
SYSTEM
1. Dealing - Financial Instruments
Foreign exchange
Spot O O O O O
Forwards O O O O O
Foreign exchange (FX) swaps O O O O O
FX options (over-the-counter (OTC)) O O O O O
Debt interest rate products
Money market loans and deposits O O O O O
Bankers’ acceptances O O O O O
Euro commercial paper (ECP) - discounted, multicurrency O O O O Z
Euro medium-term note (EMTN): multicurrency O O O O Z
Bonds: ad hoc O O O O O
Money market funds (MMFs): investments O O O O O
Securities O O O O O
Derivatives
Short-term: forward rate agreements (FRAs) - multicurrency O Z O O O
Interest rate swaps O Z O O O
Cross currency swaps O Z O O O
Swaptions Z Z O O O
Interest rate options O Z O O O
Financial futures O Z O O Z
Electronic dealing
Can the system link to one of the main e-dealing systems
such as 360T, Currenex or FXall? O Z O O O
2. Cash Management
Balance and transaction management
Automated scheduled delivery of
bank balance and transaction reports. Z Z O O O
Manual delivery of bank balance information
and transaction reports. Z Z O O O
Reconciliation
Automated scheduled reconciliation of bank
statements and TMS position. Z O O O O
Manual reconciliation on an ad hoc basis. Z O O O O
Ability to import a reconciliation file from an
external source, such as SAP. O O O O O
Performed within the TMS on a total balance basis. O O O O O
Forecasting
Ability to record and report treasury transaction flows. O O O O O
Ability to record and report interest flows. O O O O O
Ability to record and report cash calls (inter-company funding). O Z O O O
Ability to perform comparative analysis between
forecast and actual figures. O O O O O
Confirmations
Ability to link to a confirmation matching service? O O O O O
3. Accounting
Support an internal and integrated, ledger or sub-ledgers? O O O Z O
Provide an interface to an external accounting system? O O O O O
4. Reporting
Maintain a library of reports that a user can adapt? O O O O O
Have a internal report writing feature? O O O O O
Link to an third party report writing tool? O O O O O
5. Security
Does the TMS conform with security principles,
such as ‘four eyes’, segregation of duties, etc? O O O O O
6. Risk
Is there a risk management module that allows users
to calculate and measure risk? O Z O O O
7. Target Company Size
Small (US$500m and below) O O O O O
Medium-sized (between US$500m and US$1bn) O O O O O
Large (greater than US$1bn) O O O O O

26
 a buyer’s guide to TREASURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

O full functionality, Z some functionality, Ono functionality

PARITY PLATFORMA SALMON SPECTRUM THOMSON WALLSTREET WALLSTREET WALLSTREET

TMS FOR TREASURER REUTERS TREASURY CITY SUITE
WINDOWS TREASURA FINANCIALS

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O Z O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O

Z O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O
Z O O O O O O O

O O O O O Z O O
O O O O O Z O O

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O

O O O O O Z O O
O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O
O Z O O O Z O O
O Z O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O

Z O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
Only those vendors that filled out the gtnews TMS Functionality Survey between July - September 2010 are included
27
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