Le magazine du trésorier - n°68 - 4ème trimestre 2009 - (Page 17)

What services expected from a trading floor and changes after the financial crisis Is there such a thing as a customer satisfaction model for a trading floor? What’s the best way to serve corporate treasurers with regard to financial products? These are the questions that this article aims to answer, as the crisis and new regulations have changed and will continue to change the behaviour and expectations of financial managers. 1. SERVICES EXPECTED OF A TRADING FLOOR Generally speaking, irrespective of the country where corporate treasurers deal with a trading floor, they are becoming more and more demanding in terms of the services provided. These demands can be explained by the complexity of the operations as well as the technological and regulatory developments. These days, due to the centralisation of banking activities, financial managers are making increasing use of trading floors based abroad, most often dealing directly with Frankfurt, Paris or London. This maximised centralisation of trading floors’ activities has now been compounded by a fundamental technological change enabling banks’ relations with operators to be conceived in a manner that is new and more efficient, but also much more direct. Treasurers expect high-quality services, efficiency and also general proactivity.This might seem self-evident but, in practice, it sometimes turns out quite differently. Proximity is no longer an absolute must, but merely a simple advantage that is losing its lustre by the day. Nevertheless, it’s important not to dismiss the benefit that it continues to bring and the preference of some financial managers for local human contact. Very frequently, the approach to relations is also a question of style, age or generation. It’s vital for bankers to always try to make the difference through the service, as in a world of products that have become true commodities and are all interchangeable, the service (including, of course, price) can become the trump card, the USP and the means of securing loyalty among the treasurer clientele. The internal banking relations policy of a multinational group is often such that treasurers seek to adequately and impartially spread the operations entrusted to banks in order to comply with their established commitments, increasingly contractual ones. However, the sole fact of being considered a core bank is not enough to justify high prices and/or poor services. Bankers should always merit the flow of operations entrusted to them.Treasurers often loathe change, as departing from their habits always carries a risk. They look for specific and advanced services and when they find them, they become attached. Treasurers are sedentary by nature, even if the new generation are more volatile and less loyal than their predecessors. Automation has become an absolute key that many seek in order to install STP (Straight Through Processing), all the more so as the new regulations, including the notorious 8th Directive, require the reinforcement of internal auditing. Both internal and external audits are designed to strengthen chains of financial operations by integrating and automating them from their negotiation stage right through to their eventual settlement. However, a high degree of automation does not negate the benefit of possessing a high-quality back office, which is always an added ace for a banker to FOCUS

Table des matières de la publication Le magazine du trésorier - n°68 - 4ème trimestre 2009

Couverture
Sommaire
EDITORIAL
- Une dette, cela se rembourse...
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
INTERVIEW
- Mrs.Aline Weier, Robert Half Finance & Comptabilité
FOCUS
- Evolution de la fonction de trésorerie en période de crise
- What services expected from a trading floor and changes after the financial crisis
- Adding Value for Stakeholders Through Improved Risk Management
- J.P. Morgan’s 2009 Global Cash Management Survey reveals the latest investment trends among corporate treasurers
FORUM OF ADVERTISERS
- Performance Management : from strategy to winning KPIs
- 15 minutes avec… le CRP Henri Tudor
TREASURERS’ ASSOCIATIONS
- Conférence Banque Degroof : Risques Climatiques
- Trésoriers de l’ATEL à l’honneur
- EACT semi-annual meeting Copenhagen
- Questions to Richard Raeburn, EACT Chairman
NEWS

Le magazine du trésorier - n°68 - 4ème trimestre 2009