BofA Unveils “VAM 2.0”, An Enhanced Virtual Account Management Solution 

Bank of America has launched the next generation of its global Virtual Account Management (VAM) solution to address the growing complexities that treasurers face today when managing global operations.  

New features of Bank of America’s enhanced VAM solution include:

·         A single global view: From a single dashboard, clients have visibility of virtual accounts across countries with the ability to set up structures in 30+ currencies.

·         Flexibility:  Accessed through the bank’s CashPro® platform, clients can manage virtual account structures and transactions via the new self-service user interface or via file transmission.

·         Digital account transition made easy:  With VAM fully integrated into the bank’s CashPro® and foreign exchange platforms, clients can now take advantage of our full suite of reporting and electronic payment and receipt types.

The enhanced solution is currently available in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands. Subsequent roll-outs will occur in other countries and regions in the near future.

SUSTAINALYTICS Report of how to manage human diversity in ESG investing

The increasing focus on impact metrics in ESG investing is generating all kinds of reports to help investors understand the impact of the different ways of doing business. The new report “Human development: focus on gender diversity” is part of the Sustainalytics programme to provide investors reliable and robust data to understand and report on the social impact of their holdings and portfolios. The report looks at how companies disclose:

• Gender diversity
• Human development – women in the workforce and women in senior roles
• Companies disclosure and other factors

And then examines how these metrics can be used to evaluate a company’s performance.

(See: https://www.sustainalytics.com/)

AD Little report: Value drivers for green banking – ESG and sustainable finance move to centre stage

This report shows how ESG and sustainable finance offer a growing opportunity to banks as the world transitions to a low carbon climate resilient and circular economy. But it raised the question is sustainable always the superior option? A recent study suggests that yields for green bonds are on average 15 to 20 basis points lower than for conventional bonds, both on the primary and secondary markets.

The report contains an important chart on how ESG and sustainable finance can impact organisational revenues, costs, risk exposure, access to capital and its brand. (The report is worth reading just for this table alone.)

The authors conclude that there need to be some adjustments in the interest of investors in order to take advantage of opportunities arising from the transition to a low carb economy. (For further details see: https://www.adlittle.com/en/insights/report/value-drivers-green-banking  )