At the Association of Corporate Treasurers ‘Cash Management Conference’ in London last week, how the corporate treasury department can connect and integrate the different systems and services they use was a recurring topic. Richard Abigail, Group Treasurere, ARUP when discussing the treasury management system connectivity said, ‘All I want is Apple like plug and play connectivity which just works with no user guides and no hassle.’ There was a general feeling of despair. No-one in the session on ‘Corporate to bank connectivity’ felt that there was a solution. They seemed to be hoping for a new solution that would replace XML, just as EDIfact had been replaced. 

All connectivity is going XML 

It is often not appreciated that a vital impact of SEPA is that it is driving the banks to adopt ISO 20022 standards globally, not just in the SEPA region. There will be no other set of connectivity standards for corporate treasury. All business practices and solutions are, in one way or another, moving to the web and to XML messages.

This makes it easier for corporate treasury departments as there is no choice. The only concern is that banks use the fields in the XML and/or SWIFT messages differently. BUT Large corporates have the power to tell their banks, “This is now we use the fields in the standard. Accept it or we will change banks.” Johnson Controls International did this in their global SWIFTNet project, which covers 95 banks in 69 countries - see case study.

Other connectivity 

Nevertheless, the problem of connecting the legacy systems and services will still be with us for many years. This is where the middleware suppliers, such as Volante and The B2 Group, are vital. They are able to connect your corporate treasury department to most other systems and services without the corporate treasury department having to change at all. However, don’t forget that moving to the new XML ISO standards will pay dividends in the long run.

The other good news is that many service suppliers are moving to cloud based services where connecting disparate systems and services is so much easier, e.g. BELLIN, Reval and Kyriba.

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CTMfile take: The missing piece in the drive for improved corporate treasury department connectivity and integration is pressure from the corporate treasury association to force the banks and other suppliers to adopt the new XML standards. Johnson Controls International showed how much power corporates have. Associations have even more power. Jim, Colin and Richard your lobbying should not just cover the new ‘bonkers’ regulations, it should also include pushing for the new XML standards which are just as important.