Asset control

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Sally

Published in Upward Curve

Cash rich, but time-poor. Sally Percy discovers why some of the world’s wealthiest individuals are turning to private banks to manage their money

Making money is one thing. Managing it is something else – especially if you have a frantic schedule and complicated financial affairs.

Indeed, complexity is one of the main reasons why the world’s wealthiest people choose to use the services of private banks, according to Tom Slocock, head of UK wealth management clients at Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management.

“As an individual’s wealth increases, the alternatives open to them also increase – sometimes exponentially – and that tends to breed complexity,” he says. “So they want to deal with a counterpart who is experienced in dealing with that complexity, which is not something that can be replicated across thousands and thousands of clients. They also want a counterpart who has the ability to pull together all the expertise that is necessary to service their needs.”

Working with dinosaurs

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Sally

Published in Accounting Technician

Some say evolving technology threatens to make accountants extinct. Can they adapt to the changing climate or are they doomed? Sally Percy sinks her teeth in

What’s the difference between a dinosaur and an accountant?

If you ask that question of Anthony Hilton, the respected financial editor of the London Evening Standard, he would probably tell you that one is extinct, while the other isn’t. Yet.

In an engaging and provocative keynote speech to AAT’s FMAAT Premium members earlier this year, Hilton compared the prospects of accountants with those of the ‘terrible lizards’ that were wiped out 65 million years ago.

Technology, Hilton said, was increasingly enabling businesses to have real-time information on which to base decisions, e ectively removing much of the technical work that accountants have done up until now. “The environment is no longer in need of your skills, the way it was,” he noted. “So you are going to have to evolve or, otherwise, like the dinosaurs, you will disappear.”

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New rules force up price of money

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Sally

Published in Raconteur’s Corporate Treasury supplement in The Sunday Times

Reform of the financial services sector was essential following the 2008 crisis, but how is new regulation affecting corporate treasurers? Sally Percy investigates

The torrent of financial services regulation unleashed since the 2008 banking crisis may not have been directly aimed at corporate treasurers, but it has still rocked their world.

“Regulation features high among treasurers’ concerns because banks, effectively, are being restricted in what they can and can’t do,” says Michelle Price, associate policy and technical director at the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

The string of rules that banks – and therefore treasurers – have to contend with relate to derivatives trading, money laundering, tax and sanctions, among other topics.

But, ultimately, the regulation that will probably have the greatest impact on banks and their corporate clients is the infamous (in the financial services world, at least) Basel III accord, which has already transformed the banking environment that treasurers operate in on a day-to-day basis.

As Bob Stark, vice president of strategy at treasury software provider Kyriba, puts it: “No one is immune to the direct or indirect effects of Basel III.”

If the face fits

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Sally

Published in Accounting and Business

Personality profiling is widely used by accountancy firms when recruiting and developing staff, but is it just a fad or a genuine way to get the best out of finance professionals?

Personality profiling dates back to antiquity. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates defined four ‘humours’ – air, earth, fire and water – and argued that the interaction between these was what defined human temperament.

But the birth of modern personality profiling didn’t occur until the 1920s, when Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung identified that people have a natural predisposition to act in a certain manner. This, he said, is based on whether they are extrovert or introvert, whether they rely more heavily on their intuition or on concrete information, and whether they base their decisions on empathy or on facts.

Jung’s thinking has heavily influenced the development of personality profiling methods over the years. In particular, it underpins the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers – as well as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter.

Today, personality profiling is used by organisations of all sizes as a way of improving business performance. The theory is that employers can help their staff to achieve more if they understand how they like to work and what they base their decisions on. So employers use profiling when they are hiring, building teams and developing their people.

Profiling also benefits individuals because it enables them to better understand both themselves and how they can interact with others to achieve positive results. And this applies as much to finance professionals as it does to anyone else.

High flier

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Sally

Published in The Treasurer

Air France treasurer Frédérique Lacombe explains how her team is helping the airline to reduce its costs, pay down its debt and manage its business risks. Sally Percy reports

If the airline industry is considered one of the most glamorous businesses to work in, then that must be doubly true when it’s a French airline that we are talking about.

So there will be many European treasurers who would secretly covet the job of Air France treasurer Frédérique Lacombe. But a business in any industry faces its own unique challenges and, as Lacombe herself will be the first to admit, airlines are no exception to this rule. They face very strong headwinds, both in the sky and on the ground.

Since the financial crisis and the economic meltdown that followed it, the Air France-KLM Group has been battling to curb its operating costs and to get on top of its net debt (which stood at €5.27bn as of 30 September 2014). With this in mind, Air France launched the Transform 2015 turnaround programme in 2012, which aimed to slash its cost base by €1.5bn. At the same time, it moved to regain competitiveness and take its brand ‘upmarket’ by enhancing its customer service and improving its seats, lounges and catering.

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Buying Britain

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Sally

Published in Raconteur’s M&A 2015 Outlook in The Times

The UK is proving to be an increasingly popular target for foreign investors seeking a business opportunity, writes Sally Percy

UK property famously appeals to foreign buyers, but they like to snap up our businesses too. Research by law firm Allen & Overy found that in the third quarter of this year, the UK was the world’s second most popular destination for inbound investment after the United States.

The fact that UK businesses are an attractive target for overseas companies is hardly surprising, says Daniel Domberger, a partner at corporate finance advisory firm Livingstone Partners. “It’s a welcoming climate for business with well-established legal precedents for the mechanisms of M&A, which not all jurisdictions have. And it’s relatively easy to do what you want with the business once you’ve acquired it, in contrast to many European countries.”

In particular, the UK appeals to US investors because they see it as the beachhead into Europe, says Mike Driver, a partner at corporate finance boutique Convex Capital. “The language is the same and there’s a similar legal system,” he says. The UK’s return to economic growth and higher consumer spending are making the country attractive to US retailers, while our technology businesses complement those across the pond.