FI services compared in Asian Banker survey Publication Date: January 2010 Total No. of Figures/Tables: 6

ABOUT THIS REPORT

The Asian Banker has compiled the first-ever comparison of the cash management, trade finance and treasury services offered to banks by 12 key international and large regional FI service providers to show areas of differentiation. You can access the article here.

While the business of providing cash management, trade finance and treasury services to banks is in many ways a commoditised business, any large or medium-sized bank will have its areas of specialisation. However these differentiations are often poorly understood, and there has been a lack of clarity on which banks provide which services to financial institutions (FIs). To show how FI banks are differentiated from each other, The Asian Banker has compared 12 large international and regional banks on their basic services in the FI business, as well as their points of differentiation.

Even within a bank, there may be problems in understanding what other divisions offer to FI clients, a challenge that is going to become more acute as client demands for better liquidity management services heighten, and as the trend to integrate cash management and trade finance gains momentum. But even when these services are understood, communicating them is a challenge. “Even if a bank has a good product in their headquarters, it doesn’t mean that they have good communications in their product sales. Customers in the regions don’t know what their good products are,” notes the head of transaction services at a large Southeast Asian bank that uses large banks’ FI services.

To improve communication on the capabilities of FI banks in the region, and to discuss key issues, the FI business of cash management, trade finance and treasury will be a key track at this year’s Asian Banker Summit in Singapore from April 18th to 20th.