Tracking Transaction Banking Transitions – Chris Principe

Since the financial crisis, banks have actively sought to make up lost revenues from mortgages, derivatives and other risky lending.  The challenge has been to find new revenue streams which provide the opportunities for growth and management of risk. One of the key areas that meet these criteria is Transaction Banking. Over the last few years, Transaction Banking has become a key profit driver for many institutions.  There are widespread expectations of increased revenues and cost synergies.

Transaction Banking defined

So, what is Transaction Banking? I define Transaction Banking as a corporate banking offering that has no retail cross-over. Some vendors believe that they can take a corporate banking product, strip out the onboarding, FX, pooling etc. and – voilà – produce a retail product. I am sorry, but, to my mind, things do not work that way.

I see Transaction Banking as a suite of uniformed products that address the key corporate needs for working capital optimization.  That suite of products includes solutions that are designed for corporates and which integrate cash, trade finance, FX and payments.

True Transaction Banking convergence is a challenge which will take time and hard work.  The financial services industry struggles with legacy applications, limited resources, internal co-operation (or lack thereof) and, of course, funding. Corporates have already made great progress in operational and logistical efficiencies: this means that CFOs have been able to manage working capital more effectively. 

However, with the extension of global supply chains, the financial implications of all this have grown markedly. Corporates understand these implications, and are driving banks to provide a Transaction Banking suite which can benefit them. Currently, the corporates tend to see banks as consisting of separate silos: technology vendors have been regarded as a part of the problem, not the remedy.

I think that there are two key questions. Can banks and vendors deliver on the promise of Transaction Banking rather than stay true to existing silos? How can corporates profit from a seamless banking solution that delivers benefits?

It will take co-operation from both sides to make the shifts that are needed to realize all the potential rewards. Banks need to incorporate the thought processes of corporate CFOs in the design and development of Transaction Banking solutions. Corporates need to have an end-to-end view of all transactions that have an impact on working capital, with all relevant reports centralized in one single place. That single place should be a secure portal with a dashboard which is designed to provide a user-friendly experience.

Of course, the dashboard is just one aspect of a properly conceived Transaction Banking solution. I would suggest that the solution should also provide the following key benefits:

• Initiation of transactions, from which information is fed to cash management (for position forecasting), FX Contracts placement, investment decisions, accounts receivable and accounts payable. In short, a holistic view of working capital should allow the CFO to mitigate risks for the corporation both in its home market and internationally.
• Combination of cash, trade, FX and payment information in both standard reports and user-built reports. This needs to happen in real-time, so that the CFO can see the current position and forecast cash flow effectively.
• An Omni-link approach that will seamlessly connect the many forms of communication available today.  This will range from traditional bricks-n-mortar, to on-line, video to NFC, EDI and Twitter to RFID and mobile (smart phones, tablets, wearable devices, etc.)
• Provision of Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) and e-invoicing capabilities that can be based on information from the buyer or the seller. The system should also include processing of Purchase Orders (PO) which matches them to Invoices and other relevant documents.
• Automation of settlement information, in order to carry the PO-Invoice matches into the acknowledgement of payments made by buyers and sellers. This will relive the corporates of the odious work of reconciliation and may actually be a fee-generator.
• Connection with the bank’s FX system, or interface with a provider of real-time FX rate information. FX contract information should also be automated.
• Features such as cash concentration, netting, account sweeps and pooling for liquidity management, which make it easier for corporates to manage working capital.
• Identification of the optimal timing of settlement, taking account of supplier discounts and the earnings potential of company funds.  This can take place manually, or in an automated payment processing system.
• A single on-boarding capability that automates compliance screening and due diligence.

Building the right solutions

For the vendors, the challenge is to develop a corporate Transaction Banking solution that can be applied by banks to the needs of all corporate clients – large, medium and small. The solution should enable banks to extend the full range of products and services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who play a key role in the supply chains of the banks’ larger corporate clients. Meanwhile, the larger corporate clients need a consolidated single view – and one that incorporates the clients’ dealings with different banks.

In short, the message for vendors is simple:  build solutions that the corporates need, and you will have solutions that the banks will buy. Too often, though, the vendors have a blinkered view that the banks are their customers and that the banks will tell the vendors what the banks think that the corporates want. This is true of most vendors because it is the larger customers (i.e. the banks) which pay for the development of new products.

In other words, the vendors opt not to bear the costs and risks of developing new products that meet the needs of the market. They want to be able to claim a position of leadership, but without paying for it. Very few vendors have the imagination to develop a solution that the corporates really need and then tell the banks that the banks should adopt the solution.

A case in point is mobile banking for corporate clients. Banks have focused on retail mobile products and solutions – which produce no income. Meanwhile, very little attention has been given to mobile banking for corporates. This is astonishing, given that corporates – unlike retail customers – will be prepared to pay for the service. The features that a bank can offer to a corporate client are straightforward: however, it is important to differentiate between corporate usages of smart phones as opposed to tablets.

On a smart phone, there are limitations as to what can be done. It is reasonable for a corporate to expect ‘remote approval’ type functions. These include the viewing and approval of payments, payroll and travel expenses, as well as certain other transactions, by executives who are out of the office. In addition, the executives have the ability to view statements, review transactions, perform cash movements and check positions. These functions include alerts and two-way messaging for corporate actions – with a degree of personalization and content ability for both large and SME corporate clients.

So, what else do the corporate customers need from mobile solutions that are delivered by smart phones? I suggest the following:

• Improved user experience.
• Flexible and bi-directional (i.e. bank-to-customer and customer-to-bank) alerting and messaging capability that is linked to the overall dashboard view.
• Support for third party applications for host-to-host transfers.
• Enhanced performance and security with proven capabilities.
• Ease of maintenance that comes from application monitoring by the bank on a real-time basis.
• E-Mail/SMS notification for authorizer, status and administrative changes.

I would also note that the opportunity exists for banks to use different message modes for the cross-selling of complementary bank services, such as the offering of an FX contract or cash pooling.

The tablet offers broader functionality, with fewer limitations as to what may be done. Like a phone, a tablet is expected to provide the ability to view statements, approve transactions, perform payment authorizations and to check positions with alerts and two-way messaging. However, a tablet offers a greater degree of corporate personalization and content management. Corporates expect that full business-to-business transactions can be undertaken on a tablet, in the same way that they would be on a desktop computer.  Workflows can take account of the full life cycle of a transaction. It should be possible to collect essential data (e.g. settlement date, amount, currency etc.) from an internal or external system at an earlier stage in the overall process.

Meanwhile, trade finance is largely uncharted territory for mobile banking. Banks hope that corporate clients will use tablets (and, to a lesser extent, smart phones) to enter in applications for imports, exports, stand-by facilities, guarantees and other trade-related transactions. This should enable the banks to broaden corporate relationships and to increase fee income by coordinating corporate transactions.

However, the challenge is that trade is driven by documents which are not all in electronic format at this time.  Paper documents are slowly moving to electronic formats, which will boost the value of tablet processing.  Once documents have been captured and digitized, images can be accessed by all parties to a transaction. That would give corporations the ability to check the status of pending bills or payments, to know if a transaction has been executed, to view the current and scheduled inflows and outflows of cash, and to adjust funding requirements.  

Mobile services can assist trade partners in relation to financing, scheduling, and payments – as buyers and sellers can communicate and co-operate. Invoices, packing lists, shipment information and other documents can be created automatically.

Integrating FX, trade processing and risk management

In relation to FX, online banking systems can provide very useful international currency services for banks’ customers.  Requests for real-time rate retrieval, FX pricing, spot or forward contract placement and trading can be integrated into a Transaction Banking suite of products. FX is needed to facilitate cross-currency payments initiation and processing. 

In particular, there needs to be support for the common practice of tethering a spot or forward contract to a trade transaction in order to provide a level of risk mitigation against currency fluctuations over the transaction tenor.  By enabling corporations to match their trade transaction with their FX needs, a bank will have a much enhanced cross-selling opportunity. The opportunity can be boosted through the use of automated alerts and messages in multiple formats, for instance at the time that a trade transaction is initiated in a currency that is not the base currency.

Cash management is that part of a bank’s ecosystem where cash, trade, payments and FX are integrated. In true Transaction Banking, banks can extend the features of cash management to the trade portfolios of their corporate clients in order to enable the clients to better manage their working capital.  Products such as account sweeps, multi-currency accounts and liquidity management tools can be introduced, to provide the corporate client with more accurate cash flow forecasting. Settlement also presents opportunities where the bank could do both collection and payment for inter-bank clearing.  Further, with EIPP and EBPP in trade, banks should be able to give their clients end-to-end visibility of cash, trade, FX and payments together. Ultimately, the individual executives who use the data should be able to define how the relevant statistics are structured and when and to whom they are distributed.

Of course, a Transaction Banking suite should facilitate risk management. It should be possible for the bank to see its overall exposures to countries, correspondents and clients. It should also be possible to assess particular deals in terms of Risk Adjusted Return on Capital and other widely used metrics. Meanwhile, a corporate client should be able to see and manage the exposures of its various subsidiaries, brands, divisions or recently acquired operations.

From the point of view of the CFO of the corporate client, the Transaction Banking suite should provide the ability to distribute information within the organization according to the ‘parent/child’ model. As ‘parent’, the CFO has a complete view and the ability make well informed decisions in order to optimize the use of the corporate’s capital. As ‘children’, the various line executives only have access to the information that is directly relevant to them.

I suggest that many of the online cash management offerings of large banks are capable of meeting the functional needs of most of their corporate clients most of the time.  On average, though, the offerings are six to twelve years old and sorely needing an upgrade to the latest technology and functionality.  All this begs an important question: what should the banks be looking for when they update their cash management offerings?  I believe that the goals should include: an enhanced user experience; a single platform for cash, trade, FX and payments that is available through a single, secure, common portal; and the possibility of Software as a Service (SaaS).  I believe that there are opportunities for banks – and vendors – to leap ahead of their competitors by providing innovative and holistic solutions rather than the single-faceted products that have been common in the past.

Options for banks, opportunities for vendors

There are many attractive options for banks that are looking to expand their Transaction Banking business.  The challenge is change focus from using automation to lower costs towards increasing revenue – by monetizing the ‘gold’ in the data that the banks possess. Finding paying corporate clients should be no problem. Corporate CFOs have the mandate and the funds to invest in new solutions that will reduce finance costs. Overall, though, this provides even greater opportunities for vendors:

• Many banks have reached a crossroads. Old technology does not provide consistent functionality for all clients and all purposes. Many banks are looking at replacing old technology with new.

• Banks no longer want single purpose products and instead want the potential that comes from integrated, multi-faceted solutions.

• The solutions need to suit corporates of all sizes – from SMEs to large multi-nationals.

• Many banks are increasing the resources that they are making available to their Transaction Banking businesses.

• Banks are at least prepared to consider SaaS approaches.

• For all these reasons, banks are more willing to consider vendor solutions than they have been in the past.

This is a new reality for vendors, and one that will drive new revenues and profits well into the next decade.  Vendors who are selling to banks will need to have a deeper – and more valuable – understanding of the needs of the banks’ corporate clients. The vendors need to shift from being receivers of orders from the banks to becoming providers of integrated solutions to the banks.

In practice, this means that the vendors have to consolidate the various ‘silos’ within their own organisations, which sometimes involve products that are in direct competition with each other. Management teams need to be reorganized around integrated solutions rather than individual products. Compensation of, and incentives for, each product group need to be rethought. 

For vendors, the ability to provide SaaS is a definite advantage.  SaaS saves banks the start-up costs that are involved with on-site installation, as well as the operational costs and complexities involved with hardware and software. In the area of supply chain finance, for instance, I have seen that the vendors who have a SaaS offering have generally been far more successful than those vendors whose products need to be installed on the bank’s own premises.

Vendors whose revenues come mainly from legacy products that are installed on banks’ premises need to prepare for a new world in which the delivery of SaaS offerings through the Cloud is the norm. The product teams of such vendors will be the victims of an addiction to client-funded development, with no 12-step rehabilitation program to move them towards innovation and recovery.

Far too many legacy vendors are unable to see the opportunities and the challenges. To use another metaphor, they are donkeys when they need only be cats or dogs. Cats and dogs can sense traffic on a busy road and – usually – can take appropriate action to get to safety. Donkeys cannot sense the danger, and tend to remain in the middle of the road, oblivious to the traffic.

In this metaphor, the traffic represents those vendors who truly understand how integrated, multi-faceted Transaction Banking suites of products can benefit the banks’ corporate clients. Delivered through the cloud, the product suites offer information-rich solutions that benefit the clients and which can be monetized by the banks. Costs are contained and maintenance is much easier. When vendors take the lead in the development of Transaction Banking suites of products, all can benefit – the banks, the corporate clients and, of course, the vendors themselves.

EN RESUMEN

Críticos cuestionan la legalidad de algunos acuerdos firmados con Cuba

Las propiedades confiscadas por el gobierno cubano están en el centro del debate

El embargo, los obstáculos de la parte cubana y la incertidumbre en un año electoral frenan a bancos y compañías

JUNIO 25, 2016 4:55 PM

POR NORA GÁMEZ TORRES

ngameztorres@elnuevoherald.com

Los estadounidenses que viajen a Cuba podrán usar una tarjeta de crédito Mastercard expedida por el banco de la Florida, Stonegate, según anunció la compañía este mes. Pero, ¿qué pasa si el viajero la usa en un hotel ahora administrado por una empresa controlada por los militares cubanos o una propiedad que fue confiscada a una compañía estadounidense por el gobierno cubano?

Por el momento, no pasará nada. Desde enero del 2015, la Administración permitió el uso de tarjetas de crédito y débito en Cuba por los viajeros autorizados. También otorgó una licencia a la compañía hotelera Starwood para administrar dos hoteles en la isla e invertir en su remodelación, un anuncio que llegó el día antes de que el presidente Barack Obama pusiera un pie en La Habana, el 20 de marzo. Uno de estos hoteles, el Quinta Avenida Habana, ubicado en Miramar, es propiedad del Grupo de Turismo Gaviota, una empresa de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR) líder en el mercado turístico cubano, con más de 20,000 habitaciones bajo su control.

Los detalles del acuerdo de Starwood no se han hecho públicos y la compañía no contestó a una petición de comentario para esta historia. Tampoco lo hizo Stonegate Bank.

Voces críticas de la nueva política hacia Cuba, no obstante, creen que ambos acuerdos estarían violando aspectos del embargo o serían inconsistentes con la política trazada por la propia Administración para “empoderar al pueblo cubano”.

Según el ex congresista Lincoln Díaz-Balart, la Administración estaría permitiendo el uso de tarjetas de crédito amparándose en que estarían empleadas por viajeros autorizados, pero en su opinión, estaría violando la ley al permitir la extensión de financiamiento (préstamo o crédito) para transacciones en las que se podrían ver involucradas propiedades confiscadas a personas o compañías estadounidenses, un aspecto prohibido en el artículo 103 del título 1 de la ley Helms-Burton (The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act) de 1996.

La Administración, infirió Díaz-Balart, “trata de justificar acciones legales apuntando a parte de la ley, pero están violando otras. Cuando se está hablando de ofrecer financiamiento y propiedades robadas, yo creo que está violando la ley”, afirmó.

Según, Mauricio Claver-Carone, director del US-Cuba Democracy PAC, “la prohibición expresada en el artículo 103, no tiene excepciones, por el lenguaje en que está redactado”. El activista dijo que la Administración ha ido “estirando” las regulaciones del embargo para introducir nuevas “excepciones” basadas en aquellas que ya estaban asentadas en la ley pero que, a su juicio, son “inconsistentes” con otros puntos en la legislación vigente.

Claver-Carone, quien sigue de cerca la política cubana desde su blog CapitolHillCubans, opinó que la licencia otorgada a Starwood sería “inconsistente” con la política de “empoderamiento del pueblo cubano”, pues los beneficios no irían al pequeño sector privado sino a una empresa militar. En el caso de Stonegate, consideró que el Departamento del Tesoro debía pedir a Stonegate Bank poner en funcionamiento un sistema para certificar que las transacciones realizadas con sus tarjetas de crédito no involucren propiedades confiscadas.

Por su parte, el Departamento del Tesoro dejó claro en una declaración obtenida por el Nuevo Herald que la Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros, encargada de supervisar el programa de sanciones contra Cuba “no considera el uso el uso de tarjetas de crédito por los viajeros autorizados en Cuba para adquirir bienes y servicios como transacciones sujetas a la prohibición establecida en el artículo 103”.

Pedro Freyre, abogado de Ackerman Senterfitt que asesora a compañías con interés en negociar con Cuba, cree que la intepretación de la ley que hace la actual Administración “es la correcta”.
 
“Estimo que la interpretación de la sección 103 de esa manera, es un poco amplia porque creo que la intención del Congreso no era limitar las transacciones de tarjetas de crédito para viajes autorizados”, opinó. “Si vas a la misma ley [Helms-Burton], en la definición de tráfico [con propiedades confiscadas], hay una excepción específica para las transacciones relacionadas con los viajes. Eso indica cuál era la intención del Congreso cuando aprobó la ley”.

Si bien la ley sí incluye esa excepción, Díaz-Balart, uno de sus impulsores, alega que “la intención legislativa del Congreso fue asegurarse que las inversiones en la isla y el financiamiento al régimen de Castro fuera ilegal. Hasta que se cambie la ley, no se puede actuar como si la ley hubiera cambiado” y “la ley no se ha cambiado, no se ha eliminado el embargo”, insistió.

Estudios legales, alineados con ambos lados del debate político sobre Cuba, llegan a conclusiones distintas, pero ambos indican que la sección 103 tendría precedencia. La firma Steptoe & Johnson LLP concluyó en enero del año pasado que las nuevas reglas para permitir importaciones cubanas, incluidas el alcohol y el tabaco, así como el uso de tarjetas de crédito y débito en la isla “eran inconsistentes con las prohibiciones en la ley de EEUU relacionadas al financiamiento indirecto de propiedad confiscada en Cuba”.

Por su parte, un estudio comisionado por el Cuba Study Group a la firma Hogan Lovells en el 2011 sobre la amplitud de los poderes ejecutivos con respecto a Cuba concluyó que el Presidente podría podría permitir a los bancos de EEUU ofrecer financiamiento a transacciones incidentales a servicios o exportaciones autorizadas a Cuba pero “cualquier autorización, sin embargo, estaría sujeta a las prohibiciones en la sección 103 de la ley Helms-Burton”.

El embargo, la burocracia cubana y la incertidumbre en año electoral frenan a compañías
Por el momento, la Administración está ganando el debate sobre qué interpretación de la ley predomina. Una decisión contraria tendría que ser tomada en una corte, y para llegar a ese punto, quienes se oponen a la nueva política reconocen que el camino es largo y arduo. “La administración sabe que está en su último año… Cuando hay un ejecutivo que está dispuesto a violar la ley o casi violarla, toma tiempo y recursos” cuestionarlo a través del sistema judicial, lamentó Díaz-Balart.

El fantasma de las demandas que podrían pender sobre las compañías estadounidenses que supuestamente “trafiquen” con propiedades confiscadas está por el momento bajo control, pues el título 3 de la ley Helms Burton, que conferiría ese derecho a los dueños con reclamaciones de ese tipo, ha sido suspendido por cada presidente desde la entrada en vigor de la ley.

Pero aunque las perspectivas de un cuestionamiento legal en las cortes parece poco probable y la Administración ha hecho esfuerzos por clarificar las regulaciones, convencer a compañías y bancos de hacer negocios en Cuba y de ese modo, consolidar su nueva política, el complejo entramado legal tejido alrededor del embargo aún en pie, pudiera ser suficiente para detener a los empresarios que prefieren no tomar grandes riesgos.

“Si te fijas en el hecho de que sólo hay un banco que está involucrado actualmente con Cuba, creo que eso te da una idea de que otros bancos no están siguiendo esa línea en este momento porque el embargo todavía están en efecto. Es muy complicado para un banco, asegurarse de que se está cumpliendo con las regulaciones del embargo”, comentó al Nuevo Herald David Schwartz, CEO de la Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA).
 
Schwartz subrayó que la Administración no puede ofrecer “garantías” de que los bancos no van a ser responsables si una transacción resulta al final ser ilegal. “Si la persona que usa la tarjeta de crédito no la emplea para una transacción que está autorizada eso va a ocurrir a través del banco y este corre el riesgo de ser hallado responsable por la transacción. Por eso, los bancos tienen dudas de realizar actividades con Cuba actualmente”, argumentó.

A medida que aumenten las relaciones comerciales con la isla, los debates y cuestionamientos sobre la legalidad de ciertas transacciones se harán más comunes, sobre todo, si el espinoso tema de las reclamaciones por propiedades confiscadas (definidas de modo amplio para incluir también la propiedad intelectual) no se resuelve antes.

La batalla que enfrenta a la compañía Bacardí y a la cubana Cubaexport por los derechos sobre la marca de ron Havana Club es un ejemplo. Bacardí insiste en que es la legítima dueña de la marca en EEUU y acusa al gobierno de Cuba de actuar de manera “fraudulenta” para obtener el registro de esa misma marca, al ocultar que estaba relacionada con las propiedades confiscadas a José Arrechabala S.A. en 1960, su dueño original.

Por otro lado, quedan los obstáculos que impone también Cuba, y que muchas veces dejan prácticamente sin efecto algunas de las nuevas medidas tomadas por la Administración de Obama.

El mismo anuncio de Stonegate se vio eclipsado por la aclaración del Banco Central de Cuba de que “todavía no está activo en la Isla el servicio de tarjetas de crédito emitidas por el banco Stonegate debido a que son necesarios ajustes financieros y legales entre Cuba y Estados Unidos en un proceso que no ha concluido”, según reportó el portal Cubadebate.

Algo similar pasó con el anuncio de la venta de café cubano en Estados Unidos por Nespresso, del grupo Nestlé. En abril, el Departamento de Estado agregó el café a la lista de importaciones autorizadas producidas por emprendedores privados en Cuba. Aunque Nespresso declaró que colaborará con la organización sin fines de lucro TechnoServe para trabajar con los pequeños productores de la isla, por el momento su primera producción de la edición limitada “Cafecito de Cuba” proviene de café comprado en Europa a través de una compañía exportadora estatal cubana.

En una declaración el 5 de mayo, la Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños, controlada por el Estado cubano, dejó en claro que un mecanismo de exportación directa de café a Estados Unidos no es previsible en el futuro cercano. “Nadie puede pensar que un pequeño productor agrícola puede exportar directamente a los Estados Unidos. Para que esto sea posible tienen que participar empresas cubanas de comercio exterior y tienen que producirse transacciones financieras en dólares, que hasta ahora no se han podido concretar”, indica el comunicado.

Queda, además, en suspenso la pregunta sobre qué pasará en el futuro.

Varios expertos coinciden en que ninguno de los presuntos candidatos de ambos partidos le otorgará a la política hacia Cuba la misma prioridad que el actual ejecutivo. Mientras tanto, en la Cámara y el Senado esperan por aprobación varias propuestas sobre Cuba, unas para fortalecer las sanciones actuales y otras para relajar el embargo. Varias medidas en el proyecto de presupuesto de servicios financieros y gastos generales del gobierno intentan apretar las tuercas a las sanciones y prohibir tanto el “tráfico” con propiedades confiscadas como los negocios con compañías controladas por los militares cubanos, algo que estaría bien visto por el presidente de la Cámara de Representantes Paul Ryan, quien favorece prohibir las transacciones con entidades militares cubanas.

“También existe el riesgo de que ahora mismo existe un relajamiento de las sanciones pero estamos en un año de elecciones. ¿Qué pasaría si la próxima administración no continúa este mismo camino de relajamiento de las sanciones? Entonces, ¿que le pasaría a los bancos? El tema sigue siendo el embargo”, concluyó Schwartz.

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/mundo/america-latina/cuba-es/article85988397.html#storylink=cpy

THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2016                       BEST OF MIAMI                      MIAMI TODAY 29

BY SUSAN DANSEYAR

Miami has long been known as the gateway to Latin America with its strong logistics industry and second most important ­international banking hub after New York. Now, with our port ready for increased trade opportunities from the expanded Panama Canal and Miami International Airport one of the busiest in the world with over 80 airlines traveling to 150 destinations around the globe, our city is poised to be a global business center.

Pieter Bockweg put together the entire package for a state-of-the-art movie and TV production studio downtown now used by Viacom International Media Networks for the Americas, said Marc Sarnoff, nominating him as a leader growing the city's international business. Mr. Sarnoff and Mr. Bockweg worked together when they were formerly chair and executive director, respectively, of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, which funded the project through a public/private partnership.

"By bringing this studio to Mi­ami, Pieter is responsible for at least 150 direct jobs and at least 1,500 indirect jobs," Mr. Sarnoff said. "He's self-deprecating, has a good sense of humor and is a relationship builder."

The key, he said, was Mr. Bockweg looked for a management company to operate the studio. When EUE Screen Gems responded, he listened to the company's design criteria demanded by the industry.

The studio will continue bringing international business to Mi­ami, Mr. Sarnoff said. "The Latin Chamber of Commerce of the United States went on a trade mission to Almeria, Spain, and Pieter was invited. He's in final negotiations to build a studio there, based on the model he created here," Mr. Sarnoff said. "There's been discussion about a sister city relationship and work between the chambers."

David Schwartz, president and CEO of the Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA), said his colleague Teresa P. Foxx, as Barclays Miami branch general manager, is a true representation of a leader contributing to the overall growth of Miami's inter­national business scene. "She promotes money markets and cor­porate banking business opportunities as part of client services to Barclay's Latin American and Caribbean-based clients," he said. In addition, Ms. Foxx is serving as FIBA's chair.

Throughout the term, which began July 1, 2015, and runs to the end of this month, she is carrying out FIBA's mission of international banking education and building a network of bank­ing and finance partnerships around the globe. Mr. Schwartz said she has "played an instru­mental role in generating aware­ness of trade finance and trea­sury and liquidity management over the course of her tenure."

During her tenure as FIBA chair, Ms. Foxx highlighted the significance of treasury and li­quidity risk management for in­ternational banks. It is a crucial element of doing business, which has been subject to expanded regulations due to the bank cri­sis, she said.

She said she played an instrumental role in establishing FIBA' s Treasury and Liquidity Management Committee with the objective of bringing together the trea­sury and finance professionals within the banking community to talk about the new regulatory requirements, as well as standards that are significantly impacting banks such as more stringent capital requirements, stress testing and liquidity coverage ratios.

Other highlights of her year include

• Worked collaboratively with FIBA's Trade Finance Committee to exhibit high levels of sup­port for the trade finance industry
•  Had continual voice on the Miami-Dade International Trade Consortium Board with John Rodriguez, past chair representing FIBA
•  Helped launch the first Women on Boards of Directors program in partnership with IESE Business School which provided senior women with the continuing-education critical for serving in board and committee leadership positions.

Dec 18, 2014, 7:10am EST

Leaders of two major Florida banking groups have opposing views on the prospects of doing business in Cuba, now that President Obama has decided to restore economic ties with the island nation.

Looser rules on money transfers and exports to Cuba represent "a tremendous opportunity for banks in Florida," David Schwartz, CEO of the Florida International Bankers Association, told the trade journal American Banker.

Banks have been avoiding doing business with U.S. firms with ties to Cuba, as part of a larger trend of avoiding risk in the face of tougher regulations. Schwartz said he's "cautiously optimistic" that the new policies "will help alleviate concerns" banks have about doing business with certain customers.

But banks that do business in Cuba could be stigmatized in the Cuban-American community, said Alex Sanchez, president of the Florida Bankers Association.

Sanchez doesn't see the opportunity that Schwartz does.

"Cuba in its current condition doesn't have the money for anything … I don't know what banks are going to be going down there, and who they're going to bank," Sanchez said.

As part of the changes Obama announced Wednesday, U.S. banks will be allowed to open correspondent accounts at Cuban financial institutions. Travelers to Cuba will be able to use their U.S. credit and debit cards. U.S. businesses will be able to export an expanded list of products to Cuba, including telecommunications devices, agricultural equipment for small farmers and building materials for home construction.

Read More http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/blog/morning-edition/2014/12/florida-bankers-debate-business-opportunities-in.html 

Log on to the Export-Import Bank of the United States website and users will be greeted with a message typed in 50-size-font capital letters: AUTHORIZATION HAS LAPSED.

“Due to a lapse in EXIM Bank’s authority, as of July 1 2015, the Bank is unable to process applications or engage in new business or other prohibited activities,” a disclaimer reads.

The authorization of the Export-Import Bank, an independent federal agency that aims to support jobs by facilitating the export of US goods and services, expired at the end of June and was not reauthorized by Congress. Therefore, the bank can only manage the about $110 billion it has given out in loans but cannot take on any new loans until re-authorization occurs, said David Schwartz, president of the Florida International Bankers Association.

“The Ex-Im Bank was one of the few profitable government agencies [last year $675 million in fees back to the Treasury], and it is estimated that it helped to create 1.3 million jobs in the export business,” Guillermo Diaz-Rousselot, president and CEO of Miami’s Continental National Bank, told Miami Today. He said the bank played a large role in helping Florida exporters in the ’70s and ’80s, and helped Miami become a hub for international business.

In Florida alone, there are about 58,000 exporters. Data show that total trade through Miami International Airport and PortMiami topped $93.1 billion in 2013, according to the county’s most recent international trade report. In 2014, Miami Today reported that small- and medium-sized businesses make up more than 96% of Florida exporters and account for 68% of Florida exports, the highest among all 50 states.

Mr. Schwartz called the decision, or lack of one, unfortunate.

“[This] will make us the only industrialized nation that does not have this type of institution,” he said. 

A number of banks in Miami focus on export-import transactions, said Dennis Campbell with Campbell Law Firm. A lot of these trade-finance banks focus on trade with South and Central America. “Ex-Im assumed risks that trade finance banks are unable or unwilling to accept and guaranteed payment of the debt,” Mr. Campbell told Miami Today. “The lapse in Ex-Im’s authority could have a significant impact on trade-finance banks in South Florida and require these banks to change their business models.” Let’s say an exporter wants to finance trade with a foreign country. A local bank may look at that country’s risk factors, such as currency or political risk, and deem it an unsafe transaction. An Ex-Im bank might have more experience financing trade with that particular country, and is therefore more willing to take the risk. The Ex-Im bank is meant to benefit small- and medium-sized businesses, but critics say it’s being used by major manufacturers instead, said Richard Zelman, co-founder of the Sacher, Zelman, Hartman, Paul, Beiley & Sacher law firm. There have been discussions about reforming Ex-Im bank processes, perhaps in the form of a bill or amendment on a bill, but at present, Mr. Schwartz said, nothing is in the works. The hope is that the re-authorization will come attached to a bill that both the bank’s supporters and opponents want to pass. But as a standalone bill, he said, it won’t make it through.