Successful automation of the FX netting process with corima at voestalpine

24.09.2024

Successful automation of the FX netting process with corima at voestalpine

voestalpine is a leading global steel and technology group with combined materials and processing expertise. The globally active group of companies has around 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. The voestalpine Group has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its premium product and system solutions, it is one of the leading partners to the automotive and household appliance industries as well as the aviation and energy industries and is also the global market leader in railroad infrastructure systems, tool steel and special sections. voestalpine is committed to global climate targets and has a clear plan for transforming steel production with greentec steel. With around 51,600 employees, the Group generated revenue of EUR 16.7 billion in the business year 2023/2024.

Treasury management transformation with corima - the complete solution for voestalpine

The Group Treasury department in a global group like voestalpine performs numerous strategic, planning and operational tasks. With corima, our modular and comprehensive financial software, we have been implementing an efficient solution since 2017, which is continuously being expanded and now covers key areas such as cash management, financial status, liquidity planning and transaction management at voestalpine.

A decade of innovation

COPS solutions have been in use at voestalpine since 2004. The introduction of corima in 2017 marked a turning point in the optimization of existing financial processes. Today, corima is used to manage complex financial transactions such as currency trading, money market, commodities and trade finance management. The seamless integration into the existing ERP system enables the automatic creation and forwarding of booking records for all transactions generated in corima.

Latest technologies for maximum efficiency

Our latest innovation is the integration of the FX netting process. After transferring the liquidity planning process from a previous system and implementing it at all Group companies, we were able to start setting up the budget netting process. Around 460 units now plan their liquidity every three months. 46 of these are also part of the FX netting process. The US dollar is the most important trading currency, followed by AUD, CAD and SEK.

Precise planning and transparent communication

"Recording data as accurately as possible in liquidity planning is a prerequisite for efficient processing," emphasizes Johannes Friesenecker, who is responsible for communication with the units. Once the quarterly liquidity planning has been completed, the budget is merged with the hedging portfolio and the foreign currency account balances as at the reporting date. The new hedging requirement is now determined using the hedge ratios stored at the companies, which are defined individually based on the business model of the respective company. The proposal automatically created in corima is communicated to the participating companies, and any necessary changes are recorded and approved.

The remaining FX trades are only sent to the front office for execution once they have been approved.

The traders, Friedrich Hofstätter and Stefan Fiesel, trade the currencies efficiently via the interface to 360T, supported by straight-through processing, such as automatic trade confirmations via Finastra and EMIR reporting via RegisTR. "Of course, we also carry out spot transactions for short-term settlement or project hedging transactions between netting dates", adds Friedrich Hofstätter.

Impressive results and cost savings

"With the help of corima, we were able to reduce the number of external currency transactions in the netting process by around 75 %. In May 2024, only 112 external transactions remained out of 614 internal transactions,” explains Harald Kerschbaummayr. “The success of netting is not just the reduction in trades, but also the reduction in the external trading volume by around a third."

A successful process and good cooperation

Together with the voestalpine team, Christoph Gönczöl and Thomas Eckhardt from COPS have established an efficient process that brings considerable simplification and cost savings while reducing currency risk through automation. The entire process, from liquidity planning and FX trading to the forwarding of bookings, is now handled on a single platform. Further optimization potential is to be identified and implemented in the upcoming operational consolidation phase.

Success-Stories by COPS – Customized complete packages from a single source for 45 years. To be continued!

With corima, you are ready to take your financial management to the next level. Rely on our expertise and experience the future of treasury management!


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