How Cygnetise can help solve the signer management pain in treasury and banking
Leading US financial community NeuGroup is pushing for a digital revolution in bank account and signer management, and Cygnetise's innovative signatory management application might be the breakthrough solution treasury teams are looking for.
In the realm of corporate treasury, there is one particular pain point that consistently emerges at the forefront of treasury teams across the globe: the cumbersome, and highly manual outdated process of managing bank account signatories or mandates. Recognizing the critical nature of this issue, members of the NeuGroup for Global Cash and Banking have initiated a collaborative effort, seeking digital solutions and standards from banks to solve this burden. Amid this push for modernization, innovative fintech players like Cygnetise are stepping into the spotlight with their smart technological applications that could be just what everyone in the industry has been waiting for.
The inefficiency of traditional signer management in banking
Most modern treasury teams are tasked with the onerous responsibility of tracking and updating multiple signers across potentially thousands of bank accounts that could easily span dozens of financial institutions globally. This responsibility is not just a matter of internal record-keeping; it's crucial for external audits, FBAR and SOX compliance, fraud prevention, and more. The traditional method of managing this process involves navigating a labyrinth of emails and manually updating spreadsheets, which is both time-consuming and prone to errors. The frustration is palpable among finance professionals, as they grapple with outdated systems and the lack of real-time visibility into signer data.
“Even knowing who your signers are at any given point—the annual process is painful. Today, if I needed to get reports on all those who have portal access across our banks, there are reports and visibility into users and accounts that I can run and see. My position is that the banks should have signatories set up in a similar manner.”
A digital horizon: The NeuGroup's appeal
In response to this frustration, the NeuGroup has stepped forward, advocating for a digital revolution in BAM and signer management. At one of the group’s recent working sessions, members highlighted and praised the latest developments in the space by leading banks like Citi and J.P. Morgan who are at various stages of offering their own digital signer portals and solutions to a subset of their business customers.
Citi's approach involved the introduction of a Digital Signer Management program within its online banking platform, CitiDirect. This portal allows clients to view current signers and initiate updates. According to Citi, the portal enables global, real-time reporting and on-demand signer summary reports, representing a centralized digital repository for signer information.
“This solution allows our clients to update one or more signers in multiple locations through a single, digitally initiated request; this allows Citi to make the requested changes at a personal level, instead of on an account-by-account basis. ”
Similarly, J.P. Morgan's solution known as Authorized Signer is offered through the bank’s Access platform and aims to facilitate visibility and reporting of account and entity signers, simplifying BAM for its clients’ treasury teams.
However, while these platforms promise real-time visibility into signer data, the issue of seamlessly integrating these data flows with third-party databases and Treasury Management Systems (TMS) remains.
“It’s going to be great when all banks are offering similar digital signing portals. However, having to log into each portal and run a report is still going to be time consuming.”
How Cygnetise can solve bank’s “signer pain”
Cygnetise presents a pioneering solution, addressing the critical pain of signer management in treasury and BAM. The cloud-based SaaS platform uses the latest blockchain technology offering a secure application for managing and updating bank mandates / signers, and authorized signatory lists. The application's real-time updating and sharing capabilities ensure that all stakeholders have access to the most accurate and current signer information, significantly reducing the risk of fraud and errors. Cygnetise's user-friendly interface further simplifies the entire process by making it more accessible and efficient for both the issuing (publishers) and receiving (subscribers) parties. It allows corporations to manage and share their signer details with not just one but all their banking counterparts.
The road to fully digital and integrated signer management
The journey towards fully digital and integrated signer management is ongoing. The collaborative efforts of corporate treasury groups, banks, and fintech solutions like Cygnetise will be essential in paving the way for a more efficient and secure future. While banks are progressively adopting digital solutions, the broader vision encompasses a standardized, bank-agnostic approach that allows seamless data flow into TMS and corporate databases. This vision, although challenging, is crucial for the evolution of treasury operations in the digital age.