A forum for netting
As one of the few independent agents on the market, OpusCapita arranged a seminar on netting that was held on 19 October. Discussions highlighted the continuing vital importance and relevance of netting today, as well the industry's need for a forum.
“There’s no doubt at all that netting is still an incredibly important part of the cash management processes of large companies. No-one would even contemplate moving away from netting,” says Christer Magnefelt at OpusCapita Scandinavia, moderator at the seminar.
A number of representatives from Sweden’s largest companies were there on the day and OpusCapita has recorded the exchange and distribution of information between the participants. For instance, many people are still wrestling with so-called ‘difficult netting countries’, such as Brazil and Venezuela, which for legal reasons do not allow either full or partial netting.
A meeting place
“The seminar was set up as a round table discussion and it served to prove that there is a need for companies to get together in this way. We need a discussion forum for the entire industry, not just for our users. But it also provides an indication of OpusCapita’s position on the Swedish market, which has grown stronger every year.”
Discussions at the seminar also covered factoring as a key element of the netting process. Currency risk and counterparty risk can be centralised if a parent company buys invoices from its subsidiaries. Some companies use this method, but they are members of a very small minority. This is partly due to the fact that most companies currently still use payables-driven netting, in other words where the payer decides which invoices to pay, and partly because they are probably not aware of the potential of factoring.
“But there is now growing interest in receivables-driven netting. Unsurprisingly, the desire to be paid is greater than the desire to pay. The payment ethic is not the same for internal receivables and external payments still come before ‘internal’ ones. As we provide a powerful factoring service as a supplement to traditional netting, we can naturally see further potential for this process.”
Comeback for Christer
Christer Magnefelt returned to OpusCapita sales team this year. After working as a financial consultant for a year, he decided that he couldn’t keep away.
“I was just dying to come back, to both my colleagues and the work.”
Christer has worked in cash management since 1990. With a background at SEB, including several years as global product manager, he has worked in Liquidity Management and forecasting for the last ten years.
You can read more about netting in The Revival of Netting.
For further details, please contact:
Christer Magnefelt, Sales Executive
+46 70 6600 125
christer.magnefelt@opuscapita.com
