Compliance weighs on the day-to-day of treasurers

In this article published by L’Agefi, Stéphane Nenez and Mathieu Cascallana, Partners at Eight Advisory, analyse the impact of regulations on treasurers.

Facing growing requirements of regulations on areas such as Know Your Customer (KYC), measures against money laundering and against the financing of terrorism, as well as sanctions and embargoes, treasurers are expressing considerable dissatisfaction.

“Treasurers spend a lot of time complying with formalities,” comment Stéphane Nénez and Mathieu Cascallana, Partners at Eight Advisory.

The KYC (Know Your Customer) process, for example, although it has been around for several years, still causes great frustration when it is mentioned. According to the DFCG, the national association of CFOs and controlling directors in France, opening a bank account takes fifteen extra days due to the complexity of the process.

Although treasurers recognise the need for stricter controls, they would like to see a centralisation of applications and a modernisation of processes.

“It is regrettable that banks do not merge the requested documents or harmonise their requirements. Some are making efforts to digitalise, but according to our current observations, 98% of KYC requests are made manually. As a result, the formalities involved in opening an account represent a significant cost in terms of time and money”, highlight Stéphane Nenez and Mathieu Cascallana.

Read the full article (French) by Frédérique Garrouste published in l’Agefi on 31 May 2024.