By Anuja Pande Joshi
Latin America has become an international strategic priority for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which is offering end-to-end business banking in the region.
With much of the globe still struggling to regain its footing following the devastating economic crisis that began in 2008, it’s difficult to find many bright spots or areas of growth. But there remain a few, most notably parts of Asia and Latin America. These are regions where businesses are rushing to help keep their balance sheets healthy. But they can’t do it alone. In order to be successful they need bank partners with the right tools and reach. In Latin America, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) is increasingly becoming the go-to bank for businesses both local and international.
The bank highlighted its plans recently when it presented to The NeuGroup’s LatAm Treasury Managers’ Peer Group (LATMPG) in June. At the meeting members of BofAML’s International Subsidiary Banking team discussed the bank’s plans for supporting the burgeoning growth in the region. Ana Díaz, head of BofAML’s Latin America International Subsidiary Banking, reviewed the bank’s global transaction services (GTS) geographical footprint, growth strategy, service model, service offerings and technology solutions.
Increased Commitment
Reinforcing the bank’s commitment to the region, Díaz explained that in 2011, Paul Simpson, the new global head of GTS, restructured the management team placing JP Cuevas as the GTS Head of Latin America.
Robust resources and anticipated growth has made Latin America a priority market for BofAML, who has invested significantly in the region over the past year. The bank’s GTS strategy is focused on delivering banking services to large corporates, financial institutions and governments.
Accentuating Relationships:
With Mexico and Brazil accounting for close to three quarters of Latin America’s GDP, it’s natural for the bank and its multinational clients (MNCs) to direct the majority of their strategic resources to those markets. BofAML has commercial bank licenses in both countries and is a member of the local clearing systems. The remainder of the region is covered through bank partnership agreements with financial service providers (FSPs).
Priorities and resources are paramount to BofAML’s continued success in the region. The FSP model allows BofAML to offer coverage to its clients on both the front- and back-end. Using overlay structures, BofAML can facilitate USD cash concentration and trade solutions, along with travel and purchase card solutions. Additionally, a strategic partner for Argentina, Chile and Uruguay adds depth to BofAML’s offerings in certain products and services, such as local payments and information reporting through BofAML’s online portal, CashPro® Online.
Product offerings
CashPro® Online, BofAML’s award-winning online banking platform, provides large corporates, financial institutions and governments direct access to a range of services offered by the bank, all done using a single sign-on. The platform supports local payment types such as wires, ACH, SEPA credit transfers/direct debits and international wires. Straight-through processing logic is embedded in payment entry screens that restrict available options and validate details as they are entered.
Additionally, CashPro® Online offers enhanced payment information through features such as notes, beneficiary advice and attachments to payment instructions.
“This way you can specify whether you would like them sent to an internal contact or the beneficiary once the payment is accepted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch,” Ms. Díaz explained.
For obtaining cash positions, CashPro Accelerate® is an XML-based tool which auto-populates an excel spreadsheet with account data to provide calculations on the company’s cash position, forecasting and intercompany loan administration. Through the reporting module, CashPro® Online allows access to account information, even those hosted by other banks via Swift messaging.
Shared Service center benefits
When doing business globally, banks are often faced with rules, regulations and processes unique to a region; Latin America is no exception. Adding to the complex nature of the region are multiple languages and cultures. These elements create challenges for treasury departments seeking to standardize and streamline their processes to achieve efficiency and better visibility. With all of these challenges in mind, BofAML created a shared service center (SSC) in Miami to help MNCs navigate the complexities they face in Latin America.
The SSC connects clients to a multilingual team that serves as a primary point of contact for account administration, onboarding assistance, servicing, implementation and technical support. Integration into the SSC is currently underway for Central America, Peru, Colombia and the Caribbean, and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The creation of BofAML’s SSC has been a key to the bank’s success. It’s a comprehensive, central point of contact to help MNCs in navigating with confidence through the region and realizing the value of their investment.
The members of The NeuGroup’s LatAm Treasury Managers’ Peer Group have long concluded that “boots on the ground” help speed standardization for local business efficiency. And in a fragmented and complex region, BofAML seems to have taken major steps in providing those boots.