Why do you need an in-house bank?

Are you headed for the ultimate destination of cash management centralization, an in-house bank? In this blog we will dive into the key features of an in-house bank (IHB).

On the road to treasury and cash management centralization, establishing an in-house bank is the ultimate destination. It will provide you in the treasury with the widest set of tools for efficient group-level cash management. But an IHB solution can also feature different levels of harmonization, depending on how deep an integration you want to create between the group and the subsidiaries, and depending on which functions you want to take control of centrally in the group treasury.

In this blog, I will briefly describe the key features of an in-house bank structure. If you want to dive more deeply into the topic, you can skip this blog and head straight to downloading our in-depth whitepaper.

What does it mean to have an in-house bank?

The best way to achieve full centralization of cash and finance processes is to build it step-by-step. An in-house bank allows you to lay the foundations for transparent group-level cash management. You can also take care of a variety of other finance and treasury functions centrally, such as banking relationship management, currency risk management, payment and collection management, and internal lending.

The setup and benefits of in-house banks

At the basic level, an in-house bank setup can be used to manage corporate bank account structure. Instead of external zero balance accounts that are typically used to centralize cash at a group level, the group’s balances can be managed in a similar, but internal, structure. The upside is that the subsidiaries’ real account balances don’t become blurred in the process, and you gain clear visibility over both group-level and unit-specific balances.

The next step is to expand the use of the internal IHB accounts for making payments, both internal and external. Many corporations start by streamlining internal payments. Subsidiaries’ in-house bank accounts are credited or debited according to the payables or receivables flow within the structure, without value date losses, transaction fees, or FX costs. The treasury now has a powerful tool to track the balance development of each unit in the group.

In-house bank functionalities for external payments help to reduce the need for external bank accounts, as the payment flows can be directed through the group treasury’s account. A payments on-behalf-of structure allows subsidiaries to process the payment data in their own systems, and group treasury gets to decide on the most cost-efficient payment method and banking connection.

A collections on-behalf-of model means taking a step further in replacing external bank accounts, giving you a greater degree of independence from banks, and maximizing cost efficiency. Payments for the subsidiaries are received through the group’s external bank accounts and automatically allocated to the appropriate subsidiary’s in-house bank account. Centralizing the collection of receivables can have a profound effect on working capital management, as you are able to aggregate surplus cash for investment and business opportunities.

This brings us to one of the most beneficial features of an in-house bank, managing internal financing. You can eliminate the complexity of arranging and managing loan agreements for each internal debt as you can cover subsidiaries’ short-term financing needs, for example, by internal IHB account credit limits. Interest can be simply calculated and booked to the internal accounts at the end of each month. With the help of transparent and automated contracts, you can also be sure to document and control the process for regulatory compliance.