Another Reason to Keep on Top of Bank Fees

# Banking

# Cash and Working Capital

Only treasury is positioned to fully evaluate bank fees, so ensure your team does not provide reasons for other groups like procurement to intervene.

As organizations look to reduce spending on vendors and drive organizational savings, it is critical that treasury provide proper bank fee analysis to prevent other internal functions from viewing bank spend as a lever to hit savings goals. That key takeaway emerged at a recent NeuGroup meeting of cash managers.

One NeuGroup member present said he’s afraid that if his team does not properly manage bank fees, the procurement team will attempt to take ownership of all bank spend.

The member said that while it’s not clear if there would be material savings to wring out of bank fees, his concern is that procurement could seize on examples of unnecessary services (such as CD-ROM bank statement delivery) or off-market fees, and build a case for taking a leading role in pressuring banks to reduce fees.

“We can do better at bank fee analysis. We want to show the organization that treasury has it under control,” the member said. Many in the group shared his frustration with bank fee analysis.

At least one other member said she had to jump up and object when procurement at her company wanted “to treat banks like any other supplier.”

You can’t touch this. The overwhelming consensus of the group is that no one but treasury should have control over bank relationships, which are about far more than fees. The nuances of wallet management, one member said, are only understood by treasury and that’s where bank account management belongs.