Over the past few years, Hedgebook has worked closely with channel partners across the United Kingdom, Europe, the US and Australasia. We have learnt a lot about banks and brokers pain points when it comes to engaging with their customers around FX hedging. And we’ve worked hard to develop Hedgebook into a solution that addresses these head on. Now we’ve identified three key ways in which Hedgebook directly helps banks and brokers to work smarter.
1. Have better conversations with clients
Anyone who has worked on a trading floor understands how difficult it is to get information from a client they have caught at the wrong time. No amount of rapport building, consultative sales or small talk will warm things up enough to unlock the vault and retrieve the information you need to assess the client’s risk.
Hedgebook’s channel partner proposition addresses this head on. It removes friction from the sales process through information sharing in order to optimise the conversation and, ultimately, bank/broker relationship.
This is done in three short steps:
- Hedgebook’s API updates all of your client’s deals in their Hedgebook account. The client then uploads cashflows and any deals done with other counterparties providing an up-to-date picture of their hedging versus exposure.
- Traders are then able to use Hedgebook’s Portfolio Tool (see below) to quickly identify which clients are most at risk to currency fluctuations and, therefore, contact the right person at the right time.
- Hedgebook’s Exposure Tool allows both you and your client to view their hedge position in real time – no more backwards and forwards over email! Then see the impact of favourable or adverse exchange rate movements to their P&L and hedging rates.
The resulting strategy is developed quickly and effectively saving both you and your client precious time, while improving the quality of your relationship at the same time.
2. Support and empower your sales team
Bankers and brokers operate in an extremely competitive environment. In a price sensitive industry you look for genuine opportunities to deliver value and avoid a race to the bottom on price. We frequently hear of sales teams given challenging targets, but not necessarily the tools they need to meet or exceed these.
Let us be clear, if a plumber arrives at your house without a wrench and torch, you know they aren’t going to clear the S-bend. It is the same in financial services. In order to deliver your client a full risk management solution, a trader needs the right diagnostic and scenario building tools.
In addition to getting the most up to date hedging and cashflow information outlined above, Hedgebook puts a number of useful tools into your hands as a trader, including:
- Valuations of outstanding contracts at the click of a button
- The ability to identify when a client is likely to be margin called
- Retrospective performance reporting for Board requirements
- Administration tools for existing deals to manage their daily treasury requirements
In working closely with our channel partners we have witnessed first-hand the positive financial impact providing sales teams with advanced risk management tools delivers. Putting the right tools in the right hands delivers the right results.
3. Keep pace with tech trends for banks and brokers
We have engaged with nearly 100 banks and brokers. Some are at the cutting edge of development, providing clients with sophisticated solutions that encourage loyalty and drive profitability. Others are working towards this, or at least purport to be.
However, many continue to operate in the same way they did ten years ago. Using the same sales techniques, relying on legacy systems that are more than 20 years old and assuming that client needs aren’t changing. It doesn’t really matter where you fall in this continuum, in working with hundreds of corporate customers we also know they are increasingly pushing for change.
For banks and brokers to work smarter you need to constantly innovate
The team at Hedgebook brings this knowledge, experience and technical expertise into all of our partnerships. We have learnt that working closely with all layers of the organisation ensures we deliver a sustainable solution that will help position you as a leader in treasury management solutions.
Take a look at our recent case studies with our US partner HedgeStar or a leading UK FX broker to find out more about how Hedgebook helps our partners stay ahead of the game.
Finally, in all of this, speed to market is key.
We have learned to adapt our agile methodology to deliver innovative risk management solutions whilst meeting our partners requirements, including speed to market. If you would like to know more about how we help banks and currency brokers optimise client relationships – let’s have that conversation. We know your clients will thank you for it.