As the bank of choice for Belgium’s public sector, Belfius Bank is leading the way with its next-generation products and superior customer service. Claudia Kabbe, Belfius’s Head of Cash & Treasury Management Sales, discusses the bank’s emphasis on building strong client relationships and developing innovative digital tools to help set them up for success.
Global Finance: Can you discuss your leading role in providing cash management services for public entities?
Claudia Kabbe: What sets Belfius apart in the Belgian market are our dedicated relationship managers who provide specialized solutions, such as cash advances. These are collection accounts specifically developed to collect various public taxes: The amount of the advance available is determined based on expected receipts, and enriched reporting data enables automatic reconciliation in public accounting systems.
At the end of 2023, Belfius had more than 12,000 public sector clients. This represents nearly 100% market penetration across local, supra-local and regional public authorities, as well as the non-profit sector. From 2020 to 2023, the number of transactions for public and social clients grew by 27%, while from 2019 to 2023 the amount of these transactions increased by 20%. This growth is impressive even considering Belfius’ historically high market share in this segment, which is over 50%.
GF: What are some of the bespoke cash management solutions you’re offering to your customers?
CK: Belfius cash management services cover all solutions needed to “pay,” “be paid” and “manage” accounts, cash and liquidity. Our suite of products includes point-of-sale (POS) and e-commerce solutions, such as the Belfius Pay button, Payconiq and Belfius Pay Portal By Mollie. Twikey eMandate management supports recurrent collections via direct debit and our cash pooling solutions offer flexibility in timing, amounts, frequency and compensation methods. We have cash management services with different consolidation levels and with third party banks and the state of the art tools for cash analysis and forecasting as well as e-banking applications, digital contracting and e-signing.
Beyond using technology to support our clients, we are passionate about service excellence. When clients call or email, they are connected with a personal service officer, who is familiar with client’s business and personnel. Whenever necessary, the service officer relays the query to the specialist for cash or treasury management dedicated to the client.
GF: What investments have you made in your payment platform to simplify the customer experience?
CK: We continually adapt our products and services to respond to technical advancements, market conditions and regulatory and client requirements.
Over the past three years, our primary innovations have focused on implementing our Smarty digital contracting tool; treasury management system EMAsphere; adding eFX to our eBanking application BelfiusWeb allowing clients to make FX conversions at current exchange rate; Single Sign on for BelfiusWeb and BelfiusEdge for FX and IR management ; and same day,cross-border zero-balancing with Commerzbank.
Our “Inspire 2025” program includes initiatives to improve client onboarding and to expand mobile offerings and to enhance our portals. Our “Future of Payments” and the “Future of Reporting” programs are modernizing our platforms to meet the latest technical and regulatory standards.
GF: How are you creating value for your corporate clients to encourage them to use Belfius as their main operational bank?
CK: Our focus is on building strong relationships with our clients and understanding their unique needs, whether it’s supply chain analysis to optimize their working capital, special applications to manage FX positions and execute real-time payments in over 25 currencies or strategies to manage excess liquidity.
Relationship managers work hand in hand with our experts on transaction banking, commercial finance and financial markets who look to inspire our clients with insights, recommendations and analysis of market conditions and sectors. Belfius is a strategic financial partner for entrepreneurs, enterprises and the public and social sectors, and our goal is to be meaningful and inspiring for Belgian society.
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