Improvements in the Operations of Ultra Investment
Service
The Client Relations Department
Bart Hoeksma
Improvements in the Operations of Ultra Investment
Service
The Client Relations Department
18 March 2008
Research performed for MSc Business Administration - Operations and Supply
Chains, University of Groningen.
Author: B.L. Hoeksma, s1304674
First faculty supervisor: Dr. G.A. Welker
Second faculty supervisor: Dr. J. van Polen
Organization supervisor:
(removed due to reasons of confidentiality)PREFACE
This thesis is the product of my efforts for the research that I have performed at the Client Relations department of Ultra Investment Service. The research is performed for the master thesis in support of my study MSc Business Administration - Operations and Supply Chain at the University of Groningen. The research is
concerned with an evaluation of the operations to provide opportunities for improvement in the operations of the organization.
As this report is the finalization of my study, it is appropriate to express my thanks to everyone who I have met and worked with over the years. There are some people that I owe special thanks to.
In the first place I want to thank the company supervisor who has been a great support for my research and an open window to the information that I required for my research. I also want to thank everyone else in the organization who have helped me in my research for their efforts and assistance in my research activities. I hope the fruits of my research will be a contribution in the development of the organization.
On behalf of the university Gera Welker acted as supervisor for my research. I want to thank her for her support, she has been a great help in the start-up phase of the research and a patient supervisor in the realization and finalization of this thesis. I also thank Hans van Polen for his efforts as a second supervisor.
Special thanks goes out to my parents for their endless support. They have unwearyingly supported me during my study and have facilitated me with the best circumstances one can wish. This I will never forget! Furthermore I want to thank my brothers and family and my friends who have regularly provided me with the necessary reflection and relaxation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 3
1.
INTRODUCTION... 4
1.1.
HISTORY OF THE ULTRA HOLDING ... 4
1.2.
ULTRA INVESTMENT SERVICE ... 4
1.3.
THE SERVICE AND THE CLIENTS... 5
1.4.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE... 5
1.5.
THE INFORMATION-SYSTEMS... 6
1.6.
THE REGULATION OF THE SERVICE... 7
2.
RESEARCH PLAN... 8
2.1.
REASON FOR THE RESEARCH ... 8
2.2.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE... 9
2.3.
CONCEPTUAL MODEL ... 9
2.4.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS... 11
2.5.
RESEARCH METHOD... 11
2.6.
RESTRICTIONS OF THE RESEARCH... 14
2.7.
REMAINDER OF THE THESIS... 14
3.
THE SERVICE PROCESS ... 15
3.1.
THE SERVICE OF THE CLIENT RELATIONS DEPARTMENT ... 15
3.2.
RECEIPT OF TRANSACTION REQUESTS ... 17
3.3.
THE TRANSACTIONS... 18
3.4.
TREASURY... 20
3.5.
PLANNING & CONTROL ... 23
3.6.
SUMMARY ... 26
4.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AVAILABLE CAPACITY AND
PERFORMANCE ... 27
4.1.
TRADE TEAMS ... 27
4.2.
TREASURY TEAM ... 30
4.3.
CONCLUSION ... 32
5.
THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE IN RELATION TO THE
AVAILABLE CAPACITY AND PERFORMANCE... 33
5.1.
THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE ... 33
5.2.
CONCLUSION ... 40
6.
THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE TURNOVER ... 42
6.1.
POTENTIAL STRESSORS IN THE PROCESSES OF THE DEPARTMENT ... 43
6.2.
CONCLUSION ... 44
7.
DISCUSSION ... 45
7.1.
IMPROVEMENTS AND REDESIGN ... 46
7.2.
REFLECTION ... 49
1.
INTRODUCTION
This research is performed to explore the operations in the Client Relations department of Ultra Investment Service to find possible areas for improvement. This research involves an exploration of the problems that the department faces in the delivery of their services. The Client Relations department of Ultra Investment Service is responsible for communication with investors and clients. The main task is to process the transactions from investors and communicate the planned transactions to the client. The department is part of a larger organization, and therefore it is useful to provide insight in the broader context of the processes of the department and the environment it acts in. The first part of this thesis is dedicated to an introduction of the research area and the research itself. The first chapter is concerned with a description of the environmental context and the operational contents of the department. It starts with a description of the Ultra Holding and Ultra Investment Service. There will be attention to the office of Ultra Investment Service and the clients that are served by the Client Relations department.
1.1. HISTORY OF THE ULTRA HOLDING
(removed due to reasons of confidentiality)
1.2. ULTRA INVESTMENT SERVICE
The organization of UIS is divided in different departments and support teams. The structure is shown in figure 1.2 below. The operating teams are the Client Relations, Accounting and Intermediary Service. The Accounting and Client Relations departments are involved with the core service of UIS. The Accounting Department (AD) is responsible for administration and valuations of the Clients. The AD teams determine the NAV of the clients and communicate this information to the Client Relations department. As mentioned before, the focus of this
research is on the Client Relations department. The organization of the department and the various operational processes will be treated with more detail in chapter 3 and 4.
Figure 1.2: Organizational Chart Ultra Investment Service
training of the personnel on both internal and external developments. The legal team deserves some extra attention here because this group is involved in the daily operations of the operational teams. They provide legal advise in case of issues that require attention from legal experts. The general support teams cover the areas of marketing, human resources and management support. The Relationship Managers team is a special team that acts in support of qualitative delivery of UIS-services to a limited number of customers.
1.3. THE SERVICE AND THE CLIENTS
(removed due to reasons of confidentiality)
1.4. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
The tasks and responsibilities are divided over a number of teams. Each team has its own responsibilities and authorizations. The teams and their tasks and responsibilities are briefly introduced here and will be treated more intensively in a later chapter. The structure of the department is shown in figure1.3. The figure shows the division of the different teams in the CR-department. The organization and the different teams will be explained in this section. There will be an introduction of the teams and a brief explanation of their activities.
The Teams
The CR-department consists of different groups. This is due to segregation of duties which results in a separation in tasks, responsibilities and authorizations, which is essentially related to data- and money processing in the department. The two teams that are involved in transaction processing are:
• Trade: These teams process the transactions specifications in the system and communicate with the
investors and the client representatives for follow-up of the transactions. They prepare transactions and trade packages and send order confirmations and contract notes to investors.
• Treasury: The treasury team is responsible for the money activity that is involved with the various
transactions. The team has essentially two tasks, they make payments to investors and two, they allocate received amounts of subscription money in the system. The treasury team also makes payments for the Accounting-department.
There is another sub-group in the department, the client desk. This group is not involved in the actual transaction processing, which is why this group is not included in the research area. It is named here for completeness, and the implications of this research for the client desk will be treated in the discussion chapter.
• Client desk: The client desk is responsible for providing the holding statements to the investors, which are
Figure 1.3: Organizational Chart Client Relations
The department is supported by a so-called Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO). The task of the MLRO is to be an escalation point for the organization regarding Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) issues and to keep current policies and procedures up to date with developments in rules and regulation. Every employee of UIS is responsible that activities he/she performs comply with the policies of UIS with regard to investor identification and verification on origin or destination of payments. The MLRO has the task to develop training for staff on KYC and AML issues and alert staff on the latest
developments. Further tasks are the evaluation of the compliance controls for effectiveness in relation to payments and to create more awareness on embedded risk. The MLRO reports to the Senior Account Manager on exceptions on trade, compliance rules and special situations. The MLRO works closely with the legal team. Together they work out issues with regard to investor structures and liabilities in contracts, PPMs and
transactions.
1.5. THE INFORMATION-SYSTEMS
The service is achieved by processing and storing information for the transactions of the customers. The systems that are used for this purpose are briefly introduced here.
Client Relations System
The organization uses a system to store all information regarding the transactions that are processed by the CR-department. It is a Windows based system and it requires ‘normal’ computer specifications. The information is entered by the trade teams and stored in a database. All specifications of the transactions can be entered. There are many kinds of specifications, for example shareholders, clients, amounts, number of shares, currency code, country, agents, etc.. The system and the transaction data is also used by the other departments of UIS in support of their activities.
Payment System, SWIFT Alliance
Banking System
Another application is a banking application of Ultra Bank which is used by the treasury team. The clients’ bank accounts can be checked with this application. The receipt of incoming amounts that concern subscription money must be linked to the subscription in the CR-system. These bank accounts of the clients are used to make payments. The clients are responsible that there are sufficient capital resources available in the accounts to make payments.
MS Outlook
At first sight it might be surprising to find this application here, but Outlook plays a crucial role in the planning and control in the department. The communication between the different teams within the department and the communication between the trade teams with investors and with the client representatives is done via MS Outlook. The planning of the transactions for the different teams is also performed via MS Outlook. The
transaction requests are coming in via the fax server where these are renamed and allocated to the Outlook-folder of the appropriate team so for each team there is a good overview of the transactions that ought to have priority.
1.6. THE REGULATION OF THE SERVICE
The organization is regulated by the DNB, the central bank in The Netherlands, and the AFM (in Dutch: Autoriteit Financiële Markten). These two parties are the authorities in The Netherlands that regulate financial markets and financial service organizations. The objective of the AFM is to monitor behaviour on the financial markets, which includes transparent processes and clear relationships between parties on the market
2.
RESEARCH PLAN
The following chapter is concerned with the research, the research objectives and –questions, and the research plan and methods that are used. In the delivery of the service to the clients there are various problems that occur in the organization. The purpose of this chapter is to describe these problems and to explain the plan of the research. The problems will be treated in the first part after which the research objective is defined and the conceptual model and its theoretical basis is provided. The objective and the conceptual model form a basis for the research questions, that come after that. The chapter continues with the research method and restrictions and concludes with a brief overview of the remainder of the thesis.
2.1. REASON FOR THE RESEARCH
The operations in the organization are struggling to provide the service according to company standards in various parts of the organization. This has forced the management to introduce a stop to the acquisition of new clients. The expected growth for the organization and the subsequent increasing number of transactions that the CR department will be faced with, is a point for consideration of the management.
There are some specific problems in relation to the operations in the CR department. In the last two weeks of the month there occurs a situation where at the same time transactions for one month are processed and requests for transaction for the next month(s) are received. This situation entails a workload which seems to be
overwhelming for the current team crews. There are difficulties in processing the transaction requests, the transactions, and the in- and outward going money according to the company objectives for the delivery of services to the clients. The problems are concerned with meeting the objectives regarding the response time in the delivery of the services. These objectives comprise:
- Send confirmation of received requests for transactions within 2 business days - Send confirmation of cash received within 2 business days
- Process transactions and send contract notes within 2 business days after the availability of values, for the appropriate date.
The performance of the department is defined as the number of transactions that can be processed according to the objectives as defined above. For a given value date there can be variable amounts of transactions requests by investors. This is also variable per month and per type of transaction. The workload in the teams is
acknowledged by various members of the organization to be caused by understaffed teams. For this research, it is worthwhile to evaluate possibilities to address the workload by looking at ways to work in a different way. Another problem is the employee turnover and the subsequent loss of knowledge when a person leaves the organization. It is noticed by the management that the employee turnover rate is relatively high and that departure of employees is affecting the delivery of services.
The stop to the acquisition of new clients will be cancelled when the management is confident that the
The central problem that this research focuses on is how the current capacity is able to process transactions according to company objectives and how to address the expected growth that will result in larger numbers of clients to be served along with the subsequent transactions that must be processed for these clients. The two elements in this statement will be regarded as the performance, which can be stated as the power of the capacity to process transactions and deliver services to clients. The problem concerning the loss of knowledge due to employee turnover is taken into consideration as well because it seems worthwhile to research the impact on the performance of the department.
2.2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
In this research we focus on the concepts that come forward from the problems that are just presented. The objective of this research is to evaluate the capacity and the way that service is provided in order to determine possible directions for improvement of the performance of the CR department. The research will consider the expected development in the market and the situation in the department with regard to the stop of the acquisition of new clients. The effects of employee turnover on the performance are included in the research to evaluate opportunities to cope with these effects.
2.3. CONCEPTUAL MODEL
The main concern of this research is the performance of the department. The performance is defined as the number of transactions that are processed according to company objectives. These company objectives will be explained in a later chapter. There are various concepts that come forward from the problem description which are expected to affect the performance. The following relationship regarding these concepts are acknowledged which are subject of this thesis:
i. Relationship between available capacity and performance ii. The effect the organizational structure on performance
iii. Relationship between the organizational structure and available capacity
iv. The indirect relationship between employee turnover and performance through a decrease of available knowledge
The relationship between capacity and performance of the department is one of the subjects. The capacity is especially dependent on the human resource capacity. The other important resource for the delivery of services is the availability of IT hardware and systems and the required office space to locate these resources. IT-capacity can be determined by the availability and the speed of the systems as well as the availability and functioning of software and hardware such as desktops, faxes, printers, etcetera. These resources are basically available 24/7, the utilization of the system is therefore dependent on the availability of human resources. The focus of the research is therefore primarily on the human resource capacity. Under the assumption that an employee is capable to process a specific amount of transactions, it is obvious when more people are hired the performance increases. However, there is a balance between the number of employees where transactions can be processed under acceptable circumstances while cost of labor is also kept to a minimum.
Schönsleben as “a measure of how intensively a resource is being used to produce a good or service”. Utilization is divided in availability and under-utilization. Availability is the capacity accounted for any possible downtime and is represented by the ratio of hours actual worked to hours available. Under-utilization is intentionally keeping work centres out of work. The efficiency is defined by Schönsleben as “actual units produced to standard units to produce in a time period” (Schönsleben, 2004 p. 676). It is difficult to make this concept operational in the case of this service environment, because it is difficult to determine a standard for the number of transactions that must be processed. The performance of the department is therefore considered to evaluate the processing capacity. The capacity is determined by looking at available labour hours for processing.
With regard to the organizational structure, there are two issues that get attention in this thesis. One, the relationship between the organizational structure and the performance and two, the relationship between the organizational structure and the available capacity. The organizational structure refers to the way that the service is delivered and coordinated in the department. It involves the organizational units that are required and the coordination and communication between these organizational units. To provide insight in the proposed relationships, it is necessary to define how the organizational structure is evaluated. For the purpose of this research we follow De Vries (1999) who wrote a dissertation about the relationship between the logistic organization (in Dutch: logistieke organisatie) and the embedding of organizational measures (in Dutch:
logistieke besturing). The organizational structure in this sense includes the organization of planning and control of the primary process as well as the organization of the actual delivery of the primary process both along formal and informal communication lines.
The employee turnover and the subsequent loss of knowledge appears to be a problem. That is why we have a look at this fourth relationship. The indirect effects between employee turnover and performance appear to be caused by a decrease of available knowledge in the teams. Tacit knowledge is regarded as knowledge that is used in an automated way by its owner in the delivery of services (Jorna, 2004). The various concepts related to employee turnover are explored in scientific literature to provide insight in the matter and determine possibilities to anticipate the employee turnover and the loss of knowledge.
These concepts and the relationships that are subject of this research are represented in the conceptual model which is pictured below.
2.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The main research questions that are formulated to realize the research objective are as follows:
How can performance in terms of number of transactions processed per month and delivered according to company objectives be improved?
How can the expected growth be addressed by the department? How can employee turnover be managed in the organization?
In order to answer the main research questions, sub-questions are formulated. These are based on the conceptual model and are presented below:
a. How is the service delivered in the CR department? b. What is the available capacity of the CR department?
c. Does the organizational structuring fit in with the required tasks. How does the organizational structuring affect the available capacity?
d. How does the available capacity influence the performance?
e. What is the relationship between the organizational structure and the performance? f. What are ways to increase the number of transactions that the organization can process? g. How can the effects of employee turnover be addressed?
2.5. RESEARCH METHOD
This section contains an explanation of the data gathering and the research and analysis tools. The data gathering for this research is performed during an internship in the organization. This consisted of an exploration of the department with intensive observations and interviews with both operational employees and management, both management in the department and on organizational level. The data for the research is gathered from the documentation that is available in the organization. This provides an overview of the formal organization which covers the descriptions of the purpose of the organization. The current operations are observed which results in knowledge of how the actual organization functions. The picture of the actual organization is further supported by interviews with management and employees.
Research and Analysis Tools
This section contains the description of the different research and analysis tools. The section starts with a description of these tools, the source of information is provided and the reason of their use. It continuous with a description of the tools that are used for each relationship that is subject of this thesis, as proposed in the conceptual model. The section will conclude with a table that contains an overview of which method will provide answers to which questions.
The research uses various data gathering methods. These are:
• Interviews; interviews are held with various people in the organization. The table 2.1 below shows which people are interviewed to retrieve information about the various subjects in this research. The Appendix 1 to 3 contains the question lists that are used in interviews and during conversations with employees while observations are performed.
Performance Organizational Structure
Capacity KYC/AML Employee
Turnover Supervisors Trade X X X Trade controllers X X X Supervisor Treasury X Controllers Treasury X MLRO X Manager CR department X X X X
Assistant Management Director UIS X X X X
HR-manager X
Table 2.1 : Overview of relationships that are researched and the research and analysis tools that are used
• Data analysis;
i. The current performance of the department is determined with the use of data from the CR system and information of in- and outward payments supplied by the treasury supervisor. This data is processed to provide information about the current performance per team and per month.
ii. The procedures are reported and described, the available descriptions are used study the formal organization.
iii. The information about employee turnover is provided by the HR manager, who retrieved the data from the personnel administration. Data is processed to determine employee turnover. • Theoretical exploration; exploration of literature to provide insight in the concepts related to employee
turnover.
I. Performance analysis
The current performance of the department is evaluated on the basis of the transactions that are processed in the first half year of 2007. This data is used to provide insight in the capacity of the department and it adds to the discussion about the utilization and the efficiency of capacity. The performance will be linked to the current organizational structure to evaluate the process which will provide grounds for possibilities to optimize and improve the process. The data is retrieved from the Client Relations system and covers every transaction that is processed in the first half year of 2007.
II. Organizational structure analysis
• logistics organizational measures; three levels are distinguished in logistics organizational measures, derived from De Vries (1999):
1. Strategic measures; collection of decision functions aimed at defining logistics objectives 2. Adaptive measures; collection of decision functions aimed at determining operational
objectives
3. Operational measures; collection of decisions to adjust for the different parts of the stream of goods
• organic logistic system; the way in which the various logistics organization activities are divided over
individual positions and how these positions are grouped to organizational entities.
• personnel logistic system; the collection of formal and actual relationships between persons and groups
of persons engaged in organizational activities of stream of goods
These dimensions are used in this research to evaluate the adequacy of the organizational structure. De Vries focuses in his research on the logistics concerning the stream of goods in production organizations. This organization is a service organization that is creating value in processing information. The management of documentation is the subject of the logistic system. The framework is used to evaluate the areas where improvements can be made along these dimensions.
III. Actor Activity Diagrams
According to Fitzsimmons, representing processes in diagrams is essential in understanding service operations and making improvements (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2006). The processes will be represented in Actor Activity Diagrams (AADs) to provide insight in the current procedures that are used in the department. The benefit of AADs is that the processes and activities as well as the actors that are involved in these processes and activities are acknowledged in one diagram (Schaap). It will provide insight to the questions about the
organizational logistics structure. Both the logistics structure and the organizational logistics measures are clarified by the use of these diagrams. The information that is used to get insight in the processes is retrieved from an exploration of available documentation in the organization. The data includes flow diagrams of the different processes and procedures for coordination and communication during the process. Also, interviews and conversations with employees in the department and management are used to further explore this issue.
IV. Employee turnover analysis
To evaluate the area of employee turnover, there is an exploration of this concept in scientific literature. This will provide a starting point for an evaluation of this area considering the information that is gathered for the investigation in the other relationships. The information with regard to this relationship is obtained from interviews with the employees in the department and from observations.
Relationship Research & Analysis Tools
between available capacity and performance I, II
between the organizational structure and performance I, II, III,
between the organizational structure and available capacity II, III Indirect,relationship between employee turnover and performance through a decrease of available knowledge
IV
Table 2.2 : Overview of relationships that are researched and the research and analysis tools that are used
The table 2.3 below shows an overview of the different research tools that are used to provide answers to the sub-questions as formulated in the section before.
Table 2.3: Overview of research tools and the sub-questions they will support
2.6. RESTRICTIONS OF THE RESEARCH
In the execution of this research and in the consideration of possible improvements there are a number of restrictions in the current organizational setting that must be accounted for.
- improvements must fit in the current IT-environment. Investments in IT-systems is currently not an option for consideration for the management.
- improvements must consider the regulations and KYC/AML policies that the organization must comply with.
- the research must account for the interests of parties in the direct and indirect environment.
2.7. REMAINDER OF THE THESIS
The next chapter cover a description of the department and a detailed description of the processes and the planning and control activities that take place in the department. Chapter 4 will cover the analysis of the current performance and the capacity, and chapter 5 is dedicated to the organizational structure. In chapter 6 attention is paid to employee turnover and the effect on the organization. Chapter 7 is reserved for conclusions and
recommendations and a reflection on the research.
Sub- Question
Research Tool a b c d e f g
Performance Analysis X X X X
Organizational structure X X X X
Actor Activity Diagrams X X X X X
3. THE SERVICE PROCESS
The following chapter is dedicated to the description of the service and the service process. The goal of this chapter is to provide a good picture of the current processes and procedures that are in place. Attention is paid to processing as well as the planning and control of the processes. Also, the internal policies with regard to identification of clients are introduced here.
3.1. THE SERVICE OF THE CLIENT RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
It is useful to provide an explanation of the service processes in the department before presenting the findings of the research. This chapter contains a description of these services. The main task of the CR-department is to process the transactions on request of investors who (want to) invest in the clients which are served by UIS. The department is also responsible for checking identification of investors and communication with investors and liaising with client representatives. The processing concerns the input of transaction requests from investors and proper administration of money transfers between investors’ and clients’ accounts. There are different
transactions that are processed by the CR-department. Each will be introduced in the following sections. Furthermore, there will be a detailed description of the processes and the actors that are involved in these processes.
Transaction requests
Each transactions must be requested for by the investor. The clients supply documents to investors for each type of transaction, which must be filled out by investor and faxed to the CR-department for processing. The first step upon receipt of these requests is to send a confirmation that the transaction request is received. The aim is to send this confirmation within two business days after receipt of the request. The confirmation also provides the opportunity to give further instructions regarding the transaction and to request for complementary documents that are required for further processing of the transaction. After the confirmation is sent out, the trade package can be formed and filed. The trade package is used to cover for any matter that could occur that concern the transaction and contains hardcopies of all required documentation and all the relevant communication for the transaction. The trade package is retrieved from the file when it is required for further processing.
The Transactions
Subscriptions
Redemptions
An investor can also request for redemption. This is when an investor has a holding in a client and wants to capitalize this holding. This process of redemption involves payments that have to be made from clients’ accounts to the accounts of the investor. The investor can request for a full redemption but can also retain part of the holding and the investor can redeem a first amount (80%) based on an estimated NAV and complete the payment based on - and corrected for - the finalized NAV. The investor is free to decide when to redeem from a client, however the investor needs to consider the notice periods that are formulated by clients.
Switches
The third transaction is the switch which is a transaction where only one investor is involved. The investor switches from one client to another client. The process that is involved is a redemption from one and a subscription to another client, respectively processed as a ‘Switch Out’ and a ‘Switch In’.
Transfers
The Transfer is a transaction where two shareholders, or investors, are involved. The transfer occurs when the share is transferred from one shareholder, the transferor, to another shareholder, the transferee. This transaction has relative less priority compared to the other three because there is no money activity involved on the client’s account. The transaction is processed simultaneously as a ‘Transfer Out’ and a ‘Transfer In’. KYC documents are required for the transferee.
KYC- and AML policies
The financial world is dependent on money streams originating from all over the world and worldwide
destinations. The streams are enormous in number and therefore difficult to monitor. That is why the industry is an attractive disguise for people that possess amounts of money retrieved from criminal activities or for illegal purposes. The concept of giving money, which is retrieved from criminal activities, a legitimate appearance is regarded as money laundering. It is not relevant for this research to pay too much attention to this concept, however, the practice of money laundering has implications on financial services in general and on the operations of the CR department in particular. These implications will be treated here briefly.
conflicting with UIS policies. The exact activities are described in chapter 4 which covers the description of the processes.
There are different transactions that investors can request for. In this section we take a closer look at the processing procedures for the different transactions and we look at the actors that are involved in these
processes. The processes of the different transactions are described and illustrated with the use of Actor Activity Diagrams. These diagrams provide insight in the processes and the actors that are involved in the various processes and their role, moreover use and application of IT-systems are included also. To analyze the
organizational structure it is relevant to pay attention to the different actors that are involved in these processes. The first part of the chapter covers the processes in the trade teams. After that the processes of the treasury team are described. After that there is attention to the planning of transactions and the control of daily activities.
3.2. RECEIPT OF TRANSACTION REQUESTS
The requests for transaction are sent to the CR-department of UIS by fax where these are collected and entered in the CR-system. The receipt of the transaction request must be confirmed to the investor, this process is shown in figure 3.1. The transaction requests are spread among the people in the trade teams, each person is responsible for a specific group of clients. These people enter the transaction details in the CR-system and generate a
confirmation of order received that will be sent to the investor. It contains all the details of the transaction
Figure 3.1: Actor Activity Diagram, receipt of order request and subsequent actions
3.3. THE TRANSACTIONS
When the NAVs of clients are available, the transactions for the client with that NAV-date can be retrieved from the CR-system. The exact value of the transactions can now be calculated and further processed. The processes that are concerned with each transaction are explained in this section.
Subscriptions
When the NAV is finalized and the money is received, the subscription can be processed. The steps that are required to process a subscription are illustrated in the figure 3.2. However, the processing of the subscription is not completed before the transferred amount of money is checked for KYC and AML. The process of
subscriptions is completed when the money is transferred to the client account, the investor holding is appropriately processed and communicated, and the investors are checked for KYC and AML.
Figure 3.2: Actor Activity Diagram, processing subscription order
Redemption
The receipt of redemption requests is treated similar to the receipt of subscription request. The order is received, but there is no money to be received. Instead the trade teams will prepare a payment to be made to the investors based on the NAV for the appropriate trade date. In this case there is no approval required from the Investment Manager of the client. It is the right of the investor to redeem from the client when he wishes. However, the redemption needs to be according to the specifications as described in the PPM of the client that contain the details concerning the notice period, and maximum amount to be redeemed in one transaction. The Investment Manager must be informed because the money that is required to make the payments must be available on the client’s account. The Trade employee prepares the payment in the CR-system and then transfers the
payments that come with redemptions are described in the next paragraph which covers the processes in the treasury team.
Figure 3.3: Actor Activity Diagram, redemption payment preparation
Switches
A switch is in fact a redemption from one and a subscription to another client. The total holding of the investor in currency amount does not change while the investor’s holding per share changes, dependent on the value of the client that the investor subscribes to. The switches are allowed and limited to clients within client groups. The switches are processed as two separate transactions in the CR-system, namely as a Switch Out and a Switch In.
Transfers
Transfers are transactions where shares of one investor are transferred to another investor. This transaction has no impact on the capital on the client’s account. The transaction is processed in the CR-system as a “Transfer Out” and a “Transfer In” and is similar to the processes of subscriptions and redemptions, except that there is no money activity involved on the account of the client. The payment between transferor and transferee is outside the control of UIS, however KYC check is required on the new investing party.
3.4. TREASURY
and subscriptions and are treated as such by the treasury team. Transfers are no concern for the CR-department because there is no money activity involved.
Incoming money for transactions
There are two scenarios for received amounts for subscriptions. In general, a subscription is requested for a specific NAV date. When the order request is received the investor will be requested to transfer the required amount of money before a certain date. When the investor transfers the amount, the received amount is evaluated for AML issues and if this is approved the amount is linked in the CR-system to the order request of the investor. Treasury will send a confirmation of cash received to the investor. After receipt of money the responsible trade-employee can fill the order and the order will be completed as described above. The other scenario is actually quite similar, only the difference is in the timing of receipt of money in comparison to the processing of the order request. When the money for subscription is received on the client’s bank account before the order is input in the CR-system, the treasury team is linking the money to the client instead of the order. In a later stage, when the order is received and input by the trade team, the money can then be linked to the order. The reason that this procedure is followed is that the money is allocated to the objective, however the specific order is not yet received. The system provides the opportunity to review these received amounts. Subsequently, appropriate action can be taken to request with the investor for the required subscription documentation. The procedure for receipt of money is shown in the figure 3.4 below.
Outgoing money for transactions
The treasury team is also responsible for making payments. There are two types of payments that are made. One is redemption payments and the other is accounting payments. The first payments are the payments that get most attention here, because they are related to the processes that are subject of this thesis. The accounting payments various payments that are made for the client, such as fee payments. These payments are bigger in number but they require less scrutiny by the employees of treasury with regard to KYC and AML. The different steps for processing redemption payments by the treasury team are shown in figure 3.5. This figure will be explained in the following section.
team to check if the payments are actually made. This will be treated with more attention in the following section.
Figure 3.4: Actor Activity Diagram, receipt of subscription money
3.5. PLANNING & CONTROL
This section covers the planning and control of the CR-department. It starts with a brief explanation of objectives for the processing. Then, to provide insight in the planning and control of operations in the CR-department, it is constructive to describe how transaction requests are treated and how these are act upon. Furthermore, attention is paid to the planning and control of the actual processing of the transactions and there is some attention for the communication to the clients.
Planning of transaction requests
To start it is useful to provide some information about the company objectives for processing transactions. The purpose of these objectives is to meet requirements for regulations as well as to provide the appropriate service to the clients of UIS. The objectives are:
- Send investors confirmation of received requests for transactions within 2 business days - Send investors confirmation of cash received within 2 business days
- Process transactions and send contract notes to investors within 2 business days after the availability of the NAV, final or estimate, for the appropriate value/trade date.
The administration agreement is the contract between the client and UIS. This contract contains agreements about the notification period for investors and the deadlines for approval from the investment manager and the processing deadlines of transactions that must be considered by Client Relations. Furthermore it contains agreements about the finalization of NAVs. There are also agreements concerned with communication to the clients, each client may require different communication. The agreements are concerned with specifications when to communicate planned transactions and/or received transaction requests and the frequency of this communication.
The transaction requests are coming in on the central fax server which is accessible from Outlook. The
transaction requests are renamed in Outlook according to the order specifications and allocated to the appropriate trade group. A rotation schedule is made for the whole CR-department which states who is responsible for the requests that are received between set times. These transaction requests are visible as an email message in outlook with the order request attached to it. The transaction requests are received by fax, but the original documents are often sent to UIS by mail also. The properties of these requests must be checked in the CR-system to check if original documents are new request or in addition to the documents already received by fax. This is to prevent that the request will be duplicated in the CR-system. The requests are renamed according to their main properties which includes the following details:
- [client name]
- [currency of the client]
- [transaction type (SUB/RED/ Transfer/Switch)] - [shareholder name reference (if applicable)] - [amount (cash or shares)]
requests. When an order is received in the group inbox, the order is flagged by the person who is responsible for the specific client. Every team member has his own color and by flagging the requests in outlook, the requests can be sorted per flag color. This results in an overview of the work for each member.
As explained in the former chapter, the specifications of the transaction requests are entered in the CR-system and an order confirmation is printed out and sent to the investor. After that, the transaction request is dragged to the appropriate monthly folder dependent on the requested trade date. This folder shows all the transaction requests that need to be processed for this month. This is shown in figure 3.6.
FAXSERVER RECEIPT OF ORDER REQUEST FOR ALL FUNDS Inbox TRADE 1 Inbox TRADE 4 Inbox TRADE 3 Inbox TRADE 2 Month Yr n 1 Month from now This month % Month Yr n 1 Month from now This month % Month Yr n 1 Month from now This month % Month Yr n 1 Month from now This month % INVESTORS TRANSACTION REQUESTS
Allocation of orders to outlook folder of team that is responsible for funds that order is concerned with
Prioritizing orders in outlook folder per month that order request is concerned with
Figure 3.6: Receipt and allocation of transaction request
Numbers of shares * NAV = Total sum
Request for a specific number of shares
Number requested Known when NAV is
available Request for a specific total
amount
Known when NAV is available
Determined by Accounting
Department Amount requested
Table 3.1: overview of the information available and required for transaction requests
After the transaction request have been allocated to the appropriate trade team, the properties of the transaction request is entered in the CR-system and a confirmation of order received will be sent out to the investor. The trade package will be filed and the digital order request will be dragged to a folder in outlook for the month in which the transaction will be processed, dependent on the NAV-date that the transaction is requested for. This provides an overview of the number of transaction that are to be processed for a specific month. When the NAV is final, the transactions are processed and when an order has been processed the digital order will be removed from the monthly folder and dragged to an archive folder in outlook. At the end of the month the folder should be empty, which indicates that all transactions are processed. The actual planning of the transaction processing is done according to the Open Order Report (OOR) that is generated from the CR-system. This is a report that is printed for a client when the NAV is finalized. The report contains the transactions for a given trade date that were entered in the CR-system upon receipt of transaction requests. The trade packages are then collected from the temporarily file and the transactions can be processed.
The redemptions involve payments which are made by the treasury team. These payments are processed via the payment system which is connected to the banking systems. The payments are made in various currencies throughout the day. The trading in the various currencies close at specific times during the day. That is why payments for specific currencies must be made before a certain time. See also appendix 4 which shows the deadlines for various banks and currencies. The payments are made from the bank accounts of the client, which is why the payment is not guaranteed. This makes it necessary to check if the payments have actually been processed. This activity, regarded as reconciliation, is performed the next day and is described in the next section.
Reconciliation of payments
The reconciliation of the payments is performed to check if the payments are made and that specification of the transaction request are in accordance with the actual payments. This activity is performed because the payments are made from the accounts of the clients, which do not always contain sufficient money to make the payments. The activity covers all payments that are made by the treasury team, this includes both redemption and
accounting payments. The denied payments are collected and inspected to see what went wrong with the payment. For the succeeded payments, confirmations are generated from the CR system, which are then returned to the appropriate trade team. The trade team is responsible for sending the contract notes and trade
3.6. SUMMARY
4.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AVAILABLE CAPACITY AND
PERFORMANCE
In this chapter we continue with the research, which will entail an analysis of the situation in the department with regard to the organization, coordination and delivery of the service process that was described in the foregoing chapter. For this purpose we take the proposed relationships for the research and explain these relationships with the research tools that were described in chapter 2. Chapter 4 is concerned with the relationship between the capacity and the performance. After that, the relationship between organizational structure with respectively the capacity and the performance is evaluated in chapter 5. Chapter 6 is concerned with the issues regarding the employee turnover and the effects on the performance of the department.
The relationship between available capacity and performance is one that seems quite obvious at first sight from a mechanistic perspective. This perspective would assume that a higher capacity would result in higher
performance. However, there are obvious differences between production and service capacity, and therefore it is interesting to see if this actually holds in the case of the CR-department. We will have a closer look at the capacity of the CR-department in relation to the performance. We will start with a description of the capacity, and have a look at the performance of each sub-group that is involved in the processing of transactions, trade, and treasury. Based on a reconciliation of the capacity and the performance, we might be able to draw some conclusions with regard to this relationship.
Figure 4.1: Relationships covered in this chapter
4.1. TRADE TEAMS
Capacity
The capacity of the four trade teams is shown in table 4.1. The capacity of the teams is evaluated by considering the number of people per team, on an 8-hour-day basis. The part-time contracts are represented in these numbers. This applies to Trade Team 3, where two of seven employees work on 80% basis. The activities and
respectively 32 hours and 56 hours per day. Groups 3 and 4 are in between these two limits. It can be concluded that the variety in capacity between the four teams is quite high.
TRADE TEAM 1
Number of employees 4.0
Net Labor Capacity hours per day 32.0
NET Number of employees (40 hr-fte-base) 4.0
TRADE TEAM 2
Number of employees 7.0
Net Labor Capacity hours per day 56.0
NET Number of employees (40 hr-fte-base) 7.0
TRADE TEAM 3
Number of employees 7.0
Net Labor Capacity hours per day 52.8
NET Number of employees (40 hr-fte-base) 6.6
TRADE TEAM 4
Number of employees 5.0
Net Labor Capacity hours per day 40.0
NET Number of employees (40 hr-fte-base) 5.0
Table 4.1: team statistics of trade teams
Performance
To evaluate the current performance of the trade teams in the CR-department, the number of transactions that are processed in the first half year of 2007 are considered. These numbers are retrieved from the database of the Client Relations system. There are various selections made from this dataset to evaluate the performance of the department as a whole as well as the performance of each separate group and an average per individual. This is shown in the various tables in this section along with appropriate explanation.
Currently, UIS serves around a hundred Clients, with almost 900 active underlying Clients. There are currently around 9,000 investors that own a holding in one or more clients of which around 2,000 have requested for one or more transactions in the first six months of 2007. The table 4.2 below shows the clients divided over the four trade teams. As is mentioned before, the trade teams are responsible for the processing of transaction for a collection of clients. Each member of these teams is responsible for transactions for a specific group of clients. Table 4.3 shows the number of transactions that each team has processed in the first half year of 2007. One thing that is remarkable when comparing the two tables is that team 3 is responsible for the smallest number of clients and the largest number of transactions. This indicates that the number of clients that the group serves does not automatically mean that they process a large number of transactions. This also indicates that it is possible to distinguish clients with high and low levels of investor activity. Each one of the four trade teams are responsible for some large clients and a collection of smaller clients, where size is in terms of transactions that must be processed.
Trade team Number of clients Clients % of total
TEAM 1 483 38.83%
TEAM 2 403 32.40%
TEAM 3 115 9.24%
TEAM 4 243 19.53%
Table 4.2: number of clients that the trade teams are responsible for
Trade team Number of transactions Transaction % of total
TEAM 1 4470 22%
TEAM 2 5482 27%
TEAM 3 5706 28%
TEAM 4 4482 22%
The table 4.4 below shows the number of transactions processed by the four trade teams together. One of the first things that occur from this table is the relative high number of subscriptions, redemptions and transfers in the demand and the relative insignificance of the cash dividends and switches. Because of the relative insignificance these transactions receive less attention in this analysis. For completeness these figures are still included in the tables. The upper and lower levels of demand for each type of transaction are bold in the table. As is clear from the table the demand in the different transactions is quite variable over the six months period. The subscriptions have a lower limit of 1472 in January and an upper limit in May of 1794. For redemptions there is an even bigger relative difference between the lower and upper limit, respectively 576 and 1092. The numbers of transfers must be duplicated, since it involves a ‘Transfer In’ and a ‘Transfer Out’ that are processed separately. The transfers show a similar picture regarding the variability in demand. These figures show that the number of transactions are not constant which indicates that it is difficult to forecast the demand in transactions.
Subscription Redemption Transfers Switch (in) Switch (Out) Cash Dividends TOTAL JAN 1472 1092 391 183 87 31 3647 FEB 1741 631 329 83 62 0 3175 MAR 1766 854 450 66 8 7 3601 APR 1691 1044 277 7 58 40 3394 MAY 1794 576 492 65 48 0 3467 JUN 1636 609 273 37 3 25 2856 TOTAL 10100 4806 2212 441 266 103 20140
Table 4.4: number of transactions processed in first half year 2007
When these figures are specified per trade team we can see if any differences occur. The table below is retrieved from the tables in the appendix 5. Table 4.5 shows for each trade group the number of the months with a minimum and a maximum level of respectively subscriptions, redemptions and transfers. This table shows that especially the variability in team 1 and 2 is high. Team 3 and 4 have less variability but there is still a
considerable difference between the month with the highest and lowest number in transactions.
Subscriptions Redemptions Transfers
Min Max Min Max Min Max
TRADE TEAM 1 244 670 65 294 11 68
TRADE TEAM 2 354 611 174 318 50 144
TRADE TEAM 3 313 457 112 267 110 269
TRADE TEAM 4 352 459 133 243 39 113
Table 4.5: minimum and maximum levels of subscriptions, redemptions and transfers
The processing performance of each team provides evidence that there are differences in processing activity among the four trade teams. When the capacity of each team is taken in consideration, the processing activity on an individual level can be determined. As can be seen in table 4.6, there occur some differences in the
for each team is bold, to emphasize the differences that occur for each team during the months. For trade team 1 there occurs a big gap due to the low number of transactions in June.
Average number of transactions per employee per day
01/2007 02/2007 03/2007 04/2007 05/2007 06/2007
TRADE TEAM 1 10.5 11.2 9.5 11.4 11.8 4.4
TRADE TEAM 2 7.1 6.5 7.6 6.5 6.1 7.4
TRADE TEAM 3 8.4 6.2 7.6 6.4 7.8 6.6
TRADE TEAM 4 8.3 6.7 9.1 8.6 7.7 6.8
Table 4.6:Average number of transactions per employee per day for the four trade teams
The table 4.7 below summarizes this section and provides an opportunity to compare the information that is given. The items that are specifically interesting in the consideration of the relationship between available capacity and performance are the total transaction that are processed and the average number of transaction per employee per day.
Total transactions
Average per employee per day
Net Labor Capacity hours per day
Number of employees TRADE TEAM 1 4470 9.8 32 4 TRADE TEAM 2 5482 6.9 56 7 TRADE TEAM 3 5706 7.2 52.8 7 TRADE TEAM 4 4482 7.9 40 5
Table 4.7: Summary of performance figures for the four trade teams
When we look at the table we see that the two teams with the highest total transaction have the lowest average number of transactions per employee per day. Apparently, the demand for teams 1 and 4 is considerably lower than that of teams 2 and 3, however due to the lower capacity, the effort of these teams seem higher than that of teams 2 and 3. When we compare the average number of transactions per employee per day, teams 1 and 4 stand out with an average number of transactions per employee per day of respectively 9.8 and 7.9. These relatively high numbers are due to the capacity of both teams 1 and 4, as is shown in the two columns at the right. This indicates that there are some differences regarding the efficiency of the various trade teams. From the analysis of the performance of the trade teams we can conclude that the demand in transactions is difficult to predict, and that the demand is variable per month. There are obvious differences between the teams in relation to the processing of transactions. When the responsibilities of the employees in the trade teams are considered, we can draw some conclusions with regard to the variability of the demand which requires flexible adjustments of the employees in case of relative busy months. It seems that the teams have to cope with the unpredictability and uncertainty of the demand. The area of responsibilities will be treated in a later stage when we consider the adequacy of the organizational structure.
4.2. TREASURY TEAM
Capacity
TREASURY TEAM
Number of employees 8.0
Net Labor Capacity per day 60.8
NET Number of employees (40 hr-fte-base) 7.6
Table 4.8: team statistics of treasury team
Performance
The performance of treasury can be evaluated based on data that covers the months January to June. The table 4.9 contains information about the inward and outward transactions that are processed by treasury. The inward transactions are the received amounts of money from investors who subscribe to a client. This number corresponds more or less with the information that is retrieved from the Client Relations system which was treated in the former section. The differences between the two sets occur due to the way the data is sorted. The similarity is logical, considering the interdependence of activities of the trade teams and the treasury team. As with the evaluation of the performance in the former section, the minimum and maximum levels are presented in bold font. These are respectively 1446 and 1889 for inward payments and 2106 and 3588 for outward payments.
TOTAL PAYMENTS
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun TOTAL
TOTAL INWARD PAYMENTS 1704 1575 1889 1749 1446 1798 10161
TOTAL OUTWARD PAYMENTS 2330 2644 3588 2106 3336 2828 16832
Table 4.9: Total transactions processed per month by Treasury
The outward transactions can be further specified by redemption payments and accounting payments. Treasury is responsible for making payments for the Accounting Department. As the focus is on the number of transactions, this is used for review of processing activity as well. The relevant payments for the processes that are considered for this research are the redemption payments. The accounting payments are payments on behalf of the client that are made by treasury. These payments include fee payments and other payable amounts for the client. The redemption payments are the payments that are made from the clients’ account to investors that redeem from the client.
TOTAL OUTWARD PAYMENTS
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun TOTAL
Redemption payments 689 688 1231 564 614 1117 4903
Accounting payments 1641 1956 2357 1542 2722 1711 11929
Table 4.10: Total payments per month processed by Treasury
4.3. CONCLUSION
From the analysis of the capacity and the performance, we can see that the teams that are involved with
5.
THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE IN RELATION TO THE
AVAILABLE CAPACITY AND PERFORMANCE
In this section we look at two of the relationships that are subject of this research, highlighted in figure 5.1. We evaluate (1) the relationship between the organizational structure of the CR-department with the available capacity of the trade teams and the treasury team and (2) the effect of the organizational structure of the CR-department on the current transaction processing performance of the CR-department. The framework that is proposed by De Vries (1999) is used here to provide insight in organizational structure. To evaluate the organizational structure we have a look at the organization of tasks, responsibilities and the way that the teams are involved in the organization and coordination of the processes. Together with the description of the process in chapter 3, this will be the basis to characterize the structure.
Figure 5.1: Relationships covered in this chapter
5.1. THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
On the basis of the description of the process in the preceding chapters, the organizational structure can be characterized in terms of De Vries. This comprises the logistics organizational measures which take place on different levels, namely strategic, adaptive and operational. Furthermore there is a logistics system that is characterized using two dimensions. The organic, describing the structure in terms of teams and individuals who are responsible for the logistics, and the personnel, which describes the collection of formal and actual
relationships between persons and groups of persons engaged in logistics activities (De Vries, 1999).
The logistics organizational measures
The adaptive level is concerned with the formulation of performance criteria that must be achieved by the organization and the translation of the objectives in an organization structure. In the case of the CR-department the objective is to respond to clients and investors within two business days. In relation to the events that occur over time, there are different objectives at various moments in the process. These objectives were mentioned in the previous chapter and comprise:
• Send investors confirmation of received transaction request within 2 business days after receipt of the
request;
• Send investors confirmation of cash received within 2 business days after receipt of subscription money;
• Process transactions and send contract notes to investors within 2 business days after the availability of
the NAV or NAV estimate for the appropriate value/trade date;
In practice it appears that larger part of the new requests are received in the last two weeks of the month. This is due to deadlines that are set by the various clients for investors to send in their request forms for the various transactions. Another remark can be made about the timing of the finalization of NAVs. These vary per client because that is agreed upon with each client separately. These NAVs are determined by the Accounting Department. The figure 5.2 below shows the number of clients of which the NAV is determined per day after month end. This occurs each month repetitively and the implication for the CR-department is that the transactions for the clients must be processed when the NAV is available. The information from this figure is limited because it does not directly say anything about the number of transactions, however it is obvious that there is a high peak on the 22nd day which indicates that this potentially releases many transactions.
NUMBER OF NAVs FINALIZED AFTER MONTH END
0 50 100 150 200 250 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45
Day t + ... (Calendar days after t = month e nd)
N u m b e r NUMBER OF NAV FINALIZED IN MONTH T
Figure 5.2: Number of NAVs finalized per day after month end (t)
communication between the trade teams and the treasury team to make sure payments are made in time and the required documentation is timely transferred and to check whether specific amounts for subscribing investors are received.
The compliance with KYC and AML policies have effects on the operations of the department which can be seen in the activities that must be performed to check identification of investors and client representatives, signatures etc.. In order to address the KYC and AML policies, everyone in the organization is requested to report suspicious transactions to the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO). The MLRO will investigate these matters, and when a matter can not be satisfactorily addressed by either the client or the investor, the transaction will be cancelled. When the transaction is already processed the holding of the investor will be terminated.
The organic logistics system
The organic logistics system represents the way in which the various logistics organization activities are divided over individual positions and how these positions are grouped to organizational entities (De Vries, 1999). There are three structure parameters that provide insight in the organic logistics system:
1. degree of concentration; Due to the nature of services in general and this company in particular, the process is the product and therefore it is common sense that the degree of concentration of the logistics function is weak. The logistics is the responsibility of each department, and there are no dedicated groups in the organizations that have responsibility for the logistics in any of the departments. In the CR-department, especially considering individual employees are responsible for an account of clients, the logistics could be regarded as strongly decentralized in the trade teams. Within the treasury team there is a lower concentration level. Activities are coordinated by the team supervisor and senior controllers, while the junior controllers are dedicated to processing in- and outward payments.
2. relative position; The CR-department is one of three departments in the organization of UIS, each responsible for separate activities that are part of the package of services that is delivered to the clients. There are some interdependencies between these three departments in the execution of the activities of each department. The CR-department is dependent on the delivery of NAVs that are determined by the Accounting-department. The transactions can only be processed when these NAVs are available. The CR-department has no control over either this process or the timing of the delivery.
The employees in the trade teams are fairly independent in the coordination and processing of the transactions once the required information and all documentation is available. Each individual
employee in the trade teams plays a key role in the logistics of processing the transactions for the clients of their responsibility.
In daily practice, the treasury team is requesting the transactions that require payment in order to meet deadlines for these payments. This request is a logistic measure and therefore the team is seen as part of the logistic system.
