Global Public Sector

Improving the efficiency of receivables and reconciliation from subscription fees collected from students all over the world by leveraging HSBC’s Direct Debit solution.

Read A Government Council in Europe

Enabling cost-effective automated multicurrency cross border payments with HSBC Global Disbursements as well as supporting traditional cheque payments to beneficiaries throughout the world.

Client Situation

A large governmental department in North America, the client was responsible for a wide range of activities including:

• Global procurement on behalf of various departments and agencies
• Managing real property holdings owned by the government
• Enhancing compensation-related services to optimise taxpayers' money

To help simplify processes across their varied activities, the client was looking specifically to make cross border payments in multiple currencies electronically and by cheque to beneficiaries in approximately 200 countries while also lowering foreign exchange costs.

HSBC Solution

HSBC recommended Global Disbursements, which gave the client the ability to make multicurrency payments to countries around the world from a single account. This was combined with an integrated Foreign Exchange rate service. Our global presence also enabled us to meet the client's cheque issuance needs in over 38 countries with transactional capabilities in over 200.

The Result

In addition to making cross border payments in multiple currencies using Global Disbursements, the pre-determined foreign exchange rates have significantly reduced the client's currency transaction costs. This has helped them increase control and visibility of their funds – ultimately improving the efficiency of their day-to-day business.

Automating processes with simplified payment instructions, reconciliation and payment confirmations through HSBC Connect.

Client Situation

A Ministry of Education in the Middle East, the client is responsible for tuition and maintenance payments for higher education students around the world. Supporting over 40,000 students locally and another 8,000 overseas, the Finance department manually triggers payments once student finance claims are approved internally. The Ministry was looking to increase control over operations by:

• Automating payment processes
• Improving reconciliation
• Reducing transaction costs

HSBC Solution

To automate processes as much as possible, we recommended HSBC Connect – our host-to-host solution that connects the client's systems directly to the bank's and enables them to send payment instructions immediately upon authorisation. The system also sends daily statements automatically to help minimise the need for manual reconciliation. In addition, payment advice confirmations are automatically sent to students so they know when a payment has been made.

To ensure a seamless implementation with no impact on their business operations, we worked closely with the client throughout the HSBC Connect Installation process to help them overcome their IT resource constraints.

The Result

The client has seen a 30% reduction in processing time and resources needed to issue student payments. Students are receiving payments faster, and the payment confirmation notifications have reduced the number of enquiry calls coming in.

We are currently exploring other solutions we can offer to the client's overseas payment intermediary to further streamline processes, reduce costs and save more time.

Automating and centralising cross border payments and reporting using HSBC Global Disbursements and HSBC Connect.

Client Situation

This government-run organisation was established to help the developing world address social, economic and environmental issues. Their goal is to encourage and financially support research projects aimed at finding practical, long-term solutions for developing countries to improve:

• Food security
• Maternal and child health
• Employment, particularly for women and young people
• Technology and innovation

As a result, the organisation had a frequent need to send funds for Research & Development and humanitarian projects to recipients in over 100 countries, many of which are emerging or developing nations. With this, they were looking for a bank with the experience and solutions to help them:

• Effectively manage their international multicurrency payments
• Streamline client management processes by centralising and digitising their Treasury
• Provide on-the-ground local support in countries around the world
• Navigate the global regulatory environment

In addition to making payments, the client also had to manage incoming funds. While a large portion of their funding came from annual appropriations from the government, they also received support from foundations and other international organisations.

HSBC Solution

To simplify multicurrency cross border payments HSBC recommended its Global Disbursements solution, which allows the client to use a single, standard instruction file for both domestic and international payments. This was combined with HSBC Connect, our automated host-to-host channel for sending payment instructions. Since we supported 84% of the countries in which the client operated, we were further able to consolidate their currency pairings by using pre-determined foreign exchange rates.

To ensure that the client had ongoing support, we gave them access to a dedicated client service manager in North America who is now their single point-of-contact with the bank.

The Result

The client effectively reduced transactional costs by moving a large portion of their existing payments onto the Global Disbursements system. They also improved reconciliation with the ability to track their cross border payments in a more centralised way.

Using Global Disbursements helped the client increase control and reduce costs for foreign exchange transactions as well by grouping foreign exchange volumes and providing greater transparency into rates used. At the same time, HSBC Connect improved the client's procedural efficiency as report and receivables files are sent directly to the client's system.