Oikocredit streamlines multicurrency operations and payments with Cobase

Beja Morren, Manager Financial Control & Accounting, explains that the dollar is the base currency in which the loans are granted. However, for many projects, local currencies are required as well. As a result, these local loans are issued in a variety of foreign currencies at a national level, per requirement of individual banks.

The extent of these local requirements as well as the need to use different local electronic banking systems does not enhance the visibility of the banking landscape and makes payments on behalf of these accounts very cumbersome. This leads to many challenges for Oikocredit.

For Oikocredit, a single solution was needed that could provide a better overview and control over all the different banks, accounts, and currencies Oikocredit is using. Marcel van Amersfoort, Treasurer of Oikocredit states that: “ING brought us into contact with Cobase. It soon became clear that Cobase offered a solution for the overview and efficiency challenges that we were facing.”

The Cobase platform is able to connect the banks worldwide. It also provides an overview of all the exposures in all currency formats so we can always monitor our exposures and have an overview.

According to Beja, “Cobase provides Oikocredit with useful insight into different areas of their work, not least being able to quickly check the balances of their banks and accounts and easily determine which accounts need to be funded.”

Cobase allows Oikocredit to manage all payment preparation and processing in one platform. It is no longer necessary to log in and out of the various bank portals, each with its own different hard, or soft token.

This offers substantial efficiency benefits to the daily work of those who prepare and approve payments. On top of that, the Cobase sFTP connector automatically uploads the bank statements into the accounting package and sends the payment files to Cobase.

Potential risks have been eliminated by the substitution of manual upload/download to automatic download/upload of statements and payment batches. When Oikocredit decides to open extra bank accounts in new countries, Cobase follows these developments, seeking to integrate and adapt the local reporting and payment protocols.