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Location
London
Member since
2011

Chris's blog archive

2014 (3)
Chris Errington

Chris Errington

Semi-retired at None
Message Message me Posts: 4 Comments: 19

Blogs

 

Spreadsheet gridlock: getting from A to B with STP

13 Feb 2015

In a recent poll we conducted with global corporates, over half the respondents confessed to still using spreadsheets to manage their general ledger or accounts receivable processes. When we asked them how long, on average, it takes to allocate and reconcile money received in their back office, 39% said it takes 3 days or more, with 16% taking up ...

Innovation in Financial Services

Robots are automating receivables - Danger, Will Robinson!

01 Jul 2014

I attended Shared Services & Outsourcing Week in Dublin recently and sat in on a session called “Increasing Automation to Optimise Existing Technology”. Part of the session focused on improving the cash collection part of the shared service provision for a global healthcare company. The firm presented a case study around the receipt of payment...

Innovation in Financial Services

Exploiting the value of extended remittance information

13 May 2014

I sat in on an interesting case study discussion at the London SWIFT business forum last week about the use of extended remittance information (ERI) to improve automation of accounts receivable and payable. HSBC, BNP and Orange spoke about a successful proof of concept they carried out which demonstrated the value of using ISO XML messages (specifi...

1

Electronic Bank Account Management

FCA rules on client money loom: are you ready to reconcile?

26 Mar 2014

While innovations such as Faster Payments in the UK have accelerated banks’ transaction processing, many client money managers are still lagging. Manual processes are still prolific and this can result in inaccuracies when matching incoming cash receipts to outstanding invoices with virtual accounts. Regulatory pressure is on the up when it comes ...

Chris is Commenting on

Who the f... are you?

  I took a call from a member of the Lloyds Group, who said there was an unusual transaction on my account and they wanted to check it. Went through the same dialogue of 'you show me yours and I'll show you mine'.  Did establish that they were probably genuine but wasn't sure because the branch they were calling from wasn't my local branch - I knew where it was but I had never been there [subsequently found it is the closest branch to my postcode; clue #1].  Asked specifically whether this was a sales call.  No, categorically not - there was an unusual transaction on my account I needed to check out. 'We' agreed I would ring head office.  Did so.  The caller was genuine.  But in fact, a genuine sales person at a Lloyds Group branch looking to invest my 'unusual receipt' - my monthly wages (which I've had for 10 years in a row) [Clue #2].  Head office said I had probably not checked the privacy box on my preferences - oh, the head office person says I had.  Oops.  Received a similar call a few months later, someone different but same storyline.  Same pretence - but this time I knew the game.  Thinking about it, I've had a number of these calls over the years but just put the phone down.  Then home phone rings and same story. Shame they are using the 'unusual transaction' angle since banks need all the help they can get in combating fraud - not 40 year customers who have been through this and just hang up. My calls ran very, very much like yours.