There has been a dramatic shift in the past few days in the expectation of where interest rates are headed. This has taken many of us by surprise. What do the experts have to say?

U.S. corporations are contributing to record bank profits as the industry’s net operating revenue broke the $1 trillion barrier in 2023.

Unlike card declines, bank declines are often unpredictable and unavoidable, as they depend on factors beyond the merchant's control. However, this does not mean that merchants are helpless in the face of bank declines. Some strategies can help reduce their impact and frequency, as well as improve the customer experience.

Legacy arrangements and systems have helped the banking and payments industry generate billions in extra profit from the Airline industry. Higher interest rates and increased card payments complexity is costing the Airline industry billions in lost profits. This challenge can be addressed by Finance teams deploying industry experts to help re-optimise banking and payments, post-pandemic, without making major changes.

The daily updates in the media about the path of interest rates for next year are unhelpful. Whereas the markets are predicting a decline in 2024 there is much disagreement amongst policy makers about how soon the declines will happen.

The rise in interest rates is driving bank profitability in a way not seen since before the Global Financial Crisis. Lower provisions have added further to the record figures. Banks’ Net interest margins continue to expand despite competition from money market funds.

The announcement of a new rescue plan for Credit Suisse wont fully settle the nerve of investors and depositors. Similarities with the disastrous forced takeover of HBOS by Lloyds Bank in 2008 after Lehman Brothers collapsed. The problems at Credit Suisse are widely known but the speed with which this rescue is being implemented is dramatic.

Recently published data from the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) shows that US banks are benefiting strongly from recent interest rate rises and not passing on the benefits to their customers.

Virtual Bank Accounts (VBA) offer a much better way for companies to manage their banking arrangements and their cash. VBAs are also called Virtual Account Management (VAM) or in-house bank accounts. virtual bank accountsUsing virtual bank accounts companies can generate significant cost savings.

The amount of international visitors to Ireland is growing each year. As a result, Irish businesses are accepting more and more non-domestic Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards. Ireland is not alone in experiencing increases in international travel.

Since the day it was founded in 2009, Bankhawk Analytics has been focusing on analyzing corporate banking data by combining banking expertise and the latest technology. By doing so, Bankhawk successfully helped many organizations to reduce banking costs and transform financial management by improving operational efficiency and treasury governance.