Bank charges can be a big burden on businesses, running into thousands of euro a year. Most companies accept bank charges as a necessary cost, but former corporate treasury executive, Padraig Brosnan, believes many organisations are paying too much. Managing their transaction fees more effectively could save them significant sums of money, he says.
In 2013, Brosnan was working as a senior treasury executive in the ESB. He had been thinking about a solution to help companies get a better deal on bank charges and when a voluntary redundancy scheme was offered, Brosnan used the opportunity and the money to set up Treasury Delta.
In a nutshell Treasury Delta’s system allows companies to ask banks that have signed up to the platform for a quote for their transaction charges. The interface is simple to use and all data is encrypted. The idea is that companies would use the system to shop around for the best rates while financial institutions with an appetite to retain existing clients or add new ones could use it to offer competitive quotes.
“The aim was to develop a system that is very easy and user-friendly out front but is supported by a complex and sophisticated platform in the background,” Brosnan says.
“Our proprietary platform will allow companies and banks to communicate with each other in a more efficient and cost-effective manner and will also provide companies with the opportunity to achieve more competitive quotes on their annual banking charges.
“Another benefit of the system is that more efficient banking means less man hours spent on paperwork.”
Brosnan has brought more than 12 years' experience in the corporate treasury sector to bear on the design of his product that doesn't have a name as yet. He holds a masters in investment and treasury from Dublin City University and was a recent participant in the Enterprise Ireland-backed New Frontiers Programme.
Treasury Delta has five full-time employees and two interns who are currently focused on market research analysis. “We will create at least five more highly skilled jobs within the next six months and see the team expanding significantly as we enter international markets,” Brosnan says.
Treasury Delta will launch its product towards the end of 2015 in both Ireland and the UK. Companies with a turnover of about €10 million are its initial target market. Brosnan says the platform has significant international potential, is very scalable and will be localised for individual markets. The push now is to sign up users, both financial institutions and SMEs.
Users will pay Treasury Delta a one-off fee to use the platform but the company is still working on how much this charge will be. “What I can say is that we will be offering a low-cost, high-value proposition to potential customers and one of the key technological features of our solution is the state-of-the art IT security which is built into the platform. . . ,” Brosnan says.
Save tens of thousands
Asked how much Treasury Delta’s platform could save its customers Brosnan says, “This is a difficult one to answer as every company has very different commercial terms with their banks. Depending on the size of the company, some could save tens of thousands on their direct banking fees if a new bank was to enter a market or if a bank wanted to be very aggressive in increasing their market share.”
To date in excess of €200,000 has been invested in the business, largely funded by Brosnan. The company has also had support from Enterprise Ireland and the Dublin City Local Enterprise Office.
It recently received an InterTradeIreland Trade Accelerator Voucher to support its entry to the UK market. Treasury Delta is now looking to raise about €500,000 to fund further development and is in discussion with a number of potential investors.
