AFP Exchange

Sphere of Influence

Treasury and finance executives whose companies  do business in Russia, the Ukraine, and other  former Soviet republics are already seeing the  effects of the Crimean crisis on their bottom lines. The turmoil has caused the ruble’s exchange rate to  plummet, making it more expensive for companies to  import goods into Russia and to service existing

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Get Proactive: Finance professionals are putting  big data tools to use to drive revenue

Finance professionals are putting  big data tools to use to drive revenue Online job search site TheLadders matches senior-level professionals with high-paying jobs, and the company is investing in data analytics to make those matches more accurate for users. But the company’s financial department will benefit from the new focus on analytics as well. “Normally,

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Bitcoin of the Realm: Overstock.com Accepts Virtual Currency

Overstock.com, the second-largest online retailer in the U.S., has begun accepting Bitcoin as payment for all purchases. “Bitcoin’s first full day on @overstock.com was a huge success: 840 orders, $130,000 in sales. Almost all new customers,” tweeted Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne. Meanwhile, for those who are highly interested in such virtual currencies which can be

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Beginning of the End

Merchants are starting to accept Bitcoin–overcoming challenges and earning new customers in the process In 2013, Bitcoin was primarily known for its use in nefarious activities, such as money laundering, drug dealing and hiring assassins. In addition to not wanting to be associated with this kind of behavior, legitimate companies avoided the cryptocurrency because of

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Security Keys

What treasury and finance executives need to know about encryption Treasury and finance executives need to know enough about encryption and security to  ensure that those policies not only match the company’s general attitude towards risk, but  also account for particular risks associated with certain departments and processes. Encryption is a good safety measure because

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Virtual Reality

New virtual currencies a  risky bet for corporations Virtual currencies have been in the news lately, with Bitcoin in  particular gaining attention from an influx of new users and  acceptance at thousands of retailers. But should all treasury  groups consider using virtual currencies? If so, what are the risks? OkCupid, an online dating service, readily

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Big Questions: Big data offers big opportunities and big risks for treasurers

Big data–the catch-all term for collecting, storing and analyzing massive amounts of data–is the hot business topic this year. For treasury and finance professionals, however, there are some risks associated with big data. These risks include compliance and regulatory risks, the risk of wasting money on misguided big data projects, and the risk of doing

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Cloudy Outlook

Cloudy Does the cloud help or  hinder credit card payment  security and compliance? Depending on whom you ask, processing  credit card payments in the cloud is either  a great leap forward for security and  compliance, or a big step backward. Actually, it can be  either–depending on the type of cloud you have in  mind and

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