FinLync, the New York-based fintech company that manages corporates’ financial needs through its ERP native apps and API connectivity is transforming traditional treasury.

Tell us about the history of the company.

My brother Phillip and I recognised that the growth of open banking and the disparate state of legacy corporate treasury technology presented a major opportunity to create a contemporary, app-based system that can fit into a corporate’s existing ERP system, powered by bank API connectivity.

In May of 2021, we closed on a US$16m equity funding round led by Point72 Ventures, with investments from Nyca Partners, former Palantir CFO and Founding Partner of Friends & Family Capital Colin Anderson, and Plaid Founder William Hockey. This funding allowed us to further invest in our technology and expand our global reach and executive leadership team. We have secured clients such as Citrix and partnered with leading global financial institutions like Standard Chartered. We also recently announced the launch of the industry’s first bank API catalogue for corporate treasurers.

What can clients expect?

There are two distinct factors that set FinLync apart from legacy treasury technology. The first is that our treasury apps are embedded inside a corporate’s ERP, meaning that FinLync’s apps install quickly and easily inside a company’s existing system of record, comparable to installing apps directly onto a smartphone. Benefits include one centralised data location, a reduced number of software systems to maintain and pay for, reduced exposure to fraud, and a decrease in expensive implementation, all the while using a corporate’s existing ERP login.

The second factor is that bank connectivity is made via real-time bank APIs, getting rid of both bank portals and bank files. Corporates have streamlined API connectivity to all their banks and accounts in an always-on format, freeing corporates from laborious bank portals and host-to-host connectivity while reducing manual labour. Real-time data means speed and precision which enables faster decisions with more accurate data.

One client we can point to is Citrix. Citrix is leveraging FinLync’s technology to integrate its bank and ERP data which will allow its corporate treasury team to benefit from real-time payments, balances, account information and status, machine learning-assisted reconciliation the same day as transactions, more certainty for urgent payments – while being protected by the latest enterprise-grade security. This multinational software company got a technology solution to improve its payment lifecycle while lowering costs and streamlining operations. Citrix will be leveraging FinLync’s solution suite, including Balance and Transaction Inquiry, Payments, Approvals, Status Tracker and Reconciliation applications, bringing speed, reliability and 24/7 transparency to its corporate treasury function.

The use cases for FinLync include:

• Global cash position in 60 seconds. As frequently as a treasurer wants, whenever they want – think of having a “refresh” button for all of a corporate’s bank data.
• Instant traceability of critical treasury payments. This includes detailed reject reasons, and step-by-step payment tracking from origination to final beneficiary.
• Instant reconciliation. Corporates can count on same-day reconciliation, invoice matching, and user-trained AI creates new rules.
• More precise forecasting. This is achieved by leveraging up-to-the minute available balances and all AP, AR and GL data.

How has the pandemic affected your offering?

The pandemic has only highlighted the need for real-time treasury along with more sophisticated liquidity management and cash forecasting capabilities. For example, at the onset of the pandemic and resultant lockdowns, when a large portion of revenue stopped and budgets froze, corporate treasurers needed instant data about their firms’ financial status. For many, this was impossible because legacy treasury management systems are only built for delayed or scheduled information. Today, corporate treasurers are facing pandemic-related supply chain issues that require them to forecast more frequently and with more granularity, something legacy technology can also make difficult.

As the pandemic continues to cause uncertainty and fundamentally change the world we live in, we have seen corporate treasurers more open than ever to exploring how bank APIs and real-time treasury can help them drive efficiencies into their teams’ functions.