Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions
48
The solution included a half-hourly statement
sent using a secure web-based protocol and
host-to-host connectivity with customer code,
customer name, and other information in a
comma-separated value format. This enabled
the data to be interpreted by Coca-Cola’s
system as different fields and facilitated
auto-updating.
Citi’s solution created customized reports
provided on a daily and monthly basis for
reconciliation at operating units and regional
level. In addition, Coca-Cola would receive email
alerts at operating unit level when customers
remitted funds so that goods could be
dispatched.
The Result
Citi implemented Coca-Cola’s efficient
receivables management solution, starting with
50 virtual accounts and reaching 4,800 virtual
accounts for the company’s customer network.
The solution has minimized manual
reconciliation by providing credit information
about customer activities. Coca-Cola’s ERP
systems can now automatically update and the
company will be less dependent on its service
channels. Coca-Cola’s 50% to 55% of collections
is now conducted through virtual accounts.
The system is helping Coca-Cola:
• Be eco-friendly by cutting usage of
paper-based instruments and supporting
documents, which also saves on courier costs.
• Reduce turnaround times from two days to a
couple of hours.
• Lower value-at-risk due to immediate credit.
• Gain a cost-effective alternative to demand
draft customers.
• Save costs by lowering collection/instrument
charges for the system.
“The e-collection initiative with
Citi has given us tremendous
advantages by improving service to
our customers, reducing value at
risk and float of funds in the banking
system by 2-3 days, saving on cost
of direct debit instruments and
bringing in efficiencies to our
back-end processing.”
Gunjan Dhawan, Corporate Treasurer,
Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages
