One of my friends said he’d seen an article in the business press about a new banking product called eBAM, which, apparently, may make another banking crisis, like the one we saw in 2008, less likely in future. Actually I’d never heard of it before and, although it sounded interesting (in a geeky kind of way,) it was clear that my mate wasn’t too clear on the specifics himself, so I decided to do some digging.
It turns out that eBAM (electronic Bank Account Management) is indeed a banking product, and one which will certainly make the life’s of banks and big companies’ finance departments easier, although how much difference it will make to us “little people” is debatable; it’s most likely that any benefits which we do experience will be knock-on effects that aren’t exactly likely to revolutionise banking from the perspective of the man in the street.
It appears that eBAM is a new addendum to Corporate Treasury Management Systems (TMS, another acronym I was previously unfamiliar with,) which basically seems to be an impressive sounding name for the software systems which most any decent sized business is likely to be using to look after their finances and banking. However, eBAM apparently gives businesses a greater ability to keep an eye on the current state of their finances and banking facilities. Whereas previously a great deal of important information was transferred around businesses on paper or via emails, both of which can be all too easily misplaced, lost, or forgotten about, eBAM consolidates much of a business’ important banking information into one secure system which allows the information to be retreived electronically, at a moments notice, by anyone with the appropriate access rights.
The big difference with eBAM is that businesses will now have the capability to be far more aware of the exact state of their finances at any given point, which should make it far easier to spot potential financial problems as they emerge, as well as generally allowing a greater awareness of the exact state of their finances.
So, will it make a big difference to the majority of the population? The answer is, that as a product largely aimed at business, not really. However it does sound like this system has the potential to allow financial problems to be spotted easier, & earlier, than was previously the case, and should therefore help companies avoid becoming financially over-exposed to the point where collapse is a real danger, as happened to some very big names during the 2008 economic crash.
Unlike some writers, I wouldn’t go so far as to call any banking product “sexy”, but on the whole eBAM seems like it’s going to reduce the chances of another financial collapse or, if it does happen, at least negate the ignorance excuse on the part of bosses, and if that means there’s less chance of tax payers being forced to bail out the financial sector again that can only be a good thing!