Bank Mendes Gans

Cash Management & Banking in Canada

Report date: 
24 Jun 2026

Commentary

Many people in the US consider Canada to be their 51st state. It often comes as a surprise to MNCs which operate there that this is not the case: in fact, Canada can present surprising challenges for businesses. Not only are there two official languages – and French is often mandatory for dealing with the government in Quebec - but laws and regulations can vary significantly across the thirteen provinces and territories. And, of course, the US is not all plain sailing for non-US MNCs, but that is a different discussion……

 

In this call, peers focused on two areas where they found Canada to be challenging:

  • Cheques: Canadian businesses are even more addicted to this payment instrument than their neighbours to the south – and the cutoff times are not always helpful. Most peers have established lockboxes: all the banks offer this service, but some peers still physically carry the cheques they receive to their banks.
  • Cross border cash pooling: this presents potential issues, as Revenue Canada can reclassify cross border payments as deemed dividends, in the absence of convincing proof to the contrary. The standard withholding tax on dividends is 25%, though tax treaties with most developed nations reduce this to 5% or 15%. It can be material.

From a banking point of view, most peers are able to use their global relationship banks to satisfy their needs: HSBC exited in 2024; Citi, JPMorgan and Bank of America were mentioned, but are not necessarily present everywhere. Foreign ownership of Canadian banks was restricted until 1989, and Canadian banking regulations are still quite stringent.

The discussion about the deemed dividend rule was lively and not conclusive. Most banks are happy to provide cross border cash pooling, but, as always, they are not prepared to offer tax advice – they are particularly reluctant to do so here. This has led several peers to either suspend their cross border pools, not implement them, or use workarounds. CompleXCountries does not provide tax advice, either: the following is a summary of the discussion, supplemented by Google searches. Any MNC implementing or managing a cross border pool should seek direct professional tax advice.

  • In the absence of solid evidence to the contrary, Revenue Canada can consider a payment to an affiliate outside the country to be a deemed dividend, and levy the applicable rate of withholding tax (WHT). For most peers, tax treaties would reduce this to 5% or 15%, depending on the country and ownership percentage.
  • This rule is not unusual..........

    Please Login / Register to read the rest of this Commentary.

    Basic membership of CXC is free to Corporate Treasury professionals: Why Sign Up with CXC?
Topics covered in this report: 
Cash Pooling - cross border, Cash Pooling - domestic, POBO/ROBO, Cheques, Lockbox, Investments, Cash Repatriation
Service providers discussed in this report: 
JP Morgan, Bank of America, HSBC, BMO, TD, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank Mendes Gans, CIBC, Scotia

Please log in, or create a free account, to read the whole report summary.

Corporate Treasury & Banking in Israel

Report date: 
3 Dec 2025

Please Log in / Register to access this commentary

The new CompleXCountries report on Banking and Corporate Treasury in Israel has now been published and is available to subscribers or can be purchased individually. The report is based on a detailed peer discussion between senior corporate treasury professionals from Europe, the Middle East and Asia in which they shared and compared their approach and experiences with managing their corporate treasury in Israel and compared experiences with different banking partners.

The report includes:

  • Integration with global treasury structures
  • Banking relationships - local & global banks
  • Language and system challenges
  • Withholding tax challenges
  • Local organisational structures
  • Cash pooling practices, domestic, cross border (physical and notional).
  • Local payments & collections
  • Funding
  • Contingency planning

Service providers discussed in this report include: HSBC, Citi, Bank Mendes Gans, Bank Leumi, Bank Hapoalim and  Mercantile.

Click here to enquire about subscriptions or individual report purchase options

 

 

Topics covered in this report: 
Bank Relationships, Cash Pooling - cross border, Cash Pooling - domestic, Notional Pooling, Funding, withholding tax, Payments - domestic, Payments - cross border, Business continuity
Service providers discussed in this report: 
HSBC, Bank Mendes Gans, Citi, Bank Leumi

Please log in, or create a free account, to read the whole report summary.

Corporate Treasury & FX in Brazil

Report date: 
5 Nov 2025

The full report covers current practices in relation to the list below. To read our commentary (analysis and key findings)  please Log In or Register

  • Changes to IOF tax and its impact on FX, loans, and domestic cash structures
  • FX transaction practices 
  • Cross-border funding and capital structure considerations
  • Potential introduction of dividend withholding tax
  • Viability of including Brazil in a notional pooling structure under new rules
  • Use of boletos and e-boletos for collections
  • Adoption and growth of the Pix payment system
  • FX hedging, interest rates and BRL volatility
  • Use of structured products and offshore hedging
  • Investment of surplus cash
  • Payroll practices 
  • Tax payments
  • Working Capital Finance
  • Bank Relationships: local vs. global banks and service levels
  • Regulatory, tax and operating environment in Brazil

Service providers discussed  in the full report: Bradesco, Itaú, Banco do Brasil, Santander, Citi, JPMorgan, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Bank Mendes Gans, Deutsche Bank, BBVA, Caixa, FXall and 360T

 

Topics covered in this report: 
FX, Hedging FX, Cash Pooling - domestic, Notional Pooling, Funding, Working Capital, Supply Chain Finance, Factoring, Tax, withholding tax, Dividends, Boletos, PIX, Investments
Service providers discussed in this report: 
360T, FXall, BBVA, Bradesco, Itau, JP Morgan, Santander, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Banco de Brasil, Citi, Bank Mendes Gans, caixa, Deutsche Bank

Please log in, or create a free account, to read the whole report summary.

How MNCs manage Corporate Treasury in Turkey

Report date: 
22 Oct 2025

To read this commentary please Register or Log In.

CXC reports are based on confidential peer discussions between senior corporate treasurers sharing their solutions to complex treasury challenges.

Our commentaries, comprising the key findings from the reports are FREE - simply register to access 150+ commentaries and receive new commentaries direct to your inbox.

Our reports are packed with practical, experience based learning allowing users to benchmark their operations and identify proven, actionable efficiencies - please get in touch for details.

Topics covered in this report include:

  • Turkey’s recent economic conditions and inflation trends
  • Currency depreciation and exchange rate developments
  • Business and regulatory environment in Turkey
  • Tax structure and compliance challenges
  • Funding options and financing practices for companies
  • Use and impact of the Resource Utilisation Support Fund (RUSF)
  • Stamp duty and its implications for loans
  • Inter-company loans and cash management strategies
  • Hedging approaches and accounting under hyperinflation
  • Treatment of interest and foreign exchange transactions
  • Equity funding and capital management in subsidiaries
  • Cash pooling arrangements and restrictions
  • Role of international and local banks in Turkey
  • Bureaucracy and documentation requirements
  • Payment processing and local PSP requirements
  • Overall outlook and long-term confidence in the Turkish market

Banks discussed in this report include: Bank Mendes Gans, JP Morgan, Garanti, TEB, Citi, and ING

 

Topics covered in this report: 
Accounting Measurements, Bank Relationships, Cash Pooling - domestic, Notional Pooling, Funding, Cash Repatriation, Cash Pooling - cross border, Investments, Funding, Working Capital, Tax, PSP, FX, Hedging FX, Inflation
Service providers discussed in this report: 
JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, Bank Mendes Gans, ING, TEB, Garanti BBVA, Citi

Please log in, or create a free account, to read the whole report summary.

Corporate Treasury: Approaches to Cash Pooling

Report date: 
17 Sep 2025

To read this commentary please Register or Log In.

CXC reports are based on confidential peer discussions between senior corporate treasurers sharing their solutions to complex treasury challenges.

Our commentaries, comprising the key findings from the reports are FREE - simply register to access 150+ commentaries and receive new commentaries direct to your inbox.

Our reports are packed with practical, experience based learning allowing users to benchmark their operations and identify proven, actionable efficiencies - please get in touch for details.

Topics covered in this report: 
Cash Pooling - cross border, Cash Pooling - domestic, Zero balance accounts, in-house bank, withholding tax, Tax, Notional Pooling, Virtual accounts, POBO/ROBO, Target Balance Account
Service providers discussed in this report: 
Bank Mendes Gans, BNP Paribas, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Citi, Bank of America, MUFG, Standard Chartered, Commerzbank, PNC, Bank of Montreal

Please log in, or create a free account, to read the whole report summary.

Approaches to Investing short-term cash in Corporate Treasury

Report date: 
22 Apr 2025

To read this commentary please Register or Log In.

CXC reports are based on confidential peer discussions between senior corporate treasurers sharing their solutions to complex treasury challenges.

Our commentaries, comprising the key findings from the reports are FREE - simply register to access 150+ commentaries and receive new commentaries direct to your inbox.

Our reports are packed with practical, experience based learning allowing users to benchmark their operations and identify proven, actionable efficiencies - please get in touch for details.

Topics covered in this report: 
Money Market Funds, Investing, Risk - counterparty, Bank Accounts
Service providers discussed in this report: 
Westpac, Bloomberg, JP Morgan, Bank Mendes Gans, spotfire, Blackrock, Cachematrix, FIS, 360T, Santander, Itau, Citi, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Pictet Asset Management

Please log in, or create a free account, to read the whole report summary.

Mexico - Corporate Treasury Update

Report date: 
12 Jan 2024

Commentary

In many ways, Mexico is a paradox. It has a vital, and complicated, relationship with its northern neighbour: apart from anything else, migration across its land border into the USA is a significant, and highly contentious, topic in US domestic politics.

But the reality is that Mexico has a thriving economy, and has modernised its financial and banking infrastructure to the point where the consensus on the call was that it is a country where it is relatively easy to work, and where most modern treasury management techniques can be used. There are no exchange controls, cash can be freely transferred across the national borders, and cross border cash pooling is regularly practiced. FX hedging can be done freely both onshore and offshore, and the country is well banked, with both good local banks and most international banks being well represented.

Despite this overall positive environment, we still had a lively call. There are a series of challenges, and some points were not always totally clear. None is particularly serious, but they still take up management time and attention:

  • Citibank operate through a relationship with Banamex. While this works well, several participants reported service level issues, and there were challenges with data not being transmitted through the IT systems. This resulted in manual interventions which should not have been required.
  • Consistent with their global strategy, Citi/Banamex are withdrawing from the retail banking sector. For some participants, this caused a problem, as banks in Mexico share the Latin American practice of giving employees a better deal on their retail banking services if the company pays payroll through them.
  • Otherwise, some participants reported issues setting up and managing local
Please Login or Register to access the rest of this free commentary.
If you haven't previously Logged in but receive commentaries via email, simply use your email address to change your password to Log in.
Topics covered in this report: 
Bank Accounts, Bank Relationships, Cash Pooling - cross border, intercompany netting, payroll, POBO/ROBO
Service providers discussed in this report: 
Banamex, JP Morgan, HSBC, Bank Mendes Gans, Bank of America, BBVA, Citi

Please log in, or create a free account, to read the whole report summary.