The core business of Würth Finance International B.V. encompasses activities such as concentrating and optimising the worldwide payment flows, managing financial risks, handling Group financing and refinancing, central settlement of payments as well as investor relations.
Our corporate culture is characterised by commitment, professionalism, global understanding, friendliness and honesty, and these fundamental values form the basis for a fruitful realtionship with our customers and business partners based on mutual trust.
All business relationships between the Group companies and Würth Finance International B.V. start at the Account Management business unit, as each company needs to have an account in order to conduct business with us.
As a service center, Account Management is the main point of contact for Group companies who have queries or problems. Consequently, these companies are at the focus of everything we do, and we constantly endeavour to provide competent advice and a first-class service.
Group companies have the possibility within the framework of superordinate Group directives to place any cash they do not require for their business operations with Würth Finance International B.V., which then makes these funds available to the Würth Group to finance its growth.
The Cash Management business unit at Würth Finance International B.V. is responsible for ensuring the optimal use and allocation of the Group’s liquid assets. The flow of cash within the Group is coordinated so that the necessary liquidity is always available in the right place at the right time and that the interest income is continually optimised. The employment of cash pool systems allows the automated flow of cash on a day-to-day basis.
The Group also strives to work with the individual companies in their local currency.
The main task of the ePayments team is to provide electronic payment acceptance options (B2C & B2B) for the Branches, the E-Commerce, the M-Commerce and the Call Center within the Würth-Group. We dispose of specialist knowledge and products on various topics:
Financing the growth of the Würth Group is one of the core tasks of Würth Finance International B.V. The company issues bonds on the capital market and ensures that liquid funds are available to Group companies at all times.
The high creditworthiness of the Würth Group (Standard & Poor’s have accorded the long-term liabilities a rating of “A”) gives Würth Finance International B.V. access to the international capital markets. Transactions include bonds, promissory notes and syndicated bank credits, as well as the commercial paper program.
Würth Finance International B.V. is in a position to submit to Group companies binding offers for financing solutions on very attractive terms and within a very short period of time. These encompass the following:
When arranging these facilities, the specialists at Würth Finance International B.V. take into account both tax-related issues and any regulatory restrictions in the countries concerned.
The Payment Factory is responsible for processing the financial liabilities on behalf of the Würth Group companies to their suppliers. It is also responsible for handling the factoring within the Würth Group. Thus it forms the link between banks, Würth companies and suppliers.
Würth Finance uses a state-of-the-art payment infrastructure to ensure secure and global payments in a wide variety of currencies, including payments in exotic currencies. In addition, the Payment Factory has the know-how to meet the various guidelines and legal requirements of international payment transactions. In this way, we ensure that payments reach the beneficiary on time and in the most cost-effective way. The payment processing service is free of charge for the Würth Group companies and serves, among other things, to concentrate the Group's liquidity.
As a reliable partner of the Group companies, security is a top priority in the sensitive area of payment transactions. We maintain supplier master data and keep it up to date, systematically analyse fraud risks, confirm sensitive changes via secondary channels and check payments against sanction lists. These are just some of the methods we use to protect the finances and reputation of the Würth Group.
All of that enables Würth Finance to process several million invoices with an annual total volume of around 6 billion Euros securely.
Incurring, managing and monitoring risks are an integral part of the business activities performed by Würth Finance International B.V. The objective is not to completely eliminate all risks arising from movements in exchange rates, interest rates and stock prices, but much rather to achieve a healthy balance between risk and return.
In order to lessen the financial risk and to optimise income, derivative financial instruments are used. For this, our specialists have state-of-the-art financial information and risk monitoring systems at their disposal.
The Group companies receive comprehensive advice relating to financial market risks arising from their operative core business. Hedging transactions are entered into with respect to the following risks:
