risk management

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There’s nothing quite like travel to make a person feel more human. So of course, we’d turn to AI to enhance that experience.

As Morning Brew recently reported, “[f]rom reimbursements to booking trips,” AI is streamlining business travel. That brings up new risks for CFOs and their accounts payable staff. Those risks are best managed through proper governance—but updates to organizations’ best practices often lag behind rapidly changing AI technology, according to one business-travel expert.

“Companies aren’t quite moving fast enough and keeping up with their travelers, who are already using the tools in the market, and they should be really embedding them into their ecosystems,” Paul Dear, VP of travel for EMEA at SAP Concur, told CFO Brew.

A recent survey commissioned by SAP Concur found that three-quarters of business travelers use AI tools to help them coordinate their trips. The survey, conducted in April and carried out by Wakefield Research, includes responses from 3,300 business travelers, 800 travel managers, and 700 CFOs in 21 global markets.

Unapproved AI use is rampant.—AZ

      

Sponsored By Oracle NetSuite

You gotta spend money to make money, right? But what happens when the amount you need to spend keeps creeping up because of surprise costs?

Oracle NetSuite can help. They know these disruptions can make it hard for you to make confident decisions when costs keep changing. That’s why they’ve got tips on how you can navigate this tricky business environment, like:

• Look to alternative transport shippers and methods.
• Renegotiate contracts with suppliers, shippers, and contract manufacturers.
• Find cost savings in areas like logistics and inventory management.

Future costs are hard to predict, but Oracle NetSuite can help you make better decisions and put them into action ASAP.

Don’t let costs catch you by surprise.

strategy

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In March, US regulators proposed several revisions to the international framework that’s designed to strengthen safety and soundness regulations for banks. One of them, unfortunately, could impact some US banks’ appetite for extending certain types of lines of credit.

TL;DR. The revisions are part of what’s known in the US as the Basel III “endgame” reforms. (Hat tip: Avengers.) They could require big US banks to hold capital against the unused portion of consumer credit lines and some supply chain finance products, making those products less attractive for banks to offer to consumers and businesses.

This particular part of the Basel III revisions could most likely affect large banks that are major credit card issuers, but it could also have consequences for banks’ supply chain and trade finance businesses, Matthew Bisanz, a bank regulatory partner with law firm Mayer Brown, told CFO Brew.

The nitty gritty. The Basel Framework, an international set of banking standards and regulations first created by global standard setter the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) as far back as the 1980s and updated over the years, deals with the prudent regulation of banks and their safety and soundness—in particular, ensuring banks have enough capital to withstand unexpected losses and threats to liquidity.

Banks could cut credit lines.—LB

      

revenue strategy & leadership

Illustration: Anna Kim, Photos: Adobe Stock

It might be summer, but for high-value, low-price (HVLP) gym Crunch Fitness, it’s bulking season. With 154 locations worldwide in 2016, the brand now boasts over 550 premises globally, padded by expansions into several countries around the world, including new targets in Western Europe and Southeast Asia. The big picture: Crunch is generating growth at a time when other low-cost gyms are struggling to weather broader macroeconomic trends.

The gains didn’t always come easy for Crunch, which opened its first location in New York City in 1989. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 and has changed hands twice since 2019. Now, it’s fair to say it’s rocking an impressive pump, with a successful franchise model acting as the backbone of the enterprise.

Revenue Brew spoke with Crunch executives on how they built the momentum and what comes next.

Build it, and they will crunch. While data is essential to how Crunch has built its expansion engine, new CEO Chequan Lewis prides himself on being in a Crunch facility essentially “every day, somewhere.” As a result, he constantly has eyes on what’s resonating with consumers, and what’s not.

Revenue Brew discusses flexibility for franchisees.—BS

      

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market forces

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: Around $100 billion. That’s the stock market valuation that ‌hyperscale developer and operator Vantage Data Centers could pursue as part of an IPO or sale, which would make it the largest-ever data center IPO. (Reuters)

Quote: “We feel like [data center] moratoriums are not going to impact the demand for this infrastructure, they are going to impact where this infrastructure gets built. And so our approach to how you engage with the stakeholders is that you have to be extremely collaborative with the communities that ultimately host the infrastructure. And that’s based on transparency.”—CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator (Seeking Alpha)

Read: Heavy-hitting public companies like Apple and Nike report large tariff refunds, bolstering earnings. (Wall Street Journal)

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Quiz

Amelia Kinsinger

The week’s biggest CFO Brew stories—now in quiz form. Test yourself on the latest headlines in accounting, financial trends, risk management, and more in a quick, competitive challenge built for finance leaders. Challenge your coworkers and see how your score stacks up!