Account Funding Process

Metadata

• Customer: ON
• Status: Active
• Domain(s): Cash Visibility, Cash Forecasting
• Started: 2026-03-05
• Source: Notion

Problem Statement

Every morning, ON's treasury team needs to run a structured review of the company's global cash position across 31 entities and 21 countries. They must answer three questions before the business day starts:

1. Where do we stand right now across every entity and currency?
2. Are any accounts, currencies, or entities going to run out of cash in the next few weeks?
3. If so, where do we move money from, and do we need to convert any currencies?

Solution / Approach

The process moves from the broadest view (total cash by currency) down to the most granular (individual account-level shortfalls and specific transfer instructions).

Step 1: Check Today's Cash Position

Start with today's actual bank balances at two levels:

• By entity and currency: For every legal entity in the group, check how much cash they hold in each currency. Flag anything already negative — that is an overdraft happening right now.
• By currency across all entities: Roll up all entities into a single total per currency. A currency can look fine at the entity level but be dangerously concentrated in one place.

Exclude investment accounts (time deposits, money market funds) from this view.

Step 2: Understand the Cash Pool Structure

Map out which pools exist, which entities are members, and which currencies they cover. From this point forward, evaluate pooled accounts at the net pool level, not individually. An individual account showing negative within a pool is not an overdraft — it is just the mechanics of pooling.

Step 3: Look at the Forecast — Cash Pools

For each cash pool, look at the forecasted ending balance for each week over the analysis horizon (typically 4 weeks, up to 13).

Watch for:

• Pools going negative: Combined cash of all member entities in that currency will be insufficient.
• Rapidly declining pools: Still positive but burning through cash quickly.
• Burn rate: Calculate how much the pool loses per week to size funding actions.

Step 4: Look at the Forecast — Non-Pooled Accounts

Check every account not part of a cash pool and not an investment account. Filter to those with a forecasted negative balance. Ignore very small negatives (under a few hundred in local currency — usually bank fees or rounding). Focus on material shortfalls.

Step 5: Roll Up by Currency

Combine pooled and non-pooled into a single total per currency for each forecast week.

• Currency total negative: No amount of internal shuffling will fix it. Need FX trade or investment liquidation.
• Currency positive but some accounts negative: Cash exists somewhere in the organization, just needs moving.
• Currency barely positive and trending down: Watch item — will be short soon.

Step 6: Build the Funding Plan

For every shortfall, work through options in order of simplicity:

Priority 1: Same entity, same currency — Transfer between banks within the same legal entity. No IC agreements, no FX.

Priority 2: Different entity, same currency — Intercompany loan. More complex (requires loan documentation) but avoids FX costs.

Priority 3: Different entity, different currency (FX trade) — Sell surplus currency to buy the short one. Size the trade with 20-50% buffer if trend shows continued weekly burn. FX trades settle T+1 or T+2.

Considerations:

• For capital control countries (China, Brazil, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kenya), cross-border transfers may require regulatory approval.
• Prioritize by severity and timing.

Step 7: Check Investments

Review time deposits, money market funds, and notice accounts. Key question: Do any investments mature within the forecast horizon? Maturing proceeds may naturally cover a forecasted shortfall.

Flag today's maturities specifically — the treasury team needs to decide whether to reinvest or redeploy.

Step 8: Flag High Balances

Identify entities with unusually large balances — candidates for:

• Repatriation: Sending excess cash back to the parent/treasury center.
• Repayment: Paying down intercompany loans.
• Investment: Deploying idle cash into time deposits or MMFs.

Measured Outcomes

Metric	Before	After	Date Measured
Morning brief process	Manual, fragmented	Structured 8-step playbook	2026-03-05
Coverage	—	All 31 entities, all currencies	2026-03-05

Output: The Morning Brief

The output of this process is a single document structured as:

1. Executive summary: 2-3 sentences on position health, overdraft risks, globally short currencies, total cash.
2. Currency health dashboard: One table per currency showing total balance for each forecast week with status (Strong/Stable/Declining/Tight/Short).
3. Overdraft alerts: Per issue, ordered by severity — what's happening, why it matters, exactly what to do.
4. High balance alerts: Entities holding excess cash for review.
5. Time deposit maturity schedule: Upcoming maturities with amounts, counterparties, rates.
6. Action summary: Single table listing every recommended action in priority order.

Severity Classification

Level	When to use
HIGH	A cash pool is going negative (multiple entities affected), or a currency is globally short and needs FX
MEDIUM	An individual account is going negative by a material amount, but surplus exists elsewhere in the same currency
LOW	An individual account is going slightly negative, and surplus is easily accessible at the same entity or same bank

Action Types by Complexity

Action	What it involves	Effort
Same-entity, same-bank transfer	Move cash between accounts at the same bank	Trivial — often same-day
Same-entity, different-bank transfer	Move cash between banks within one entity	Low — standard wire
Intercompany loan	Transfer between legal entities in the same currency	Medium — needs IC loan documentation
FX conversion	Sell one currency, buy another	Medium — needs FX desk
Intercompany loan + FX	Transfer between entities with a currency conversion	High — combines IC docs and FX
Investment liquidation	Break a time deposit or redeem a fund early	High — may lose interest or pay penalties

The guiding principle: always choose the simplest action that fully solves the problem.