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Bringing Hollywood to cinemas across the world

United International Pictures (UIP), formed in 1981, is a multinational film distributor jointly owned by Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures. Headquartered in London, the company distributes films to cinemas in globally through its 16 distribution offices.

Since its formation, UIP has distributed over 1,000 films under licence across the world, including more than 100 Academy Award winners. 

CollectionID offers a virtual multi-currency account solution

Operating a distribution service in 140+ countries, UIP sought the advice from the team at NatWest Markets, as they looked for a solution to better-manage their large network of foreign accounts and foreign exchange (FX) exposure.

Together, we looked at UIP’s set-up of international accounts, which the firm uses to receive funds in the currency of their distribution territory, and discussed UIP’s dilemma of collecting sums of foreign currency for which they have no underlying working capital requirement.

UIP’s challenge is not unique and is one that many large multi-national businesses often need to solve. Based on these discussions, our team recommended CollectionID - our innovative, virtual multi-currency account solution.

CollectionID replaces the need to open currency accounts and provides businesses with enhanced FX tracking, control, and FX conversion of receipts in 36 currencies. CollectionID allows businesses to avoid having to physically instruct the sale of a foreign currency or arrange for foreign currencies to go directly into their international currency account. These processes are manual, inefficient, and expensive, and provide little or no transparency over the FX costs.

Another advantage is that CollectionID requires minimal integration effort. When a company signs up, we give out as many virtual international bank account numbers (IBANs) as required, each capable of receiving funds in 36 currencies. When payments are instructed to the virtual IBAN, we receive the funds and automatically convert them to pre-agreed currency preferences and FX spreads, and settle to the company’s nominated bank account. CollectionID users receive an email report at the end of the day, confirming the receipt of incoming currency and the FX rate applied.  

Reaping the benefits of multi-currency collection and automated conversion

Nick Day, Senior Manager, Treasury & Group Finance at UIP, said: “As an international business, we often receive invoice payments in multiple different currencies. Automating the receipt and conversion of the associated FX risk has always been a challenge. Hence, we are excited to now use CollectionID, which helps us reduce the number of currency accounts we need and means we can invoice in multiple local currencies and receive our funds for conversion at a flat, transparent margin.”

Nick Pedersen, Managing Director, Digital at NatWest, commented: “We’re delighted to have had the opportunity to help UIP better-manage cross-border collections. UIP’s challenge is one that many, large multinational businesses face. That’s why we developed CollectionID, our virtual multi-currency account solution, which allows companies receiving foreign currency funds, or looking to expand into new countries, to instantly reap the benefits of multi-currency collection and automated conversion - all tailored to their individual currency needs.”

For more information about UIP please visit Universal International Pictures.

Finance is subject to status. Security may be required. Product fees may apply.

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