How a Top Furniture Business Found a New Bank on the Path to Growth

April 13, 2022

At a glance

  • The main takeaway: When managing rapid growth, some businesses may need extra services and support than their existing bank can offer, leaving them searching for a new institution that can step in to help.
  • Impact on your business: Bank relationships are important to strategic, successful growth. Finding an institution that can meet your current and future needs takes time and requires thorough due-diligence, interview and analysis processes.
  • Next steps: If you need assistance navigating the search for a new bank and negotiating fees, contact Aprio’s Treasury Optimization team.

Schedule a consultation with an Aprio advisor.

The full story:

As their business grows, owners and leaders often find they need to re-evaluate their processes, products or partnerships. Finance leaders, in particular, may uncover new gaps or matters that need to be addressed to keep pace with rapid expansion. In some cases, leaders conclude that they need to find a new bank that can provide a broader range of services to help support their business’s growth both now and in the future.  

In addition, businesses may be faced with unpredictable events that require them to switch gears rapidly — like the COVID-19 pandemic, which has transformed many industries and required businesses to adapt to new rules and ways of working. This is another instance in which a business may need to consider partnering with a new bank.

Recently, Aprio’s Treasury Optimization Services practice helped a business navigate this type of situation, providing the due diligence, communication support and analysis necessary to secure a relationship that could help meet the organization’s evolving needs amid high growth.

In the second installment of our three-part series, we recount this success story to shed light on how businesses can develop new banking relationships that help them address current challenges, seize new opportunities and support continued long-term growth.

Meet the client

Over the course of more than two decades, the client had established itself as a digital-forward, consumer-driven powerhouse featuring an expansive portfolio of furniture brands, products and furnishing solutions that represent a perfect balance of form, function and style.

The company engaged Aprio’s Treasury Optimization team for help with finding a new bank that could provide a wider range of solutions to support its rapid growth and new business model. The company’s top priorities were to find an institution that could automate its payables and receivables processes, which became a major need when it pivoted to remote-working at the height of the pandemic.

The results

Aprio initiated a discovery process with the company that allowed leadership to evaluate a few key questions:

  • What is most important to you in a banking relationship?
  • What is working well with your current banking relationship?
  • What is your two-to-five-year plan, in terms of how you see your finances operating?

From there, Aprio worked with the company to create a request for proposal (RFP) process. Aprio’s Treasury Optimization team also tapped into its database of banks to pinpoint which candidates could be a good fit for the company’s needs. Once RFP responses were received, Aprio and the company collaborated to conduct a thorough due diligence process, which helped narrow down the pool to the top three candidates. Aprio’s team also helped conduct interviews that allowed for fruitful exchanges and conversations between bankers and the company’s leadership. This allowed the company to get to know potential candidates on a deeper level and present scenarios that allowed them to see how certain services would work in action.

Once the final candidate was identified, Aprio helped the company negotiate pricing that suited their financial needs, lowering their current banking fees by 45%.

The bottom line

If you have reached a crossroads in your banking relationship and need to find an institution that can better support your path to growth, it’s important to practice thorough due diligence to find a partner that can go the distance with you. Aprio’s Treasury Optimization team is committed to improving our clients’ banking relationships, while enhancing their profitability and finding solutions that can better suit their growing needs. We also provide competitive benchmarking services that allow you to compare your fees to industry averages to secure the best possible rates.

Don’t miss part three of our series, in which we’ll share another client success story that illustrates how to develop the best banking relationship for your business.

In the meantime, reach out to Aprio’s Treasury Optimization team to schedule a consultation if you’re interested in getting a second opinion on your fees.

Related resources

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About the Author

Tim Saulnier

Tim partners with clients to negotiate lower banking fees and structure their treasury functions to save money and maximize profitability. Through data analysis, Tim identifies opportunities for savings across transaction fees, foreign exchange fees, deposits, commercial card rebates and merchant processing fees. Before joining Aprio, Tim spent 23 years in banking operations and treasury sales. Recognizing a disconnect between customers and their banking institutions, Tim created his unique treasury optimization service model to help Aprio clients maximize their business banking and financial relationships.