Kantox Year in Review: a year of change

What a year. 2020 has been a whirlwind of new challenges and unexpected obstacles.With the Covid-19 outbreak bringing more change than many could have imagined, businesses worldwide had to quickly respond and adapt, and things were no different at Kantox. However, even after this year of unprecedented turbulence, we’re grateful to have finished 2020 as a growing company with new partnerships, awards, clients and perspectives. As we bid 2020 farewell (and good riddance!), take a moment with us to reflect on some of our milestones from the last 12 months.

Celebrating success

We kicked off the year with a bang, winning big at the Treasury Management International (TMI) Awards in London. Our strategic partnership with BNP Paribas to jointly offer our Dynamic Hedging solution took home the award for Best Solution Innovation - FX Risk 2019. January was a busy month as we were also recognised as one of the UK's best-performing tech scale-ups at the Megabuyte 100 Awards. March saw FStech recognise our innovative partnership with BNP Paribas, awarding us both Partnership of the Year and Risk Management Software of the Year award. The judges commented that this bank fintech collaboration was a good example of "not just a new product, but a new way of working".We were also named for the second time on CB Insights Global Top Fintech Companies. And finally, to round out the year, TMI named our Currency Management Automation software as Best FX Risk Management Solution Award 2020.

Adapting to a new world

As the world went into lockdown in March amid growing uncertainty, we had to quickly adapt our company strategy. We acted as a team to this adverse challenge, with both our London and Barcelona offices swiftly and smoothly transitioning to fully remote work.

Alongside this switch to a virtual work environment, we were forced to reconsider how to stay connected with our customers and the treasury community as company and industry events were put on hold. We made a quick pivot and moved to a fully digital events strategy, launching our successful webinar series with nearly 30 webinars taking place to date!On top of this, we also introduced the very first Kantox FX Risk Management Survey, a study conducted in collaboration with TMI. The survey evaluated the effect of Covid-19 on FX risk management processes and policies across various industries.

Helping those in need

With the economic and social crisis deepening, we decided to take action against the impact of Covid-19 by deploying several initiatives to support those affected by the pandemic.First, we called on companies to launch a global #PayitForward Travel Industry initiative. This encouraged pre-payment of 2020 travel budgets to help restore business confidence, ease supply chain disruption, and boost cash flows.We also donated to five organisations leading the fight against Covid-19 in Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Our CEO Philippe Gelis commented: "We are grateful to be in a good financial position to help those fighting Covid-19 on the frontlines and thank all the healthcare workers for their efforts". In April, we waived all foreign exchange commissions and payment fees on transactions for the purchase of sanitary material, medical devices, medicines, chemicals or other goods to be donated to the battle against Covid-19.

We keep on growing

Even with some of our leading client industries heavily impacted by the crisis, 2020 managed to be a year of continued growth and expansion for Kantox. We embarked on numerous international strategic treasury partnerships including Core Process, Marjory and SaleCapital. We also joined forces with other leading finance and treasury companies to form the Treasury Coalition, and a number of noted fintechs to launch the European FinTech Association (EFA). On top of this, we've also been hard at work, expanding our bank and non-bank partnerships. Watch this space for some exciting announcements in 2021!As this challenging year draws to a close, we would like to give special thanks to all of our valued customers and partners for their continued support, as well as the amazing Kantox team working behind the scenes. From all of us at Kantox, we wish you a Happy New Year.