Bank instructions

A bank instruction is the treasury desk’s order to move money: fund a deposit, settle an FX trade, repay a loan, transfer between entities. The Treasury Preparer records it with a record number, a subject, the counterparty, the amount in US dollars, the requested date and the value date. The preparer is the instruction’s owner and answers for it until it is confirmed or rejected.

Each instruction carries its account legs: the debit and credit sides on the treasury accounts involved. The legs must balance before the instruction goes to review. Supporting documents, such as the deal ticket, the counterparty’s standing settlement instructions or the board approval for a large transfer, are attached with a title, an evidence type, the upload date, the uploader and a visibility of Internal or Shared.

• Draft, then review. The instruction starts as Draft. The preparer completes its legs and documents and moves it to Review.
• Balanced legs. Debit and credit legs name the account and amount. An instruction whose legs do not balance is not ready for review.
• Revision on every change. Each change raises the revision number. An approval applies only to the revision the approver saw.

Agree instruction types and how subjects are written, for example “MM deposit RB-LON 1W” or “FX settle EURUSD spot”. Agree record numbering. Agree which documents are required for which instructions, such as a second signatory memo above a threshold. Decide which documents may be Shared with the counterparty. Agree the cut-off for same-day value dates.

A preparer raises a one-week USD deposit of 25,000,000 with RB-LON for value on May 6. The legs debit the operating account and credit the deposit account at RB-LON, both for 25,000,000. She attaches the dealer’s ticket and the bank’s settlement instructions, then moves it to Review at revision 2.

The approver returns it: the ticket shows value May 7. The preparer corrects the value date, which raises the revision to 3, and sends it back. The approver authorizes revision 3. If the preparer had changed the amount after authorization, the revision would have moved to 4 and the instruction would have needed a new decision.

• Instruction Pipeline — Open instructions grouped by Draft, Review, Authorized, Submitted and Pending, with counterparty, amount, owner and revision.
• My Instructions — The signed-in preparer’s own instructions with requested and value dates.
• Instruction Legs — Debit and credit legs by instruction and account.

• Instruction to authorization: Prepare the instruction and take one revision through approval.
• Correction and cancellation: Cancel or correct an instruction with a recorded reason.

Plan the rollout with your desk.