Yen and Yuan lead move against the dollar. Stocks, bonds and the U.S. dollar are trading heavily, with the yen and Chinese yuan showing strength among G10 and emerging market currencies respectively. (Seeking Alpha)

Why the US is willing to send Ukraine cluster munitions now. The United States has decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine to help its military push back Russian forces entrenched along the front lines. (AP)

Services sector strengthens as demand surges. Compared to the ongoing slump in the manufacturing sector, the services sector showed surprising strength last month. (Axios)

FIS to sell Worldpay stake to GTCR. Fidelity National Information Services will sell a 55% stake in Worldpay to the private equity firm GTCR for $11.7 billion, valuing the company at $17.5 billion. (Payments Dive)

Yellen appeals to China to revive talks and not let technology tensions disrupt ties. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen appealed to China’s No. 2 leader not to let frustration over U.S. curbs on access to processor chips and other technology disrupt economic cooperation during a visit Friday aimed at improving strained relations. (AP)

China’s Li says recovery at critical stage, vows speedy measures. China Premier Li Qiang pledged to “spare no time” in implementing a batch of targeted policies to strengthen the economy’s recovery from the pandemic. (Bloomberg)

The job market's pain-free rebalancing. A remarkably robust U.S. labor market is coming into better balance. (Axios)

US economy adds 209,000 jobs in June. The U.S. labor market added 209,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.6%, the government said Friday. (Axios)

China-based development bank rejects claims of CCP control. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank says internal review shows lender follows ‘highest standards’ of governance. (Al Jazeera)

Deepening poverty grips Ukraine, spurs resilience. Russia’s invasion has brought about the most severe economic hardship since the end of the Soviet Union. (WSJ)

Inflation blame game: UK economic woes set government and central bank on a collision course. Headline CPI in May came in at 8.7%, unchanged from the previous month, while core inflation—which excludes volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices—increased to 7.1%, its highest rate for 31 years. (CNBC)

‘People are dying’: South Africa workers protest economic woes. Africa’s most industrialized nation is facing rolling electricity blackouts, high unemployment and interest rates, as well as growing social unrest due to soaring costs of living. (Al Jazeera)

France’s small towns are reeling from the spread of rioting. ‘Now it’s affecting the countryside.’ Quissac’s unsettling experience last Friday night—and those of other out-of-the-way towns and villages also hit by unrest to varying degrees—set France’s latest nationwide spasm of rioting apart from previous cycles of violence that have flared periodically in every decade since the 1980s. (AP)

3 Tips for Hiring and Managing an International Credit Team

Kendall Payton, editorial associate

Managing an international team can be a challenge—from cultural barriers to time differences, many factors should be considered when you expand your team globally.

When you hire, you want to hire the right candidate for the job. But once new hires are on board and trained, it is important to ensure your managing skills match the expectations set by you or your company. Meeting goals and objectives established for your company is just as important as managing your team. Here are three tips on how to hire and manage international teams effectively:

1. Establish an Effective Business Model

Business is conducted differently all across the globe. Whether its company values or managing projects, a business model that shows the training process and goals should be accessible to everyone involved in the organization.

Making the right hiring choice goes beyond the need for a good fit, said Edwin Bell, Ph.D., CBA, ICCE, former credit manager at Granger (Pearce, AZ). “It’s about ensuring that your customer-facing staff will represent your company in a manner that is consistent with your culture and achieve the desired results,” said Bell. “It is very important because a lot of people today are starting to look more at outsourcing and when you outsource, that may not be the collector's or creditor's first priority.”

2. Adjust to Cultural Differences

In order to hire effectively on an international scale, you must know and understand the country culture of potential new hires as well as their views on the responsibilities within their role.

Understanding cultural differences comes with clear communication skills between both you and your team. Culture has a huge impact on global processes, said Kevin Chandler, CCE, director of financial services at Zachry Industrial, Inc. (San Antonio, TX). “You need to understand what type of customers you have and where they are located,” Chandler said. “It is essential to match the resources you are putting in place to effectively work with those customers and the cultures they are involved in.”

Virtual meetings are usually the main source of communication between team members who are located overseas, however, some credit professionals believe the best way to understand different cultures is to visit the country where your team is located. Whether that be on a quarterly or annual basis, try to meet face-to-face. “If you are going to be responsible for hiring and managing people internationally, go out there and experience the culture firsthand,” Chandler added. “It will help you understand what it takes in order to hire the right people in place.”

3. Create Clear Expectations

In a managerial position, you are responsible for setting standards and being the example for those you lead. Creating clear expectations of what you need from your team and what your team will need from you can eliminate tension and miscommunication.

For example, how do you work with your international team as you would with your own local team? Do both teams report to the same person? What metrics are they held to? These are all questions you should consider in order to enforce those expectations.

In some instances, your customers may be domestic, but your outsourcing team is located in a different country. “Using an outsourcing group from a different cultural background can be difficult in terms of engaging with our customers,” said Mark Levine, CCE, CICP, credit risk manager at American Tire Distributors, Inc. (Huntersville, NC). “When you deal with people overseas, understanding the U.S. culture can be a challenging adjustment if there are no rules or expectations of U.S. culture that plays within the business processes.”

The hiring and managing process is never easy when cultural barriers play a role in business decisions. The end goal for everyone is to conduct business effectively—so make sure both you and your team communicate and adjust to each other. “Working domestically provided the opportunity to command and control what you needed to because it was easier to get people assimilated on the way we did business,” said Chandler. “But that exponentially changes when you do business internationally. Know your customer base and be extremely flexible in order to get the most productive results.”

The content for this article came from a live session during NACM’s 2023 Credit Congress, Hiring and Managing Your International Credit Team.

 

Week in Review Editorial Team:

Annacaroline Caruso, editor in chief

Jamilex Gotay, editorial associate

Kendall Payton, editorial associate