Streamlining treasury management processes using technology

Coastal Ridge Real Estate is the embodiment of the entrepreneurial spirit. The vertically integrated real estate investment, property management and development firm was established in 2013, and now the company manages more than $4 billion in assets under management (AUM) spanning 54 distinct markets. From acquiring, managing and developing multifamily assets—Coastal Ridge’s team of experienced real estate professionals are passionate about delivering exceptional service with deep-rooted relationships at the heart of their approach.

When COVID-19 took the world by storm, Coastal Ridge’s internal rally call—“ride the wave”—became more pressing. Fortunately, the firm was better prepared than most to face the challenges presented by the pandemic. With teams located throughout the country, Coastal Ridge was an early adapter to remote work, and also had a digitally focused treasury management system in place to help streamline their financial management as part of its relationship with Capital One. While many companies struggled to adapt to the pandemic’s early challenges, Coastal Ridge was well positioned and managed to achieve significant AUM growth through the ongoing pandemic.

Cash flow management is a constant reality for the commercial real estate business. After rapid growth over the course of nearly a decade, the corporate finance team found itself managing transactions manually, a cumbersome and time consuming process across more than 100 accounts and tens of thousands of transactions.

Since working with Capital One for treasury management and integrated payables services, Coastal Ridge has gone from managing cash flow and reporting across several treasury management platforms, to one single platform, saving time and allowing the team to move away from manual work and towards more strategic efforts.

Coastal Ridge has more than 100,000 transactions per year and had previously been responsible for manually reconciling and processing each one. This switch was a game changer, with the automated reconciliation functionality saving Coastal Ridge several hours per person, per month while also reducing costs on additional headcount and overhead. In addition, this new process helped simplify and reduce risk by monitoring for fraud activities as part of this centralized process.

“Capital One was extremely efficient and easy to work with. Their team took a great deal of time to properly understand the scale of transactions we had to deal with on a daily basis and provide an effective solution that not only transformed our operations but provided a better experience for both our clients and our staff,” said Alex Payne, Director of Corporate Finance, Coastal Ridge.

For other companies considering changing their approach to treasury management, Payne suggested taking note of your most critical functions and determining where your team is spending the most time. Are their efforts aligned with your priorities, or is there an opportunity to shake things up? There may not be a way to streamline every piece of manual work, but aiming to solve for significant bottlenecks may save time, ease frustration and impact the bottom line.

Learn more about how Capital One can help your organization streamline its treasury management processes with services tailored to fit your business.