Expert Interview: John van Rumpt

John van Rumpt

“Becoming cashless requires a different way of thinking across the organisation.”

Making healthcare sites cashless. That has been one of the missions of John van Rumpt, founder of Care for Cash, for about five years. Among other things, he was Cash Manager at Nationale Nederlanden and ING, Manager IT & Sales Support at MeesPierson and Consultant Cash Management at ABN Amro. At the latter, he focused on healthcare, the sector he has an affinity with because of his sister who has Down syndrome and lives in a healthcare facility in his village. As a co-founder of this local care site and as a trustee, he can apply a lot from practice when looking for solutions. This combination of professional and personal experience led John van Rumpt to become an independent adviser on payments and liquidity management in the care sector.

“Care organisations recognise that cash is a problem, but think it cannot be solved”

Cashless

“Cashless is something that is now very much in play within the healthcare sector. From AFM (Financial Markets Authority) indicated that bank cards should no longer be in the name of, say, the director, but should become personal. The prepaid card can also be a good replacement for the registered bank card. A favourable side effect is that with the advent of a prepaid debit card, cash flows can be minimised. Healthcare organisations recognise that cash is a problem, but think it cannot be solved.” John van Rumpt helps them find solutions. However, this requires a change in mindset. “Becoming cashless does require a different way of thinking throughout the organisation,” he says.”

Streamlined process

Healthcare organisations often have several locations with a cash box at each location and a separate bank account for each location. “Nowadays, this is no longer necessary. Cash management is often still in its infancy at organisations: everyone does it in their own way because it is not centrally regulated. Self-managing teams are allowed to set some policies themselves. My goal is to make this a streamlined process together with the employees involved. After a scan and an analysis of all transactions, procedures and agreements, we discuss where the organisation wants to go. I then make a selection of possible solutions that fit the needs of the healthcare organisation in question. The decision on which solution is chosen ultimately lies with the organisation itself; I have a coordinating and stimulating role.”

“Emerging FinTech companies are much more flexible than big banks”

Banks versus IT companies

With over 30 years of experience in banking, John van Rumpt has a broad perspective and a lot of knowledge about cash management and streamlining processes. “I have always looked at banking from the customer's point of view and therefore know how other products work. For example, emerging FinTech companies are much more flexible than big banks. Banks are still in a different structure and struggle with that. If you wanted to change something there, it is much more difficult than with an IT company. A new functionality in a tool, for instance, IT companies can develop very quickly. A bank again has the advantage of being large and familiar.”

Trends

Receipts are going to disappear altogether in the future, according to John van Rumpt. “Receipts will all become digital. In a few years, you should be able to get them right in with reading your transactions. If you look at payment transactions at the locations, you could use NFC chips in bracelets, which would then allow clients for care homes to do their own shopping as part of their day care. Now that is done with cash.” Furthermore, he thinks iDeal will disappear within a few years. “The PSD2 legislation requires a payment to reach the counterparty within 5 seconds. If this succeeds then it gives security. The security one gets now when you use iDeal.” He further thinks that big banks need to start changing their structure faster so that they operate in a more efficient way to keep up with the competition.
Curious about the key financial trends of 2017? Read the blog Finance Trends 2017
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