Standard Bank Commercial Card — Working Capital Benefit Calculator

Standard Bank Commercial Card · Working capital benefit calculator

Gather these before the meeting

The calculator runs entirely off the inputs on the Calculator tab. Blue items drive most of the answer and must come from the client; green items sharpen it; grey items have safe defaults. Spend segment shares must total 100%.

Must have from client Should confirm Defaults are fine to start

Client profile

Input	Where to get it	Default	Why it matters
Annual supplier spend	AP ledger or trial balance: total third-party payables settled in the last 12 months, excluding payroll, tax and intercompany	R1.2bn	Scales every result. Ask for AP spend, not revenue or COGS.
Cost of capital	Treasury: overdraft / RCF all-in rate for net borrowers; WACC for cash-rich clients	11.5%	Converts days into rands. A cash-rich client should use their money-market yield instead.
DIO and DSO	Latest annual financials: inventory ÷ COGS × 365 and receivables ÷ revenue × 365	48 / 52 days	Only feeds the cash conversion cycle chart, but CFOs recognise their own CCC instantly.
Cost per manual payment	Finance ops: AP headcount cost ÷ invoices processed, or their shared-services benchmark	R340	SA large-corporate range is R250–R500. Use the client's own number if they have one; it is the line they will challenge.
Cost per card payment	Standard Bank programme team, based on ERP integration and virtual card automation	R55	Lower with straight-through statement feeds.

Card programme

Input	Where to get it	Default	Why it matters
Statement cycle and grace	Standard Bank commercial card product terms for this client tier	30 + 30 days	Sets the card float (cycle ÷ 2 + grace = 45 days). The single biggest lever on working capital.
Rebate	Pricing committee. The calculator suggests a tier from migrated spend	60 bps	Shown to the client as earned income; shown to the bank as a cost.
Early-payment discount share and rate	Procurement: which suppliers offer settlement discounts (e.g. 2/10 net 30) and on what share of spend	8% / 2%	Often ignored in Visa-style models yet frequently the second-largest line for manufacturers and retailers.
Leakage reduction	Internal audit or procurement: duplicate payments, off-contract buying, payment fraud as a share of spend	10 bps	Keep conservative. Drop to zero if the client has a mature P2P control environment.

Spend segments

Input	Where to get it	Default	Why it matters
Share of spend per segment	AP spend cube or vendor master by category. If unavailable, ask the CFO for T&E, fuel and top-20 supplier spend and treat the rest as indirect + tail	9 / 11 / 34 / 16 / 30	Determines where the days come from. Fleet and T&E generate the most days per rand.
Paid today at (days)	AP ageing: actual average days-to-pay per category, not contractual terms	0 / 5 / 30 / 14 / 45	Days gained = card float − this. A client already paying at 60 days gains nothing on that segment.
Card-addressable %	Vendor master matched against Mastercard acceptance data; Standard Bank merchant-acquiring can run the match	90 / 85 / 45 / 60 / 15	Supplier enablement is the constraint on the whole case. Run the acceptance match before the second meeting.
Average invoice value	Invoice count ÷ spend per category	Segment defaults	Only drives process savings (invoice count × cost delta).

Ramp, supplier lens and bank economics

Input	Where to get it	Default	Why it matters
Adoption by year	Agree with the client's programme sponsor; or use the Conservative / Base / Ambitious presets	30 / 50 / 65%	Sets years 1–3 and the NPV. Year 3 is treated as steady state.
Merchant fee, supplier cost of capital, collections cost	Standard Bank acquiring rate card; typical SME borrowing rate (prime + 3–6)	2.1% / 16% / 0.9%	Supplier lens only. Use it to decide which suppliers to enable and which to leave on EFT.
Interchange, cost of funds, losses, servicing	Standard Bank card finance. Internal only; leave the toggle off when presenting	1.75% / 8.25% / 15 bps / 12 bps	Shows the bank's net bps and how much rebate headroom exists.

Minimum viable first pass

With only three numbers from the client — annual AP spend, borrowing rate and average days-to-pay — leave the segment shares on defaults, set every "paid today at" to the client's blended figure, and the headline will be directionally right. Refine segments once the AP cube arrives.

Moving R — of supplier spend to card frees R — of working capital and is worth R — a year.

Adjust the client's numbers on the left. Every result updates as you type. Nothing leaves this page.

Base: 65% of addressable spend migrates by year 3.

Client profile

What the client pays today

Annual supplier spendAll third-party payables the client settles by EFT, cheque or cash today

Client's cost of capitalOverdraft or short-term facility rate. Use WACC for cash-rich clients

% p.a.

Days inventory outstandingOnly used for the cash conversion cycle view

days

Days sales outstanding

days

Cost per manual paymentPO, invoice capture, approval, EFT, reconciliation. SA large-corporate benchmark R250–R500

Cost per card / virtual card paymentStraight-through with statement data feeding the ERP

Card programme

What Standard Bank offers

Statement cycleAverage float on a card is half the cycle plus the grace period

days

Payment grace after statement

days

Volume rebate paid to clientSuggested tier will show here

bps

Spend where an early-payment discount is offeredCard settles the supplier at T+2, so the client captures the discount while still paying at statement

Typical early-payment discount

Leakage and fraud reduced by card controlsDuplicate invoices, off-contract buying, payment fraud. Conservative: 5–15 bps of migrated spend

bps

Spend segments

Where the days actually come from

Segment	Share of spend %	Card-addressable %	Paid today at (days)	Avg invoice R	Days gained	Card spend (Y3)

Shares must total 100%. Days gained is the card float minus the terms the client already enjoys, floored at zero. Fuel and T&E are usually paid near day 0 today, which is why they generate the most days per rand.

Ramp

Adoption over three years

Year 1 adoption of addressable spend

30%

Year 2

50%

Year 3 (steady state)

65%

Working capital released at steady state

R —

Spend migrated to card—

Blended days gained on that spend—

DPO today → with card—

Cash conversion cycle today → with card—

Annual P&L benefit at steady state

R —

Cost of capital saved

—

Rebate earned

—

Process cost removed

—

Discounts captured

—

Leakage avoided

—

Three-year cumulative benefit—

NPV at client's cost of capital—

Benefit per R1m migrated—

Cash conversion cycle

Days of working capital tied up

DIODSODPO

Three-year ramp

Annual benefit as adoption grows

Cost of capital + rebateProcess + discountsLeakage

Supplier lens

For acceptance conversations

A supplier paid by card gets funds at T+2 instead of on the client's terms. This shows whether the trade works for them.

Merchant fee the supplier pays

Supplier's cost of capitalSMEs and mid-corporates in SA typically borrow at prime + 3 to 6

% p.a.

Collections and credit-control cost avoidedPer rand of invoice, as a % — chasing, dunning, bad-debt provision, insurance

Bank economics

Show (internal only)

Hidden by default so the page can be shown to a client. Tick to see the programme's value to Standard Bank.

How the numbers are calculated

Card float = statement cycle ÷ 2 + grace. Days gained per segment = max(0, float − current terms).
Migrated spend per segment = annual spend × share × addressable × adoption.
Working capital released = Σ migrated × days gained ÷ 365. Cost of capital saved = released × client rate.
Rebate = migrated × bps. Process saving = invoices migrated × (manual − card cost). Discounts = migrated × discount share × discount rate. Leakage = migrated × bps.
DPO with card is the spend-weighted blend of card float on migrated spend and existing terms on the rest. CCC = DIO + DSO − DPO.
Three-year figures use the ramp sliders; NPV discounts years 1–3 at the client's cost of capital.
Supplier lens: value = (terms − 2) ÷ 365 × migrated spend × supplier rate + collections cost avoided − merchant fee.
Bank economics: interchange − rebate − float funding (migrated × float ÷ 365 × cost of funds) − losses − servicing.

Working capital released is a one-time balance-sheet effect that persists while spend stays on card; the P&L lines recur annually. Interest saving assumes the client is a net borrower at the stated rate.