RISK CONVERGENCE
Unsurprisingly, risk is a key theme for our Seventh Annual Treasury & Cash Management supplement.
‘Hurry up and wait’ has been the prevailing message from global markets, and treasurers are responding in myriad ways to the changing environment in which they find themselves operating.
Two key events are having a huge impact on how companies manage cash. First, reduced FDIC coverage in the US is changing the way that companies park their cash with banks. With yields still at near-zero, some treasurers are looking at products, such as the Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service, to spread cash around and stay within FDIC deposit limits. Others say counterparty risk fears in the US are no longer the issue they once were, so the dropped coverage is not important.
Second, the seemingly never-ending eurozone crisis has fundamentally changed the way companies manage European exposures, with many companies now regularly sweeping euro funds out of Europe.
Corporate treasurers are also still under pressure to work on improving their cash management processes in order to reduce time, effort and errors by increasing automation. Larger regulatory changes-such as the end-dates for SEPA migration in Europe—could provide the stimulus to enact global process change in corporate treasuries.
Meanwhile, companies continue to look further afield for expansion, and treasurers must be prepared to support that growth. Although Brazilian and Chinese economic growth has slowed somewhat, these and other emerging markets are still key targets for both developed and developing market companies. New trade finance solutions geared at enabling trade flows between and to emerging markets are helping treasurers in that task.
In this year’s supplement, we have two big developments. In our Who’s Who Survey we polled the honorees selected for inclusion in our annual Who’s Who list for their views on global risk and risk assessment. In addition, we have launched our Expert Perspectives Video Series, which can be accessed on our website, or via mobile devices by scanning the barcodes that appear within the supplement.
Denise Bedell
Managing Editor
