What’s on International Treasurer’s radar screen this week.
Several stories came up during this week’s editorial meeting that we will flesh out over the course of the next few months. These included an overview of the recent Eurofinance conference in Rome. Related to that conference will be a look at notional cash pooling and reducing risk as well as a discussion of “muscular treasury,” which was brought up during one of the sessions at the conference. And recently members of the NeuGroup traveled to Asia for its pilot Asia Treasurers’ Peer Group meeting; we’ll highlight some of the trends shaping treasury operations in the region, both for local corporations and global MNCs.
Conference overview. The Eurofinance conference that was held in Rome as usual brought together treasurers and other corporate finance professionals from around the world. International Treasurer was there and will report on the some of the highlights, including a view of the treasurer’s life of the future – about 20 years into the future. There were also many treasury management system vendors in attendance, including Sungard Avantgard. We’ll take a look at that company’s offering of services, including those regarding receivables and disbursements, as well as its full spectrum and components of company’s liquidity metrics offering. We’ll also relate Martin Schlageter and his treasury systems manager’s efforts on Roche pharma’s multi-year overhaul and transformation of treasury operations that went from 2004 to 2008.
Risk reduction via cash pooling. One attendee the International Treasurer met while there was part of the medical device distributor Henry Schein. We’ll get a view on how that company is reducing risk in Europe via notional cash pooling.
Muscular treasury. Among some of the speakers at Eurofinance was BP treasurer Dev Sanyal, who discussed treasury structures; particularly about making them lean and muscular but ready for all seasons (i.e., good times and bad times, etc.).
Asia treasury trends. The NeuGroup recently launched its first treasury group in Asia (appropriately called the Asia Treasurers’ Peer Group). This will include a discussion of operating under regulatory environment and changing regulations in key countries of the regions, e.g., China, India. Also we’ll continue our look at the Dim Sum bond market, which many US MNCs have been experimenting with over the last two years (see related story here).