EuroFinance survey shows slight improvement in tone, but treasurers globally expect another shoe to drop.
Treasurers around the world are still a little hesitant after the recovery petered out during the spring and summer. That’s according to the latest EuroFinance survey of global treasurers. “There is still little difference between the number of bulls and bears,” the survey concluded, offering that there is “clear expectation of further bad news.”
That sentiment was evident as the top concern amongst treasurers worldwide was “the state of the economy.” And when asked whether the crisis was over or were they expecting more bad news, 60 percent chose the latter. In the US, treasurers seem to be particularly bleak. When asked, “Overall, are you bullish or bearish for the next 12 months?” 61 percent said they were bearish vs. 39 percent who said bullish. This was the most bearish reading worldwide. The Middle East registered a 60 percent bearish; Europe 48 percent bearish while in Asia it was a 50-50 split.
North American treasurers were equally dreary about business. Thirty-two percent said as far as business is concerned, the economy is progressing below expectations, vs. 23 percent who said it was performing above. Worldwide, the numbers were more evenly split.
What is interesting is that the EuroFinance data found that cash-flow forecasting fell a notch or two to second or third place depending on the region (second in North America) from the previous survey. While more regulation, lack of yield, inflation and taxes rounded out the bottom four concerns. This has not been the conclusion of many of The NeuGroup peer group pre-meeting surveys, where these four issues seem to dominate.
More than 330 treasurers took part in the survey; polling was conducted between October 7-25, 2010, via EuroFinance’s International Cash and Treasury Management conference in Geneva as well as via webinar and an online survey.