What does the name say about this publication? Well, when International Treasurer launched in the second week of March 1994, there was no tagline. To some extent, this probably reflected the demands of getting the publication going, but it also was because we were torn between focusing the content on the international side of corporate treasury and the whole treasurer’s role. Focusing on the international treasurer’s role made the publication unique and arguably more interesting—and at the time there were more treasury functions structured with someone charged with looking after the international side of treasury.
International Treasurer’s international focus was apparent with our very first issue, which featured the article “Chinese Currencies” on its cover, noting an effort by the Chinese government to devalue the RMB (coincidentally) as well as questioning the impact on the HKD/USD peg. By May, we came up with the tagline, “The Corporate Treasurer’s Guide to Global Financial Management” to try to split the difference, indicating that the coverage would be global from the standpoint of the domestic and international aspects of the corporate treasurer’s role, but also from the perspective of its scope beyond traditional treasury.
A little more than a year later, picking up on our coverage of the impact of the derivatives debacles at Metallgesellschaft , Procter & Gamble, Gibson Greetings and Barings (among others), we clarified our focus on financial risk management by adopting the tagline: “The Journal of Global Treasury and Financial Risk Management.” Derivatives, seen from an accounting to a tax-planning perspective, along with risk measurement (JPM’s RiskMetrics) and counterparty risk concerns (due to Barings loss and the Banker’s Trust suits), became regular features.
In addition, while not a journal in the sense of peer-reviewed academic papers, we wanted to highlight that many articles were weightier than the typical newsletter. “The Journal of Global Treasury and Financial Risk Management” tagline served International Treasurer well until January 2010, when the publication adopted the “Trusted Intelligence for World-Class Treasurers” tagline. This came during the time when The NeuGroup was finalizing the World-Class FX Management project with our FX Managers’ Peer Groups and embarking on a similar project with our Global Cash and Banking Group in conjunction with Citi.
It was The NeuGroup experience that also brought home the fact that we were a trusted source of information because we either source it directly from or validate with the leading practitioners and service providers that participate in The NeuGroup Network. Using the word “intelligence” was also consistent with our now 20-year-old mission to deliver information that will assist treasurers with their jobs. We analyze and refine what we learn to make it useful to treasury practitioners, in particular, those who aim to be the best.
This definition of intelligence has always been and will always be at the core of what this publication stands for. The “i” represents this most simply. To make it absolutely clear, we have the new tagline, “Intelligence for Treasurers.” As for our readers with international titles, this publication will still serve you well. However, our analysis suggests that most multinational companies have shifted to global organizational structures with global centers of excellence. The line between domestic and international responsibilities thus gets harder and harder to draw. Like this publication, therefore, it may be time for a title change.