What’s on International Treasurer’s radar screen this week. 

This week’s editorial meeting elicited topic that seems to be somewhat cyclical in nature as well as one that is somewhat, shall we say, chronic. Also discussed is the Greek debt crisis’ impact on money market funds.

Managing talent.
In the cyclical category is the issue of managing treasury talent: attracting and retaining prized employees can be daunting. This is particularly true in areas – like emerging markets – where the market for skilled workers is thin, and employees can easily hop from one job to the next. In Brazil, Bangalore or at home, how do you keep employees happy and in place? 

What’s in your MMF?
The Wall Street Journal and other publications have been running stories recently on what impact a Greek default will have on money market funds. The theory is that while US money funds don’t have much exposure to Greece, they do hold billions of dollars – some say close to $1tn – worth of debt from large European banks like BNP Paribas, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, according to reports. And those banks, particularly the French firms, hold lots of Greek and other European government bonds. This raises the issue of fund transparency and also whether treasurers should be looking into what their MMFs hold to make sure their companies aren’t exposed, too. Also, what is the impact on collateral management with European banks?

Perception vs. reality in treasury tech.
In terms of subjects that continually challenges treasury, we present the topic of ERP treasury workstations. Are they ready for prime time?  Over the past several years treasury system users have expressed concerns about the robustness of ERP treasury modules when compared to the functionality provided by other third party software vendors.  We will take a new look at how the ERP providers stack up.  Can they really meet the needs of today’s global users?

During a recent NeuGroup Advisory Board meeting, the topic of treasury systems also came up, mainly in the context of several mergers and acquisitions. Recently Wall Street Systems has been sold – details of which remain obscure – and some have been left to wonder whether other smaller players, like IT2, will be snapped up.