What’s on International Treasurers’ radar screen.
The International Treasurer editorial meeting this week produced a few topics that will be fleshed out in the coming weeks. One is credit ratings and a further look at complying with Dodd-Frank’s mandate – the requirements of Section 939A of the act – to eliminate credit ratings from official rules. Also, a look at how treasurers are getting back to basics in terms of their day-to-day functions.
Credit ratings. This week the SEC unanimously approved a plan to remove credit ratings (from an NRSRO) from some of its rulemaking procedures and offered some other ways of evaluating risks. Instead of the ratings criteria, the SEC said, the final rules will allow for the use of two previously used “short forms” without the ratings; still to use them the issuer will have to satisfy certain criteria.
To that end, how will these new evaluating tools work? Will the industry buy into it? International Treasurer has written before about the “devil you know” attitude toward ratings agencies (see related story here) and that until someone comes up with a better idea, they still ultimately do the job intended.
Back to the mundane. In gearing up for their fall meetings, the NeuGroup’s E&C Treasurers’ Peer Group and the Global Cash and Banking Group recently had their agenda topic calls. It seems for both groups, although regulatory issues are still important, there seems to be a pattern of getting back policy and procedure; looking at best practices for cash management and refining them. Also, the groups were interested in continuing discussions from previous meetings on operational issues other basics like bank account, signatory management, bank structure, and the like.