This week’s International Treasurer editorial meeting brought up several issues to be covered in the next few weeks. These include:
SWIFT service bureaus
Treasurers are always looking to improve visibility of their cash positions in order to optimize liquidity. And with MNCs maintaining multiple accounts in different currencies and banks around the world, having a single view of them all presents a particular challenge for treasurers. However, numerous solutions exist, including SWIFT Service Bureaus, which can connect all bank accounts through a single global channel. We’ll take a look at SSBs, and in particular, offerings from bank software company Fundtech.
Shanghai Free Trade Zone
In early December China announced plans to roll out new financial sector reforms in the Shanghai free trade zone in the next three months. IT will take a look at how the PBOC’s new account offerings will speed up converting RMB into other currencies and other RMB-related transactions; and also how this can aid multinational corporations from a treasury perspective.
Swaps and CCPs
Despite the end user exemption, corporate hedgers will face a much different swaps market in the coming year, as capital and liquidity rules change banks’ business models, and bespoke transactions become more costly.
The capital markets opened their arms in 2013 to nearly everyone — the leveraged loan, junk bond and investment grade markets all saw healthy volumes, although some worrying signs also emerged: the reappearance of PIK toggles, covenant-lite structures and CLOs, for example. What do market participants expect in 2014?