All Posts By

Justin Jones

BankingCapital MarketsFX
October 27, 2020

Looking Into the Capital Markets Crystal Ball: Trump vs. Biden

Uncertainty over the outcome after election day means more volatility, potential opportunities. Whether it’s Donald Trump or Joe Biden sitting in the Oval Office next year, many capital markets prognosticators expect the US economic recovery to remain on track and the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low—relatively good news for investment-grade companies selling more debt, but troublesome for treasury investment managers searching for yield. Beyond that, things get more complicated. A European bank that recently sponsored a NeuGroup meeting of…
Justin Jones
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Capital MarketsESGRisk Management
October 27, 2020

The ESG Evolution: Finding Each Corporate’s Starting Point

Treasury’s role is critical as ratings agencies translate financial soundness into ESG readiness.Credit rating agencies face daunting challenges, not only with old-fashioned credit ratings, but also their efforts to gauge corporates’ environmental, social and governmental (ESG) status. In fact, corporate treasury’s approach to the former can significantly impact the agencies’ views on the latter, according to Karl Pettersen, managing director and chief sustainability officer and the head of ratings advisory at Societe Generale. ESG rating and scoring firms, some of…
Justin Jones
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Capital MarketsCash & Working CapitalESG
October 27, 2020

Why Parking Cash on the Balance Sheet May Trump Bigger Revolvers

Key takeaways from the NeuGroup for Capital Markets 2020 H2 meeting, sponsored by Deutsche Bank. By Joseph Neu Bond issues are the new RCF.  Discussion on the topic of how to divvy up extra liquidity in terms of cash on the balance sheet vs. a bigger revolving credit facility (RCF) yielded the recommendation that most firms with the ratings capacity are better off issuing bonds and parking cash on their balance sheet. The bond market is supportive, and bank credit…
Justin Jones
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Cash & Working CapitalComplianceTax
October 22, 2020

Cash Pooling: What Treasury Teams at Multinationals Need to Know Now

An update of a story—one of NeuGroup’s most-read articles—about physical and notional cash pooling. By Susan A. Hillman, Partner, Treasury Alliance Group LLC Eight months into the global pandemic, liquidity and cash remain top-of-mind for many multinational corporations coping with uncertainty over the shape and timing of economic recovery. That makes this an opportune time to reexamine a critical liquidity management tool that has been around for decades but has always required careful evaluation before implementation: cash pooling. Further due…
Justin Jones
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BankingTechnology
October 22, 2020

Digital Signatures Deliver Relief and a Few Frustrations Amid Pandemic

Corporates report success using DocuSign with many banks, but Latin America presents challenges.“Has anyone successfully used DocuSign with banks?” one NeuGroup member asked at a recent virtual meeting. “Yes” was the resounding answer from peers—more evidence that the pandemic has accelerated automation and digitization in finance. And one goal for many treasury teams is to make “wet” signatures a thing of the past. The member who posed the question wants to use DocuSign’s electronic signature solution internally and externally—for intercompany…
Justin Jones
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Capital MarketsESGTechnology
October 22, 2020

A Homegrown ESG Dashboard in Search of Better Data

A tech company builds its own tool to get a holistic view of ESG ratings but bemoans social data quality. Many companies in the NeuGroup Network are devoting significant resources to better address environmental, social and governmental (ESG) issues that are increasingly critical to how investors and other stakeholders view corporates. But not many treasury teams have access to an ESG dashboard, something one member who works at a large technology company described to peers at a recent meeting of…
Justin Jones
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NeuGroup News
October 21, 2020

TREX In Action: An Extraordinary Group of NeuGroup Member Companies Rolls Out a New Name

The newly rebranded group of market leading and iconic companies met with sponsor Societe Generale to share and learn on elections, digitization and more. Members of NeuGroup’s newly rebranded Treasurers’ Roundtable for Extraordinary Companies, or TREX, gathered last week to share and learn in a virtual meeting sponsored by Societe Generale. Thanks to everyone who participated! TREX was re-branded to provide a forum for treasurers from companies which have the following qualitative and quantitative characteristics: Commanding position in its industry…
Justin Jones
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BankingCash & Working CapitalRisk Management
October 20, 2020

How Corporates Are Measuring Counterparty Risk as Cash Builds

Companies reviewing limits amid Covid have varied approaches to calculating risk thresholds.The abundance of cash corporates have collected on their balance sheets to deal with pandemic-related volatility has prompted some to review their counterparty risk limits.Participants at a recent NeuGroup meeting of large-cap companies described a variety of approaches to the issue, which should remain especially relevant for treasury teams reducing the size of bank groups, a trend discussed in recent meetings.  A member explained that higher deposit rates at…
Justin Jones
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BankingCash & Working CapitalTechnology
October 20, 2020

Helping Treasury See Beneath the Payment Iceberg

TIS makes the case for treasury as gatekeeper of payment processes.Nearly half the members at a recent meeting of NeuGroup’s Global Cash and Banking Group (GCBG) said treasury at their companies is responsible for treasury payments only—not for, say, accounts payable (AP) or payroll. Just 15% of those surveyed said treasury completely owns payment processes and tools. Treasury Intelligence Solutions (TIS), sponsor of the meeting, made a case for making treasury the overall “gatekeeper” of all payment processes—with the help…
Justin Jones
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BankingTalking Shop
October 20, 2020

Talking Shop: For a Bank KYC Refresh, Do You Complete a Beneficial Ownership Form With SSN?

Member question: “One of our banks does a biannual KYC refresh and asks us to complete the US Client Certification of Beneficiary Ownership (a FinCEN form). “Is this something that your company also provides, and do you include Social Security number info?” Peer answer 1: “You do not need to provide SSN for a non-US person and you need to provide only one such person.” Peer answer 2: “We always put the parent US company as the UBO , and we would use…
Justin Jones
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