Cash & Working CapitalTalking Shop
May 19, 2022

Talking Shop: Payments to Support Relocation for Russian Nationals

Editor’s note: NeuGroup’s online communities provide members a forum to pose questions and give answers. Talking Shop shares valuable insights from these exchanges, anonymously. Send us your responses: [email protected]. Member Question: “As a result of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, we have Russian national employees based in Russia who are looking to relocate and effectively become employees of our Dutch entity. Because of the restrictions on getting cash out of the country from employees’ personal bank accounts, we’re looking to support…
Capital AllocationCash & Working Capital
May 12, 2022

A Treasury Mind Shift: Focusing On Operational Cash

Many treasuries have grown complacent about cash levels, but concerns about a recession are triggering a renewed focus on optimizing the management of working capital.The debate about whether the US economy is headed into a recession because of higher interest rates and the Fed reducing its balance sheet is heating up. While some economists are bullish, many corporate treasuries are not: In a poll last week, 71% of members of NeuGroup for Global Cash and Banking said a recession is…
BankingCapital Markets
May 12, 2022

Why Morgan Stanley Sees US Economy Avoiding Recession

Economist Robert Rosener tells bank treasurers that rising wages supporting consumption and continued capex by corporates should keep GDP growth above trend. Not everyone thinks the Fed will push the US economy into recession as it raises rates to fight inflation. Robert Rosener, senior US economist at Morgan Stanley, recently told members of NeuGroup for Regional Bank Treasurers that the firm sees just a 25% chance of recession over the next year. “Avoiding recession is our base case, but markets…
BankingRegional
May 12, 2022

Russia Reality: Paying Taxes to Shield Staff From Criminal Liability

Fear of criminal liability motivates corporates to pay taxes in Russia—but banks are rejecting some tax payments. The threat of criminal prosecution of their employees in Russia is one reason some US-based companies continue to make tax payments in Russia. Meanwhile, several US companies report that Russian tax payments made by entities outside the US have been rejected by a US-based bank. These takeaways emerged at the most recent NeuGroup session where members discuss the challenges facing finance teams at…
Risk Management
May 12, 2022

Seeing Risks Before They Do Damage Isn’t Impossible

Members of NeuGroup’s corporate enterprise risk management group hear how they can divine unseen, emerging risks. The ancient stoics often practiced premeditatio malorum or the premeditation of evils, which was basically the art of expecting the worst. In a sense, this is how enterprise risk managers must go about their jobs today, particularly when the timeline of 100-year disruptive occurrences has been compressed to every four to five years. Social, geopolitical and environmental risks combined with the everyday risks of…
Capital MarketsCash Investments
May 5, 2022

Benchmarking Investment Strategies in a Rising Rate Environment

Higher rates mean higher yields, but 70% of respondents to a recent NeuGroup survey conducted with Clearwater Analytics do not intend to extend duration. Surging inflation, a hawkish Fed and talk of a recession are prompting corporate treasuries to reevaluate their cash investment strategies. However, 70% of respondents to a NeuGroup survey conducted in partnership with Clearwater Analytics, Going Out the Yield Curve: Benchmarking Investment Strategies, report they do not intend to extend duration to take advantage of the uptick…
COVID-19Treasury Management
May 5, 2022

Talent Travails: Loose Lips About Pay and Hybrid Headaches

A younger generation’s transparency about what they earn creates another challenge for finance leaders coping with hybrid work woes. A session on talent at a recent meeting of NeuGroup for Mega-Cap Assistant Treasurers revealed that finance teams already struggling to hire workers amid tight labor markets, demands by candidates for higher compensation and the unwillingness of some of them to spend much, if any, time in the office face additional, less publicized problems: Many younger workers speak freely about how…
FXSenior Executive
May 5, 2022

Sharpen the Focus: Fostering More Productive FX Meetings

Approaches to more productive meetings include highlighting world events, more detailed program updates and updating dashboards. After a recent quarterly risk meeting, a senior leader gave this advice to one FX risk manager to improve the productivity of future meetings: Highlight only new developments and events, come with any specific asks and leave anything else to pre-meeting reading materials. Up to this point, much of the two-hour meetings consisted of a comprehensive update on everything the FX team had done…
FP&ATechnology
April 28, 2022

Technology as the Backbone of Change

The importance of harnessing big data and implementing a holistic solution to drive finance transformation and process optimization. The pandemic exposed the deficiencies in many companies’ planning processes and technology infrastructures. As events unfolded at a breakneck pace, FP&A leaders were expected to deliver quick insight to support critical strategic decisions. However, many were hampered by a lack of data visibility and inflexible and suboptimized forecasting and planning processes. According to members of NeuGroup for Large-Cap Heads of FP&A, which met in Atlanta…
BankingCash & Working CapitalRegional
April 28, 2022

Slim Down: A Bank Tells Corporates to Cut Account Balances in Russia

Settling intercompany invoices emerges as the best option for some members to quickly reduce deposit balances in Russia. A major US bank used by scores of NeuGroup member corporations in Russia has recently been making strong recommendations to some of them—in conversations, not in writing—that they find alternatives to the bank as the war with Ukraine enters its third month and the bank further reduces its exposure to Russia. This development sparked discussion among members about contingency plans and how…