Capital MarketsCOVID-19Investment ManagementTreasury Management
April 28, 2020

Funding Is Top Priority for Treasurers amid Pandemic: Poll

Treasurers have funding on their minds as they deal with COVID-19. BCP and supply chains also a concern.Securing funding is a top priority for corporate treasurers thrust into the role of organizing companies’ financial response amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent poll by Bloomberg and Greenwich Associates. Following funding, treasurers say their attention is also on business continuity plans and suppliers.Many treasurers have been tasked with making sure key suppliers have the resources to stay in business and…
Capital MarketsCash & Working Capital
April 23, 2020

Looking for Yield: Investment Managers Mull Prime Funds, Short-Duration SMAs

After fleeing prime funds, corporates are asking if now is the time to return. Treasury investment managers interested in picking up additional yield for short-duration cash are not yet returning to prime money market funds (MMFs) that they exited as the coronavirus pandemic emerged. That was one of the key takeaways at a NeuGroup virtual meeting this week where several managers expressed interest in what one of their peers is doing: Using separately managed accounts (SMAs) for liquidity investing. None…
BankingCapital MarketsESGUncategorized
April 21, 2020

A Closer Look: ESG Ratings, KPIs and Second-Party Opinions

Sustainalytics discusses ESG trends, ratings and aligning internal KPIs with established principles. Treasurers exploring the rapidly expanding land of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria quickly encounter Sustainalytics, a well-established provider of ESG ratings to institutional investors and so-called second-party opinions used by issuers of green bonds to give confidence to investors that bond proceeds will finance environmental or social projects. At a recent NeuGroup virtual meeting, representatives from Sustainalytics described the company’s ratings and methodology, answered questions from members…
Capital MarketsInvestment ManagementRisk Management
April 21, 2020

Seizing Opportunities, Waiting for More and Getting Back to Work

Quick Takes, COVID-19 edition: A roundup of news, notes and notions from the NeuGroup Network. Strategic Acquistions: Waiting for Small Biotechs to Adjust to Lower ValuesHere’s some post-meeting follow-up from a treasurer in the biotech industry on his expectations for a “resetting of asset prices” and opportunities for strategic acquisitions as markets gyrate. “I would characterize it as an emerging opportunity. So far, you have had price adjustments (lower stock prices) for smaller biotechs. But you need two parties to…
Capital MarketsCOVID-19
April 16, 2020

Rating Agencies—Along With Everyone Else—Find Themselves in Uncharted Territory

Societe Generale provides perspective on how Moody’s and S&P are approaching COVID-19 effects. Credit analysts are generally taking a “staged approach” to the new coronavirus’ impact on ratings, largely because current circumstances are unprecedented and have created uncharted analytical territory. That was among the key takeaways from a session led by Societe Generale’s Karl Pettersen, head of rating advisory, at a recent meeting of NeuGroup’s AT30 peer group.Each agency, he added, has adopted a slightly different mindset so far in…
BankingCapital MarketsCOVID-19
April 14, 2020

Revolvers to Recovery: Credit Markets and the Five R’s of COVID-19

US Bank on where credit markets have been, are now, and what (we hope) lies ahead: recovery and relaxation. NeuGroup held a virtual meeting last week where members who work in treasury at major retailers heard a presentation on bond and loan markets from US Bank and discussed other topics of interest during this period of uncertainty, volatility and disruption. Here are some key takeaways as distilled by Joseph Neu, beginning with insights from US Bank. The five R’s of…
Capital MarketsLibor SOFR
April 7, 2020

SOFR Passes COVID-19 Stress Test, Bolstered by Stability of Repo Market

The volume of repo transactions underlying the calculation of SOFR has remained strong as the coronavirus disrupted other markets. US regulators’ recommended Libor replacement has performed strongly through the volatility roller coaster powered by the coronavirus. In fact, the overnight repurchase agreement (repo) market used to calculate SOFR has increased in daily volume to more than $1.3 trillion. “With SOFR, you have good reason to be confident that it can always be calculated, and the rate you’re paying reflects actual…
Capital MarketsFXTechnology
April 2, 2020

Using Bloomberg for “Nuisance” Trades

Avoiding the time-intensive process of requesting trades in a centralized structure, local cash managers speed the process with online access to Bloomberg. During a recent NeuGroup virtual meeting of FX managers, one member said he has started to use Bloomberg for local affiliates’ “nuisance trades.” These are foreign currency-denominated accounts payable under a certain USD-equivalent threshold. Local freedom. The member noted his company’s corporate treasury manages FX worldwide, so they were happy to find that local cash managers are able…
Capital MarketsRisk Management
March 31, 2020

Lock It Up: What You Need to Know About Pre-Issuance Hedging

The pros and cons of treasury locks and forward-starting swaps as bond issuance jumps. The crush of investment-grade issuers rushing to sell bonds as COVID-19 wreaks economic havoc has made pre-issuance hedging a relatively hot topic for many treasury teams. Chatham Financial, sponsor of NeuGroup’s Virtual FX Summit, helped members get a firmer grip on the various ways to manage interest rate risk—and the associated accounting implications—during the summit and a subsequent Zoom meeting. Here are some of the key…
Capital MarketsCOVID-19FX
March 31, 2020

Go with the Flow: How Treasury Is Adapting to Churning Markets

Flexibility and resourcefulness are critical as treasury teams cope with fallout from COVID-19. Assistant treasurers at a virtual NeuGroup meeting last week exchanged numerous examples of resourcefulness and flexibility in coping with the effects of the pandemic on FX trading, capital markets and other areas of responsibility. Here are some top takeaways: Time for algos. One AT saidspot trading in the FXmarket became “ridiculous” as liquidity vanished and spreads widened, making it difficult to close out small spot trades. That…