Cash & Working CapitalRisk Management
May 24, 2023

Debt Limit Deadline Dialogue: Risk, Revolvers, Fiduciary Duty

Finance teams discuss liquidity, parking cash, the big economic picture and treasury’s role as the clock ticks to June 1. Bank deposits, the safety of money market funds (MMFs), de-risking balance sheets, fiduciary duty and revolving credit facilities are among the topics dominating recent discussions among NeuGroup members about liquidity and the possibility of the US government defaulting on its obligations if a deal to raise the debt ceiling isn’t reached by June 1. Watching and waiting. The vast majority of…
Cash & Working CapitalRisk Management
May 18, 2023

Preparing for the Worst in the Debt Ceiling Showdown

As June 1 draws close, treasury teams need to consider how a default might affect liquidity and what to do now. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen repeated on Monday that if the debt limit isn’t increased or paused, the US will probably be unable to pay all its bills as early as June 1. And while the worst case scenario of a default seems unlikely, few observers see a quick fix to the problem, despite Tuesday’s meeting between President Biden and…
Cash & Working CapitalCrypto
May 11, 2023

Crypto for Corporates: Stablecoins and the Future of ‘DeFi’

A Strategic Finance Lab interview with Custodia Bank’s Caitlin Long and a video featuring Accenture’s Duane Block. Many finance professionals at multinational corporations remain skeptics about cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins. No wonder: Fraud charges tied to the collapse of FTX as well as two stablecoins losing their dollar pegs—Terra and USDC—have fueled well-founded fears about the world of digital assets in the last year. But that’s not the whole story. There are numerous, sound reasons treasury and finance leaders need to dig deeper and learn more…
Cash & Working CapitalTechnology
May 11, 2023

Driving Payments Innovation: Treasury’s Collaborative Approach

How one member’s forward-thinking team within treasury fuels payments innovation and business success. Finance organizations reaching their full potential can play a critical role as companies explore new products, services and business models. That’s happening at one NeuGroup member company where a dedicated treasury team partners with products and payments groups to lead innovative banking and payments infrastructure initiatives that better support business requirements. At the inaugural session of the NeuGroup for Payment Strategy working group, representatives from sponsor Citi co-presented with…
Cash & Working CapitalTechnology
May 4, 2023

Flexing Front Office Tech Muscle to Aggregate and Analyze Data

Using Tableau to collect and aggregate data, a Salesforce treasury manager sidesteps IT to build a cash dashboard. Having a dashboard showing where all a corporate’s cash is invested, how much yield it’s generating and the company’s exposure to numerous counterparties—on a daily basis—is not just a dream for one member of NeuGroup for Cash Investments. Cam Bowen, senior treasury manager at Salesforce, impressed peers at the group’s first-half meeting sponsored by DWS last week by presenting a dashboard he built himself…
Cash & Working CapitalTalking Shop
May 4, 2023

Talking Shop: Retailers Read Credit Card Tea Leaves

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]. Context: How much consumers spend and how they pay for what they buy are critical topics for members of NeuGroup for Retail Treasury trying to manage risk and run forecasts amid fears of recession and abundant economic uncertainty. Retailers are closely tracking data showing a slowdown in spending while at the same time parsing info on purchases made…
Cash & Working CapitalCrypto
April 20, 2023

Speed, Stablecoins and the Future of Payments with Caitlin Long

A Wall Street veteran and crypto proponent sees stablecoins as an opportunity with real-world uses for corporates.Stablecoins—along with the entire world of cryptocurrency—have taken some lumps lately. That includes: faltering demand for two prominent players, BUSD and USDC; risk warnings about the digital coins from Fed vice Chair Michael Barr; and growing scrutiny and concern from the SEC, Congress and the Bank of England. Does all that mean finance teams at multinational corporations that need to keep up with developments in the payment space should turn their backs…
BankingCash & Working CapitalRegional
February 23, 2023

A Year of War, Sadness and Confronting Challenges Together

Finance teams come together to overcome obstacles amid sanctions, countersanctions and the exodus of banks from Russia. By Paul Dalle Molle, NeuGroup Senior Executive Advisor This week’s one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a sad moment, knowing as we do that the war is raging on with no signs of ending. It also reminds us that the conflict really began in 2014 with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas. It has been almost a decade of…
Cash & Working Capital
February 2, 2023

Cash Leadership Councils: Leading the Charge to a Cash Culture

Finance leaders and business heads collaborate on improving working capital management. “Working capital is going to be a major challenge in 2023,” a member of NeuGroup for Global Cash and Banking said recently to kick off a session taking place as rising recession fears intensify the pressure on treasury to free up cash. The member is not alone: working capital optimization ranked as a top-five priority for treasurers in NeuGroup’s 2023 Finance & Treasury Agenda Survey​. To improve working capital management, members at this session…
Cash & Working CapitalTechnology
January 12, 2023

For Treasurers, 2023 Means Going Back to Basics

With companies facing strong economic headwinds, treasurers are doubling down on liquidity management. Treasury’s core mandate is to support the company’s performance by ensuring adequate funding through smart cash management and external borrowing. According to NeuGroup’s 2023 Finance & Treasury Agenda Survey, treasurers plan to make that their number one priority this year (see chart). The survey also showed that treasurers are targeting improvements in analytics and modeling capabilities, which came in at number three this year, up from seven…