Category

COVID-19

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…
Antony Michels
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BankingCash & Working CapitalCOVID-19
March 26, 2020

Listen Up: A Banker’s Reality Check for Corporates Tapping Credit Lines

Societe Generale offers insights on bank pricing and priorities as companies seek cash safety. Companies determined to bolster their balance sheets by tapping revolvers or looking for loans, take heed: Bankers will view some drawdowns and requests much more favorably than others, and it pays to understand the bank’s perspective. That insight and others emerged during comments by Guido van Hauwermeiren, Societe Generale’s head of coverage and investment banking in the Americas. He spoke this week during NeuGroup’s Assistant Treasurers’…
Antony Michels
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Capital MarketsCash & Working CapitalCOVID-19
March 26, 2020

Beyond Revolvers: What NeuGroup Members are Talking About Now

More of Joseph Neu’s takeaways from virtual meetings dominated by talk of cash and liquidity. The waterfall of insights cascading from NeuGroup’s virtual meetings this month requires expert judgment on wringing out and distilling what matters most. One expert is NeuGroup founder and CEO Joseph Neu, who on Tuesday offered his take on tapping credit lines. Here are some of his other takeaways: Converts as an option. Industrial companies said they are looking at the convertible debt market as a financing…
Antony Michels
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Capital MarketsCOVID-19
March 24, 2020

Bonds in the Time of COVID-19: Timing Is Everything

Treasury teams need to be prepared to pounce as investor sentiment shifts wildly in capital markets. Be prepared so you can be nimble. That’s the advice from a treasurer whose company pounced when investor sentiment in the investment grade corporate bond market allowed nine corporates to issue $25 billion in debt on one day this month before the window slammed shut again amid COVID-19 fear. “You have to take what the market gives you and respond to the environment around…
Antony Michels
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BankingCapital MarketsCOVID-19
March 24, 2020

Little or No Pushback Has Corporates Drawing on Credit Lines—At What Cost?

Founder’s Edition by Joseph Neu Insights on the reasons to tap revolvers and what the trend may mean for banks and treasury. One clear insight emerging during our first several NeuGroup virtual meetings as the COVID-19 crisis escalates is that corporates are taking a slew of steps to bolster their liquidity positions. Among the most notable: All but the most stellar credits are drawing on revolving credit facilities (RCFs), a move that has potentially profound implications for banks. As Reuters…
Antony Michels
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BankingCapital MarketsCOVID-19Treasury Management
March 19, 2020

Communication Is Key When Drawing on a Revolver

Get buy-in from internal and external stakeholders as you guard against a COVID-19 liquidity crunch. Every day seems to bring news of another multinational corporation drawing down some or all of a revolving credit facility to weather potential liquidity disruptions created by market reaction to the coronavirus outbreak. News reports say private equity firms like Blackstone are encouraging portfolio companies to tap credit lines. The companies recently tapping revolvers include Kraft Heinz, L Brands and Carnival. NeuGroup Insights reached out…
Antony Michels
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COVID-19Treasury Management
March 17, 2020

A Coronavirus Crisis Treasury Playbook

Treasurers probably haven’t seen crises like this before. Here’s what they can learn from past events. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented the modern world with an almost unprecedented crisis. And the daily onslaught of worrying headlines—cancelled sports seasons and parades, Tom Hanks and wife infected, travel bans—seems to be triggering, mystifying actions by panicked consumers, like the run on toilet paper. But despite COVID-19’s unprecedented nature, for treasurers there actually is precedent, so there should be no mystery about what needs to be done (and…
Ted Howard
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COVID-19FXRisk Management
March 12, 2020

FX Hedging Opportunities Amid Virus Volatility

Opportunistic FX managers are locking in favorable exchange rates to hedge exposures as markets gyrate. NeuGroup members have locked in favorable foreign exchange rates in the wake of volatility sparked by the coronavirus outbreak, plunging oil prices and speculation about more US interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. “We’re taking advantage; this is something of an opportunity to layer in hedges,” said one risk manager during a NeuGroup’s Virtual FX Summit sponsored by Chatham Financial. Amol Dhargalkar, a managing…
Antony Michels
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COVID-19Risk Management
March 6, 2020

Internal Auditors Snapping into Action to Help Companies Cope with Coronavirus Crisis

The outbreak points up the need to create or improve pandemic policies and formalize rules. The coronavirus outbreak is revealing how prepared multinational corporations are for threats posed by crises that can affect almost every area of a business. And that’s made the virus a top concern and focus of many members of NeuGroup’s Internal Auditors’ Peer Group (IAPG) who are playing a key role in the response. Proactive approach. “I am now devoting more than 50% of my time…
Antony Michels
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COVID-19Treasury Management
March 5, 2020

What Should Treasury and Finance Functions Be Doing About the Coronavirus?

Something that warrants a rare FOMC inter-meeting rate cut calls for broader finance engagement. There is a lot of information, advice and checklists coming out on how businesses should respond to the coronavirus, or COVID-19. This one from McKinsey is a good example.  Health and safety first. A majority of companies, rightly, start with the most important steps to ensure the health and safety of employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. Tabletop crisis response and planning. The next most important item tends to be the crisis…
Ted Howard
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