Category

Risk Management

Capital MarketsRisk Management
July 2, 2020

Preparation Pays Off for Microsoft in Debt Exchange Offer

Liability management success: Microsoft received exchange interest of $12.5B, 56% of the targeted notional amount. Treasury teams managing their debt portfolios have a menu of liability management transactions to choose from, including bond tenders, open-market repurchases, consent solicitations and debt exchanges. To use most of these tools, corporates need to offer investors a reasonable amount of time to decide, ranging from five to 20 business days. So a successful liability transaction such as a debt exchange depends, in part, on a…
Antony Michels
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Risk ManagementTreasury Management
June 25, 2020

What the Experiment With Modern Monetary Theory Means for Risk Managers

Treasury and finance teams need to adapt to the reality of different thinking about debt and deficits. By Joseph Neu“We’re not even thinking about thinking about raising rates,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said after the Federal Open Market Committee’s June meeting. This was good timing for me: On the same day, I suggested to clients of Chatham Financial attending a virtual summit that among the accelerating trends treasury and financial risk managers need to prepare for is the current flirtation with…
Ted Howard
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Cash & Working CapitalRisk ManagementTreasury Management
June 25, 2020

March Madness: Searching for Answers on Cash Flow and Credit

Data from Clearwater underscores the concerns of treasury investment managers reducing risk during the pandemic. If you needed any more proof that the pandemic has made treasury investment managers even more attuned to the risks in their portfolios, check out the table below from Clearwater Analytics, which sponsored a NeuGroup meeting this week on market trends and improving balance sheet management.  Cash flow and credit. It may not be surprising, but relative to other searches, the sheer number of views in…
Ted Howard
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Pension and BenefitsRisk Management
June 23, 2020

Pandemic Creates Too Many Unknowns to Change Pension Strategies

Pension managers struggle with strategy amid a pandemic pace unlike the drawn-out financial crisis. Rapidly changing conditions during the pandemic have made it extremely difficult for many NeuGroup members and other treasury practitioners to create forecasts and devise strategies. Pension fund managers are in the same pickle, finding it nearly impossible to change their overall pension strategies given how fast the landscape is shifting. This is a far different predicament than during the 2008-09 financial crisis, which was a slow-moving disaster.“The…
Antony Michels
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Pension and BenefitsRisk Management
June 18, 2020

Pensions Look for Re-Entry, Re-Risk Opportunities

Pension managers were de-risking at the end of 2019, much to their relief months later; now it’s time to add some risk.Although pension managers have been de-risking over the course of the last several months – and continue to do so in different areas – many are now on the hunt to re-enter the market to re-risk. “Can we be nimble enough to pounce given the opportunities that are out there?” wondered one member of NeuGroup’s Pension and Benefits (NGPB)…
Ted Howard
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COVID-19Investment ManagementRisk Management
June 16, 2020

A “Perfect Storm” in Emerging Markets Shatters Hope for Some Investors 

Treasury investment managers hear sober forecasts and calls for greater action by the IMF.Hardly any of the treasury investment managers who met in early May at a NeuGroup virtual meeting said they owned emerging market (EM) debt—not very surprising given that most companies have been parking cash in high-quality, short-duration investments since the pandemic rattled credit markets. But one manager who does invest in USD-denominated EM debt said he was “bitterly disappointed” in the International Monetary Fund and G7 nations that had…
Antony Michels
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Cash & Working CapitalRegionalRisk ManagementTreasury Management
June 2, 2020

Founder’s KTAs from NeuGroup for European Treasury Peer Group 2020 H1 Meeting

By Joseph Neu The European Treasury Peer Group 2020 H1 meeting took place last week, sponsored by HSBC. Here are some takeaways that I wanted to share: COVID-19 validates regional treasury centers. HSBC said the case for regional treasury centers has been further validated by the pandemic. In comments on how clients have shown resilience and are preparing for markets to reopen, the bank noted the importance of real-time global exposure information, including a centralized liquidity and risk management framework; but also critical…
Ted Howard
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COVID-19Risk Management
May 26, 2020

Risk and the Butterfly Effect on Supply Chains Amid COVID-19 

What small issue now can turn into a larger risk later? And how far away is later? Can a small slipup in the supply chain—such as the inability to get a small part—create a bigger risk down the line? That example of the butterfly effect in action is what one member of NeuGroup’s Corporate Enterprise Risk Management group says he and management have been thinking about lately. The issue, like many things in business these days, is that COVID-19 adds a…
Antony Michels
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Capital MarketsInvestment ManagementRisk Management
May 21, 2020

Investment Managers Balance Need for Liquidity and Desire for Yield 

More cash and falling interest rates have some corporates weighing a return to prime funds.Many treasury teams have plenty of cash to invest but not many places to park it that offer attractive yields. That has some of them debating whether, when and how to add risk to their portfolios while preserving capital and liquidity. The challenge is figuring out “how to optimize cash in a very short portfolio,” as one member put it. Here’s some of what others said this…
Ted Howard
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Risk ManagementTechnology
May 21, 2020

Aligning Risks to Inculcate Risk Awareness

How one company’s ERM team is raising risk awareness and its own profile by organizing the firm’s sprawling risks.Sometimes the best way to add importance to your function is to look to the top. To management, that is. This was what one company’s enterprise risk management team did to accomplish two things: help organize the company’s risks and add a level of seriousness to the function itself.The head of this ERM team recently described, at NeuGroup’s Corporate ERM Group’s annual meeting,…
Ted Howard
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