Category

Risk Management

FXRisk ManagementTechnology
March 18, 2021

Racing to Change Horses: A Risk Manager’s Quick Switch to AtlasFX

An FX risk manager changed exposure ID systems and implemented the new solution in just three months.Changing horses in midstream is never easy, but sometimes it’s the right move. One FX risk manager who did it explained to members of NeuGroup for Foreign Exchange the benefits of jumping off his existing exposure identification system and hopping onto AtlasFX—in an extremely compressed timeline of three months.   The time and effort spent making the switch under pressure paid off big-time. “We…
Justin Jones
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InsuranceRisk Management
March 9, 2021

Insurance and the Efficient Frontier: What Happens in a Soft Market?

NeuGroup members respond to Willis Towers Watson’s risk strategy of using modern portfolio theory for insurance. Willis Towers Watson recently presented to NeuGroup members an approach to modernizing how corporates buy insurance. As NeuGroup Insights explained last week, it involves modern portfolio theory and the efficient frontier. The presentation intrigued many members, including one who said WTW provided a great overview of the central idea. He wondered how treasury would effectively convey this new way of managing risk to the CFO…
Justin Jones
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InsuranceRisk Management
March 4, 2021

Solving the Insurance Problem With an Efficient Frontier for Risk

Willis Towers Watson advocates an approach that makes use of modern portfolio theory to assess the true value of insurance.For more than a year, buying and renewing insurance policies has been a severe pain point for many finance teams, all suffering through a hard market of rising premiums, higher retentions and lower capacity. And the pandemic. That makes now a good time to consider a modernized approach to insurance and risk finance strategy that takes what Willis Towers Watson (WTW) calls…
Justin Jones
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FXRisk ManagementTechnology
March 4, 2021

AtlasFX and FiREapps: How Two FX Risk Management Systems Stack Up

NeuGroup members share what they need from FX risk management solutions, what they get and what could be better.A need for automation, a user-friendly interface and consistent accuracy were among the highest priorities in selecting an FX risk management platform for members at a recent NeuGroup meeting that zeroed in on FiREapps and AtlasFX.AtlasFX ‘dream state.’ One member who recently worked with AtlasFX to adopt the platform lauded the firm’s flexibility and willingness to meet his company’s requests. “We came…
Justin Jones
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COVID-19Risk Management
February 23, 2021

Risk Managers Who Seek Gray Rhinos and Don’t Call Them Black Swans

Some enterprise risk managers call unexpected but predictable events gray rhinos and avoid the term black swan.As awful, disruptive and devastating as the Covid-19 pandemic has been, it’s not worthy of being called a black swan, according to more than one pundit. They include the man who made the term famous: Nassim Taleb, author of “The Black Swan,” whose subtitle is “The Impact of the Highly Improbable.” Unlike a black swan event—unpredictable, with massive impact— the argument goes, the pandemic,…
Justin Jones
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FunctionalRisk Management
February 23, 2021

Squeezed for Time: Internal Auditors Presenting to Audit Committees

How auditors make sure their voices are heard when their time before the AC is limited.Internal auditors often get squeezed for time when it comes time to appear before the audit committee (AC) of the board of directors. Given that reality, some members of NeuGroup’s Internal Auditors’ Peer Group (IAPG) have devised other ways to make sure their views are heard—or read—by members of the AC. Following are some takeaways on the subject discussed at a recent IAPG meeting. Short…
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Capital MarketsRisk Management
February 18, 2021

Swap Rates and the C-Suite: Making the Case for Floating-Rate Debt

Low fixed interest rates may make it harder—but not impossible—to convince management to swap to floating.Interest rates may be ticking up, but their historically low level is one reason some treasury teams may face difficulty convincing senior management to swap more of their company’s debt stack to floating rates from fixed. “It’s a hard time to argue to do it given where long-term rates are,” one NeuGroup member said at a recent meeting.“When the fixed-rate environment is this attractive, it’s…
Justin Jones
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Capital MarketsRisk ManagementTax
February 9, 2021

Buzzer Beater: A Treasurer’s Last-Second Debt Deal Scores Big Savings

One member cut his company’s tax bill by beating the clock to complete a debt refinancing.  As one NeuGroup member’s fiscal year began to draw to a close, he saw an opportunity to save his company millions of dollars in taxes by completing a debt refinancing deal—but he had to race the clock get it done before the calendar changed. Because of the pandemic’s impact, the company needed to save money, so it was critical that the debt deal go…
Justin Jones
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Cyber riskRisk ManagementTechnology
February 4, 2021

Questions About Answers: Moody’s Cybersurvey Raises a Few Concerns

NeuGroup members want to know how the credit rating agency will use survey responses about cyber risk.High-profile corporate cyberattacks have many companies reevaluating how they mitigate cyber risk. And over the past few months, some NeuGroup members have received a lengthy survey from Moody’s asking questions about their companies’ approaches to cybersecurity. The survey, which Moody’s says has about 60 questions, has raised questions—and a few concerns—about what Moody’s will do with the answers.Below is some of what members said…
Justin Jones
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BankingFXRisk Management
February 2, 2021

Under the Hood: How Banks Price FX Swaps With Corporates

Wells Fargo explains credit and capital charges for corporate counterparties on derivative transactions.Corporates that are using or considering using long-dated hedges such as five-year FX forwards or swaps can benefit from understanding the way banks price derivatives using a combination of credit and capital charges. That idea surfaced during a recent meeting sponsored by Wells Fargo for NeuGroup members who manage foreign exchange risk. Credit and capital costs can impact unwinds and restructurings as well as new transactions, Wells Fargo…
Justin Jones
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