Member question: “How do those with balance sheet hedging programs account for forward points—are they included in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), below the line, etc.? “We are considering implementing a balance sheet hedging program for net liabilities that are not part of our cash flow hedging program. Forward points are a concern since i) they work against us and ii) they may introduce volatility if the hedge is not valued at spot while the underlying exposure is. Any insight…
Context: On Friday, Oct. 30, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule clarifying the use by fiduciaries of investments in environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds. The regulation, according to some analysts, will end up limiting the use of ESG funds by some 401(k) and pension plans. Proposed in June, the change was opposed by many asset managers and investment advisors; DOL says the final rule was changed in response to comments. Member question: “Has anyone thought about…
October 20, 2020
Talking Shop: For a Bank KYC Refresh, Do You Complete a Beneficial Ownership Form With SSN?
Member question: “One of our banks does a biannual KYC refresh and asks us to complete the US Client Certification of Beneficiary Ownership (a FinCEN form). “Is this something that your company also provides, and do you include Social Security number info?” Peer answer 1: “You do not need to provide SSN for a non-US person and you need to provide only one such person.” Peer answer 2: “We always put the parent US company as the UBO , and we would use…
Member question: “For those who use Quantum as their TMS, do you also leverage Quantum for hedge accounting, and if you do, does Quantum (in your opinion) manage interest rate swap accounting well? “We have been using Reval for a while, but just wanted to know if people have been able to leverage Quantum V6+ for hedge accounting, including interest rate swaps.” Peer answer 1: “When we put our interest rate forward starting swaps in place a few years back, Quantum…
September 29, 2020
Talking Shop: Taking the Temperature of Today’s Credit Facilities Market
Member question: “Is anyone extending their credit facilities in this current market? Specifically, facilities with tenors of 3 or 5 years.”Peer answer 1: “In early Sept., we closed the renewal of a 364-day facility. Given the large size of our overall facility, planning and lender discussion start months ahead of the renewal. At the time we kicked that project off, markets weren’t supportive of longer-dated renewals (none had occurred for jumbo facilities like ours). Good luck with your renewal!”Peer answer…
Question: How does your company pull cross rates that are required to be pulled from central banks’ published rates? “Looking for some teams to benchmark on how you all pull the cross rates that are legally required to be pulled from central bank published rates. Pulling these rates from central banks’ websites is inefficient and we wanted to know how others are doing this.” Peer Answer 1: “We use Bloomberg’s data license program to get the rates via a file and upload them automatically to our enterprise…