Capital MarketsCOVID-19Investment ManagementTreasury Management
April 28, 2020

Funding Is Top Priority for Treasurers amid Pandemic: Poll

Treasurers have funding on their minds as they deal with COVID-19. BCP and supply chains also a concern.Securing funding is a top priority for corporate treasurers thrust into the role of organizing companies’ financial response amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent poll by Bloomberg and Greenwich Associates. Following funding, treasurers say their attention is also on business continuity plans and suppliers.Many treasurers have been tasked with making sure key suppliers have the resources to stay in business and…
COVID-19ESGTreasury Management
April 23, 2020

COVID-19 Puts Another Lens on ESG—and an Opportunity for Treasury to Lead

Mega-cap treasurers discuss treasury’s role in promoting ESG and the fragmented ratings landscape. COVID-19 has moved the subject of ESG ratings and financing to the back burner for many businesses. One banker speaking at a NeuGroup meeting called ESG “a luxury” that many companies can’t afford now. But the issue is not going away, and the pandemic offers another lens to view how corporations affect the world and society, and how businesses respond to crises and the needs of employees,…
Cash & Working CapitalCOVID-19Treasury Management
April 16, 2020

Preparing for a (Grand?) Reopening

Founder’s Edition, by Joseph Neu How should finance and treasury professionals prepare for an economic reopening following the COVID-19 lockdown? Since March 10, I have attended most of the 40-plus Zoom meetings NeuGroup has held with members. These include virtual peer group meetings, COVID-19 discussions, weekly office hours and interactive sessions devoted to other subjects. Below are some of my takeaways and insights. Forecasting is paramount. The emphasis every company is placing on forecasting began with determining how long they…
FXTreasury Management
April 9, 2020

How to Protect FX From Newbies on Rotation

A NeuGroup member asks peers how to train people passing through the FX function without raising the risk of costly mistakes. More often than not, specific corporate functions love a rotation plan where people from other areas come through to learn how the work in that function gets done, usually as part of a training and development program for high-potential talent. But for FX, more specifically trading, this can sometimes be a little tricky. For instance, how, asked one FX manager…
COVID-19Senior ExecutiveTreasury Management
April 9, 2020

Treasurers Rise to the Challenge of Managing Teams Remotely

One treasurer shares how he keeps staff united and upbeat—and offers his take on leadership during a crisis.The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many treasurers to confront the challenges of managing finance teams remotely. At a recent NeuGroup virtual meeting of mega-cap companies, one treasurer shared his approach to keeping his team cohesive, as well as an observation about how people perform during a crisis. Together apart. To build a sense of togetherness and maintain unity when everyone is in a…
COVID-19Treasury Management
April 7, 2020

Treasurers in Asia Alter Stress Tests, Grapple with Pandemic Challenges

Headaches include dividend repatriation, obstacles to execution of business contingency plans. Repatriating dividends from China, India, Thailand and other countries is proving difficult for some treasury teams in Asia that are seeking to bolster their companies’ global liquidity in response to the coronavirus pandemic. That takeaway and others emerged during a virtual meeting of treasurers in Asia facilitated by NeuGroup on Monday. Members at companies that had business continuity plans in place and had done stress testing before the crisis…
BankingCOVID-19TechnologyTreasury Management
April 2, 2020

Supply Chain Finance Not Immune from Pandemic Pain Felt by Banks

Higher funding costs for banks amid COVID-19 mean wider spreads in SCF market.  An assistant treasurer at a major consumer goods company learned from supply-chain-finance (SCF) vendors that banks financing SCF assets have asked for wider spreads to compensate for their own higher funding costs, at least temporarily. The banks had agreed to a fixed spread that was still attractive in early March but, in the midst of the coronavirus economic meltdown, is much less so today. “It isn’t as…
Senior ExecutiveTreasury Management
March 26, 2020

DIY: Forming Mentoring Circles That Lead to Sponsorship

More takeaways from the Women in NeuGroup meeting featuring three senior executives at one company. The Women in NeuGroup (WiNG) virtual meeting held last week highlighted the use of mentoring circles as a building block for sponsorship—where someone senior to you in the company advocates for your advancement. Our first story described how the process works at one major American multinational, as described by three senior executives. Below are more takeaways from the meeting as distilled by Anne Friberg, senior…
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…
Senior ExecutiveTreasury Management
March 19, 2020

Using Mentoring Circles to Cultivate Organic Sponsorship for Women

Mentoring circles can help women find sponsors who can advocate for their career advancement. Three women who are senior finance executives at a major multinational corporation described how their company organically builds sponsorship using so-called mentoring circles to support the development needs of high-potential talent. The three spoke this week at a Women in NeuGroup virtual meeting. One of the women described mentoring circles as groups of 10 to 20 people led by more senior employees to discuss topics of…