Asia Pacific Benchmarking Study 2011
The Asia Pacific Study published in May 2011 attracted just over 120 responses from a diverse corporate universe.
Respondents were received from 14 countries across the region and Singapore was particularly well represented with nearly 35% of respondents. Singapore and Hong Kong remain the preferred locations for Regional Treasury Centres. This Study did not include mainland China which is a separate Handbook.
An immediate comparison with the findings of the 2010 European Study and the Middle East Study in March 2011 has highlighted many common areas between the regions.
Introduction
Treasury Today has been writing about corporate treasury for over a decade. We continue to strive for excellence and to provide unbiased insight and analysis of the treasury trends and best practices. We are, therefore, delighted to publish this report on the findings of this comprehensive Asia Pacific Corporate Treasury Benchmarking Study in association with J.P. Morgan. It provides further insight into the community we serve.
This is our first Study in the Asia Pacific region and, to some extent, builds upon the Benchmarking Studies we have conducted among corporates operating in Europe (October 2010) and the Middle East (March 2011). We have a second European Study and a Latin American Study due to report in October and November respectively. The findings of the first European Study were presented in the wake of the worst financial crisis and global recession since the 1930’s depression. The timing of this Study is also pertinent as the last year has seen a tentative recovery from the effects of the financial crisis. However, as the recent tragic events in Japan serve to remind us only too well, the recovery remains fragile. Nothing can overshadow the sheer scale of human tragedy in Japan but when we add the volatility in the currency and commodity markets, particularly oil, and the current unrest in the Middle East, these pose a real threat to this recovery.
There are some very interesting findings emerging from the way treasuries are managing their bank relationships, credit, the cash and liquidity management practices that are being deployed, information reporting, corporate access to SWIFT, the use of mobile banking services and planning for the future.
The findings provide a basis for us to try and define best practice in certain areas and this will enable us to develop some standards against which corporate treasury practitioners will be able to benchmark their own treasury departments. These will evolve in time to provide the benchmarks which we will develop as an interactive zone on our new website treasurytoday.com – see Benchmarking the treasury department. Companies can see what their peers are doing and can contrast and compare with their own organisations to see where they are and to identify where improvements might be possible. This may also assist the scoring of responses to a request for proposal (RFP) for example.
Service providers targeting this universe should also be very interested in these findings. They will be able to see how companies assess them and this should assist the decision making process of where to invest product development budget. It should help drive the product development pipelines and will also help to build the business cases for such investment and provide some feedback on the effectiveness of recent investment decisions.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the corporates who responded to this Study and we would, of course, welcome any feedback. We would also like to thank the Association of Corporate Treasurers Singapore (ACTS) who very kindly supported this Study.
Contents
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Foreword
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Introduction
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Executive summary
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Respondent profile
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Internal reporting and benchmarking
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Cash and liquidity management
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Risk management
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Supply chain
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Technology
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Bank relationships
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The future
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Benchmarking the treasury department
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Conclusions
Foreword – Thomas DuCharme, J.P. Morgan
As Head of Treasury and Securities Services, Asia Pacific, I am delighted that J.P. Morgan is sponsor of this first Corporate Treasury Benchmarking Study conducted in the Asia Pacific region.
The first European Study undertaken during 2010 provided an extremely useful insight into the corporate treasury environment in Europe. The Benchmarking project has now expanded into a global programme and it will be interesting to contrast and compare the findings from each of the regions as they report during 2011. Corporate treasurers in all geographies are undergoing huge change in the wake of the deepest downturn since the 1930’s depression. These findings will go some way to providing a barometer of how companies are responding, notwithstanding the tragic events we have witnessed in Japan and elsewhere in the region recently.
Asia Pacific comprises some of the fastest growing economies in the world and is truly recognised as a crucial cog in the wheel of global trade. I am delighted with the level of responses to this Study in terms of geographic coverage, company size and industry sector. Responses were received from no fewer than 14 countries across the region. My sincere thanks to all those corporates who have participated.
The Study covers a broad range of treasury issues from bank relations, cash and liquidity management to credit, risk and technology. Relationships continue to be key as these findings illustrate only too well. As sponsor of this Study, we are extremely excited by the insights into the main issues affecting companies in the region today. I believe there is much to learn from these findings as we look to serve our clients across the region.