Magazine

The definitive industry benchmark

With nominations now closed, Treasury Today can announce that the 2013 Adam Smith Awards has once again attracted impressive entries from some of the world’s most innovative treasuries.

Nominations close at midnight on 30^th April

By the time this issue hits your desk, you will have just two weeks left to get your submission(s) in for the 2013 Adam Smith Awards. Our simple ambition is to continue to recognise and showcase the best in corporate treasury practices as demonstrated by you, our readers.

The great SEPA countdown

The race is on to beat the clock and migrate euro payments to Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) instruments by the deadline of 1^st February 2014. At long last, the Eurozone will give birth to a (relatively) harmonised payments landscape that should be easier and cheaper to navigate, both domestically and cross-border.

2013: the year of ‘muted optimism’

The Year of the Snake came in with more of a whimper than a hiss, with continuing concern over problems in the Eurozone and the US budget deficit. However, despite the International Monetary Fund (IMF) trimming its growth forecast for the world economy in 2013, after predicting a less vigorous recovery in the US, UK and the leading countries of the Eurozone, the general mood at the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting was moderately buoyant.

Onward and upward

As a new calendar year starts we all have plans for 2013. Treasury Today continues to expand and we are working on three new initiatives this year:

1. We are launching Treasury Today Asia; thus responding to the many requests we have received to broaden the coverage of Treasury Today in China to include the rest of Asia.

2. We are developing our web content to provide more tools and practical information to corporate treasurers and CFOs/FDs.

3. We are beginning to offer customised research to banks and other vendors by undertaking specific market surveys and using our extensive benchmarking survey data.

Behind the scenes at Sibos

It is always interesting to attend Sibos – the big banking conference – and to hear what the bankers and others are talking about.

Since 1978, the Society for Worldwide Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has been holding this annual conference, better known as SWIFT’s International Banking Operations Seminar (Sibos) at venues around the world. This year, the conference moved back to Asia and was held in Osaka just a couple of weeks after the Annual IMF meeting was held in Tokyo. This was the first time that Sibos had been held in Japan, which has the third largest economy in the world. Sibos was held in Hong Kong in 2009.

Talented treasurers are jumping ship

The EuroFinance International Conference always provides a good opportunity for putting your finger on the treasury pulse. And while the myriad sessions offer up an accurate reflection of treasurers’ current priorities, it is the coffee break chatter that really gets to the heart of their preoccupations.

Is a single bank supervisor really what Europe needs?

Plans currently being drawn up by the European Commission (EC) could see the European Central Bank (ECB) designated as the financial watchdog for 6,000 Eurozone banks. According to EU Commissioner Michel Barnier, who is spearheading the proposals for a single supervisory body, banks that have already received support from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) may come under the auspices of a common regulator from as early as 1^st January 2013. The deadline for all Eurozone banks to be under the supervisor’s umbrella is equally ambitious, a mere 12 months later.

Crime and Punishment

The title of Dostoevsky’s literary masterpiece is a good reflection of what the global press has been reporting on in the banking sphere of late. And the stories in the newspapers do echo some threads of the classic novel’s plot. ‘Some’ being the operative word.

Benchmarking the Benchmarking Studies

We have been undertaking treasury Benchmarking Studies for several years now. Initially we sought to understand what treasuries were doing and what was best practice in the industry. This year we are going further and asking exactly which ‘marks on the bench’ are being used and what your concrete measures are.

This goes beyond anything that has been done before and is beginning to provide some very interesting data. But we need your support if we are going to make this an even more relevant project.