Treasury Today Country Profiles in association with Citi

Magazine

May 2007

Date published: May 2007

Global Treasury Management – is this our new mantra?

You cannot go to a treasury conference these days without being bombarded by talk of global treasury management. This seems to be becoming the fashionable catch-phrase in treasury circles. Not surprisingly the banks with global capabilities are keen to encourage such talk and the consultants are not far behind as they explain that the benefits of ‘getting to global’ are difficult to attain without the appropriate expertise.

April 2007

Date published: Apr 2007

Why we all need standards

The lack of agreed standards for communication has been the subject of many initiatives over the years, as trading groups and industry collectives developed their own ways of communicating with each other and, in particular, exchanging information on payments. Most of these have faded over time or remained isolated examples of effective co-operation. Attempts to establish universal standards for corporate to bank communication have failed. Now we are seeing two new initiatives which will have a lasting and substantial impact, on corporate to bank communication standards.

March 2007

Date published: Mar 2007

So how are we doing?

Two months ago we asked for feedback on what you thought of Treasury Today and how we are doing. We promised to let you know what we have been told.

February 2007

Date published: Feb 2007

More than just two tickets for the gravy train...

On 1^st January 2007, the EU welcomed two new member states – Bulgaria and Romania – the 26^th and 27^th members of the European Union. Europe’s fifth round of enlargement increased the EU’s population by another 30 million people. While the two new members celebrated joining the EU, the reaction was muted in other member states.

January 2007

Date published: Jan 2007

How are we doing?

A New Year is always a time for setting new goals and we have lots of plans here at Treasury Today as to how we can give you, our readers, a better service. But we need your help if we are to stay focused on exactly what you want to see from us. So this month there is not a long editorial – just a short request. Please will you tell me how we are doing?

Treasury Today November/December 2006 magazine cover

Nov/December 2006

Date published: Nov 2006

Too SWIFT for some?

The recent SIBOS conference in Sydney demonstrated just how swift SWIFT has been in developing its corporate access model. Having established that corporate access to the messaging system was acceptable, SWIFT is rapidly developing means by which corporates can access the system and encouraging banks and system suppliers to do the same. In particular, the much criticised MA-CUG model has been supplemented by SCORE, as reported in this month’s news section. Going around the conference hall you would imagine that it was a corporate event, with every supplier emphasising their SWIFT connectivity.

October 2006

Date published: Oct 2006

Getting to grips with the supply chain

At the recent EuroFinance International Cash and Treasury Management conference in Florence, the overriding theme was the financial supply chain and how this should be managed in order to gain efficiencies. Indeed, EuroFinance’s annual Award for Excellence was presented to Hewlett-Packard in recognition of the company’s thought leadership in this area. But what exactly is the financial supply chain? And what can treasurers do to manage it?

September 2006

Date published: Sep 2006

The problem with SEPA

We wrote an editorial about SEPA – the Single Euro Payment Area – in May. It seems appropriate to return to the subject at this time as there are so many articles and conference presentations on the subject and every supplier is talking about being SEPA compliant.

July/August 2006

Date published: Jul 2006

True and fair

The prison doors will be shutting on Jeffrey Skilling in the next few months whilst Ken Lay has taken his guilt to the grave. But the impact of their actions will live on for many years. The shareholders in Enron who were duped by these two, will certainly not forget them. However, the impact of Enron and other recent scandals is having a much wider effect. Sarbanes-Oxley may be US legislation responding to US scandals, but its impact is being felt around the world.

June 2006

Date published: Jun 2006

Are you getting what you pay for?

Traditionally the phrase ‘getting what you pay for’ is used to describe the process of seeking a bargain and then finding out you have got a product or service that falls well below your expectations. We explain this disappointment to ourselves and to others as ‘getting what we paid for’.