Editorial

2016 – No time for monkey business

Monday 8^th February 2016 will see the world’s most populous country celebrate Chinese New Year and welcome in the Year of the Monkey. People born under this sign of the zodiac are believed to be: smart, quick-witted, frank, optimistic, ambitious and adventurous.

Given the economic outlook for 2016, let us hope many of you were indeed born under this zodiac sign. It is perhaps too coincidental that the best-suited careers for such individuals reportedly include accounting, banking and stock market trading.

Without doubt, smartness, ambition and adventure were already abundant in the world of corporate treasury in 2015. Nowhere was this more evident than in the nominations for our Adam Smith Awards Asia – a true barometer of the industry. In November, we celebrated the achievements of no fewer than 40 corporates based in the Asia Pacific region at the Gala Presentation Lunch in Singapore. Some very impressive projects were recognised in the cash, trade, working capital, risk, foreign exchange, liquidity, investments, funding, relationship management and technology categories.

Our Top Treasury Team Asia 2015 winner, Flex Group, stood out for the innovation and teamwork shown, as well as its approach to pushing the boundaries. All these winning solutions are showcased in the Adam Smith Awards Asia Yearbook which accompanies this issue. We hope you find these case studies interesting and informative – and that they inspire and help you to navigate the uncertain environment ahead in 2016.

Our Insight and Analysis article in this issue evaluates the outlook for 2016 and we also incorporate the thoughts and opinions of five senior transaction bankers based in the region in our Talking Treasury Forum Asia. Again, there are some very interesting observations which we hope will help you to plan, prioritise, innovate and be prepared for over the coming year.

Although much activity in the treasury department can be planned for in this way, there are inevitably external forces that cannot be predicted. International relationships, for example, are extremely fragile and this is making the global geopolitical landscape difficult to forecast.

Whilst the future remains uncertain and challenging, there is no better time to embody the personality traits of those born in the Year of the Monkey, aiming to approach 2016 with optimism and ambition. With that in mind, Treasury Today Asia wishes all our readers a very happy and prosperous New Year.