Editorial

Responding to and driving change

While ensuring their companies have stability and continuity, treasurers also need to keep one eye on the future and be prepared to adapt to change that is coming their way. In this issue of Treasury Today Asia we profile a number of different situations where corporate treasury has responded to, and even led, change.

Corporate treasury led the way at Thai Union – the largest producer of seafood products in the world – by overhauling and centralising its function. In Sustainable Treasury, Group Treasurer Yongyut Setthawiwat explains how this also drove an integration of sustainability into the company.

Thai Union is an example of dynamic change, but sometimes things do stay the same. This is what banks are having to accept with the handling of physical cash, as the Back to Basics feature shows.

At the same time, the external environment can change dramatically – such as the pandemic – which forces treasury to adapt. In this issue’s Corporate View, Amit Baraskar, Vice President and Head – Treasury, at Thomas Cook India details how his team had to respond to the pressures of Covid-19 when the tourism industry took a massive hit.

Baraskar points to the importance of being able to let off steam, even in the most stressful situations. This emphasis on mental health is now something corporates are taking seriously as they realise it is in their interests to ensure the mental health and wellbeing of their employees – and not something individuals should manage on their own.

Thomas Cook India has now bounced back stronger from the pandemic, but unfortunately the same cannot be said of China’s economy. There has been much discussion about China’s outlook – especially as it is crucial to the overall economy in Asia – and whether it has recovered from the woes in the property sector. It is slowly recovering – although not as fast as some would like.