COMPLEXCOUNTRIES
The Global Treasury Intelligence Network
FX Global Code of Conduct -why should a corporate sign?
This session explored the benefits of a corporate signing the FX Global Code of Conduct. It took place on 14th May 2019. The session was chaired by Damian Glendinning.
- A presentation from T Julian Gladwyn and Nick Downes of Axiom Global Advisors to a panel of senior corporate treasurers
- A Q&A between the panel and the Axiom team
- A peer group discussion (held under the Chatham House Rule, Axiom not included)
Post M&A Treasury Integration
Post M&A Treasury Integration
Call date: 3rd Mar 2020
This call was requested by a member whose company was in the midst of a significant acquisition. They wished to benchmark their approach with a selected panel of peers. The participants in this call all had significant experience which they shared generously.
The call was chaired by Damian Glendinning, whose commentary appears below.
If you would like a copy of this report, please get in touch.
Measuring Treasury Performance – Key KPIs
Measuring Treasury Performance
Call date: 2nd Jul 2020
We invited a panel of senior members to discuss how treasury performance is measured.
- How do you judge Treasury performance?
- Which processes benefit from measurement?
- How do you communicate uncertainty?
The call was expert chaired by Damian Glendinning, whose commentary appears below.
Please contact us if you would like a copy of the full report (8 pages)
Premium members can and subscribers can download the full report here.
Cash repatriation from Turkey
Participants described their company’s current approach and recent experiences in repatriating cash to HQ from TURKEY and answered each others’ questions.
Cash Repatriation from Turkey
Call date: 17th Jun 2020
The call was chaired by Arnaud Francq, the key discussion details are below.
If you would like a copy of this report, please get in touch.
Key areas of discussion
With the recent depreciation of TRY, accessing hard currency in Turkey is getting much more difficult. Regulations can change arbitrarily and are often unclear. Participants reported conflicting opinions from different banks and the same banks give different opinions to different people. It pays to get multiple opinions before making a decision. Participants rely on their local teams. In this discussion the topics covered included:
- Accessing hard currency
- Cross border pooling
- Offshore accounts
- Dividends
- Cross border invoices
- Cashless Netting
- Servicing Turkey via offshore payment factory
- Funding
Cash Repatriation from Russia
Cash Repatriation from Russia
Call date: 16th Jun 2020
Participants described their company’s current approach and recent experiences with repatriating cash from RUSSIA and answered each others’ questions.
The call was chaired by Damian Glendinning, whose commentary appears below.
If you would like a copy of this report, please get in touch.
Chair’s commentary
A good and lively session – Russia remains a place where doing business is seldom boring.The main themes:Russia has many complex regulations, which keep changing.
- Most participants have excellent local finance teams who keep on top of the regulatory issues – things work well if you do this.
- The FX rate is highly volatile. Most participants hedge, with a general preference for offshore, though onshore also works, if you have the local team.
- Hedging policies vary, especially for items such as intercompany loans and dividends.
- Sanctions compliance drives a significant extra workload and adds yet more complexity – and the situation around Crimea is even more challenging.
- The tax authorities are very aggressive, but things get resolved quickly, provided all the documentation is in order. Getting approval to pay royalties and some cross border intercompany services can prove difficult, though
- .Intercompany loans can be made into and out of Russia, including cash pooling – though, as usual, there is bureaucracy attached. Most of the participants use one form or other of intercompany loan, in both directions, for cash management.
- Most participants use dividends as a way of repatriating cash: there is a cost in terms of withholding tax, but it gets away from the bureaucracy attached to intercompany loans.
Bottom line: most, if not all, participants have healthy businesses in Russia. It is a challenging environment, and one which keeps changing – but, if you make the effort and have a good local team, these challenges can be managed.
Cash Repatriation from Nigeria
Cash Repatriation from Nigeria
Call date: 23rd Jun 2020
Treasurers describe their company’s
current approach and recent experiences in repatriating cash to HQ from NIGERIA and answered each others’ questions.
The call was chaired by Arnaud Francq, the key discussion details are below.
If you would like a copy of this report, please get in touch.
Key take aways
- It’s important to have a good local team to process regulatory documentation etc.
- Local investment options are limited, most participants use their international relationship banks
- for cash deposits even if they can get higher rates from local banks.
- FX shortage is experienced by all players, but limited amounts can be found from currency
- brokers at increased spread
- Further depreciation of the NGN is expected even if the oil price recovers.
- Preparation for dividends is onerous and it can take a year or more to prepare and original paper
- documents are required
- Preparing royalty fees takes 6 – 9 months and is less onerous provided all the underlying
- agreements are in place
Cash pooling in China
Cash pooling in China
Call date: 25th June 2020
In this call, treasurers from Asia and EU shared their experiences with domestic and cross-border pooling in China. This report covers : Domestic pooling, Cross border pooling, Interest rates & tax, SAFE & PBOC approvals , Entrustment loan fees, Fund flows & Banks
The call was chaired by Damian Glendinning, whose commentary appears below.
If you would like a copy of this report, please get in touch.
Premium members can and subscribers can download the full report here.
Click here to view all our reports on China
Chairman’s commentary
As usual with China, a lively discussion with many interesting experiences. Also as usual with China, people are receiving different advice, and there does not seem to be a single rule book to follow.
Nearly everyone on the call is running both a domestic and an international cash pool, and some are running USD as well as CNY pools within the country.
Read MoreRepatriating Cash from Brazil
Cash Repatriation from Brazil
Call date: 11th Jun 2020
Participants, comprising senior treasurers from EU, Latin America and the U.S. compared their experiences in cash repatriation from Brazil .
The call was chaired by Damian Glendinning, whose commentary appears below.
Click here for other posts on Latin America
If you would like a copy of this report, please get in touch.
Chairman’s commentary
The purpose of this call was to assess the impact COVID-19 crisis has had on cash and treasury management in Brazil.
The bad news is that, some things, such as currency volatility, administrative and tax burdens, and liquidity have got even worse than they were before the crisis. The “good” news is that this remains within the levels of what you can expect in the country – as one participant put it: this is difficult, but not much worse than usual.
Read MoreRethinking treasury technology
This is the first part of our series on in which Damian Glendinning challenges you to rethink treasury technology! This full report comprises the first part of our series on Treasury Technology and consists of a presentation (recorded and summarised) together with the report from the two peer group discussions (between 15 senior treasurers from Asia, Europe and USA) which took place in June 2020.
These sessions were a little different to normal. We presented a view: treasurers generally are disappointed by the type and scope of technology solutions available to them – despite everything we have been hearing over the last 10 to 15 years at treasury conferences. Nothing too controversial there.
Our attempt at being controversial (see recording below) was what followed
Read morECash Repatriation from Argentina
Cash Repatriation from Argentina
Call date: 4th Jun 2020
Participants described their company’s current approach and recent experiences with repatriating cash from Argentina and answered each others’ questions.
The call was chaired by Damian Glendinning, whose commentary appears below.
Click here for other posts on Latin America
If you would like a copy of this report, please get in touch.
Chair’s commentary
Sadly, Argentina continues to be a very difficult place to operate. The rules are complex, and keep changing. The currency keeps depreciating, and the cost of hedging it is prohibitive. Borrowing in ARS is very expensive – above 30% – and local currency loans can be difficult to obtain. This makes life difficult for companies who are losing money or who are short of cash. Life is also difficult for companies which are making money and generating cash: they have issues finding banks who are an acceptable counterparty risk and who are willing to accept ARS deposits. Even when these can be found, the deposit rate, at a now mandated minimum of 30%, is still lower than inflation. Added to the mix are the exchange controls, which make it difficult to remit cash out of the country – and can make it hard to send cash in, too.
Read More