State of the Union

US TREASURERS ARE FACING A NEW HORIZON OF UNFAMILIAR DECISIONS, A CHANGING INVESTMENT CONTEXT AND GREATER MARKET UNCERTAINTY. ANTHONY J CARFANG SETS OUT SOME POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

There can be no doubt that, today, corporate treasurers around the globe have major challenges: slow economic growth, fallout from Basel III, FX volatility and financial crisis regulatory overhang. Treasurers doing business in the United States face all these, as well as several issues unique to the US market, namely:

• Rising domestic interest rates;
• New money fund regulations;
• Collateral scarcity;
• Reduced market liquidity;
• Corporate tax-rate imbalances;
• The strong dollar; and
• An eventual unwinding of the Federal Reserve’s swollen balance sheet.

In our consulting work, we see US treasurers responding to these challenges in several ways: expanding staff; doing more with more; optimising technology; focusing on cash forecasting; updating policies; and centralising control.