Martin ODonovan's blog

For the money markets liquidity is the problem says Martin O’Donovan.

The central banks have been working hard to supply liquidity into the inter-bank market and have just about been keeping the overnight rates near the official rates (Base Rate in the case of the UK), but the 3 month rates have stubbornly refused to follow suit and right now have ballooned out for sterling to 6.4% when base rate is just 5%.

Clearly the banks are keeping their cash very short term and 3 month liquidity has disappeared.

Accounting has once again been confirmed as an art not a science by a quick glance at the 2008 Interim results for Barclays Bank. I confess that prior to learning about accounting I had naively assumed that accounts recorded undisputed facts.

Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I), was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 4 July 2008

If, as treasurer, you were to put forward a project which would absorb an enormous amount of management time, but have no (other) effect, you might doubt if you would get the project approved.

Treasurers are responsible for the capital structure and funding strategy of their companies. That includes the funding element that comes from equity, but yet I bet most of us spend the bulk of our time on the debt side of the balance sheet.

Welcome to the ACT’s treasury forum. The idea is that I can post really up-to-date news and commentary on the issues affecting the world of treasury, but written with a more personal or, perhaps, a more controversial slant. We all come across things that need fixing, news reporting that is misguided or outright wrong, or simply something interesting. Treasury departments tend not to be that large, our partners and friends may have limited stamina for treasury stories, so this can be the medium to put some points of view and seek a reaction.