Insist on ACT qualifications

Central Banks

The Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the US Fed have all been very active in stimulating their economies.

The Bank of England has continued with its asset purchase activity. We understand that several companies have been encouraged to seek a rating so that they can issue sterling CP as an alternative to the bank market. Clearly this must be good news and a sign that the central bank activity is having a positive effect. As expected, the Bank faces a more complex task in implementing plans for extending asset purchase activity into the syndicated loans market where it is yet to make an announcement.

European Association of Corporate Treasurers (EACT)

In May I attended my first meeting of the EACT in Warsaw chaired by Richard Raeburn. The EACT member associations have a lot in common and we will be looking at how we can work together more to influence regulators and promote treasury education. The EACT is just about to publish a useful (layman’s) guide on transfer pricing – an area often forgotten until the Inland Revenue start asking awkward questions about intra group lending and intra group guarantees. This will be on our website shortly.

Hector Sants

Hector Sants, Chief Executive of the FSA, delivered the Spring Paper to a packed room in early May – Hector said many interesting things which received significant media interest but perhaps the most important for all of us;

 “Banks must understand the products that they are selling” and “Companies must understand the products that they are buying from banks”. 

The ACT is working with eight other national treasury associations in addition to the main UK accountancy bodies to provide treasury education to c.1,700 students throughout the world. In addition, students attaining the Certificate in International Treasury Management with a distinction will in future be invited to move straight onto the MCT Advanced Diploma. The ACT’s qualifications are internationally recognised and there is no need to compromise: insist on ACT qualifications for your treasury teams in the UK and overseas.

By Stuart Siddall