Will Spinney's Blog

Treasurers are always learning and always having to deal with change in their own firms as well as changes in technology, financial markets, economies, fashion and convention, among others. Two cas...

Calculating banks profitability and getting your lenders to do derivatives were two key points that came out of the ACT led track session at our recent Annual Conference. As well as the importance of ...

This faculty often considers the role of banks for the corporate user and borrower, both generally and also from specific aspects of trends in finance. Corporations cannot do without banks, they are n...

We have seen that many firms currently have large cash resources. A few examples include IKEA with €17 billion, AstraZeneca $7.5 billion, GlaxoSmithKline £5.9 billion. These are mouth watering n...

Banks are very much the part of the financial universe under the spotlight at the moment. There are so many changes affecting them, from regulation, retail separation and political pressure on wages a...

We continue the theme from last month where we considered the influences of changes in the financial services sector on treasury management. These included: The Implications We now consider t...

This month’s faculty will look at the treasury of the future, one view of how it might look as the newly regulated world of finance starts to bite. This is only one view and things may turn out diff...

This famous quote was made by British Prime Minister Harold McMillan when describing the greatest challenge to a statesman after he had left office. The remark could equally be applied to the treasure...

Banks have been in the press quite a bit this month and this month’s faculty article takes a closer look at what banks are, some of the pressures on them and some possible implications for corporate...

The approach to bank relationships is at the core of a treasurer’s agenda and should from part of an overall financial strategy. For example, if a firm decides that leverage is required to earn equi...

Business works best when the parties to transactions can deal with each other with no fear of the sudden demise of the other party. It is part of capitalism that businesses fail, and indeed part of gl...

Business works best when the parties to transactions can deal with each other with no fear of the sudden demise of the other party. It is part of capitalism that businesses fail, and indeed part of gl...

Business works best when the parties to transactions can deal with each other with no fear of the sudden demise of the other party. It is part of capitalism that businesses fail, and indeed part of gl...

The ACT held its Annual Conference in Liverpool in the first half of May and this faculty covers some of the issues and trends that were apparent during the conference. It turned out to be one the ...

Treasuries have been on a path of centralisation for many years. The rapid advance of technology has allowed many of the functions of a treasurer to be managed in one place. Bank accounts can be run o...

We are all generally aware of some of the issues around the current state of the western banking markets and its ability to lend. Some of the issues include: General availability of funds for inves...

There has recently been much comment on non bank lending in the UK and this blog is designed to educate those who may not be familiar with the concept. The commentary started with an HM Treasury (UK g...

This month’s faculty is made up of some observations on various corporate finance texts that have passed over the ACT’s desk in recent weeks and which may illuminate an understanding of how life i...

This very useful annual survey is complete for 2010 and available on both the ACT and JPMorgan website. The report is summarised very well and one of the most useful interpretations of the report is t...

The ACT, partly represented by the author of this spotlight, visited Hong Kong recently and has used the experience to generate material for this article. We are all aware how the centre of gravity...

An exposure draft has recently been issued which will likely form the basis of a replacement for IAS 39 and should simplify the standard that has caused accountants and treasurers great difficulty ove...

If the funding market can be simply broken down into three segments of bank finance, High Grade bond finance and High Yield bond finance, among other important but smaller markets then one market that...

No-one in the financial world can have escaped the excitement (if that is the right word) of the eurozone crisis. It seems that the markets have forced the bailout of Greece and now Ireland and will p...

No-one in the financial world can have escaped the excitement (if that is the right word) of the eurozone crisis. It seems that the markets have forced the bailout of Greece and now Ireland and will p...

In the large firm sector we do not currently hear of many firms failing. Indeed the larger corporate sector in the West has been repaying debt at a rapid rate. In the UK the corporate sector produc...

During the month of September, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published the outline of Basel III, the successor to Basel II, representing its proposals on how banks internationally should ...

September is a traditional time for new starts. It is the start of a new academic year, the end of the holiday season and the heat (in the northern hemisphere anyway) is starting to wane, allowing us ...

The Supply Chain Finance Working Group has very recently published a report reviewing the market in SCF. This was set up following an initiative by the Bank of England. It is worth trying to unders...

The Dodd-Frank Act regulating the US Financial services sector has just been enacted and it is worth considering some of the issues surrounding it. It is a mammoth piece of legislation and was the res...

The summer season is with us and almost everyone will be thinking about their annual holidays. While this is a time to look forward to, it is often the case that departments will be left with very low...

A fairly high profile visit by Indian officials and business leaders to the UK has prompted governments to put their weight behind the UK / Indian relationship. The UK Secretary of State for Business ...

We are all taught the difference between committed and uncommitted facilities in our studies for the ACT exams and of the importance of ensuring that we must have committed facilities to cover our liq...

Until 2007 or 2008 treasurers and their firms got used to very low loan pricing from banks, and therefore also from the rest of the market, such as the bond market. This was a low point, however, and ...

For those who attended the ACT Annual Conference 2010, here’s a poetic reflection of the event... Fearing like last year very much the same Up to the Annual Conference I came Very exciting in t...

The spotlight this month is based on some of the presentations and discussions that took place at the Annual Conference in Manchester last week. There was something for all tastes, whatever specialism...

There has recently been much comment on non bank lending in the UK and this blog is designed to educate those who may not be familiar with the concept. The commentary started with an HM Treasury (U...

There has recently been much comment on non bank lending in the UK and this blog is designed to educate those who may not be familiar with the concept.

A theme among treasury for the past 25 years has been centralisation. The trend has been driven by: The freeing up of markets generally, such as the EU moves in the 1990s leading to EMU (Euro intro...

Leasing is a very popular form of finance. One estimate of volume (the World Leasing Yearbook 2009) suggests that total annual leasing volume in 2007 was US$760 billion.

This month’s spotlight looks at two aspects of financial markets which are germane to the theory and practice of corporate finance and treasury.

The management of liquidity will always be the first job of the treasurer. In a liquidity crisis, all other jobs take a back seat so that the treasurer can organise how the firm can meet liabilities a...

The credit crunch has led to some enormous moves in many market rates. To pick out two, let us take oil and sterling.

Many commentators have said that current economic conditions may precipitate an increase in Merger and Acquisition (M & A) activity in the coming year or so.

It is very common that our banks will want us to agree to more than one product or service when we use them in our financial dealings.

The academic approach to financial risk management, and indeed all risk management, includes several key steps.

The letter of credit is a tool that has been in use for centuries and in its most secure form allows for trade between firms who are not in a position to understand or take the credit risk of trading ...

One of the surprising things about exchange rates is the amount of volatility that they continue to show. Despite much knowledge about economic conditions in different countries being available the FX...

The major role of bank account mandates is to manage the ability of funds to leave the control of the firm (payments).

What is the system for controlling performance under covenants in your firm, both financial covenants and non financial covenants? Is it robust enough for the economic climate that we are in? Lende...

Defined pension deficits have been in the news in the UK recently, from several aspects. Firstly there is much talk about how they will be closed to new entrants almost universally and the effect this...

In our studies we have seen how some techniques are available to treasurers to manage cash around their groups and these include the cash concentration techniques of notional pooling and cash concentr...

Transfer pricing is the issue that arises when transactions between companies in a group might give rise to distortions in the tax payable in different jurisdictions. It is easy to see that an export ...

The Payment Services Directive (PSD) should be in force across Europe by 1 November 2009. This directive is a very wide ranging piece of legislation and has even been adopted by the European Economic ...

Many firms with bank borrowings in the form of committed facilities have considered themselves fortunate in the credit crunch that the maturity date of those facilities was far away enough in the futu...

The ACT tends to take to look at the two subjects of interest rate risk and refinancing risk in separate buckets.

With centralisation in treasury and other similar departments, such as Shared Service Centres or Payment Factories, a problem that very quickly shows itself is that of bank connectivity.

Now that the financial world seems a less scary place than a few moths ago, the attention of the authorities has shifted from fire-fighting to the prevention of future fires.

In the July spotlight we focus on corporate fraud – what causes it, how to detect it, how to prevent it and how to manage the related issue of whistle blowing.

The convertible bond market is one financing market that is currently enjoying boom times. Several UK listed companies have tapped this market recently and some commentators expect volumes to reach ov...

A recent editorial in The Treasurer magazine noted that investors are now more than ever looking for high standards of corporate governance in companies they invest in or lend to.

There are some significant changes occurring this year in the euro payments arena i.e. developments on SEPA and the introduction of the Payment Services Directive (PSD).

Companies across the board are finding the volatility in foreign exchange hard to deal with particularly in view of the reduced availability and variable pricing of hedging products.

Despite the Government's attempts to kick-start lending to business, banks are not providing finance for business in anything like the volume that is required.

Risk management is certainly in the spotlight at present and likely to be so for some time to come. Many have been shocked at the failure of what were considered to be sophisticated risk assessment an...

The financing of working capital is currently in the spotlight as banks and other lenders, customers and suppliers review their trading relationships and credit risk.

What should you be thinking about and what do others think of your credit? Credit risk is one thing that treasurers must be concentrating on at the moment. The first part of this is to investigate wha...