Building bridges overseas (TT Oct04 p25-26)

Britannia’s treasury team is responsible for £5.5bn of liquid assets, £7bn of wholesale funding and the balance sheet management of £22bn in assets and liabilities. Britannia’s credit status ensures attractive pricing in overseas markets such as the US, Canada, France and Australia. Its money markets team enters up to £500m of transactions per day. Cash from Britannia’s branches is pooled in and out of the main bank account and is managed by the treasury team. The treasury team focuses heavily on asset and liability management (ALM), managing exposures to adverse movements in interest rates. The balance sheet is divided into four books to reflect underlying interest rate exposures. Britannia Treasury Services, a separate company in the group, has raised more than £2.5bn through securitisation since 1997.