The funding question

One important theme already emerging from the ACT Annual Conference is that, when faced with a sizeable and growing range of funding alternatives to bank debt, treasurers must involve themselves in their business as never before.

For those in smaller cap companies this may be obvious; for those in bigger organisations, a question of priority. The message from banks and others is, however, clear: bank debt will remain hard to access, relatively expensive (and likely to become more so) and will need servicing with ancillary business. Hence treasurers need access to non-bank funding.

One could be cynical and suggest that banks are working hard to offer business finance products to clients to help them shrink over-extended balance sheets. On the other hand, as one treasury manager from a small cap business said this morning “if treasurers don’t take advantage of all their options, they may not be back next year to tell us their experience.”

Over the next few days members will be receiving 'The Treasurer’s Guide to Trade Finance' to help them with many of these issues. The book is co-published by the ACT, RBS and WWCP.

By Peter Matza