It is vital for each member of a treasury team to constantly re-evaluate their role as catalyst, strategist, steward and operator to effectively balance the priorities and challenges of the future – that’s according to Deloitte’s 2017 Global Corporate Treasury Survey report. The auditor notes: “The evolution of the treasury function from operational to strategic, combined with increased market regulation and volatility, provides opportunities for treasury to leverage whole-of-company skills to manage risks.” It adds: “Partnering with tax, finance and risk teams – coupled with greater use of available technologies – will set the course for treasury as a key stakeholder, with a permanent seat at the [board] table.”
Amid a climate of stagnant business investment, creeping interest rates and indebted consumers reining in their wallets, growth in the UK economy is set to slow to 1.5% this year. So say more than 100 top economists who were asked to provide their 2018 outlooks to a survey by the Financial Times. United Nations Global Economic Monitoring Unit chief Dawn Holland said: “The UK is expected to lag behind most of the rest of Europe as well as other developed economies in 2018. While globally conditions for investment have started to improve, business investment in the UK seems to be grinding to a halt.”
Rating agency Fitch has announced that recent growth spurts in the world’s two largest money market funds (MMFs) have stemmed from different sets of conditions. China’s world-leading Yu’E Bao has capitalised on its links to the nation’s Alipay platform, which has brought in significant retail investment. By contrast, the JPMorgan US Government Money Market Fund (JPM USG MMF) has benefited from recent reforms to US MMF regulations – which triggered a series of asset flows away from prime funds, and into MMFs that are limited mainly to government securities.
Fitch notes: “Yu’E Bao’s 325 million investors constitute a large and diversified investor base, which is positive for liquidity management and makes large-scale redemptions less likely. However, asset quality and liquidity are significantly weaker than for JPM USG MMF, and large redemptions could still arise in extreme circumstances as retail investors can have a herd mentality.”
Financial authorities in Canada have unveiled plans for an ambitious modernisation of the country’s payments systems – which are currently lagging behind those of most developed nations. Payments Canada’s Modernization Target State report outlines a range of measures designed to pave the way for fast, data-rich and easier payments, transaction transparency, activity-based oversight and cross-border convenience – along with open and risk-based access. The organisation’s president, Gerry Gaetz, said: “Modernising our national payment system is not just a technology upgrade. It’s about working together as an industry to unlock potential and create value for Canadians.”
An amicable and businesslike Brexit could provide a template for how the EU may bring other nations into its orbit, according to German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel. “If we manage a smart agreement with the UK,” he told the Funke media group, “this could be a blueprint for other countries: Ukraine and Turkey.”
Gabriel said he did not see either country attaining full EU membership in the near term, pointing out that political change in Turkey is a precondition for membership. However, a more flexible arrangement with Turkey could encompass a closer customs union than current arrangements.