You have probably already noticed that The Treasurer looks different this month.
Earlier this year we did a reader survey to find out what you wanted from the magazine and how you use it in your work. Taking these findings on board, we are relaunching The Treasurer as a fresher, more authoritative voice of the treasury profession. You asked for more industry thought leadership, more expert comment from top financial journalists and economists, more comment from other treasurers, more career development advice and more in-depth technical analysis on important treasury topics. We aim to bring you all these, and more, in this and future issues. And reflecting the fact that the majority of our 10,500 readers are outside the UK, we aim to further enhance our international, particularly our European, content.
So let’s focus on this month. Starting with our cover feature, Global warning, on page 18, we tell treasurers what they need to know about the global resource crisis – how it will affect their companies and the new risks they need to plan for. On page 24, we meet Calum Mercer, executive director (finance) at Circle Housing Group, who talks about the specific treasury challenges he faces. We also take a look at Turkey, the world’s 17th- largest economy, on page 22.
We have retained the Core Elements topic areas, and this month we focus on capital markets and funding and risk management amid the eurozone crisis. On page 28, we consider alternative funding solutions while on page 30, Barclays provides an insight into the new Japanese probond market, and on page 34, we look at operating leases as fixed-rate debt.
On pages 36-39, we cover the key risks for treasurers as the eurozone continues to feel severe pressure. We also get a treasurer’s own perspective on the cash management challenges in China on page 32.
You can never pay enough attention to your own career development, so we will run regular articles to help hone your ‘soft skills’. We kick off by suggesting some simple networking strategies on page 42. And those of you who are students will find that you have your own useful advice section at the back of the magazine (see pages 45-47).
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the new-look The Treasurer magazine. Please write to tell me what you think of it or tweet us @thetreasurermag. And if you have any suggestions for improvement or topics you would like to see covered, I will always be delighted to hear from you.
You are the profession and your views matter.
