This is a new (ad)venture for us – the idea is not only to cover our usual broad range of topics but to examine all of them from the perspective of a European treasurer.
The concept of a purely ‘national’ treasurer, whether in the UK or elsewhere,is a pretty rare one – there can’t be many treasurers who don’t do some form of business outside their home country. Issues which affect a treasurer based in the UK will also have at the very least resonance with,if not direct relevance to,his /her counterparts in Paris,Br ussels,Budapest and Moscow.
We are delighted to include articles from two keynote contributors from two of Europe’s leading corporates: Rob Ruijter is CFO at KLM and knows the ACT well,as he is an MCT and a member of the Advisory Board. Hans- Gisbert Ulmke is Executive Vice President of Finance at E.ON.
We also have an impressive contingent of treasurers representing a variety of perspectives: an Englishman in Germany,Peter Matza of RWE, François Masquelier of RTL in Luxembourg,Olivier Brissaud of Volkswagen in Belgium,R obert Dicker of Volvo,Samer Jano of the bauMax-Schoemer Group in Austria and Susan Harrington of Anglo-American in the UK,to name a few (see p48 for more details). There is also our usual quota of expert bankers,economists and consultants,of fering advice on the range of topics which are presently crossing the European treasurer’s constantly bleeping radar screen.
This edition will also be distributed to treasurers in Europe through a number of the ACT’s sister associations in Europe.We should especially welcome any feedback from these treasurers,to gether with any ideas and suggestions on issues which future editions of The Treasurer could cover. We hope this will encourage them to take up a regular subscription. And, in this spirit of collaboration,we are also offering preferential subscription rates for a limited period to any treasury professional from these associations who is interested in receiving The Treasurer on a regular basis. Please visit our website at www.treasurers.org/thetreasurer for details.
Looking ahead,our October issue shall continue the international theme,when ‘Emerging Markets’ will be put under the Spotlight. The feature will look at treasury management beyond European borders as we focus on Russia,Latin America, Africa, China and the Asian Pacific region. In November and the January/February issue,we will again be running our successful and highly-regarded Deals of the Year feature. November’s edition will give readers the chance to remind themselves of the main deals done during the period October 2002 to the end of September this year,and give them plenty of time to vote on the deal which they feel was the best one from a treasury point of view.
The winning deals in each of the categories will be profiled in the January/February issue. If you feel you have done a particularly good deal which merits attention,wherever your company is based,please let me know.
MIKE HENIGAN
Managing Editor