These are challenging times for the corporate treasurer. The confidence of capital markets investors has been dented by an ever-growing assault: the global threat of terrorism, corporate fraud, financial accounting irregularities and now the shadow of war.
This has created a downward spiral in the equity markets as falling prices have raised still more concerns linked to rising pension fund deficits and insurance company insolvency. The debt side has fared little better.With investors remaining wary of the shadow of corporate failure, the bond and commercial paper markets have shied away from many lower credit rated issuers and the lending banks are looking ever more closely at a borrower’s ability to sustain debt servicing in an adverse trading environment.