Just as this edition was going to press, news was breaking of GlaxoSmithKline’s current approach to euro cash management. Chief executive Sir Andrew Witty was informing investors through the press that last year the company had started emptying “tens of millions of pounds” out of most euro zone countries into UK-based accounts.
Many treasurers may wonder what all the fuss is about, or perhaps why the pharmaceutical giant decided it needed to go so very public on its approach to cash management and counterparty risk. At least GSK investors now know just how seriously the corporate views liquidity.
However, the news underlines the seriousness of the euro zone crisis and serves as another warning to those charged with sorting out the mess that, faced with a lack of decisive political action, business confidence will continue to bounce along the bottom.
Those that can look after themselves will do so. GSK will be one among many – most of them without attracting the same sort of attention. One thing is clear: this decisive approach by one of the world’s giant pharma companies shows that cash and liquidity remain at the heart of the board’s agenda and therefore should be top of every treasurer’s priorities.