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Antony Michels

Capital MarketsTreasury Management
January 14, 2020

Love It or Hate It, ESG Is a Key Theme for 2020

Founder’s Edition, by Joseph Neu Reasons you can’t afford to leave ESG off your priority list. ESG and related themes of sustainability and green finance are polarizing. Nearly everyone sits on a spectrum where one end thinks it’s all a bunch of hooey and the other argues it’s the key driver of finance for the next decade. Personally, I feel conflicted—one reason ESG didn’t make my initial list of key 2020 issues. Mixed feelings aside, I’m convinced the decade ahead…
Antony Michels
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InsuranceTreasury ManagementUncategorized
January 9, 2020

Rising Insurance Premiums Inflict Pain, Require Pushback

D&O prices spike as insurers respond to a surge in claims following a Supreme Court decision. Rising insurance premiums had treasurers and assistant treasurers at a recent NeuGroup meeting using plenty of colorful language to describe the current market for coverage and the pain some carriers have caused with their initial pricing proposals. Among the tamer comments, one member said the directors and officers (D&O) market is the “ugliest in years” and that “a lot of frustration” erupted in her…
Antony Michels
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Capital AllocationCapital MarketsCash & Working Capital
January 9, 2020

The Art—Not Science—of Matching Capital Allocation to the Situation

Treasurers discuss balancing the need for liquidity with keeping cash levels moderate as business ebbs and flows. Decisions about capital allocation help treasury pave the way for the road ahead and may take on added importance for businesses generating lots of cash—as well as for those whose growth is downshifting. Treasurers at a recent NeuGroup meeting of life sciences companies shared approaches to the challenges of allocating capital during a variety of scenarios and situations. Optimal capital allocation amid uncertainty.…
Antony Michels
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Capital MarketsRisk Management
November 29, 2019

Concerns About the Transition from Libor to SOFR

(Editor’s Note–published November 29, 2019) Treasurers aren’t too happy about the fallback language for the Libor-to-SOFR switch. Members at a recent NeuGroup meeting used some colorful language in discussing the challenging issue of changing fallback language in contracts that currently use Libor, the benchmark rate that’s scheduled to disappear after 2021. The wording needs to specify what rate will replace Libor when it’s gone, what triggers the switch, and the pricing spread adjustment between Libor and the successor rate to…
Antony Michels
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Cash & Working CapitalTreasury ManagementUncategorized
May 5, 2015

On-Behalf-Of Structures: Lessons Learned

More companies are moving to streamline their payments and collections with on-behalf-of structures. Here are some lessons from the field. (Editor’s Note—Original publication date: May 5, 2015) Being a trailblazer is always nice but sometimes it pays to be the one who comes along next and learns from the trailblazer’s mistakes. And certainly, the more multifaceted the effort, the bigger the lessons learned. Such is the case with corporate payment and collections, part of the growing importance of supply-chain management…
Antony Michels
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Senior ExecutiveTreasury ManagementUncategorized
March 17, 2015

Treasury Center as Profit Center

The silver lining in the new scrutiny of global transfer pricing is that treasury might finally escape from its cost center box. (Editor’s Note—Original publication date: March 17, 2015) The context here is the mess treasury is going to face with tax, cleaning up after the OECD BEPS Actions. The silver lining is that the new scrutiny of global transfer pricing might serve as justification for treasury to become a profit center, or at least set up treasury centers and…
Antony Michels
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BankingCapital MarketsComplianceRisk Management
December 17, 2010

Checklist: What You Should Know About ISDAs

Understanding the standard document used to govern over-the-counter derivatives transactions.Based on many discussions with practitioners in NeuGroup peer groups, here is a checklist of things to consider when implementing ISDA Master Agreements (ISDAs). One of the first considerations is whether it is worth bothering to set up an ISDA with every counterparty. Only value-add banks, please. With limited trading capacity to spread around—as well as treasury bandwidth—practitioners agreed that firms should focus on the banks that are able to add…
Antony Michels
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Cash & Working Capital
June 16, 2003

Crossborder Pooling: Notional vs. ZBA

For many MNCs, an emphasis on effective management of working capital has translated into renewed urgency in rationalizing liquidity structures. (Editor’s Note—Original publication date: June 16, 2003) The tight credit market—combined with general economic weakness—has forced a strong focus on cash and liquidity management for both cash-rich and cash-poor companies. As the ability to generate cash (or borrow it) has declined, MNCs report an increased need to have a clear view of their cash position globally. Visibility, however, is not…
Antony Michels
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