Category

Banking

BankingDiversity & Inclusion
March 30, 2021

Beyond Deposits: An FDIC Fund Aims to Boost Equity Capital at MDIs, CDFIs

Mission-Driven Bank Fund will offer corporates a way to infuse equity capital in banks serving minority communities. Corporations looking to make impactful investments in minority communities, but not through bank deposits, may want to consider a new partner: the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)—the federal agency that insures deposits. Representatives from the FDIC and a large asset manager that is acting in an advisory role described what’s being called the Mission-Driven Bank Fund (MDBF) at a recent meeting of NeuGroup’s…
Justin Jones
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BankingTechnology
March 25, 2021

A Push in the Right Direction to Simplify Bank Fee Analysis

As bank fee statements slowly standardize, corporates and banks can work together to make the analysis process simpler.Analyzing bank fees to uncover outliers remains a thorn in the side of treasury teams—in no small part because the banks code their fees and transmit the files to corporates in many different ways. And while standardization is improving, companies should keep the pressure on banks to bring more clarity to the opaque world of bank fees. That was among the takeaways at…
Justin Jones
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BankingRisk ManagementTechnology
March 25, 2021

A Goldman Risk Management Tool Flying Under the Radar

FX risk managers talk up a Goldman Sachs solution called Capital Markets Atlas to measure value at risk.To no one’s surprise, a recent meeting of NeuGroup FX risk managers included plenty of talk about well-known vendors of exposure identification solutions like FireApps and AtlasFX, FX trading platforms including FxAll and 360T, and a variety of ERPs and TMSs. But not everyone in the large virtual room had heard of a self-service tool from Goldman Sachs that some members are using…
Justin Jones
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BankingFXRisk Management
March 23, 2021

A Risk Manager Leveraging Flexibility to Benefit from Volatility

FX meeting sponsor Standard Chartered: Hedge policy flexibility may decide if volatility is treasury’s friend or foe.Volatility in foreign exchange, commodity and other markets sparked by the pandemic presented risk managers with challenges to their hedging programs. And while some corporates ended up with financial pain, others turned the volatility to their advantage. At a recent meeting of NeuGroup for Foreign Exchange sponsored by Standard Chartered, a representative of the bank used the positive experience of one member to underscore…
Justin Jones
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BankingCash & Working CapitalTalking Shop
March 18, 2021

Talking Shop: Do You Have One Banking Partner for AR and AP?

Member question: “In the US, do you have one banking partner for AR and AP, or do you split the business, with one bank for AR and a separate bank for AP? “For those that split the business, is this a share of wallet decision or an operational decision? Are there any operational pain points associated with having two banking partners?” Peer survey results: The majority of survey respondents use a single bank, with about one-third splitting the business. Peer…
Justin Jones
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BankingCapital MarketsSenior Executive
March 16, 2021

No Sale: Convertibles at Great Prices Fail to Impress IG Corporates

Companies rated investment grade expressed reluctance to issue convertible bonds, despite favorable conditions. It can be a nonstarter to raise the topic of convertible bonds with treasurers at investment-grade companies that can already issue debt with very low interest rates and don’t want their stock diluted when investors convert bonds to equity. But many NeuGroup members whose companies have high credit ratings, including some at a recent meeting of NeuGroup for Capital Markets, say all their banks have pitched convertibles.…
Justin Jones
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BankingESG
March 9, 2021

Green Discount: Treasury Wins With a Sustainability-Linked Revolver

After a corporate successfully launched a sustainability-linked revolver, the treasurer’s phone started ringing.When it came time for one NeuGroup member to renew an existing five-year revolver, he saw an opportunity to improve pricing and generate positive PR by leveraging the ESG goals that the company had recently put in place. The member’s company worked with BNP Paribas and Unicredit to structure a multibillion-dollar sustainability-linked revolver, the first one in its industry sector.“I’ve received a lot of calls from other treasurers…
Justin Jones
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BankingCapital AllocationCapital Markets
March 2, 2021

A Third Path for Stock Buybacks: Enhanced Open Market Repurchases

Some NeuGroup members have turned to eOMRs to get the flexibility of OMRs and pricing below VWAP, like ASRs.Many NeuGroup members across groups at recent meetings agreed they have enough excess liquidity and trust in market stability to restart share repurchases; but there has been a range of views about how much emphasis to place on the price per share a corporate pays for its own stock. Where companies fall on the spectrum of answers may determine if they opt…
Justin Jones
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BankingDiversity & InclusionInvestment Management
February 25, 2021

Treasury’s Key Role in ServiceNow’s Commitment to Racial Equity

ServiceNow has turned to RBC to create a $100 million fund to support Black homebuyers and communities.ServiceNow in late January unveiled a $100 million “racial equity fund”—in the form of a separately managed account— that will be managed by RBC Global Asset Management’s impact investing team. In mid-February, during Black History Month, ServiceNow senior treasury director Tim Muindi, who played a leading role in the process, described the project to other NeuGroup members who work at high-growth tech firms. ServiceNow…
Justin Jones
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BankingESGTalking Shop
February 18, 2021

Talking Shop: Handling Grant and Expense Payments for a Foundation

Member question: “How is your company handling grant and expense payments for its foundation? Is this handled leveraging existing company processes, tools and teams or outsourced to service providers, such as Foundation Source, etc.? “We’ve outgrown the manual check process and need to scale up here and are curious to learn how you manage this.” Peer answer 1: “Our foundation accounts are with our concentration bank and managed by specific individuals in our corporate team. “We have raised the question…
Justin Jones
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