1 min readCFOs, treasurers, analysts, and other financial management decision-makers have made in-roads in mitigating risk by increasing restrictions on which banks can hold their uninsured deposits and updating their investment policies frequently. But despite progress in both understanding and managing counterparty risk, many organizations still do not appear to have formal counterparty risk exposure policies or…
1 min readMoney market funds and bank deposits have been traditional sources of liquidity for corporations. However, the unlimited FDIC guarantee on non-interest bearing deposits expired more than a year ago and money market funds have come under scrutiny from both investors and regulators. With the SEC scheduled to announce its final regulatory changes this year, which…
1 min readAbstract Separate accounts may offer greater return and reduced credit risk compared to prime money market funds. By examining current and future liquidity needs and the potential for significant deviations from cash flow projections, corporate treasurers may construct portfolios with direct investments in high-quality credits that satisfy current, future and emergency liquidity needs – and…
1 min readAs 2013 closes and we pen our annual “Three Challenges in the Coming Year” research paper, I thought that a self-evaluation of our previous year’s views would make for an interesting exercise. Last year at this time, we cited acceleration in money fund reform, scarcity of eligible investments and the low rate environment as the…
2 min readAbstract We elaborate on three key challenges for corporate cash investors in 2014: the emergence of new financial regulations, anticipation of a steeper yield curve, and proliferation of innovative products. As a number of financial regulations reach the stage of implementation, short-duration investors will start to feel the impact of regulatory initiatives. Even though higher…
2 min readSummary Opinion Institutional Shareholder Perspective: We commend the Commission for tackling the tremendous task of analyzing mountains of data before putting forth the reform alternatives for public comment. We seek to weigh in on the subject from the perspective of an institutional asset manager. Penny Rounding for Shareholder Activities: We support the mandatory daily disclosure…
1 min readSurvey goal To shed light on treasury departments’ efforts to mitigate liquidity risk in short-term cash investment, debt and forecasting practices. Summary of 2013 Survey Treasurer’s Mindset: “Surpising Complacency with Bank Exposures” Context: FDIC insurance dropped from Unlimited t0 $250,000 Dodd-Frank Bank deterioration continues Select Highlights: Debt: Continued increase in staggering facilitites Fewer loan covenants…
2 min readCapturing and evaluating risk is a growing mantra for treasurers, not only for cash investments, but across the enterprise, as well. These investors, along with regulators, have demanded more timely investment disclosures to help support their investment allocations. No investment class has made more progress on this front than money market funds, which have moved…
2 min readExecutive Summary We believe that mandatory disclosure of daily market value NAVs will be a significant step toward better risk transparency in money market funds. It is functionally equivalent to the FSOC/SEC’s floating NAV proposal without the unnecessary operational, accounting and tax complexities. When applied along with objective liquidity gates and/or reasonable NAV buffers, the…
2 min readEach year at this time we look ahead and identify challenges that we believe will define the landscape treasurers will face in the New Year. Not unlike the GPS tools that can identify traffic, weather and detours that may be encountered en route to one’s destination, our goal is to survey the road ahead to…