As Covid-19 continues to rattle global markets and disrupt corporate supply chains, treasury functions have been thrust into the spotlight, according to a new poll from Bloomberg and Greenwich Associates. In a recent joint webcast focusing on the results of an earlier Greenwich Associates risk management survey, the organizations asked attendees about the new demands on their corporate treasury teams as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
One-third of poll respondents said they have been tasked with securing funding to help get their organization through the crisis. Thirty-eight percent said they are having more frequent conversations with their lenders. And 44 percent are more carefully monitoring customers' and suppliers' credit and financing situation. (See Figure 1, below.)
"Our poll revealed [that] the most important risk focus for treasurers is the credit position of their supply chain and customers," says Kenneth Monahan, a senior analyst at Greenwich Associates. "This even rated above improving relationships with their own creditors. This is interesting because the most observable phenomenon has been the rush to funding. The scrutiny of the supply chain and the customers goes on behind the scenes—but is a top priority nonetheless."
Adds David Tamburelli, Bloomberg's head of workflow specialists in North America: "The pandemic is making the role of corporate treasurers more important than ever before. Treasurers are at the center of the crisis, being asked to play a more strategic role to ensure adequate funding and to protect the firm from risk."
See also:
- On-demand webcast: Global Pandemic: A Force for Change in Treasury
- Treasury Refocuses on Risk
- Treasury in the Time of Coronavirus
