Entering 2020, corporate treasury professionals were worried. When we published the Treasury & Risk "2019 Cash Management Survey" last November, it seemed that "uncertainty in the global economy [was] causing businesses to entrench and build their cash reserves to weather any financial downturn," according to Hung Nguyen, director of sales North America for BELLIN.
Indeed, that's what the data showed. Over the course of 2019, cash reserves had grown in 42 percent of organizations, and had grown by more than 10 percent in 2 out of 10 companies. Meanwhile, cash holdings had decreased in only 22 percent of organizations. Stockpiling cash seemed to be a priority for many businesses late last year.
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Then, when asked which single factor they expected to have the most impact on cash reserves over the upcoming year, respondents selected "uncertainty in global business climate" as their third-most-prevalent choice. Among the 5 percent who selected "Other," several wrote in answers such as "anticipation of a recession in the next year" and "potential for a recession." Little did they know what 2020 would entail!
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Meg Waters
Meg Waters is the editor in chief of Treasury & Risk. She is the former editor in chief of BPM Magazine and the former managing editor of Business Finance.
