What’s Expected of Treasury in Responding to Covid-19
New poll suggests large proportions of treasurers are more carefully managing counterparties’ credit risk and lender relationships as a result of the 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.”