Cash & Liquidity Management
Published  6 MIN READ
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Discovery and Rediscovery: Familiar Solutions for New Challenges

The global financial crisis has had many implications for treasurers and finance managers, but one of the most frequent things we have observed amongst our clients is the return of a ‘back to basics’ approach. In particular, treasurers have been focused on capital preservation, managing their core financial risks, and ensuring sufficient access to liquidity. In this environment, one of the issues that Lloyds Banking Group has been focused on with our clients is how we can help treasurers and finance managers, who may not have been frequent users of trade instruments, to make the best use of them to support and develop their business. A crucial enabler of this is a long-standing relationship-based approach to trade business focusing on the specific needs of the customer.

One of the most frequent things we have observed amongst our clients is the return of a ‘back to basics’ approach.

In the past, borrowing was cheap and plentiful, so working capital and capital protection were relatively minor issues. Since credit became more constrained and costly, treasurers have been seeking alternative sources of financing as opposed to relying on bank facilities for short-term working capital funding. Furthermore, with counterparty risk now taking its place at the top of treasurers’ risk management agenda, financing solutions need to satisfy both working capital and counterparty risk objectives.