While the massive roll-out of vaccines against Covid is raising hopes that the ongoing global health crisis will soon be resolved, there’s still considerable uncertainty about the long-term consequences of the pandemic on the economy. CFOs and treasurers will need to be resilient and act with rigour, innovation and boldness to seize the opportunities to be found in 2021.
Below we list what we expect to be among the key topics on treasurers’ minds in 2021.
1 – LIBOR Transition: still unclear…
Hedge accounting, existing bonds passing the deadline, bank renegotiation strategies. What should treasurers do?
2 – Digital Transformation: changing with revenge!
Cybersecurity threats, online payment fraud, faster payment / SCT, cash pooling becoming outdated?
3 – Brexit: finally done, but…
Impact on bank pricing / appetite unclear, the impact on supply chains still underestimated, lower economic activity. Credit rating impact?
4 – Rating Pressure: worse still to come
Lower EBITDA / liquidity, higher debt… and banks to really re-rate their clients from Q2 21. IFRS16 still not fully digested. Cash at negative rates. What is your funding strategy? How can you cut costs even more?
5 – ESG Forever – but don’t forget the S and G!
Market appetite getting stronger, finally with pricing benefits. But it’s not all about being green…