As some of you will know, I used to work in Germany for RWE AG. In Essen, to be precise, a large industrial (post-industrial?) city close to Düsseldorf in the Ruhr region (the Ruhrgebiet) of North western Germany.
It’s why I enjoyed returning to Düsseldorf recently for the second ACT Europe conference on 5 March, run in conjunction with our friends at the VDT, GEFIU and IAFEI. This gave me the chance not only to visit one or two old haunts in the city but also to see and spend time with some old – and new – friends in the northern European treasury community. It always puzzles me why more people don’t see Germany as a holiday destination – wonderful culture, world class beer, fantastic food and actually (especially for us currency surfing Brits) surprisingly good value for money!
Anyway, our themes at the conference this year were all about regulation (unsurprisingly), technology, risk and strategic treasury. No prizes for working out that treasurers across the whole of Europe are not just disappointed in being part of the financial regulatory blizzard but more annoyed still that regulators haven’t explained sufficiently well what they are doing, how they are doing it and why they can’t agree with, particularly, regulators in the US on derivatives, to take one example. The creeping – or rushing – impact of regulation on cash investment (can’t use depos, don’t really trust Repos, might have MMFs taken away de facto) is equally grabbing everyone’s attention and I sense a certain frustration with it all. Surely treasurers have more important things to do that second guess regulatory outcomes?
What’s reassuring though is how well treasurers across Europe are bringing together operational ‘have-to-do’ with strategic financial and business management. For example, German (and Dutch) corporates are consistent winners in the various categories of Deals of the Year and it’s not hard to see why! Everyone knows what their goals are, where their businesses are going and how we as treasurers can help to deliver that expectation whether in the context of political and economic uncertainty or the environment of a financial services system facing challenges both inside and outside that it hasn't seen before.
And Germany and the Eurozone? Well, if you believe the German ‘red-top’ press it’s only them leading the economic and political way (perhaps with a little help from us Brits and the French) but everyone else is slacking! As in life as in football!
