As this issue of The Treasurer reaches you, Andrea Leadsom and Theresa May are the only remaining contenders for leadership of the UK Conservative party and British Prime Minister – the outcome of which won’t ultimately be decided until 9 September. For the purposes of this leadership race, Stephen Crabb, Liam Fox and Michael Gove have become yesterday’s men. Meanwhile, prominent figures from all political parties in the UK, and both sides of the debate around Brexit, have proved only too eager to flee the stage. The Parliamentary Labour Party lost more than 20 members of the shadow cabinet in a week, while prominent Leave campaigners Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage both made waves with their shock withdrawals – the former from the Tory party leadership race and the latter as leader of UKIP. If only businesses and corporate treasurers were in a position to leave the podium and put decision-making on hold over the summer recess. But plans, responses and ‘what ifs’ need to be addressed. Boards will need their treasurers’ perspective more than ever. The ability to plan and provide an assessment on internal and external resources needed to weather the uncertainty in the short and medium term will be of primary importance, as will communicating the level of exposure implied in different courses of action, as Sarah Boyce, the ACT’s policy and technical team’s associate director, describes on page 19. Happily, executive boards are paying more and more attention to the positions and opinions that treasurers can deliver, as Sally Percy finds in her feature on page 24. Treasurers’ perspectives on business strategy and risk management are now a key feature in boardroom discussions. And with so little in the way of firm ground on the political and economic fronts, we should expect treasurers’ assessments of current volatility to be much sought after. In or out of the EU, corporates need a secure understanding of privacy and data-protection laws and how they differ from one territory to the next. Detlev Gabel and Tim Hickman set the scene on legal requirements, on page 34. And on page 32, we look at how Chinese regulators and other market players can help open up the Panda bond market. I hope you enjoy the issue.
