NeuGroup

Another successful meeting this week of the NeuGroup for Internal Audit Executives!

Check out NeuGroup's latest report, "Navigating Captial Structure." The findings are based on our benchmarking survey of Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers in 130 Mega and Large-cap companies. In the report you'll find insights on topics including: - Liquidity: Over half of firms (53%) report cash balances exceeding their 2024 targets, with actual-to-target cash ratios above 1.25x. - Debt Strategy: 70% of respondents prioritize financial flexibility in their debt and rating targets to fund growth opportunities and navigate crises. - Returning Capital to Shareholders: A significant 85% of participants plan to return capital through dividends or share buybacks. While dividend payers emphasize consistency, share repurchases offer firms more flexibility. Industry-specific insights are also available exclusively for NeuGroup members. Dive into the full report to get all the insights! #Treasury #CapitalStructure #Liquidity #DebtManagement

Payments made via paper check remain a prominent thorn in the side of many NeuGroup member companies. At our first-ever Working Capital Symposium earlier this month, Suneel Chirunomula from Viewpost highlighted the unique challenge of transitioning smaller, "long-tail" suppliers from checks to digital payments, and how Viewpost can help. Read more in #NeuGroupInsights:

NeuGroup’s Regional Bank Treasurer group gathered last week in Birmingham, AL at the Renaissance Hotels Ross Bridge Resort to discuss key industry issues including: - Sector investor sentiment and market valuation - Reassessing liquidity risks and buffers - Changing deposit trends and channels - Enhancing interest rate risk management - Crossing regulatory thresholds - The recovering capital issuance marketplace - Capital relief trade (CRT) toolkit to manage RWA - Increasing the effectiveness of ERM Thanks to the team at Stifel Financial Corp. including Kamal Hosein, Ryan Henley, Michael Larkin and Christine Barraco for sponsoring the conference and sourcing relevant content from Stifel colleagues including Joe Gulash and Dennis O’Rourke. Additional thanks to the Stifel team are also in order for hosting a day of tailgating and University of Alabama football in Tuscaloosa. We also wish to thank Jed Miller (Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP) and Jennifer Burke (Crowe) for leading the CRT and ERM discussions. Our members also rose to the challenge of moderating many of our sessions. Session leaders included Matt Tyler (Zions Bancorporation), John Radwanski (Western Alliance Bank), John Tull (Atlantic Union Bank), Will Lankford (Origin Bank), Dane Smith, CFA (First Horizon Bank), Ria Sugay (Trustmark Bank), Branko Djapic (Webster Bank), Brian Gilbert, CFA (Pinnacle Financial Partners) and Darren Herrmann (UMB Bank). The NeuGroup team including onsite colleagues Alex Kountourzis and Justin Jones as well as Brandon Nitti and Alyssa McArdle, CMP nailed event planning and execution without which the conference would not have been possible. Finally, thanks to Joseph Neu for his leadership and support of this group. We are already looking forward to our next meeting in the spring. RTR

In the mood for a great, positive session as we prepare to celebrate Veteran's Day and the Marine Corps' birthday in a few weeks? Hit the below address to learn more about our upcoming session on Nov 14th with Melissa Hiler Fay (Drexel Hamilton), Al Kirton (CAVU Securities, LLC), Ed D'Alessandro (Roberts & Ryan), and their special guests Jeff McPhee (Analog Devices) and Amanda Schimmel (Blue Owl Capital). https://lnkd.in/egfNpKfP Joseph Neu NeuGroup

I had a great time speaking about treasury technology with Dan Degagne and Shayly Nguyen, two members of the treasury team at Bechtel Corporation, on a tech-focused episode of the Strategic Finance Lab podcast. The conversation brought back the days of engineering classes I took in college, and the late nights up fixing buggy code (but I'm pretty sure their projects are a bit more advanced than the ones I was working on). Give it a listen for a glimpse into how finance teams may strike gold by hiring employees with more expertise in technology than finance, and how AI may—or may not—be changing the game.

Next month, heads of treasury technology and teams supporting technology efforts in finance will gather at NeuGroup for Technology Advancement's in-person meeting in San Francisco. They'll dive into AI use cases, cutting-edge process automation and the intricacies of digital asset regulations. The meeting, sponsored by Taxbit, will feature a member-led benchmarking session on AI applications, a sponsor-led presentation on the evolving regulatory landscape for digital assets, and more. Register now: https://lnkd.in/e5A2_6wQ

A recent NeuGroup Insights article dives into what members will be paying for Bloomberg Terminal subscriptions beginning in 2025 following a 6.5% increase. One member says the price hike "is annoying, but not crazy given where interest rates and inflation are. They’re the only game in town really, so we’re lucky they don’t raise by more!” Read the full story now:

Next month, our group for pensions and benefits will convene to tackle critical issues in financial well-being and global pension management in a meeting sponsored by Insight Investment, hosted by BNY at the MetLife building in New York City. Members will explore strategies for integrating retirement planning with employee benefits, address global retirement plan challenges amid diverse regulations and share insights on the RFP process for OCIO partnerships. Register now: https://lnkd.in/gFPtjwym

Thank you to everyone who was able to join the second half meeting for NeuGroup’s Large- and Mid-Cap Treasurers peer groups sponsored by DWS. Members enjoyed stunning views from the Deutsche Bank Center and a beautiful walk in Central Park. Highlights from the day’s agenda included: - A discussion about duration considerations for corporate cash given the current rate environment led by DWS’s Geoffrey Gibbs and Jeff Morton - A roundtable led by Joseph Bertran in which members shared about key drivers and strategies for returning capital to shareholders with key insights from NeuGroup’s 2024 Capital Structure Survey - A panel discussion on career development including two members of NeuGroup for High Potentials, Michael Korman and Chad Kupec, moderated by Kyle Bockus - Presidential and congressional elections update from the inimitable Francis (Frank) Kelly where he shared key insights on different scenarios and pointed to key policy issues that could have an effect on member companies - A detailed discussion on the merits and challenges of establishing captive insurance companies led by Ed Koral at WTW A special thank you to the DWS Group team for their partnership on this meeting. Their team of Kevin Sheehan, Brock V. Dutcher, Mark Martello, Taylor Anderson, CFA, CAIA, Anna Gordon, Rosemary Quelle, Sonelius Kendrick-Smith and Joey Zabbia went above and beyond to make the event impactful. And thanks to the rest of the team who helped make this meeting happen: Scott Flieger, Andrew Weber, Kyle Bockus, Alyssa McArdle, CMP and Greg Manko.