As companies dealing in cash management come under greater scrutiny from the new IAS 39 accounting standard, the fundamental issue for them will be fair valuation of their assets, and whether to put them on balance sheet, writes Jules Stewart.

With its voracious appetite for raw materials and a shift in focus towards high value goods production, China is emerging as a trade giant. Bruce Alter, Aster Saleh and Zeno Chow examine how banks can participate in the country’s phenomenal growth by facilitating import-export flows.

As corporate treasuries face an increasingly competitive global market place, outsourcing some of their functions is becoming a hot topic, writes Jules Stewart.

In Deutsche Bank’s latest article on cash management consolidation, Bernd Friederichs and Paul Camp look at how relationships between banks are evolving into strategic service partnerships and the key questions regional banks should ask to leverage a buyer’s market.

Competition has been heating up among major cash management providers as they scramble to win mandates from both corporations and financial institutions,writes Jules Stewart.

Cutting costs, optimising returns and adding value enterprise-wide are just some of the challenges facing corporate treasurers, writes Naveed Sultan of Citigroup Global Transaction Services.

As the burden of regulation increases, companies are centralising cash management. Jules Stewart examines how new realities are impacting on the relationship between global and local functions.

The link between hedge funds and banks seems obvious, yet if the banks want to make the most of this relationship, they must start offering the kinds of services that the hedge funds are asking for, says Mark Pelham

The extent of automation in FX trading systems has meant that a major market shock would lead to a slow-down in trade rather than meltdown. But it has also increased market volatility. William Essex weighs up the pros and cons.

Multinationals are more likely than ever to outsource their treasury operations to banks because of the growing regulation, cost and complexity of treasury management. Michael Imeson reports.