Ferien in Albanien

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In Der Rubrik “From the Desk of Tomato” hat Martin im letzten newsletter seine Ferien in Albanien geschildert. Details…

Mehrere Leser Interessierten sich für die Reisefirma albanienreisen.ch.

Deren Geschichte:
Saimir Shala, vormals  Sulzer SAP-Finance-HR-Projektleiter in vielen Ländern für Training und Rollout unterwegs. Vor drei Jahren setzten er und Partnerin Aylin Bakir früher EY-Tax-Consultant  ihren Traum mit albanienreisen.ch um. Eine Chance für uns Mitteleuropäer die Kultur, Leute und Berge von rund um Albanien kennen zu lernen.

Und Martin’s Beschreibung:
Unsere Reisegruppe war klein, für eine Woche wanderten wir in Nordalbanien fünf Berge um 2.500 Meter über Meer meist im Grenzland Albanien, Montenegro, Kosovo. Im Bild Kosovo höchster Berg der Gjeravica  2.656 MüM. Unser aller Glück war, dass Albanien diesen Sommer nicht unter den Covid Risikoländern aufgeführt wurde. 

Kontaktieren Sie Martin via email or call +41 44 814 2001 für Erläuterungen.

Knowledge Toolkit: Why ESTR is going in effect?

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The Euro Short-Term Rate (ESTR) is an interest rate benchmark that reflects the overnight borrowing costs of banks within the Eurozone. The rate is calculated and published by the ECB and is published on each TARGET2 business day based on transactions conducted and settled on the previous TARGET2 business day.

The ESTR is replacing the previous Euro Overnight Index Average (EONIA) and Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR) to become the benchmark for the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

The reason for this is that EURIBOR and EONIA failed to meet the requirements set out in the EU’s new benchmark regulations, which states that all interbank rates must be based on data rather than estimates and surveys.

  • How it works: 
    The ESTR uses the transaction data from the 52 largest eurozone banks, representing the average interest rate attached to loans throughout a business day.
  • ESTR vs. LIBOR: 
    LIBOR is the average of 35 different benchmark interest rates that cover USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, and CHF, and is taken from a survey asking banks at what rate they would borrow money. The rate started to decline in use following the scandal of manipulation in 2012, increasing the necessity for a transaction-based system.
  • Good or bad gearing ratio? 
    There are basic guidelines to identify desirable and undesirable ratios: high gearing ratio (anything above 50%), low gearing ratio (anything below 25%), optimal gearing ratio (anything between 25% and 50%).
  • Pros and cons of ESTR: 
    ESTR is more transparent, based on regulated and secured data. ESTR will include a larger number of parties, leading to more accuracy in the interbank rate. Cons of ESTR: valuation risk. 
    EONIA rates were higher than ESTR, so some contracts might see a difference in the rates they are given.

See Bloomberg’s Guide to the World’s New Benchmarks After Libor…

Deutsch:
IG Bank, UK: A guide to LIBOR  IG Academy an UK  
Tomato Catch-Up News Sep-2019
Site der ECB: warum Referenzzinsätze für die Wirtschaft wichtig sind

OECD’s Guidelines for Transfer Pricing and Cash Pools

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PwC Switzerland’s David McDonald and Michalis Louca discussed on July 7 how inter-company financing transactions should be priced in the light of OECD’s new guidelines for financial transactions.

Key changes and principles

  • A new description of a transaction: an assessment of options realistically available to borrower and lender including an assessment of market/economic conditions.
  • The volume of loan must not exceed the amount that the borrower could/would have borrowed.
  • Only a small return can be justified to a lender/guarantor/treasury center.

Challenges and Actions
Groups will need a process for new transactions (assessing the key terms, the quantum of the loan, the lender, and the borrower perspective) and to perform a one-off review of existing transactions for compliance with the new requirements.

Treasury Functions – intra-group loans and cash pooling (CP)

  • Pricing loans between group companies will require credit rating analyses.
  • Interest rates should be benchmarked; bank quotes should not be used as benchmarks.
  • Most cash pools will need to amend the rationale for economic returns.
  • The rates that participants get from the pool versus local market rates should be tested.
  • Cash pool positions should be only short term.

Financial guarantees:

  • No guarantee fees payable unless there is an explicit guarantee.
  • Perform benefit assessment.
  • MNEs need to assess when a guarantee fee is/is not charged accordingly.
  • Groups may choose to change the agreements covering the guarantee, rather than changing the pricing.

PwC Slides of this Webinar July 7th 2020 
Ziehen Sie Deutsch vor?

Das HSLU in Zug offeriert am 21. und 28.10.2020, 4.11.2020 den Kurse Fachkurs Swiss Treasury Practice: Aktuelle Herausforderungen im Corporate Treasury durch.

“Der Fachkurs thematisiert aktuelle steuerliche und rechtliche Problemstellungen u.a. in den Bereichen Transfer Pricing, Cash Pooling und Accounting”

Veranstaltung und Anmeldung

Event: How do companies respond to ESG?

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By Swiss-Risk

21. September 2020
18:00 – 19:30 – Zoom Meeting
This event is free

‘In a roundtable on 21.9.2020 we will share practical examples on how companies are addressing ESG and sustainability projects. We will further dive into the role and impact of risk management – featuring 4 distinct speakers from UBS, Credit Suisse, Novartis and Refinitiv.”

New Team Member

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Ana Păstrăvanu has taken over for the English part of Tomato Catch-up, our monthly newsletter, our website tomato.ch and client communication.

 Ana works from Iași, Romania, the city known to be the second-fastest-growing tech hub in Europe. She has over 3 years of experience in producing content for companies involved in the financial sector.

Check her remarkable background and experience on our team page.