Companies seek real-time liquidity management to avert cash-flow crisis

There is increased corporate demand for liquidity and risk coverage, says HSBC.

- 

More companies want to be able to manage their cash in real time in the face of a global trade war that could snarl financial planning, disrupt supply chains, and drive up operational costs, according to analysts.

At the top of corporate clients' concerns these days is real-time cash and liquidity management, Patrick Zhu, managing director and regional head of corporate sales for the Asia-Pacific region at HSBC Holdings Plc's Global Payments Solutions, told Asian Banking and Finance.

"The faster you can act in response, the more you can mitigate evolving external policy changes," he said. Some companies also want to graduate from being just exporters by expanding overseas, he added.

"They are starting to think that maybe they should have an overseas packaging centre, or a centre that can process the final assembly work," Zhu said. "For them, it's very high risk-venturing and setting up operations, incorporating as a local firm, even hiring local staff."

Some companies also want to graduate from being just exporters by expanding overseas, he added.