St-Onge’s in-depth understanding of treasury processes coupled with her experience working for a treasury technology provider enables her to understand how technology is applied to solve business problems. An expert in the increasingly important area of SWIFT reporting and payment formats, St-Onge provides clients with advice on domestic and international cash management and treasury technology implementation. She expanded Treasury Strategy’s reach to incorporate work with vendors and large corporations. Previously, she was a consultant with Selkirk Financial Technologies.

"Rising Stars in Rocky Times, 40 Hot Execs Under 40" Treasury & Risk, October 2008


“It seems if you’re a money fund manager, you’re just guilty by association,” said Cathy Gregg, partner at Treasury Strategies. “Even if the assets you’re holding are of quality, it doesn’t appear that investors care.”

"Nowhere to hide: Money funds not such a safe harbor," Financial Week, September 21, 2008.


“Clearly investors are panicking,” said Cathy Gregg, partner at Treasury Strategies, a consulting firm. “If there was a holding in the fund that was going to severely impair performance, it would make sense.”

"Quiet world of money-market funds turned upside down ," Financial Week, September 18, 2008.


According to Tony Carfang, co-founder of Treasury Strategies, just having some of the supply taken out is a good sign for the market. “What you have is a smaller problem, and more liquidity.” he said. “Overall, that's bullish. It increases the likelihood that some of these auctions may begin clearing.”

"ARS deals snub corporate buyers," Financial Week, August 25, 2008.


“I won’t say it’s never done,” said Michael Gallanis, a partner at Treasury Strategies. “You do see it on occasion, but the more common structure is that they aren’t part of the same department.”

"Chrysler’s merging of tech, treasury highlights woes," Financial Week, August 11, 2008.


Goddard’s comments are supported by the data. Chrystal Pozin, a principal at consultancy Treasury Strategies Inc., reports that since 2007, institutional management funds have surged 45% to $9.1 trillion, with much of that growth in money market funds, which have doubled to $420 billion. It has, she reports, been the biggest corporate swing to safety since late 2001, following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Pozin says she recently hosted a panel where one treasurer confirmed that his firm is spreading its cash around, but because there are such low limits on how much can be put in any single institution, they’re running out of places to park the money. Even bank deposits are being limited by treasuries because of concerns about the risks at the banks themselves, she reports.

"Corporate Investment: A Real Flight to Safety," Treasury & Risk, August 1, 2008.


There is no resolution in sight in many cases, said Michael Gallanis, partner at Treasury Strategies, which is working with many companies which parked their cash in auction rate securities and are now left with illiquid assets.

"Discounts on Offer Leave Disappointed Investors hanging on," Michael Mackenzie and Aline van Duyn, Financial Times, June 4, 2008.

"A lot of people are coming to the realization that there's no light at the end of the tunnel for these." – Cathryn Gregg

"Action-rate Securities: Out of Luck," Aaron Pressman, BusinessWeek, May 27, 2008.


Companies owned $98 billion of the securities on Jan. 1, according to a survey by Treasury Strategies Inc., a Chicago- based firm that advises treasurers on managing their cash. Treasurers bought the bonds instead of money-market funds and U.S. government bills, expecting to earn about 0.25 percentage point in additional yield, the Association for Financial Professionals said in a report last year.

"Auction-Rate Losses Cost Google, UPS $1.8 Billion (Update1)," Michael McDonald and Jeremy R. Cooke, Bloomberg, May 19, 2008.


"These platforms require s lot of care and feeding," he said. "But it doesn't help you complete. It doesn't help you serve your customers better."

"Wells-Bank of America Venture a New Model for ACH," American Banker, May 16, 2008.


"Long-term change is that corporations are moving from handling cash in-house to hiring outside managers," he says, noting the attitude has favored not only money-market funds but bank sweep accounts, which move money in and out of corporate checking accounts in order to keep as much as possible earning attractive yields.

"If they do it properly" - that is manage cash - "it is somewhat costly to do internally," says Carfang.

"Institutional Money Funds See Big Flows, Ian Salisbury, Dow Jones Newswire, April 29, 2008.


"Long-term change is that corporations are moving from handling cash in-house to hiring outside managers," says Anthony Carfang, a partner at Chicago consultancy Treasury Strategies. Noting the attitude has favored not only money-market funds but bank sweep accounts, which move money in and out of corporate checking accounts in order to keep as much as possible earning attractive yields.

"It's a Long, Cold, Cashless Siege," Gretchen Morgenson, New York Times, April 13, 2008.


In the long run it's an outstanding idea, Anthony Carfang, of Treasury Strategies, a consultancy, says of the potential for secondary markets. "But in the short run I don't think large swaths of corporate America are going to want to revalue the entire $300 billion auction-rate securities market based on a secondary market." Carfang says that the fundamental problem with the current market situation is that the wrong types of investors are holding these securities. "These same securities buried in a pension plan or bond fund or insurance company portfolio would be great," he says. The key is to get them into the correct hands so that demand ensues and the market revives itself.

"Buyers Be Where?," Alan Rappeport, CFO,
April 1, 2008.


Anthony J. Carfang, a co-founder of Treasury Strategies, attributes much of the drop to a decline in commercial paper issuance. Many companies issue commercial paper not just to finance operations but to bolster the cash on their balance sheet. “As companies have tightened up, they’re shrinking balance sheets just a little bit by borrowing less,” Mr. Carfang said. “A lot of companies had been directly issuing commercial paper because it was easy to do, and keeping a little cash cushion as a result.” As a result of rising credit costs, said Treasury Strategies partner Dave Robertson, companies have been forced to use excess cash to pay down debt. And the cost increase isn’t limited to commercial paper, he added, noting that issuing debt via the private placement market has also become “significantly more expensive.”

"Corporate Liquidity begins to dry up," Megan Johnston, Financial Week, March 28, 2008.


"This is a sea change. Beneath the surface, there are much deeper changes in the marketplace," said David Robertson, a partner with Treasury Strategies. "We uncovered a massive rebalancing of corporate treasury portfolios. In all, over $1 trillion has been re-allocated by corporate treasurers." Anthony Carfang, another Treasury Strategies partner, said that as a result of the recent market turmoil, corporate treasurers are taking a closer look at securities in their portfolios as well as their investment policies and practices.

"Many are no longer managing their short-term portfolios themselves. Rather, they are utilizing a mix of bank products and money funds," Carfang said.

"U.S. Corporate Liquidity Down 1st time in 10 years," Gertude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Reuters, March 18, 2008.


“That tells us there were some smart treasurers who had their ear to the ground and pulled out before the problems became widespread,” said Anthony J. Carfang, a co-founder and partner at Treasury Strategies. “But from our standpoint, those who stayed in must’ve been missing some signals, because many of their counterparts got out.”

"ARS mess: Few corporate investors escape damage, study finds," Megan Johnston, Financial Week, March 10, 2008.


“If you are managing portfolios internally, you do your own credit analysis; you don’t rely blindly on the ratings agency,” said Anthony J. Carfang, co-founder and partner at consultancy Treasury Strategies.

"Bristol-Myers squibbed by auction-rate bonds," Megan Johnston, Financial Week, February 11, 2008.


Bristol-Myer’s biggest sin apparently: relying on Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s triple AAA ratings, says Tony Carfang, a partner at Treasury Strategies inc. “If a company decides to manage a portfolio on its own, it better do the research itself,” he warns.

There were other missteps. Treasuries that opt to be profit centers also better diversify their portfolios and buy securities from multiple dealers that can give you different views of the market, says Carfang. Better yet, he recommends avoid ARS-type investments, which can be illiquid if auctions fail for lack of bidders. “These instruments are structured with maturities ranging from 10 to 30 years with no put-back to the investor,” he says. “Thus, the structure of the security does not provide for liquidity for terms less than the original maturity.”

For now, consultants reckon, boards and treasurers will take a more conservative stance. “Treasurers don’t get high-fives if they do a few basis points better, but they can get fired if they lose money,” says the banker. They will likely make use of the time to evaluate how best to invest idle cash, possibly reinvesting it in the company, repurchasing shares or providing dividends.

Investment banks that issue or sell ARS products, not surprisingly, take issue with Carfang’s blanket dismissal of these securities. “On balance, as long as companies account for this properly, they usually do come out ahead," says Peter Jankovskis, chief investment officer of Oakbrook Investments LLC. “Even if they look foolish in the short-run, by writing off losses on continuing investments, they can hold the securities until they pay off.”

"The Corporate Treasury -- From Cost Center to Profit Center," Treasury & Risk, February 5, 2008.


“Some of the wiser money managers are riding the downward slide that is resulting from the Fed move in interest rates,” said Mike Gallanis, partner at consulting firm Treasury Strategies. “That lagging effect of the [money-market] funds makes them attractive.”

"Money Funds Still Hot in '08," Megan Johnston, Financial Week, February 4, 2008.


Dave Robertson, a partner at Treasury Strategies, which consults with both banks and corporations, said some RAROC models incorporate the Moody's KMV concept of inferring a company's credit risk from its stock market performance.

"Bank Models put credit in doubt,"Megan Johnston, Financial Week, February 4, 2008.


"Many of the securities that the corporate treasurers thought were perfectly safe in fact are not,'' said Anthony J. Carfang, a partner at Treasury Strategies, a Chicago-based financial consultant. ``No one knows where the bad paper is.''

"Bristol-Meyers, Ciena Losses Show Subprime Infection (Update 2)," Carlton Harrison & Dina Bass, February 1, 2008.

Contact Carlton Harrison or Dina Bass for more information.


In her excellent article “Treasury: The Last Frontier of Automation“, Elizabeth St-Onge of Treasury Strategies explores why treasury technology adoption rates remain low, despite the need for thinly staffed treasuries to optimize the way they handle their ever increasing case loads.

"Treasury system benefits or just another big footprint in the snow?" Rob Price, TreasuryBytes, January 27, 2008.


Total U.S. corporate liquidity now exceeds $5.6 trillion, according results of Treasury Strategies' 2007 Corporate Liquidity Research Program. That continues a growth trend that has seen the total liquidity number rise by nearly $2 trillion since 2000, including another 3 percent increase from 2006 to 2007. With all that cash to invest, liquidity managers are understandably concerned due to the recent turmoil in the financial markets. – Chrystal Pozin

"Finl Exec: A Cure for Liquidity Managers' Subprime Insomnia?," Financial Executive International, January 1, 2008.


Corporates, he agrees with Well Fargo's Young, often deal with multiple banks and a combination of in-house and bank-offered solutions to move money, invest, pay bills and get data into their general ledger. – Dave Robertson

"New Prospects for Corporate Customers," Lauren Bielski, ABA Banking Journal, January, 2008.


“It’s a major rearrangement of the furniture,” says Anthony J. Carfang, founding partner of Treasury Strategies Inc., based in Chicago. “The major players clearly are rethinking their strategies and repositioning themselves for what they expect to be future opportunities.”

"Treasurers Turn the Tables on Banks," Treasury & Risk, September 1, 2007.