The questions
1. World economic growth remains slow. Has your company taken particular financial measures as a precaution against a prolonged downturn? What are they?
2. Most corporates finance themselves with a combination of loans, bonds and commercial paper. How do you decide on the mix that’s right for your company?
3. Many banks use credit derivatives to transfer their lending risk. How do you feel about banks doing this with your loans?
4. Corporate treasurers are being encouraged to place spare cash in money market funds rather than bank deposits. What is your view of this trend?
5. Has the overall service you get from banks improved, got worse or stayed the same over the past 12 months? What kind of further service improvements would you like to see?
1. The company is reconsidering its investment concepts and launching only the most important ones, postponing projects and decision making. It is seeking cost reduction in every field of the economy to compensate for the price-cutting effect of the unfavourable market trends.
2. BorsodChem does not care about involving bonds and other securities. It uses loans and it is a favourable investment target for the banks. These sources are also cheaper than other facilities.
3. We cannot and do not want to prevent it. It is natural that banks do not include the company in these decisions; it is an internal matter.
4. In the longer term (more than one year) this trend can be reasonable in the hope of more profit but in the short term such decisions can carry risks. The major question is whether there is available redundant money in the long term or not.
5. The level of bank services has not changed in the past year, which means that they are still at a comfortable level and of high quality for high-priority customers.