Ben je zet er even tussendoor ik zet het iets uitgebreider neer, omdat veel mensen ons niet lezen en laat staan dan nog doorlinken. Doomen heb ik een hekel aan, maar sign of times kan je niet negeren. Ergens word ik er eerlijk gezegd wat verdrietig van, omdat het beter moet kunnen. Shell wil wat uit die Euro en ik had mogelijk ook al eerder in Noorse fondsen ofzo moeten gaan.
Financing & Liquidity 06.08.12 14:29 .Dollars rather than euros
Shell Withdraws Cash from Europe
By Marc-Christian Ollrog
The euro crisis seems to have escalated anew. The Anglo-Dutch Shell group has announced that it will move most of its cash out of the euro zone. The decision has the potential to reinforce the crisis itself.
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Shell
Farewell euro zone
.Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has pulled $15 billion in cash from Europe, apparently stirred by fears of a further escalation of the European sovereign debt crisis. The group’s chief financial officer, Simon Henry, was cited as saying that the oil major would rather deposit $15 billion in cash in non-European assets, such as US treasuries and bank accounts. These make up the largest part of the company’s liquidity reserves.
Henry told the Times on Monday that Shell is mitigating its exposure to European credit risk in the worst-affected economies. Shell will put a higher price on business with the region's periphery. “There's been a shift in our willingness to take credit risk in Europe. The crisis has impacted our willingness to extend lines of credit," Henry was quoted as saying. Still, the company will be forced to keep some money in Europe to fund its operations, but is withdrawing most of its reserve liquidity from the euro zone to avoid the growing macroeconomic risk, the financial executive stated.
.The euro crisis escalates within treasuries
Shell
Shell's CFO Henry Simon
The euro crisis may now be driven to new heights within treasuries. So far, treasurers and CFOs have highly valued the counterparty risks associated with banks and transferred their money to the safest possible business partners. The alleged transfer of €500 million in cash through Siemens by Société Générale to the ECB remains fresh in many people’s memories.
The withdrawal of most liquid currency reserves from the entire area could cause a significant escalation and will certainly continue to weigh down the euro. Shell’s decision is a worrying sign of capital flight from the euro zone, which many economists identify as a top source of stress for European credit markets. According to economists, the real winners are US banks and treasuries, which would benefit as potential business partners and would be strengthened by the cash transfer. However, US banks contacted by CFO Insight said they view such moves as opportunistic, but couldn’t confirm a real trend towards increased short-term dollar deposits.
Groet, Jonas