This is the March edition of the Banking and Treasury Report brought to you as part of THE TREASURY HUB.

The outbreak of the coronavirus continues to disrupt global supply chains and the financial markets. Unsurprisingly, the equity markets are bearing the brunt of the initial negative sentiment with the three equity indices that we track (ISEQ, FTSE and DOW) all in significant negative return territory. Bond prices are up again (as interest rates have fallen) with Irish 10-year rates now negative -0.15%, which is an all-time low. Oil prices have also fallen off a cliff. This is covered in more detail in Section 4.

This month’s focus in Section 5 is a review of the Banking Market. While the banks appear to be taking a proactive and supportive approach to assisting businesses, the coronavirus is going to make credit availability tighter. We would encourage clients to act now and make contact with your bank to ensure you get the specific support you need as quickly as possible. The government has also announced a number of measures to help individuals and businesses, including an extra €200m funding through SBCI.

Please get in touch with our Corporate Finance team if we can be of any assistance.

The Treasury Hub - Banking and Treasury Report March 2020 can be downloaded here.

For any queries relating to this newsletter, please contact Chris Ball, Partner.