Innovation Through Treasury Centralization: The Potential of the Visegrad Countries for Establishment of Corporate Treasury Centres

Abstract

Corporate treasury management becomes much more complex and hence more difficult as globalisation increases, cross border activities grow, and companies choose to adopt a multinational status. Multinational companies (MNCs) need to organise their treasury management activities and their main aim is to choose the model that will maximise value added. The range of possibilities includes a centralized form of treasury i.e. a treasury centre operating in a certain geographical region as the centre of expertise, knowledge and innovation in financial management. MNCs often centralize their treasury management by setting up regional treasury centres in locations that offer optimal conditions for the effective management of treasury activities having regard to local needs. The recent trend of nearshoring has focused multinationals’ attention on Central European countries. The paper concentrates on the factors and criteria considered in MNCs’ location decisions for treasury centres, and on the ability of a selected group of Central European countries to become the appropriate location for such centres. Location decisions commonly depend on both the local tax environment and other factors. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare the suitability of the Visegrad countries as sites for corporate treasury centres.