In fact, it was in 1981 when the “Forex Club” was born.
At that time, most of its founders were active in the foreign exchange markets for their respective corporations. We all had the standard foreign exchange screens, and all of us were in constant contact with our many bank contacts (traders and economists) to be able to decipher and predict the ups and downs of the market.
The problem for a corporate foreign exchange specialist, however, was in dealing with those very contacts. The bank traders had a 5 to 10-minute view of the market while the bank economists were looking in their crystal balls for a 1 to 3-year forecast. The corporate needed a different perspective. Most were prohibited from any form of speculation per se, but had to define corporate policy in the three, six and nine-month period.
When several of us got together at an external conference, we shared these problems and decided to create our own forum where we could share our views among ourselves without banks representatives or consultants. The monthly meeting followed by a luncheon, the proverbial currency forecast and the much cherished yearly excursion became our standard operating procedure over the years
Most of the original founders continued to be active members, but most had moved up the ranks into either Treasurer or Finance Director positions. Hence, it was decided several years ago to change the group’s name to encompass a broader range of finance activities hence, the Corporate Treasurers Club and then the Association of Corporate Treasurers in Swiss Romande today(ACTSR).
ACTSR is a member of the EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION of CORPORATE TREASURERS: EACT
http://www.eact.eu/
and member of INTERNATIONAL GROUP OF TREASURY ASSOCIATIONS: IGTA