Intercontinental Hotels Group is responsible for some 4,300 properties in more than 100 countries, which burdens it with significant logistical challenges -- challenges that it conquers through a combination of technology, local knowledge and global banking partners.
Richard Solomons, IHG's chief financial officer, manages the company's $1.8 billion in revenue. He said one of his team's biggest headaches is moving so-called trapped cash -- capital that cannot be pulled out of a particular corporate entity or country, often because of structural or regulatory issues -- to a centralised account.
But trapped cash is a fact of life at any global businesses, an activity Solomons leaves largely to his treasury team. Instead, he has been...