04 · The Treasury Corridor Map
A two-by-two map of the household treasury against the office treasury, with currency corridors, hedges, and trigger thresholds drawn on top. Used to write and to defend the treasury policy, and to keep cash, FX, and short-dated credit decisions inside one frame.
The trigger,
in plain words.
On every retained operating mandate with material cash, multi-currency flows, or counterparty exposure. Re-opened whenever the family footprint, the jurisdictions, or the policy bands change.
The artefacts
the desk writes.
- A two-by-two map of the household treasury against the office treasury, by currency and by tenor.
- Defined corridors, hedge ratios, and trigger thresholds per currency and per line.
- A written rule for when the desk acts, when it asks, and when it waits.
- A reference document the principal, the trustee, and the auditor can all read.
The shape of
the working document.
Two axes, four cells. Household treasury against office treasury on one axis; reporting currency against operating currency on the other. The four cells are the working rooms of the map; the depth read sits below the schematic.
Cell 01
A two-by-two map of the household treasury against the office treasury, by currency and by tenor.
Cell 02
Defined corridors, hedge ratios, and trigger thresholds per currency and per line.
Cell 03
A written rule for when the desk acts, when it asks, and when it waits.
Cell 04
A reference document the principal, the trustee, and the auditor can all read.
The rooms of
the working map.
The corridor map is a method, not a bound document. The list below is what the desk writes into the map on a retained mandate, in the order the corridor is read against the policy. The corridor widths, the hedge ratios, and the counterparty limits are mandate-specific; the rooms themselves are not.
- Room 01
Jurisdictions in scope
Every jurisdiction in which the office holds cash, posts collateral, or settles a liability, named in writing. The corridor breaks if a new jurisdiction is added in the middle of a cycle without a fresh map; the desk flags that edge before the year starts.
- Room 02
Currencies in scope
Reporting currencies and operating currencies, separated. The reporting currency is what the principal reads against; the operating currency is what the desk moves the cash in. The map names both, and says which currencies the desk is authorised to use between them.
- Room 03
Custodian-by-jurisdiction placement
Where the cash sits, by custodian and by jurisdiction. The map names the custodian, the operating account, the reporting account, and the link between them. A corridor is hard to read if the placement layer is left implicit.
- Room 04
FX exposure windows
The largest sources of FX exposure the office runs, written by currency and by line. School fees, property carrying costs, capital calls, and reserves in a foreign currency each get a paragraph, not a footnote.
- Room 05
Corridor boundaries, the high band and the low band
The corridor drawn on top of each currency: where the desk is authorised to operate without a fresh sign-off, and where the policy says to ask. The bands are mandate-specific; the desk does not publish a universal band.
- Room 06
Operating posture inside the corridor
The written rule for what the desk does between the bands. When the corridor is being approached, the policy says to act, to wait, or to ask. The rule is read alongside the policy, not in place of it.
- Room 07
Breach protocol
What happens when a corridor is crossed, by accident or by design. Written escalation path, written waiver process, written record of the breach and the resolution. The protocol is one of the first things the auditor reads.
The map,
not the policy.
The Treasury Policy is the governing document. It says what the office is authorised to do, against which authorities, and which decisions are reserved to the principal or the committee. It is signed once a year, after the annual review, and lives in the safe.
The Treasury Corridor Map is the operating tool. It carries the corridors, the hedge ratios, the trigger thresholds, and the breach protocol that the desk works against on a daily basis. The map is re-read quarterly, against the curve and the FX reference, and updated without a re-signature of the policy unless the bands move.
A policy without a map expires inside the rate cycle. A map without a policy has no authority. The desk writes both, signs the policy once, and re-reads the map quarterly. The two documents are read together, never in isolation.
See the policy
read as a document.
The sample surface is the public opening of a Treasury Policy, written off the same framework. The cover, the table of contents, the opening section in full, and the redaction frames where the corridor limits, the counterparty grid, and the trigger thresholds sit on retained mandates.
If this framework
is the next room,
We maintain a small number of retained mandates and open new mandates selectively. Write to the private office. We reply with care, and without obligation.
For how the framework is run on a mandate, see the practice.