The EDF group was able to meet its financing needs by conservative liquidity management, and has obtained financing on satisfactory terms.

A range of specific levers are used to manage the Group’s liquidity risk:

• the Group’s cash pooling system, which centralises cash management for controlled subsidiaries. The subsidiaries’ cash balances are made available to EDF SA in return for interest, so as to optimise the Group’s cash management and provide subsidiaries with a system that guarantees them market-equivalent financial terms;
• centralisation of financing for controlled subsidiaries at the level of the Group’s Cash Management Department. Changes in subsidiaries’ working capital are financed by this department in the form of stand-by credit lines provided for subsidiaries, which may also be granted revolving credit from the Group. EDF SA and the investment subsidiary EDF Investissements Groupe (EDF IG), set up in partnership with the bank Natixis Belgique Investissements, also provide medium and long-term financing for EDF group operations outside France, arranged by EDF SA and EDF IG on a totally independent basis: each company sets its own terms, which are the same as the subsidiary would have in an arm’s-length market transaction;
• active management and diversification of financing sources used by the Group: the Group has access to short-term resources on various markets through programmes for French commercial paper (billets de trésorerie) and US commercial paper. For EDF, the ceilings for these programmes are €6 billion for the NEU CP programmes and $10 billion for its US commercial paper.
  

At 31 December 2019, the amount of the Group’s commercial paper outstanding was €785 million for French commercial paper, and US$1,175 million for US commercial paper. EDF has access to the world’s main bond markets: the Euro markets through its EMTN programme, which currently has a ceiling of €45 billion, particularly for euro and sterling issues; and the domestic markets used for stand-alone issues in US dollars (144A bonds), yen (Samurai bonds) and Swiss francs.

The Group’s main borrowings at 31 December 2019 are as follows:

* Date funds were received.