I am very pleased that Richard James has joined the ACT management team as Deputy Chief Executive. Richard brings a background in treasury and investor relations from companies such as ICI, Cookson Group and Cable & Wireless (where he was most recently Group Treasurer). Richard will have specific responsibility for the events and editorial/publishing teams, as well as for the strategic direction of our qualifications programme.
Elsewhere in the newsletter we let you know that the ACT will be moving to 51 Moorgate by the end of this year. We have enjoyed a ten year lease in Ocean House but can see considerable benefits from the move to new premises. Not the least amongst these will be that we will now all be located on one floor, rather than the two that we have been using in Ocean House. I hope that many of you will have an early opportunity to visit us in Moorgate.
In a week’s time we will be holding this year’s Annual Dinner and look forward to the combination of hearing from Commissioner Charlie McCreevy on the EU Internal Market and Ruby Wax on behalf of our chosen charity, Childhood First. As always I encourage feedback on what you feel noteworthy (good and bad) about the event and how we should continue to develop it in subsequent years; you can reach me here.
As part of our growing involvement with treasury associations internationally we are working closely within Europe on the CAST project. The acronym stands for Corporate Action on Standards; CAST is an initiative by treasury associations to encourage greater standardisation and process automation in communications across the whole financial supply chain. CAST is looking specifically at standards in the area of remittance information (and e-reconciliation), digital identity and e-invoicing. Overall the objective is systematically to remove paper from the financial supply chain.
I believe that CAST is a significant project that should involve all treasury professionals who recognise the relevance of managing working capital as an integral part of their professional role. We are hoping to involve The 100 Group of Finance Directors, so that at a senior level within the UK there is wide encouragement to support and participate in the CAST project. If you are interested do get in touch with Martin O’Donovan – Martin is the primary contact within our Policy and Technical team for the CAST project.
