Growing awareness of ACT qualifications around the world

The ACT is involved in many committees run by the UK and other regulatory authorities - sometimes we observe and sometimes we are deeply involved in the issues at hand.

The lobbying effort to counter the move to transfer OTC derivatives to central clearing systems has been intense but we believe that the authorities have been listening at least to some extent – so we are hopeful that the regulation that does eventually emerge will be a bit more "real economy" friendly than we feared at one time. Even so, you probably won’t like all of it.

We keep reading that the downturn is over and green shoots are appearing. In the same newspaper we read that as the financial economy is so large relative to the trade driven economy we must accept greater volatility – the message is that we must continue to be vigilant within our organisations and to remain focused on risk and the changing risks that we face.

We are seeing some good ideas emerge to address the perceived lack of lending capacity in the traditional banks. We have seen the genesis for the creation of new banks – some based on co-operative principles. They look good in theory but could I see myself trying to convince my board that they should take out borrowing where the margin payable could rise if, inter alia, another borrower/member failed? What is clear is that the market is trying to develop new ideas to cope with the new normal and that must be welcomed and supported.

The ACT has been doing a lot of work over recent months to assess how best to grow awareness of the ACT qualifications around the world.

Today around 15% of our members are based overseas and 89% of FTSE 100 companies employ an ACT member. In the last month we have together with CIPFA recruited our first 160 students for the CertITM-PF qualification – International Treasury Management for those working in public finance. In addition we have recruited over 350 additional students to sit the full range of our qualifications for examinations in April 2010. Today we have over 1,900 students studying for ACT exams and 31% of these are based overseas.

As part of our plans to increase awareness of ACT’s qualifications overseas we have considered closer links with other treasury associations after receiving two approaches earlier this year. Helped by the UKTI to fund some overseas market research, we have now developed some outline plans to extend the reach of our qualifications and networks overseas. The key elements are as follows:

• Develop our links with national treasury associations, IGTA and EACT to promote treasury knowledge.
• Develop membership networks where none exist – such as ACT in the Middle East – again working with national treasury associations wherever we can.
• Remain open to merger between ACT and other national treasury associations where there is enthusiasm to adopt qualifications as the only route to membership. The aim here would be to benefit our existing members by securing increased global recognition of the treasury profession and their qualifications.
• Develop links with overseas training providers that will promote ACT qualifications in specific territories and deliver face to face tuition and bring forward candidates for us to assess.
• Develop links with ACT members based overseas to help us build our overseas networks and profile.
• Develop educational links with global organisations.
• Engage with mid tier companies and public sector organisations to promote the benefits of treasury qualifications.
• Develop the e-zine version of The Treasurer magazine and increase the ACT’s exposure as a result.

We have students in over 60 countries, mainly from simple demand pull. We need, over time, to raise awareness of the need for proper, applied treasury education which our suite of qualifications can provide around the world. With our limited advertising and PR budget, that may take a while. But we are making a start. And our best ambassadors are our present members – so you can all help to raise awareness.

By Stuart Siddall