Two months in

Caroline Stockmann, Chief Executive, reflects on what she's been hearing since she joined the ACT in February...

Today has been a very exciting day for me as I've got to meet lots of treasurers in a more intimate setting than I have experienced since I started. A meeting with Shell's Group Treasurer, Russell O'Brien, as part of my induction programme, was really helpful, and at the time of writing this, I had just come out of the South West region's annual meeting. The group is very active, often gathering more than once in the year. Topics discussed spanned from TM systems (do all suppliers lose interest the moment things get challenging?) to sanctions (is it about materiality?) and ringfencing to Brexit. We all want to understand future scenarios and what changes will mean for the financial sector - not only if we work within it but also as a client.

Timely questions asked included whether the election will only have an impact insofar as FX rates are concerned, how many years the re-writing of EU regulation will take, and what if withholding tax agreements disappear with a hard exit. All discussions were under Chatham House rules as one would expect, which engendered lively and healthy debate.

Some of my takeaways from today for the ACT:

• • let's be more active in bringing together treasurers to debate and predict the implications of Brexit, and share more of what we (including through our volunteer member, Charlotte Morgan, who represents us at Brexit-focused events) are learning from others on the subject. We'll be re-launching member discussion groups as well as organising a few dinners in the near future, and there will no doubt be even more opportunity to get involved over the coming months
  • we need to ensure our members are aware of our Future Leaders in Treasury group - an opportunity for members in the early stages of their career to help shape the profession and share their ideas, knowledge and expertise to provide practical, useful outcomes. I'm sure there are lots more emerging treasurers out there who would love to join what has rapidly become a dynamic group of young professionals
  • our members and their passion and expertise is amazing - which is not really a new discovery, but a further confirmation of everything I have observed over the last two months.

You treasurers, corporate and indeed those of you in FIs carrying out a treasury function, are a rare breed (in many ways), and I have not yet met as many of you personally as I would like. Please do, therefore, reach out to me to share your views and ideas as to what is great about the ACT, and what you would like to see improved. I have also been meeting SO many other individuals and organisations with whom we partner and collaborate over the last weeks that I feel another blog in the making... we have some great supporters out there, thank you!