The ACT’s Future Leaders in Treasury (FLIT) group exists to support professionals in the early stages of their career. Here, four members describe their experiences from the past 18 months.
Head of treasury operations, Endeavour Drinks Group, Australia
My early career included stints in internal audit at a large Australian financial services firm, a large multinational plus work as a consultant at KPMG, where I gained my AMCT and a real grounding and appreciation of all aspects of treasury.
Those experiences put risk at the forefront of my consciousness from day one of my professional life and helped me home in on financial risk management skills.
All this inspired me to move to London, where I worked in fast-paced unicorn Farfetch. I oversaw a treasury management system implementation, set up a multi-currency, multi-entity notional pool, incorporating a hedge accounting framework, and readied the business for its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
Returning to Australia during 2020, I took up a role building a treasury team from scratch for a newly listed liquor and hospitality business that was demerged from the Woolworths Group.
RISK
Liquor shops thrived during the early lockdowns and Endeavour benefitted from considerable investment into e-commerce capabilities across the business, making it easier and safer for our customers to order their favourite beers, wines and spirits to their homes.
Although the demerger was put on the backburner during the initial outbreak, it was quickly put back on the agenda by the leadership team and the shareholders in 2021.
Risk appetite at Endeavour has improved significantly post-demerger, with new capital allocated to growing our pubs and hotels portfolio, which should place us in a good position coming out of the pandemic.
WELLBEING AND LEADERSHIP
There has definitely been a greater focus on the wellbeing of our retail staff, who are on the front lines of our business day in and day out. The leadership team has emphasised the store experience, training staff to talk to customers as a means of increasing engagement.
Staff morale and engagement with customers have seen a definite uptick in our internal scores.
ESG
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) was the reason for the demerger from the Woolworths Group, as activist shareholders were pushing hard for the separation of the ESG-sensitive drinks and pubs business from the grocery business.
Endeavour is acutely aware of the social issues that stem from the business and is committed to engage with community leaders to manage this issue.
Our pubs and hotels have an affinity to ESG issues due to the presence of poker machines, hence this issue is front and centre as we develop our longer-term strategy with shareholders.
Corporate treasurer, Wise Plc, UK – formerly at Vodafone Qatar
I have more than 11 years of multinational experience in treasury and cash management across various Vodafone companies.
For the past six years I looked after the corporate treasury function at Vodafone Qatar, where I held wide-ranging responsibilities including debt raising, liquidity management, insurance, FX management, investments, accounts payables and accounts receivables.
Having decided to take on a new challenge, I joined Wise (formerly TransferWise) as a corporate treasurer in July. The role is focused on meeting Wise liquidity and working capital requirements, as well as ensuring control and reporting are efficient and accurate.
RISK
Thinking about risk and looking back to Vodafone, the treasury function updated its risk dashboards, which was important to monitor the organisation’s top and emerging risks, which were linked to risk classification and the agreed risk appetite statements for key risks.
Digital technologies to support remote working during the crisis have been a boon for the telecom sector. However, the rapid rollout of technology also created some big challenges and increased the risk of cyberthreats for the industry.
Cyberthreats are not new to the sector, because of its rich customer profiles, payment information and highly visible brands. However, the level of urgency and concern clearly escalated during the COVID-19 era, which led to an extra spend to mitigate cybersecurity risk cover.
The three lines of defence risk operating model has been shown to be an effective framework for risk management and for implementation of an organisation-wide risk appetite.
LEADERSHIP
The core leadership style didn’t change, but what did change was how we communicate and to an extent interact with those we work with.
There has been a heightened focus on wellbeing, and this has been approached sensitively without intruding in people’s private lives, but with an understanding that everybody is working in different circumstances and some are feeling good about it and some less so.
Another crucial part of the leadership role during the crisis, especially in the emotional, tense environment that characterised the pandemic, was promoting psychological safety so that people could openly discuss ideas, questions and concerns without fear of repercussions.
This was a paradigm shift for me in terms of changing my perception of the definition of leadership towards a more comprehensive one – and one beyond controls and profitability.
The other focus was to try to empower my team to take on decisions that they might otherwise have deferred to me – the idea being that I had to make sure that things could happen without me being in the room.
ESG
I haven’t raised any ESG debts yet, but as treasurers seek to raise funds, manage cash flow and ensure that their organisations are on a sustainable path, they may attract new investors in financing their activities.
These new investors would not be interested in investing in companies that do not improve or maintain good ESG performance.
I can see the advantage of ESG bonds and how a strong ESG proposition helps companies tap new markets and expand into existing ones.
When governing authorities trust corporate actors, they are more likely to award them the access, approvals and licences that afford fresh opportunities for growth. I am sure this will be on my agenda shortly.
Middle office treasury analyst, Logicor
I was born in Botswana and schooled in South Africa, after which I headed for the beauty of Mauritius before finally finding my feet in London.
When I eventually decided to bite the bullet and go to university, I studied banking and finance with the aim of establishing myself in a capital markets role. I took a job in the share-dealing department at a bank in Leeds where I decided to move into treasury.
COVID-19 struck at this point and I headed to London where the opportunity to join Logicor came up. It took me all of five seconds to accept the role.
RISK
Logicor has always been prudent and measured in its approach to risk.
The appetite has not necessarily changed, but has been adapted to encompass new challenges. The most obvious being IT, which is a challenge across the board. This has never stood still within Logicor and is a perfect illustration of the tolerance to risk.
IT systems have evolved steadily since the pandemic began. What was most impressive was the attitude of senior managers who adopted a proactive approach to managing risk.
What was also notable was the constant communication on updates and changes in processes. You start with one programme and over time many are consolidated.
LEADERSHIP
Leadership in Logicor has evolved to match the circumstances we face. Meetings were not all business but included topics about mental and physical health. Team events were put in place and initiatives occurred at regular intervals to break the cycle of lockdown.
C-suite executives were visible and provided updates as well as initiating internal measures to ensure we weren’t isolated in lockdown.
Senior managers were even more visible, friendly and accessible, and I’m sure they were going the extra mile in lockdown.
I am not sure I know what leadership should look like in times of crisis. As with most things, you know when it is not there. My thinking is that there should be clarity, stability and clear direction for everyone from the most junior to the most senior.
ESG
ESG is important for Logicor, the real estate industry and the treasury team.
We released our first green finance update in March 2021, which showcases our vision of providing environmentally friendly assets, contributing to our communities and committing to ethical business conduct.
Over the past 12 months we had several charity fundraisers within Logicor that went ahead virtually. In addition, we welcomed Dr Eva Gkenakou, who joined in October 2020 as our first director of sustainability.
Manager, Corporate Treasury Solutions, PwC Canada
My career started in Geneva, Switzerland, when I joined the treasury service team at Caterpillar as part of the graduate programme.
Soon after, I moved to International Workplace Group (IWG, the owner of Regus and Spaces) as a treasury analyst, qualifying at AMCT level in 2015. I became group treasury manager, overseeing worldwide treasury operations and financial risk management across the group.
In 2018 I relocated to Toronto, Canada, joining Celestica, a leading electronics manufacturing supplier, as a senior treasury manager in charge of worldwide FX operations and capital structure.
Last year, I became a member of PwC Canada’s corporate treasury consulting team.
RISK
Market volatility and uncertainties linked to government restrictions across Canada are prompting companies to ensure they have sufficient liquidity, refinance their debt and review their interest-rate risks.
There is an increased focus on FX hedging following the weakening of the US dollar and the recent strength of the Canadian dollar.
The Canadian results of the 2021 PwC CEO survey show that CEOs are expecting extensive growth in the coming year, with 72% expecting global economic growth to improve over the next 12 months.
They are also bullish about their own organisations’ growth, with most expecting revenues and profitability to increase.
LEADERSHIP
At PwC Canada we recognise that our people are at the heart of everything we do. We have a culture of care.
Our priority since the onset of the pandemic has been on leading with calm and care. Mental health impacts us all differently, so different solutions apply to different people.
Our leadership team has been great at recognising the additional challenges the pandemic brought, and have implemented many solutions to care for employees’ wellbeing, from increased benefits, mental health awareness and additional support to adapt schedules and furnish home offices.
Of course, quality of work delivery remains a high priority and the pandemic has helped us to accelerate digitisation of our processes.
ESG
PwC has set a significant and ambitious goal regarding ESG, committing to a net zero emissions target by 2030.
Earlier this month PwC globally made an announcement that the network is mobilising around the commitment made last year to achieve net zero, which involves transforming its business model to decarbonise its value chain.
It is submitting specific targets to the Science Based Targets initiative, and each member firm has appointed a net zero leader to enable progress based on local plans.
The firm is also a part of a number of initiatives to strengthen its corporate responsibility across Canadian communities, foster diversity and inclusion initiatives to ensure equality and opportunity for all.
RISK Companies have thrived by adopting a 360-degree view of risk
LEADERSHIP Leaders have impressed with their focus on treasury tasks – and on wellbeing
ESG Environmental, social and governance criteria have been brought into sharp focus
1. ENDEAVOUR DRINKS ESG, especially social issues, are front and centre for this growth business.
2. VODAFONE QATAR Rollout of technology for homeworking meant employees had to be alert to cybercrime.
3. LOGICOR Evolving technology implementations over the past year saw leaders communicating effectively at each stage.
4. PWC CANADA ESG goals, clear leadership communication and employee wellbeing have been key themes.
5. OVERALL A sense of shared purpose around clearly defined responsibilities has led the way during this past taxing year.
Click here for further information on the ACT's Future Leaders in Treasury group.
This article was taken from Issue 3, 2021 of The Treasurer magazine. For more great insights, log in to view the full issue or sign up for eAffiliate membership
