Initially post university I joined a London based Oil & Gas consultancy firm before moving into treasury when I took on a role as a treasury dealer for a large building society. From there I joined a soon to be privatised engineering business based in Oxfordshire to strengthen the treasury team before moving into the treasury function of an energy supply utility company initially as assistant treasurer where I ended up staying for 20 years. As you can imagine during this time frame the company went through a full cycle of business changes at the end of which I was ready for change. What next, consultancy obviously, which sees me in my latest role consulting for a FinTech payment service provider in London.
What I have found throughout my career is how treasury seems to be at the centre of a whole host of business requirements, from the normal finance related questions to those which come totally from left field. It is this that I find enjoyable and the interaction with the range of other personnel in different departments and the building of those relationships. Finally, dare I say, the knowledge that what treasury does adds real value to the organisation as a whole.
Having not worked for a FinTech company before, I was interested to see how their treasury function differs from those of my previous roles and discovered as it was a company that was growing incredibly fast with very interesting and exciting ideas, my previous experience could add to the business. I could provide an independent review of needed controls and new procedures and at a high level, an additional resource during this growing phase.
I joined at the time when the business was being stretched by certain geopolitical issues due to its global footprint, which required the business to rethink how it operated. Along with other teams, members of the treasury team (not based in London) found themselves being relocated into a rapidly set up technology hub that required big changes to day-to-day operational activity to ensure the business could continue to operate. At the same time I was working with the business to install a TMS, so a big challenge was to ensure that, given all the other pressures on the business, there was still a main focus across all interested parties to deliver the project. The good thing I quickly discovered about FinTech’s however is that they are adept at change, and therefore can assess very quickly the requirements and change to address them.
As mentioned the company are in the midst of implementing a Treasury Management System which I feel by far will ultimately be the biggest driver of automation across the treasury function once is it fully embedded. The challenge here is understanding and capturing the full business requirements at the outset and trying to work with the IT function to understand how these can be delivered given the different connectivity options available to the business. Also for the small treasury team, the delivery of the project is in addition to their day jobs, so one needs to always be mindful of this and you end up in sales mode, selling the project so that the team understand the wider and longer-term benefits and are willing to go the extra mile. The business itself operates in a very dynamic marketplace, so it needs to keep one step ahead of its competitors and the role of Treasury, in ensuring it delivers all the key finance business requirements, is paramount to this.
One of the most interesting was pulling together all the required documentation for my first debt issuance programme – first real involvement in financial documentation with all its nuances and the ultimate debt issuance, culminating with a great feeling in getting the bonds issued and the cash through the door.
'Don’t ask them to sharpen the pencil too too much’, in that whilst everyone wants to obtain the best possible price and feel they have wrung out every last drop of value from a transaction and get a ‘slap on the back’ from the CFO for a job well done, treasury is all about relationships and when you get a deal over the line, it’s nice to be able to look people in the face at a later date, everyone happy with the outcome and rely on them being there in the future, which has got to be best for both the company’s and the shareholders’ long term interests.
Has to be the mobile phone – not that I am on my social media all the time, more that it is a portal which allows you to access your whole world, either those contacts required on a personal basis or these days work emails, instant messaging apps or system password generators.
Death at the Chateau (Ian Moore) – nothing too serious but setting me up nicely for a book club whilst on holiday for a week with friends near Bordeaux, in yes you guess it, a Chateau.
I would hope they would be something along the lines of supportive, a good listener and reliable.