Treasury Practice

Etihad Airways Adam Smith Webinar

Published: Mar 2017

Reaching new heights in treasury

Etihad Airways

Adam Smith Awards 2016 Overall Winner – Top Treasury Team, Best Cash Management Solution and Best Financing Solution

Etihad were successful in two other categories this year in addition to being awarded our Top Treasury Team for 2016.

Under the leadership of Ricky Thirion, Group Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer, Adam Ben Boukadida, the company has delivered a multi-disciplined programme covering payment processing, liquidity management, collections and supply chain finance ahead of a scheduled change to the ERP platform in H216. This was a cross-functional team effort involving treasury, finance and IT.

They also provided a classic lesson in how to issue a Global Cash Management Request for Proposal (RFP) to accommodate the company’s requirements across 71 countries. Having selected two key partner banks, one to cover the Middle East and the other as international partner, some impressive benefits accrued. This project earned them Overall Winner in the Best Cash Management Solution category.

You may also recall this company has won previously with a most innovative solution whereby it used landing rights at London’s Heathrow airport to secure finance. Well, this time it has managed to secure financing ($700,000 6.875% Notes due 2020) along with its equity partners (namely Alitalia, Air Berlin, JetAirways and Air Seychelles) for capital expenditure and investment in fleet as well as for refinancing depending on each airline’s needs. A most impressive and deserving overall winner in the Best Financing Solution category.

This webinar was held on Wednesday 22nd March 2017.

Read the case studies: Top Treasury Team | Best Cash Management Solution | Best Financing Solution

Download slide pack

Watch the webinar presentation

Questions asked throughout the webinar

  • Are National Bank of Abu Dhabi now accepting ACH payments via SWIFT Corporate? (15:02)
  • What were your primary drivers in setting up the treasury centre of excellence in the first place? (23:21)
  • What is the ratio of male to female within your treasury function? (25:09)
  • Returning to you balance scorecard, one of the points you made Adam was that in terms of your internal processes, all projects delievered on time is a key metric. How do you go about achieving this goal? (27:25)
  • What are the instruments used for hedging FX risk? (29:35)
  • What technology advancements do you feel will have the greatest impact on treasury in the next few years eg block chain or bio-metric approval? (30:14)
  • Paypal was mentioned – do you see an impact on Treasury from the evolution of how customers buy airline tickets? (32:19)
  • How do you organise the management of your bank mandates? Is there a link with the legal or paralegal database? (33:56)
  • What is the split between online ticket sales vs physical brick and mortar sales for tickets? (35:57)
  • Do you accept Bitcoin or any form of crypto-currency as payment for flights? (36:57)
  • If you were to start this journey again, particularly around your CTRMS strategy, would you do anything differently and if so what would that be and why? (37:09)
  • What are the top three issues for you right now over the next 12-18 months? (39:32)

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