Adam Smith Awards 2013 winners
This submission covered the broad and innovative journey of the Treasury Capital Management (TCM) team at Microsoft from developing electronic visibility into its global cash to achieving the ability to move money across multiple banks and countries seamlessly and, now finally to using this rich and complex electronic data set to drive compelling business intelligence. This has enabled the TCM team to earn the trust of its partners and to grow treasury’s strategic impact. Truly a team effort generating over 4 x ROI and a worthy winner of this year’s Top Treasury Team accolade.
Maeve was nominated by John Voorhis, Director of Treasury Operations at Omnicom. She has demonstrated considerable commitment to the success of the company during close to a 20-year career. Maeve is specifically responsible for all treasury operations across North America but, as you will see from the case study, much more too. Maeve is a deserving winner of this new Award in 2013.
Anyone wishing to know what Dodd-Frank is all about should call Jim Colby. Honeywell, along with a handful of other companies, played a lead role for the industry in obtaining significant Dodd-Frank regulatory reporting relief. They even testified before the US House Committee on Agriculture that resulted in the introduction of HR 634 in Congress, a bill that would, if enacted, exempt non-financial end users from margin requirements on hedging transactions with banks. Our judges thought this was worthy of a special mention and is, therefore, their 2013 Judges’ Choice winner.
This is a special Award this year to recognise the contribution that Patricia Greenfield has made to the industry over a career spanning 40 years. Having battled her way from being a ‘runner’ on the male-dominated discount house trading floors to the Head of Treasury at AstraZeneca, Patricia has gained an invaluable, and rarely matched, experience across a wide range of industries. Patricia is due to retire shortly and Treasury Today felt such a career should be celebrated and recognised. We are, therefore, delighted to make this Award to Patricia.
This solution showcases how Honeywell has worked with its two key banks in the Middle East to support its expansion in the region, particularly for their Automation and Control Solutions Strategic Business Group. The manner in which Honeywell worked with their partners in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are key components of the solution.
The main objectives addressed in this pan-European solution were effective financial risk management and to provide financing and financial services to the operating businesses of Novartis. The solution involves three main banking partners in Europe, improved cash forecasting through system based processes and standardised bank interfaces and file formats.
This is an in-house solution utilising credit and treasury team expertise to deliver STP and top-class exposure reporting across its TMS and Risk Reporting software. The solution has given Gazprom Marketing & Trading the ability to safely maximise returns on cash investments which have increased from £12 billion in 2012 to £22 billion in 1Q13 alone.
This is an Accounts Payable solution which utilises Roche’s In-House Bank with its bank’s ‘Virtual Account’ solution. Starting with Estonia initially but then rolled out to assorted countries and more than ten affiliates around the globe during the next 12 months. Read how Roche is making use of ISO 20022 XML and SEPA to support its IHB solution.
P&G operates in approximately 75 countries worldwide so it needed the services of a global bank to deliver a robust prepaid debit card solution. This forward-thinking initiative has led to dramatic cost savings measured at an estimated 65% for the company.
The Debt Capital Markets (DCM) team at Toyota Financial Services substituted a seven-year benchmark deal of $750m with an equivalent maturity profile in structured notes. They realised cost savings of $29m. Read how Toyota Financial Services achieved this.
Foreign currency options are one of the most challenging asset classes to match on an electronic platform due to the sheer variability of the matching criteria. This is particularly true when the manual confirmation of thousands of FX option trades represents over $100 billion in notional exposure processed each year. Read how Microsoft mitigated this risk.
This solution forms part of the adidas Group’s Driving Route 2015 campaign which it launched in 2010. The motto of this campaign is ‘simplify to the max’. See how adidas has re-engineered its processes and why several of its peers are now contacting them for benchmarking purposes.
In less than six months Vertu established a fully functional global treasury operation from scratch to support its business across its regional offices, flagship stores and worldwide distribution. China, which comprises more than 50% of its market, was a key component to the solution it implemented.
The AA interacts with 15 million people across the UK. This solution, which is moving The AA towards a paperless environment by removing cash and cheques as much as possible, enables their customers to send money using just a mobile phone number.
The Treasury Transformation project has been an overwhelming success for Accenture. Despite the challenges of implementing an initiative on such a large scale, the company now has a robust, flexible and scalable solution to support its rapid growth trajectory and optimise cash and risk management, particularly in the emerging markets. KPIs have been introduced to benchmark performance.
Xerox wanted a rules-based solution which was transparent and easy to implement and which would more closely align its hedging programmes with its exposures thus reducing the period-on-period impact of FX volatility on its bottom line. Xerox’s bank responded with an innovative dynamic layered hedging model.
Pfizer has a strong presence in the Asia Pacific region with operations in 15 countries and territories. This solution showcases an ambitious treasury transformation initiative that has moved them from managing treasury operations from a complex multi-format, multi-system platform to an efficient centralised, single format, single system structure with some impressive results.
Over the past 12 months the Treasury Team at AstraZeneca has delivered on a significant number of projects and operational activities that have ensured their operations continue to be amongst the most efficient, automated and reliable in the corporate treasury domain. Hear how they achieved this using a LEAN review, Zero Tolerance on Manual Processes (ZTMP) and quarterly ‘Boot Camps’.
Marie-Astrid was nominated by John Tus, VP and Treasurer at Honeywell. We also received several supporting statements from her colleagues, banking partners, consultants, subordinates and peers; all very complimentary. She is described as a ‘leading light in the international corporate treasury field’ and a ‘treasury ambassador’. Read why.
Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) streamlined its Western European banking structure by consolidating from ten banks down to five with two primary banks selected. Host-to-host connectivity using ISO 20022 XML, full integration with CCE’s ERP system (SAP), improved STP, BIC/IBAN and SEPA all feature in this impressive solution.
The principal commodity that Toyota Financial Services uses every day is bank credit and in recent years the size of its multi-year credit facility has grown to $13 billion, one of the largest in the US. This case study highlights how Toyota Financial Services engaged with its core banks to better understand the impact of Basel III on its ongoing relationships with its banks from a lending perspective.
This solution is a great example of how a global cash management system can be designed to work 20 hours a day starting from opening of the day in Australia to end of day in the US. The solution has a simple aim; to ensure that cash is always available in the right place, at the right time and in the right currency to meet the company’s payment obligations.
There were two unique aspects of this solution that really stood out. Firstly, the speed at which the end-to-end implementation of the automation project was completed and secondly almost all the technologies deployed in the solution are cloud-based. The projects linked nine systems and Gilead’s largest cash management banks in more than 30 countries across 39 legal entities.
The treasury team at Larsen & Toubro in India manage average surplus investments of $1.2 billion. Read about the strategies the team adopted to maximise its short-term investment returns.
Microsoft runs a centralised treasury for more than 350 legal entities in 118 countries with more than 1,250 bank accounts spanning more than 90 banks worldwide. This cash flow forecasting solution shows how it can really improve the company’s working capital.
This is another accounts payable solution involving the implementation of a bank’s electronic invoicing hub technology. Lambeth Council now has over 2,000 suppliers fully onboard and is operating electronically with them.
Osram had three key objectives; to extend its payment terms, to enhance the relationship with its suppliers and to improve its cash flow. Osram chose a supply chain finance (SCF) solution which addressed each of these key goals.
Sunsweet Growers is the world’s largest handler of dried tree fruits. It chose a payroll and vendor payments solution which has enabled it to migrate 100% payroll to electronic and to enrol 10% of its vendor payments to card within just five months of initiating the project.
This organisation operates a national savings programme and provides affordable shelter financing for Filipino workers. It has mandated its bank to provide fully customised prepaid cards for disbursement of loan proceeds and provident benefits.
This solution relates to the funding and FX hedging in connection with SAP’s $4.3 billion acquisition of Ariba Inc. SAP was one of the few corporates that entered into a large M&A transaction in 2012.
CIT has completely restructured over $30 billion of debt following its emergence from pre-packaged bankruptcy proceedings. From a starting point of highly structured, expensive and restrictive borrowings, the company has totally transformed its funding profile.
Information security is a top concern for senior executives and the Board at Brocade. The solution which the company implemented was developed entirely in-house by a team comprising representatives from legal, IT, internal audit/compliance and ERM.
Coca Cola HBC was trying to integrate its risk management activities across financial risks in the company. It embarked upon a major project which it split into three distinct parts; change management, system implementation and internal reporting. The company chose a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution which satisfied IAS 39 and IFRS 7.
This solution involves a consolidated receivables project that has delivered end-to-end automation and optimised cash management for Thomson Reuters. The incorporation of Brazil’s Boleto instrument into the solution was unprecedented.
This is a regional re-engineering solution developed in Asia Pacific which focuses on the extensive issuance of Bank Guarantees (BGs) such as bid bonds and performance guarantees. Honeywell issues about 700 BGs each year and the application (issuance) submission and tracking is a challenge in itself. Read how Honeywell worked with its bank in the region to address the challenge.
This solution is described by Roche as first-in-class and perhaps best-in-class, STP SWIFT messaging solution on a single standard software system. It was facilitated by Roche’s unique treasury operating model and their ERP’s IT treasury capabilities.
The team at Hollister is delivering some outstanding results as a result of this solution which comprises 63 accounts across 23 countries. As the client relationship manager at Hollister’s bank notes: “Hollister’s treasury operation is the most disciplined I have seen – anywhere”.
Merz Pharma has implemented a solution that delivers integrated analysis, dealing and portfolio management/administration activities regarding short-term investments, long-term investments and foreign exchange hedging all in a single tool.
US Foods is taking steps now to prepare itself for the increasing trend towards mobile technology. This solution deploys their bank’s Image Deposit Direct (IDD) Mobile solution to enable one of the first uses of mobile cheque capture in a B2B environment.
TDIC, supported by its bank, is one of the first companies in the UAE to implement a customised, automated procure-to-pay process. The solution is based on its ERP and leverages industry best practices and innovative technology.
This custom-user built (CUB) treasury tool was designed by Wolters Kluwer’s Treasury Team in consultation with its bank. The tool enables it to obtain greater control over a wide range of treasury processes while increasing automation levels and allowing more detailed reporting and transactional visibility.
This case study showcases a recently launched pilot scheme for RMB cross-border lending. In order to comply with transfer pricing regulations, the interest rate was often set with reference to the onshore PBOC benchmark deposit rate.
This case study showcases a FX solution to satisfy UnitedHealth Group’s acquisition of Amil, the largest private healthcare provider in Brazil. The initial phase of the transaction would result in the company facing a $5.5 billion equivalent of Brazilian Real exposure. Read how the company managed this exposure.
Some remarkable benefits are highlighted in this case study where Honeywell undertook seven new projects in the last two years with total investment of close to $400m saving millions of US dollars in tax and in financing costs.
This is a single country re-engineering solution undertaken during a time of rapid expansion by the company in India. Read how PepsiCo achieved this through the establishment of a shared services centre (SSC) and host-to-host functionality.
