Episode 25: Best AP Solution

LAST EPISODE IN THE SERIES: Payables are key to any business. How do companies negotiate improved payment terms with their suppliers? We have seen an increase in the use of shared service centres (SSCs) and payment factories in recent years and Payment-on-Behalf-of (POBO) structures are a lot more common now.

Overall Winner – Shell Treasury, Stuart Madell, in partnership with Citi.

Episode 24: Best Fintech Solution

This category captures the emerging technology solutions. We have heard much about the fintech revolution, open banking, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, robotics, blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies. Some have moved beyond proof of concept and are now being used for real.

Overall Winner – Diana-Iulia Macarascu, BAT.

Highly Commended – Loyal Hartman, Line-x, in partnership with J.P. Morgan.

Highly Commended – Jane Sutherland, Doosan.

Episode 23: Best Funding Solution

Many corporates are exploring alternative sources of funding, diversifying and/or refinancing their funding sources. We see many different types of funding submitted here and companies have taken the opportunity to benefit from the low interest rate environment. We’ve even seen one major company renewing its Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) in anticipation of the demise of LIBOR.

Overall Winner – Shell International Ltd, Michael Dawson.

Highly Commended – Phoenix Group, Hana Harrison.

Episode 22: Best Risk Management Solution

Risk continues to be top of every treasurer’s agenda, from foreign exchange risk, counterparty risk, commodity risk and interest rate risk to cyber risk, reputational risk and supply chain risk. All are covered.

Overall Winner – Severn Trent Water Ltd, Anthony Kilkenny.

Highly Commended – Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Urs Berger.

Episode 21: Best ESG Solution

Here we look at sustainable projects including the finance related to the mitigation of and/or adaptation to climate change/CO2 emissions as well as investment strategies which incorporate ESG/CSR factors.

Overall Winner – JetBlue Airways, Ursula Hurley, in partnership with BNP Paribas.

Highly Commended – d.light Ltd, Josphat Rotich, in partnership with Citi.

Episode 20: Best in Class Treasury Solution in Africa

This category addresses any corporate treasury solution on the continent of Africa. We feature solutions from Nigeria and South Africa.

Overall Winner – Michael Shuttleworth, Aspen Pharmacare, in partnership with BNP Paribas.

Highly Commended – Chigbo Enenmo, Nigeria LNG Ltd.

Highly Commended – Elisha Dhenanath, International Breweries Plc, in partnership with Citi.

Episode 19: Best in Class Treasury Solution in Latin America/Caribbean

This category addresses any corporate treasury solution in Latin America and the Caribbean. A Regional Centre of Excellence is one company’s solution, with another focused on the challenges in Brazil.

Overall Winner – Esperanza Casillas Arana, AbbVie Inc, in partnership with Citi.

Highly Commended – Hallvard Bokn Eikeland, Equinor ASA, in partnership with Citi.

Episode 18: Harnessing the Power of Technology

Technology is a key component in many of the submissions we receive and is always a hotly contested category. We see projects ranging from the use of APIs and RPA to full-blown treasury technology transformation involving TMS/ERP integration and much more.

Overall Winner – Abraham Geldenhuys, Kongsberg Automotive, in partnership with Bellin and J.P. Morgan.

Highly Commended – Kevin Dillon and Colum Lane, Pfizer.

Highly Commended – Frank Barbara, Blackstone, in partnership with Bank of America.

Highly Commended – Greg Yen, United Talent Agency, in collaboration with City National Bank.

Episode 17: Best Crisis Management Solution

Our judges wanted specifically to recognise the challenges posed by the coronavirus or COVID-19 with this new category. This pandemic has created unprecedented times, with supply chains being adversely impacted, teams having to adopt entirely new working practices, relationships with internal as well as external parties changing beyond recognition, cashflow coming under the spotlight like never before and the entire corporate treasury environment has been turned on its head. We look at how our Overall Winner in this category responded.

Overall Winner – Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Sasha De Gracia, in partnership with TreasuryXpress.

Episode 16: Best Cash Management Solution

Any solution which demonstrates how the company manages/forecasts its cash is recognised here. It could be a simple single country/single currency/single bank solution, or a multi-country/multi-currency/multi-bank solution and might involve the use of an in-house bank or virtual accounts. Always a popular category amongst our corporate treasury universe.

Highly Commended – Alcon Inc., Brice Zimmermann, in partnership with Citi.

Episode 15: Best Liquidity Management Solution

Here we look at liquidity solutions such as cash pooling structures. Some are single country/single currency, whilst some corporates have implemented multi-country/multi-currency and even cross-currency arrangements which ‘follow the sun’.

Overall Winner – Goodyear, Rene Krack.

Highly Commended – Sysco Corporation, Carrie Reyna, in partnership with J.P. Morgan.

Highly Commended – General Electric, Manish Joshi.

Episode 14: Best Card Solution

Cards are no longer just a piece of plastic; corporate cards have become an integral part of the cash management set-up. Here we see how cards are being used to improve the T&E processes.

Overall Winner – World Central Kitchen, Erich Broksas, in partnership with Bank of America.

Highly Commended – Google, Andrew Miller, in partnership with Citi.

Highly Commended – Grifols, Steve Wong, in partnership with Bank of America.

Episode 13: Best Cyber-Security Solution

Cyber-security continues to be a major issue for companies of all shapes and sizes, with many household names having been victims of cyber-crime in recent months. We look here at how organisations are mitigating the threat of a cyber-attack.

Overall Winner – Norsk Hydro, Per Christian Lindgard and Hege Lundemo Larsen in partnership with J.P. Morgan.

Episode 12: First Class Relationship Management

This category incorporates any relationship (internal as well as external) managed by the treasury function, such as investor relations, employee relations, ratings agencies and procurement, in addition to the core bank(s)/other service provider(s) relationships. Economic turmoil and the recent coronavirus pandemic has certainly focused minds on the value of relationships.

Overall Winner – Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Enrico Zecchini, in partnership with Citi

Highly Commended Winner – Mood Media International, Adam Pring, in partnership with Bank of America

Highly Commended Winner – YOOX Net-a-Porter Group (YNAP), Angela Marconato, in partnership with Citi

Episode 11: Best Short-term Investing Solution

In this category we showcase how companies have addressed the trade-off between yield, liquidity, cash preservation and counterparty risk. AAA-rated money market funds are frequently involved, with CNAV, VNAV or Low Volatility Net Asset Value (LVNAV) funds included.

Overall Winner – Micro Focus Treasury, Rob Ebrey and Christopher Swiss, in partnership with J.P. Morgan Asset Management

Highly Commended Winner – Uber, Carolyn Hansen, in partnership with ICD Portal

Highly Commended Winner – Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Miho Kumazawa

Highly Commended Winner – easyJet, Adam Boyle, in partnership with GSAM

Episode 10: Best in Class Treasury Solution in the Middle East

This category addresses any corporate treasury solution in the Middle East region. From the UAE to Saudi Arabia, we see some impressive solutions.

Overall Winner – Almarai Company, Chandana De Silva

Highly Commended Winner – Siemens Capital Middle East, Ulrich Schiessl, in partnership with BNP Paribas

Highly Commended Winner – Aramex PJSC, Arun Singh, in partnership with Citi

Episode 9: Best AR Solution

Here we look at how companies manage their accounts receivables, including reconciliation. As with payments, we are now seeing Collection-on-Behalf-of (COBO) structures emerging.

Overall Winner – Microsoft, Lucas Meyer, in partnership with Accenture

Highly Commended Winner – Microsoft, Saurabh Bhalla

Episode 8: Best Foreign Exchange Solution

This category looks at foreign exchange and could be the use of technology, a new process, change to a hedging strategy or a new FX requirement as a result of entering a new market or dealing with a new currency and/or client/supplier.

Overall Winner – HP Inc. Peter Chau and Nikhil Handa

Highly Commended Winner – United States Steel Corporation, Laurie Wiggins, in partnership with Bloomberg LP

Highly Commended Winner – Baker Hughes, Jonathan Konrad, Satish Akundi and Dheeraj Parmar

Episode 7: Best Supply Chain Finance Solution

Trading internationally can be challenging. Cash flow issues can arise between paying suppliers and getting payment. From distributor finance, pre-shipment finance and receivables discounting to forfaiting, factoring and payables finance, we look at some of these SCF solutions.

Overall Winner – Cummins Inc., Matthew Sullivan, in partnership with Bank of America

Highly Commended Winner – Microsoft, Rahul Daswani

Highly Commended Winner – Safaricom plc, Florence Kiburi, in partnership with Citi

Episode 6: Best Trade Solution

This category acknowledges the special relationship between buyer and seller. Letters of credit, guarantees and open account trading are common. We are now seeing much greater use of automation in traditionally paper-based processes. Blockchain is also seeing some traction in the trade space.

Overall Winner – Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Ben O’Higgins

Episode 5: Treasury Today’s Top Treasury Team 2020

Here we recognise a corporate treasury team that has made an outstanding contribution to its organisation over the past 12-18 months. This could be purely the treasury team, or a broader team effort involving different disciplines across the enterprise and is the most coveted award.

Overall Winner – Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Amit Singh, SVP Group Treasurer

Highly Commended Winner – Baker Hughes, Varun Wadhwa and Steven Krippner, in partnership with PwC

Episode 4: Best Working Capital Management Solution

Efficient working capital is a key challenge for corporates of all shapes and sizes. This is all about improving key performance indicators (KPIs) of DPO, DSO, DIO, DWC and the cash conversion cycle (CCC).

Overall Winner – Unilever, Hesham Moustafa, in partnership with Citi

Episode 3: Judges’ Choice

This is awarded by our judges to recognise a project or solution which doesn’t quite fit one of the mainstream categories but really does stand out. It could be something not seen previously or, as is the case this year, a piece of work which specifically responded to COVID-19.

Overall Winner – Microsoft, Carol Caines and David Meunier

Episode 2: Treasury Today Woman of the Year 2020

This category is open to any woman operating in the corporate treasury environment who can demonstrate real innovation, achievement and someone who is an inspiration in her current role.

Treasury Today Woman of the Year 2020 – Deepa Palamuttam, Intel

Episode 1: A Rising Star

This category recognises talent coming through the corporate treasury ranks. The individual may have excelled in a professional qualification or may be a future Finance Director or CFO.

Overall Winner – Tian Song, Baker Hughes