The Chairman’s Award is the opportunity for me to recognize an entity or an individual’s contribution to the treasury community. I have often spoken about the challenges of influencing policy makers and regulators but I am pleased to provide the inaugural Chairman’s Award to someone who has been keen to work with me and the ACT collaboratively in providing the infrastructure and mechanisms for treasuries to work effectively and efficiently. By listening to the needs of the treasury industry, tonight’s winner actively proposed the adoption of regulation resulting in ISDA recognizing the zone as a netting friendly jurisdiction. Furthermore, recognizing the need to train and develop UAE National talent, the importance of continued professional development and importantly to encourage females in the workspace, this person has been leading the charge. Tonight’s winner is a recognized and esteemed business leader having held Board positions at Mubadala, Etihad, Dolphin Energy and FAB to name a few and assumed his current role of Chairman of Abu Dhabi Global Market since its inception. He was also further recognized by being made Minister of State. It is my pleasure to give the first ever Chairman’s Award to His Excellency Ahmed Al Sayegh, Chairman of ADGM and Minister of State. - Matthew Hurn, ACT Middle East Committee Chairman
Our winner impressed the judges for their process automation and innovation and particularly the approach they took which demonstrated significant thought and consideration of financial risk.
This year’s winner caught the eye of the judges for its blend of innovation and green credentials. It was the first green debt capital markets issuance in the Middle East and saw work done on an elaborate green finance framework and gained an ESG rating. Given my comments earlier, this was getting my vote!
The winning company particularly impressed the judges with the work that had been done through what has been a challenging year for the organization and the team.
We all know what it takes to be a successful treasury team and this year’s winner has shown these skills in spades. The list of achievements they have made over the year has been impressive, as was the high caliber of the team which was picked up on by the judges.
The financial service provider category winner was described as being a ‘lightning rod’ – a fantastic conduit to have challenging conversations with the banks so that the client’s relationship was not negatively affected. As well as being outstanding at advising on negotiating tactics they were also lauded for their commercially astute approach and for being outstanding value for money.
The winner of our treasury supplier of the year award is an individual who really focused in on client needs to deliver exactly what was required. Their flexibility throughout negotiation, implementation and then thorough delivery made them a standout candidate.
Our winner is well known to the ACT and an individual who impressed the judges on various levels. The winner caught the judges’ eye for consistently high performance over the years. Working with a dispersed treasury team over several locations in Africa they have achieved outstanding benefits in terms of cash visibility, improved efficiency and control.
Our final winner for the evening came from a resounding agreement from the judges. A true success story in developing young talent, the Winner changed careers from cabin crew, took the ACT treasury exams and within four years became a key member of the treasury team at their organization. She was also the first woman in the UAE to be fully ACT qualified and is now leading her own mentoring and training initiatives; a true representation of what the ACT stands for if ever there was one.