Well, I put the jinx on the weather didn’t I? From lovely breezy sunshine to dark clouds and a first for us, rain on a conference day in the UAE!
The weather almost made me wish for Manchester or Liverpool! Mind you, compared with what hit us in Hong Kong in early September, this was less rain than a sprinkler going off on a golf course!
Day two promised as much as the day before and certainly delivered! We kicked off with our popular question time panel discussion and ACT Middle East Chair, Matthew Hurn, stirred everyone by supporting the beginning of a UAE tax regime to include VAT, personal income tax and corporation tax! Not for faint hearted that one!
The theme of diversifying the regional economy away from hydrocarbon came up on a later macro economic panel which amongst other topics looked at changing tourism patterns in Dubai which because of economic conditions in Russia and elsewhere means the last Russian in Dubai is Roxanna, the belly dancer at an unamed hotel! A jokey reference of course but a valid example of how trends can quickly change in a key industry for Dubai.
Other sessions during the day looked at corporate to bank relationships and whether they need qualitative as well as quantitative performance measures and maybe on both sides of the table; operational treasury was brought starkly into focus by the Acting Head of Treasury for UNRWA based in Jordan who talked with impressive commitment about the impact of managing finance to support humanitarian operations; and the need for talent development and retention, eloquently demonstrated by Anfal Mahmood, a young Emirati woman in the finance team at Etihad Airways, earning a Distinction in her CertTF as the start of her treasury career. Bravo to her!
Old friends welcomed, new friends made, relationships started and reaffirmed layered over the sharing and learning from treasury and business peers and colleagues make the event a real joy to work at. The ACTME has a bright future. We will be back with lots more for 2016!
