The Middle East Treasury Summit, 16 October 2018, Day 1
Although the ACT Middle East (ACTME) is 10 years old, technically the annual summit (nee conference) is just behind, by 1 year. This year we’re back in the lovely Madinat Jumeirah -talk about déjà vu all over again! Your correspondent has been attending and writing on ACTME events for almost the same length of time. Does this year’s event give us any pointers to what’s happened over that period? Well, yes and no.
On the no side, national budgets, social spending and economic stimulus remain tethered to the price of black gold. Oil – and to a lesser extent LNG – dominate banking, politics and domestic policy. Regional politics remains in flux although nowadays the limelight is hogged by Saudi, hardy perennial Iran and a nasty civil war in Yemen. Plus, ca change.
Having said that however pretty much everything else has changed, certainly in corporate treasury and finance. Technology is not about automating cheque payments (though cheques remain) but about its power to innovate and change societal behaviour through AI, blockchain and smart cities. Banking is now focused on helping customers, having gone through all sorts of market dislocation with international banks scaling back sector and geographic exposures, local banks going through necessary mergers and FinTechs scaling the walls of consumer banking.
Bank liquidity goes up and down with the oil price but what’s this? Islamic banking is back, resurgent not just in trade finance but in wholesale and even capital markets having been dismissed to the fringes of finance just a few years ago. In short treasury corporate finance and banking is focused on value creation not just counting cash.
The quality of people and their skills has risen substantially (the ACT will take a modest bow) and treasury is now a serious player in corporate finance and strategic business planning. The bench is deeper with government agencies and businesses continually improving their skills and capabilities.
Some things though are constants. In particular the importance of communication, of people talking through their issues, of looking for solutions that offer ‘win-win’ and all over a decent cup of coffee and a succulent and oh-so fattening Arabic pastry. Nothing wrong with tradition!
Adding to the 10 year anniversary theme the awards dinner the night before the conference offered a celebration of treasury excellence from deals to teams to individual award winners, and last but by no means least, the John Grout Award for Treasury Excellence to Matthew Hurn FCT, Chief Financial Officer, Alternative Investments & Infrastructure, Mubadala Investment Company.
