I ended my last column talking about celebrating success. With that edition of The Treasurer, you will have received our first-ever brochure highlighting the tremendous achievements of the ACT’s students in the April 2012 examinations. The pass lists show the truly impressive breadth and variety of our students and the organisations and geographies they come from.
What it most clearly demonstrates is that professional education from the ACT is increasingly recognised as the global ‘go to’ standard in treasury management. We are very proud of this endorsement from all our students and their employers. The ACT’s focus in the coming months and years will be to support and widen our student community even further. The Career section in The Treasurer should help, too. We’re always looking for ways to improve, so please contact me if you have any bright ideas.
I have to say that when I first joined the ACT in late 2011, I wasn’t fully aware of its global reach. Several thousands of miles travelled later, I can safely say that’s no longer the case. On top of having students from more than 60 countries, our autumn events calendar is as ambitious as any we have ever run, stretching from London to Hong Kong via Zürich and the UAE (not to mention Oman). We expect to greet over 800 treasury, risk and corporate finance professionals at those events – hopefully some of you reading this. And while I can’t promise to speak to everyone, I will do my best.
Professional education from the ACT is increasingly recognised as the global ‘go to’ standard in treasury management
If you can’t get to one of the events, you can follow us on Twitter @actupdate. These events also give us the opportunity to work closely with other domestic national treasury associations, which builds support for the European Association of Corporate Treasurers (EACT) and the International Group of Treasury Associations (IGTA). See www.eact.eu and www.igta.org.
Regulatory issues have continued to rumble on through the summer and whether in relation to over-the-counter derivatives, money market funds or the eurozone crisis, definitive resolutions (at the time of writing) are not clear. We remain particularly concerned about the ‘law of unintended consequences’, given the range of regulatory bodies – especially in the EU – whose actions in one area of the financial system could detrimentally affect non-financial corporates in others.
The ACT’s policy and technical (P&T) team is keeping a watchful eye on these and other issues. In addition, the P&T team meets regularly with many of the world’s largest financial services organisations to share concerns and market information. The upcoming election season in the US might also have an impact and we’ll try to keep you up to date – whether in The Treasurer, at www.treasurers.org or via Twitter @actagenda. Suggestions that some Republicans favour a return to a gold standard might only be the first shots in a heated and partisan economic debate that could have implications for those of us ‘across the pond’.
You may be curious to know what the chief executive does in a body like the ACT. Well, the highs and lows of a day job running an organisation with its 50 staff will be familiar to many readers. The key role, however, lies in helping my executive team deliver world-class support to professionals working in treasury, risk and corporate finance, whether this is in events, publishing, education or our customer service. Some of you will know some of us, but in case you don’t, you can find everyone at www.treasurers.org/contactus.
As CEO, I also get to meet a wide range of people from other professional bodies, from regulators and government and from all sides of the financial services industry. Their support and encouragement for the ACT has been invaluable, particularly with our Charter application.
Colin Tyler is chief executive of the ACT.
Follow him on Twitter @ColinTyl