I have worked in treasury-related areas of financial services throughout my career, but that has given a lot of scope for variety. It has included being part of the restructuring negotiations for Lloyds of London in the mid-90s and restructuring ABN Treasury for RBS in the late 00’s; working in Group Risk at Abbey; securitisation for Egg; leading an investment banking team at Bank of America; and being European Treasurer for both the global derivatives broker Newedge and the Brazilian bank Itau BBA. I am now Group Treasurer for Shawbrook.
There are a lot of things that I like about working in treasury, but I will name just a couple. The Board set the aspirations and vision of a company, but treasury is where dreams meet the hard reality of the external market, where the rubber hits the road. I love working in the area where you need to make theory and facts mesh together into something that works, where there is no room for pretence. I also like the fact that the people in treasury are smart and rewarding to work with.
I will be President for the fortieth year of the ACT. Being a Treasurer is partly about stewardship and I am conscious that anything I aim to achieve must be progressive, it must build on the work of my predecessors and guide the path for future Presidents. My aims will be to ensure that the ACT continues to improve delivery in its three core areas education, services to members and networking events. In education we have the launch of the Advanced Diploma, to replace the MCT and I am keen to see as many students as possible benefit from that and the ACT’s other professional qualifications. The services to existing members are vitally important and a revamp of the website which has so much content will enable them to access it more easily. The ACT’s events continue to go from strength to strength, and I look forward to the Annual Conference and the ACT Annual Dinner every year. If there is one additional thing that I would like to achieve it is to try to widen the knowledge and recognition of the profession among younger people.
I have particularly enjoyed engaging with students, either doing careers talks for those looking at finance, or presenting a masterclass to our own ACT students. I also attended the retired members’ dinner recently as incoming President and found them to be a lively and engaging group.
The ACT has a treasure trove of content for members on its website. The personal development tools are great and would be delivered at considerable cost if you were looking at a specialist provider. The CPD gives me the self-discipline to take a step back once in a while and make sure that I am keeping my skills up to date. And who doesn’t benefit from reading The Treasurer?
It is your association, why would you not want to be involved? The ACT has an important voice on lots of topics, but it is only as strong as the collective voices of its members. The Policy & Technical team draws on the support of members to deliver its twin objectives of influencing decision makers and informing treasurers.
Intelligent, determined, good-humoured.
If you want a job for life, make sure that you have skills that people need.
I am a third Dan black belt in Karate. All bankers have to learn self-defence these days!
Happy Birthday ACT! In just four decades you have established yourself as the premier professional body for Corporate Treasury and the only one with chartered status. Carry on the great work!