Treasury Career Corner Panel for Treasury 360° in Helsinki 2020

So I'm delighted to be joined this morning by three wonderful treasury professionals in a truly international treasury career corner. Special this morning for Treasury360, we've got Mumtaz Dole from Denmark, the director of Cash and Liquidity Management Investors. We've got Aisha Shaikh. I'm going to get it right with her name because it's a beautiful name and mine's just boring with Mike. But who is the treasury manager? Evolve Gaming. And I've got the lovely Suzanne Hosmans, the head of treasury at P3 Parks in Luxembourg. We're in post Covid world. You know, there's a vaccine coming out, you know, hopefully being delivered around the world over the next three to six months, maybe nine months, whatever. But as you look at the challenges over the past year and then relate that to Covid and then life getting back to what is a new normal, you know, new working from home and everything else, what are you ladies seeing as the challenges? So, Mumtaz, coming to you first. What are you? How have you got through it and where do you see us going to next?

So when the COVID crisis came to Denmark and we were, you know, from one day to the other told that we have to work from home, the things that went through my head were job security, what's going to happen, what about the kids, what if we get sick? You know, all those normal reactions that you have as a person. And then at the same time, at the workplace, my role suddenly became one of the most important and critical ones because I'm in charge of cash and liquidity. So all of a sudden your team gets this spotlight and you are reporting on a daily basis to executive management on the cash balance, on the forecast, on whether we will be able to manage the different scenarios that one of our sister teams has presented to us. And so it was a challenge personally and professionally. But our team, the treasury team, was, I think, from a liquidity management perspective, very, very well placed because we had invested in 2015 and 16 in a massive restructuring of our banking landscape and cash pool structure. We had a centralized payment factory installed as well. We were, at least from an outflow point of view and a cash visibility point of view, very, very well placed. We could switch off our robot and the payments can be stopped if we needed to. And we had a dashboard, not a dashboard, but we have. Now we have a dashboard, but we had reports to tell us how much cash we have and where the cash is. So that was really good. The only and biggest challenge was, what about the Inflows. What's going on with our customers? Which of them are going to be hit by COVID 19 and will they be able to pay? Will they have liquidity problems? The whole company had to scramble to work together. Tasks were delegated to different teams to deal with customers, to deal with suppliers and so on. And then there was treasury having the visibility of the cash position. And another thing that worked in our advantage was our relationships with the banks. We had again, I think, done a good job being close with them. So when we really needed them, they were there for us and they did not abandon Vestas, which was a really, really good experience. I have been in several treasury networking calls where I heard from other treasurers that they were disappointed with how their banks reacted to this. But fortunately for Vestas, we didn't need to draw maybe one time for a backup. We did draw overnight, but they were quite willing to put emergency facilities in place. But we went into the crisis with a large cash balance. Vestas has been cash rich for a couple of years and it has been a luxury problem for us. But I think that we came out with a few scratches and bruises as a company from a liquidity point of view and from a Treasury management point of view. Then of course on the side there was having to homeschool the kids while doing this important task for Vestas. But I think the whole company, the whole company, not just treasury, really scrambled and did a really good job and we are doing really well right now as well.

Yeah, you mentioned there about having the spotlight on treasury and I've seen this in a couple of other recessions and a couple of difficult times in the markets. The spotlight was on Treasury. Oh my goodness. Right, quick. What can you do now as the spotlight in the markets ease and the spotlight maybe moves away from treasury or do you think it will do or what are your thoughts?

It might do, but we have been craving for the spotlight for quite some time and our current treasurer and us in the background, we are really pushing to be there permanently. We don't want to move away, but we are taking more responsibilities. We've now taken over working capital management as well. So we are growing our footprint and increasing our presence in the company. And a lot of functions now know us and they are learning as well that treasury is a very important stakeholder. We know the markets, we know market risk, we know currencies, we know cash. So we are a very important stakeholder advising Vestas whenever we want to enter a new market, if it's a good or bad Idea what are the risks? What do we need to do to mitigate those risks? So I think this virus does have a little bit of silver lining because now we are here, we are able to shine and I think that we will maintain our position. Excellent.

And then Asia, over to you. So. And you made a move throughout this period as well. So you were PwC then to your current role. Talk us through that.

Yes. So I was working for PwC in consulting and I remember flying to Sweden in March and I was just about to fly back when the lockdown started. All the flights were canceled, everything. So it was just like from one day, planning, you know, exactly what you're doing to the next, not knowing how, what do you do and how do you do this? And you know, while being in consulting, there are quite some workshops and meetings that you need to handle face to face and that's actually the best way to do it. So it was quite some, you know, changes in ways of working and adapting to that and just being able to do things. I mean, it's great to be able to do things online and digital, but it's really, there's a way you need to adapt and to reach out and to be able to do it in the best possible way. So that was one thing, but the second thing was that it was, I saw a shift, you know, projects, there were lots of projects maybe focused on, let's say, systems and IT and that side of it. And those projects were getting more and more on hold and shifting to projects more focused on cash and liquidity, like cash flow forecasting and whatnot. So that's something I saw happening. There was a major shift and then, and as you mentioned, I made this transit from PwC to Evolution Gaming as well. So, I mean, I do see that more and more companies are really focused now on cash management side of it. There are more roles out there focused on cash management itself. And I don't really see that changing in the near future. I think this is just getting started in a way. And you know, treasury, when I faced this myself, that when someone asks you, okay, what do you do in Treasury? What is Treasury? And then you try to explain and they're like, oh, you're the payment person. No, I'm not the payment person. There's more to that. And I think that example is a good way to understand that we're just getting started. Cash management is a good way to introduce treasury to companies and whatnot. But I don't think it's going to stay there. I think it's a good way to get started and then introduce more of what's going on. Could be fx, could mean more, you.

Know, and educated company.

Yes.

Yeah, great. Yeah, great stuff. Suzanne, over to you. What, you know, the challenges of COVID and you know, where do you see it going now?

So I would say with COVID like we're working from home. And when you are a new company, you join a company, it's quite a little bit complicated because you don't have the opportunity to travel to meet the other person, the other stakeholders at Act Treasury. But fortunately we have technology and we have a lot of calls in children and we having these teams and this technology that helps. And I would say it depends also from my side, I would say the company, well, the business growing, we're making a lot of acquisitions, so we didn't suffer too much. And I would say from the other company I left as an interim before the system is so well organized for security reason, they have to go to the office because this is also, I think very important. And when you implement a Treasury system, always think about increases, what will happen, how you have, what is the plan B to organize Treasury Department. And I keep this in mind. This is in fact Covid, but I'm thinking also you may have and I noticed that some company already have it. It's kind of super attack and you need a plan B. And Covid, I would say just before I left the previous company where I was working on interim, we were preparing this CBER attack and I was just thinking, well, we have Covid and how we organize, what is the plan B to organize Treasury? And when it's really, I would say when I think today we have to think really about these things may happen and we have to be aware of it and getting organized. So this is what I can say from my experience from COVID but mostly in treasury, it's still running and doing correctly and no big issue. No big issue for the so on. But for sure, I joined the two mom and Aisha that cash is key when we are in this kind of situation.

Yeah, you're three wonderful treasury professionals who happen to be women. I don't know if you've noticed, but I did and I was actually one of my treasurers actually said, look, I'm first of all a treasurer and I happen to be a woman and things like that. But at the end of the day, we've got women, we've got diversity, we've got gender, we've got all these different issues. You know, I'm Just wanting to ask you guys, do you think now in the current workplace, for instance, that enough is being done? You know, certainly, you guys, I'm sure we're doing it, but do you feel enough is being done to address the issues of gender diversity? You know, how do you guys promote it? You know, going mumtaz again first with you, and then we'll go around the panel.

Investors, at least I think they're doing a really, really good job. In the last one year, they actually started the program about diversity and inclusion and educating the whole organization to be aware of this. But I must say that even before they started this, I have not had any issues. And in fact, I took the biggest steps in my career since I joined Vestas because I have had one maternity leave. I am about to go on another maternity leave in spring, and it was as if it never happened when as soon as I came back to work after my maternity leave in 2017, two months later, they offered me a promotion and promoted me to the director level, even though I had been on maternity leave for 10 months. So I think that investors, this is going really, really well. And there's constantly this reminding to people and hiring managers that we need to be diverse and remember that it's not only the gender, it's not only the color, but there are people, fathers and mothers, even people who don't have children, who have other responsibilities that must be respected. And I'm not sure if that is a Danish thing, because we are a Danish company or a Scandinavian thing, but I can say that my experience as an Asian woman coming from the Maldives, it's quite different to what I have grown up with. But having said that, I did. I think my gender and my name have been in my way sometimes. And now I'm going to bring the pink elephant into the room. But I have experienced that I was told that when someone saw my name on the CV that they didn't want to ask me into an interview because they didn't want to have a lady with a burqa in the team. And I was very surprised to hear that. But I was still called in for the interview because the corporate stepped up and corrected this individual. So I think the corporate, the company did what was necessary to wipe that out.