BrazilTrio of European Zanders clients win leading treasury award
Treasury Today, a global platform for the world of treasury, has announced the 2020 winners of its annual Adam Smith Awards. A total of twenty five companies were lauded for delivering an industry-leading performance across transformations, solutions and innovation.
Three of the companies recognised – British American Tobacco, Kongsberg Automotive and Severn Trent – have one thing in common; their treasury transformation was supported by Zanders, an international consultancy specialised in among others treasury. A round up of why the companies won an award and how Zanders supported them:
British American Tobacco
As a part of a larger IHC/POBO/ROBO/Bank statement implementation project, British American Tobacco had to update a range of business partners with new settlement instructions. The UK-headquartered multinational therefore set out to create and assign standard settlement instructions (SSI) in SAP, at business partner level for specific product types in an accurate, timely and auditable manner.
Using a robotic process automation (RPA) tool, British American Tobacco automated this process. Zanders supported British American Tobacco with the design and build of the RPA solution. “Through the partnership with the Zanders team, we managed to deliver our project successfully, on time,” said Diana Macarascu, Head of Treasury Operations at British American Tobacco.
At the Adam Smith Awards, this project won the ‘Best Fintech Solution’ accolade.
Kongsberg Automotive
Back in 2018, Swedish automotive supplier Kongsberg Automotive launched a large treasury transformation. The firm’s Group Treasurer Abraham Geldenhuys explained: “We started our journey with an ambitious vision. We then went on to deliver a strategic road map, detail ‘as-is’ analysis, understanding and documenting our functional and non-functional requirements, blueprint, implementation plan and a change management approach.”
The transformation was backed by a technology agenda. This included the implementation of a new treasury management system (TMS) and an intercompany rating and pricing tool, as well as a comprehensive process optimisation. The combination of all activities enabled Kongsberg Automotive to notably grow its treasury maturity.
According to the jury of the Adam Smith Awards, the transformation is a “shining example of a best practice approach”. Having already won an award last year, this year the company took home the ‘Harnessing the Power of Technology’ prize.
Zanders supported Kongsberg Automotive with a near end-to-end service: group advisory, system selection, bank reorganisation and negotiation, change management and operational support. “They are a class outfit, bringing real depth and experience. It has been, and still is, a pleasure to collaborate with them.”
For more information: A tech-driven treasury transformation at Kongsberg Automotive.
Severn Trent
Severn Trent, a listed UK water company, is being exposed to increasing financial complexity. This includes interest and inflation risk originating from its core business, the regulatory framework, the debt portfolio, future debt planning and an inflation linked dividend policy.
The company therefore set out to implement a more integrated and quantitative financial risk management (FRM) approach. Zanders supported with the design of the strategic financial risk management framework to manage its primary financial risks, and the adoption of other measures for enhanced financial risk management.
John Jackson, Group Treasurer of Severn Trent, on the project: “The purpose-built risk management tool has given us the ability to provide leading edge analysis to support financing decisions in the future. We were conscious that we were breaking new ground with this project, so having a partner we could trust to deliver was paramount. Zanders’ detailed and collaborative approach helped things run smoothly and any issues were quickly analysed and resolved.”
At the Adam Smith Awards, Severn Trent won the ‘Best Risk Management Solution’ award.
Zanders is an independent consulting firm specialised in treasury, risk and finance. The firm was founded in 1994 in the Netherlands, and today has seven offices, including two outside of Europe: New York and Tokyo.
