Agenda

08:00  REGISTRATION, REFRESHMENTS AND EXHIBITION OPEN

08:45 Opening address
Andrew Sawers, Editorial Director, EuroFinance

08:55 Chair’s welcome
Sander van Tol, Senior EuroFinance Tutor; and Partner, Zanders, The Netherlands

09:00 The shifting regulatory landscape (Panel session)
The regulatory environment is changing quickly, with many agencies working to create rules that, they hope, will prevent another financial meltdown. On top of the efforts by individual national governments, add the regulatory layer being created by Brussels as it seeks to create new bodies with tougher powers over financial services and capital markets. Then there’s the G20 – initially not much more than a talking shop but increasingly a powerful force in its own right. Our panel of experts will discuss how the landscape is changing and how it will affect the relationship between banks and their corporate clients.
Lane Silverman, European Corporate Treasurer, Bunge, Switzerland
Ingmar Bergmann, Group Treasurer, Eneco Energy, The Netherlands
Tim King, Editor, European Voice, Brussels
Francisco Caballero Sanz, Head of Unit of Analysis of Financial Market, European Commission, Brussels

10:00 Economic outlook: Where cash fits into the global picture (Expert speaker)
Economic outlook binds together the key themes of the conference, examining the prospects for the major economies, foreign exchange
rates, and interest rates. Is recession now behind us? Is the dollar doomed, overburdened by the weight of US debt? And when interest rates finally come off the floor, what will happen then? Treasurers and CFOs need to put their heads together on these issues to devise appropriate financial strategies for their businesses.
Caroline Bain, Senior Commodities Editor, The Economist Intelligence Unit, UK

10:30 REFRESHMENT BREAK

11:00 The long-term lessons from the crisis (Expert speaker)
The financial crisis caused plenty of mayhem in corporate treasuries all around the world. By and large, they rose to the challenge and saved the day. But as the worst effects start to recede, what are the longer term lessons to be learned, rather than the knee-jerk reactions? What are treasurers now doing differently? How are banking relationships changing as a result? PricewaterhouseCoopers unveils its latest global treasury survey here at our event, revealing exclusively for our delegates what has fundamentally changed for corporate treasurers.
Damien McMahon, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Belgium

11:30 What CFOs want from their treasurers ­ and what treasurers can offer the CFO (Panel session)
Together, the treasurer and the CFO should be an unbeatable pairing: ­ the right combination of strategic vision and technical expertise. But how do the treasurer and the CFO really interact? The CFO is so often pulled in all sorts of other directions and is perhaps too easily distracted by the other demands on their time. Meanwhile, the treasurer may have value-creating ideas but not have the ear of the CFO. How can they work together better to ensure that detailed cash management tactics are in synch with strategic objectives, to create value and to increase forward visibility? In this session:
• Treasurers will learn how to work more closely with the rest of the business
• CFOs will learn how they can treat treasury as a strategic, value-creating function
Philippe Santin, CFO, Dover Corporation Europe, Luxembourg
PierPaolo Di Fabio, Corporate Director – Finance, KME Group Spa, Italy
Ernst de Kuiper, Group Treasurer & EVP Finance, CEVA Logistics, The Netherlands
George Dessing, Vice President, Corporate Treasurer, Wolters Kluwer, The Netherlands

12:20 LUNCH

13:40 Conference breaks into streams after lunch (See stream tabs)
Stream 1 Drill-down into tactical cash management issues
Stream 2 An overview of strategic cash management issues

16:30  Strategies for centralisation, visibility and control in uncertain times (Case study)
Where is your cash? Cash is the oil in the machinery of your company. It’s not the preserve of conservative fiefdoms in the outreaches of your organisation, it belongs to the company, to the shareholders. Trapped cash in local bank accounts is often seen as not being real money. Centralisation is driven by the need to improve efficiency. Notional pooling is one way of using passive techniques of liquidity management to mobilise cash and enhance visibility.
Mike Ballet, Group Treasurer and Credit Manager, Aviapartner Holding NV, Belgium
Filip Delen, Consultant International Cash Management, KBC Global Services, Belgium

17:10 Transformational technology: How Los Angeles created a virtual treasury (Case study)
With annual cash flow of around $60 billion and more than 40 separate lines of business, ranging from airports to a zoo, the City of Los Angeles presents one of the biggest treasury challenges. Recently the City undertook a major technological transformation, creating a “virtual treasury” while redefining the function as a “partner” of the organisation. This eye-opening session offers critical lessons for European treasurers as to what can be achieved in just 18 months and how to design and implement the project management strategy.
Stefan Jaskulak, Director of Cash Management Services, Office of the Treasurer, City of Los Angeles, USA

17:50 Treasury Networking Reception

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Chair: Sander van Tol, Senior EuroFinance Tutor; and Partner, Zanders, The Netherlands

13:40 Global cash visibility (Case study)
The nature and extent of risk management has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. With the need to concentrate risk management globally, you need best possible visibility: of your bank accounts, your subsidiaries. This multinational company, with subsidiaries in nearly all countries in the world, explains how it uses zero balance cash pooling for local currencies and how it handles balances on standalone foreign currency accounts, as well as a notional pool for countries with certain restrictions. Intercompany clearing via the in-house bank is used to minimize external banking transactions while at the same time dealing with the FX risk globally.
Volker Mademann, Senior Treasury Manager, Corporate Treasury; Liquidity and Back Office Management, Deutsche Post AG, Germany

14:20 SEPA payments: The real deal (Case study)
Sitting on your hands to make a decision about using SEPA for payments? Heard plenty about the promises and now waiting to see the evidence? Without a firm end date for legacy systems, it’s not that easy to know when and if to make the jump. So if you are waiting for a corporate to show exactly what the benefits are and how it works in Europe, now is your chance to see a bona fide case study of a company that has embraced SEPA. AGFA is one of the first major corporates to have done so. In this session, AGFA will share their experiences on SEPA migration into a Payment Factory set-up.
Tom Van der Auwera, Group Treasurer, Agfa, Belgium
Francois de Witte, Head PCM Sales Belgium & Continental Western Europe, ING, Belgium

15:00 Actionable metrics: Reality spread out in front of you (Panel session)
Do you feel bamboozled by metrics? Are you able to say “These are the risks and this is how we quantify them”, rather than “Here is a list”? It’s good to see the things that are relevant to you – but better to see the things you can do something about. Actionable metrics are those that integrate reporting with the management process. What better way to have your cash fully on display? See all your important exposures, your foreign exchange, your commodities, collections, cash applications. KPIs such as days’ sales outstanding are only of relevance to you if they can be acted upon: what use are DSOs if they don’t tell you the time to clear receivables and how to allocate and report invoices? Is the value-at-risk figure you arrive at just a number, or can you actively use it? What you measure you should be able to manage.
Magnus Sand, Treasurer, Ovako, Sweden
Lane Silverman, European Corporate Treasurer, Bunge, Switzerland
Katarina Lodin, Senior Advisor, TradeWiz International BV, The Netherlands

16:00 REFRESHMENT BREAK

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Chair: Andrew Sawers, Editorial Director, EuroFinance

13:40 A SWIFT foot in the door (Case study)
With the shock waves of banks not lending to each other still in the memory, it could help to remove one element of risk. What is the real business case for SWIFT? If local bank systems are pretty cheap already, what is the advantage in hard cash terms? Bank-neutral platforms are certainly appealing for some, as is the issue of extreme visibility. But costs are still a drawback. So what is the business case for SWIFT that the corporate CFO demands?
Sofia DA Cunha, Deputy Cash Manager, ArcelorMittal, Belgium
Peter Pollaert, Head of Cash Management Belgium, BNP Paribas Fortis, Belgium

14:20 Transfer pricing: Relative values (Case study)
Transfer pricing for intercompany balances and multinational capital raising and investment is a real concern. It raises many technical questions and, as governments scrabble for tax revenues, your company may be at risk of being caught out by changes in transfer pricing and duties. Allocating profits for tax and other purposes around a multinational just gets harder. But you will get lost among the trees if you don’t take a strategic look at the issues. How will recent legal changes affected your company’s liquidity? If you are arranging intercompany loans how do you determine the correct arm’s length interest rate? What is the latest thinking from the tax authorities – and what do you have to do to prove to them that you are fully compliant?
Harry Blok, Director Corporate Finance, AkzoNobel, The Netherlands

15:00 Foraging for funding (Panel session)
You had great terms, now you don’t. What are the prospects for raising capital? Is the commercial paper market dead? Is self-syndication a better prospect than relying on your banks for loan funding? How have forward start facilities fared as a way of securing future funding? What about the future for money market funds? Where do ratings fit into the picture – are they imperative? Should companies be looking at issuing bonds for cash purposes?
Wim Lambrecht, Corporate Treasurer, Multi Corporation BV, The Netherlands
Alexandre Clar, Treasurer (EMEA), PPG Europe BV, The Netherlands
Marcio Barbosa, Senior Vice President & Global Head of Corporate Finance, Royal Philips Electronics, The Netherlands

16:00 REFRESHMENT BREAK

Agenda

EuroFinance is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.
Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417; Website: http://www.nasba.org
For more information regarding refund, complaint and cancellation policies, contact EuroFinance on +44 (0)20 7576 8555.

Agenda

EuroFinance is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.
Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417; Website: http://www.nasba.org

Agenda

EuroFinance is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.
Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417; Website: http://www.nasba.org

Agenda

EuroFinance is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.
Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417; Website: http://www.nasba.org

Tuesday 23 March 2010

08:00 REGISTRATION, REFRESHMENTS AND EXHIBITION OPENS

09:00 Chair’s welcome
Christopher Robinson, Senior EuroFinance Tutor; and Director, transactionbanking.com

09:05 Opening address
Rick Pudner, CEO, Emirates NBD, UAE

09:10 Benchmarking your treasury operations: The view from the Middle East (Interactive voting)
Take this opportunity to hear what your peers will focus on in the coming 12 months. What do they believe will happen with the global and local economy? Which markets do they believe will remain stressed and which are the ones in which to look for opportunities? Is further bad news on its way from Dubai? How does that impact cash and liquidity management? Have treasury structures and practices been redesigned to make treasury less vulnerable to volatility? The latest crisis in Dubai will make banks even more cautious on lending so for companies seeking financing, where will they turn? From bank relationships, through to technological innovation and risk mitigation, treasury professionals will have their own priorities so this is your opportunity to compare them. This session will look at current issues facing those managing treasury in the Middle East and more globally.

09:40 Coping with the legacy of crisis (Panel session)
The crisis played havoc with treasury operations of companies as they fought to find liquidity, maintain their bank relationships in the face of tough market conditions and keep trade and transactions flowing. What did companies learn and has the crisis made treasury that much stronger? Because companies in the region are so heavily dependent on trade, in the transaction and supply chain space what have companies learned? How are they doing things differently and will this pay off in terms of better opportunities and growth? This panel of corporates will also review the impact to risk mitigation techniques and detail how they are feeling more secure, more opportunistic and positive for the future.
Surendra Lavti, Executive Director Corporate Affairs, Vinmar International
B Karunakaran Kutty, Credit Manager, Sasol Middle East, Dubai, UAE
Muwaffak Jamal, Vice President, Commercial & Strategy, HyperPanda (The Savola Group), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Jaideep Singh, Chief Treasury Officer, Fal Oil
Kersi Patel, Regional Head of Trade and Supply Chain, Middle East, HSBC

10:20 Becoming an opportunistic company (Case study)
The worst of the global crisis may be behind us (although its legacies will remain for a while yet and some pessimists believe there will be more to come), so how are dynamic companies gearing up for growth? Which markets are presenting opportunities and what are the obstacles for operating in them? How can companies take advantage of supply chain developments, public markets and acquisitions to drive the business forward? How do go-to companies structure their treasury, cash and risk operations to support growth? This case study will look at how one company is positioning itself for the opportunities that will arise for forward-looking companies.
Marcus Freeman, Group Chief Financial Officer, Chalhoub Group, Dubai, UAE

11:00 REFRESHMENT BREAK

11:40 Building a treasury culture (Case study)
From local player to global stage, this company will talk about using innovative international approaches to funding and treasury to grow quickly and strongly. How do you create a culture of treasury so that the treasurer can actually guide and lead expansion of the company? This international treasurer will talk about his experiences of taking knowledge gained in other markets and applying it to a local company. Can you replicate policies, infrastructure and strategies in a different culture? From governance and internal controls to technology, cash management systems, and funding, how do you take best practice globally and apply this to companies in the Middle East? This corporate case study will look at one company’s experience and how careful consideration and planning yielded great opportunities.
Daniele Vecchi, Senior Vice President, Head of Group Treasury, Majid Al Futtaim Group LLC

12:20 Using shared services to bolster liquidity (Case study)
Shared service centres are a globally accepted tool for centralising a number of treasury functions to manage cash more effectively, improve efficiency by lowering the cost of processing of accounting transactions, and to enhance visibility of cash. While location for an SSC is driven by individual corporate requirements, the services that the centre can provide can usually be applied universally. In this session, a multi-national company will discuss its experience with an SSC in the Middle East and the role that e-banking solutions play in making it a success. What services do best-in-class SSCs provide and what are the benefits and drawbacks of SSCs in this new world that prioritises risk mitigation?
Stuart Heath, Manager Shared Service Centre, Halliburton, Dubai, UAE

13:00 LUNCH

14:30 Funding day-to-day cross-border transactions (Case study)
Cross-border flows are increasingly important to companies even if volumes are down, as they seek new markets to offset stagnation in other regions. Whether active in 10 countries or 50, managing risk in cross-border transactions remains a priority for companies around the world. How do you ensure financing of these flows, particularly in a world that has become less trusting and has less liquidity? What are some of the products on offer that can provide funding or manage the risk of cross-border transactions?
Cuan Duncan, Group Treasurer, Al-Futtaim, Dubai, UAE
Farrukh Siddiqui, Executive Director, Head of Trade Sales MENA, Treasury Services, J.P. Morgan, Dubai, UAE

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Chaired by Christopher Robinson, Senior EuroFinance Tutor; and Director, transactionbanking.com

08:30 REFRESHMENTS AND EXHIBITION OPENS

09:00 Mounting problems for the West as China strengthens? (Keynote speaker)
Economists are uncertain just what 2010 will hold, but this session will look at the impact so far on the West as countries, particularly the UK and the US, count the cost of their mounting debt toll. Hear a prominent global economist speak about the coming year’s challenges for major trading blocs and currencies. As China gains prominence in the global economy, can we expect the dollar to lose its status as a reserve currency? How will the decline of dollar’s standing impact the Middle East? How will developments around the world affect currencies, interest rates and GDP growth for the countries of the Middle East?
Timothy Fox, Chief Economist, Global Markets & Treasury, Emirates NBD, Dubai, UAE

09:40 Dubai under the microscope (Guest speaker)
Dubai, the city of superlatives – the largest, the tallest, the most luxurious – was impacted greatly by the crisis, but has the city’s lustre permanently dulled? Certainly Dubai took another big knock when debt-laden Dubai World requested a six-month standstill debt of $26 billion and Moody’s downgraded its ratings on six other Dubai companies. Critics of Dubai say that putting 50 years of development into five has presented impossible problems for the Emirate’s ambitions and that consequently debt-laden companies will simply not recover for a long time to come. Admirers say Dubai has a strong ability to reinvent itself when necessary. No one doubts the future of places like Abu Dhabi because of oil, but just what will it take to get Dubai into shape and ensure its long-term success? The business community is still struggling for answers. Here is one view of the potential, the problems and of course, the impact on property and industry; both in which government, companies and individuals are so heavily vested.

10:10 Sailing through the storm: Moving forward across the corporate finance and treasury management spectrum in challenging times (Case study) 
Having financial flexibility was one of the key lessons learned in the banking and economic crisis. As the property bubble burst, cheap liquidity disappeared, the US dollar strengthened and companies no longer trusted the rating agencies to help them determine counterparty risk, a new set of priorities was forced upon treasury – all of which required a new approach to funding and risk management. Preserving capital and enhancing liquidity became the top priorities after counterparty risk. Strengthening bank relationships also became key. This company will talk about how successfully managing in such turbulent times gave them new insight into how treasury, funding and risk management should be structured to be flexible and less vulnerable. Based on knowledge gained through the crisis, which approaches had to be taken, which policies had to change? Did the latest Dubai debt problem have an impact in terms of banking practice or risk issues? This session will help every company learn how to guard as best as one can against external shocks in the future.
Jan-Martin Nufer, Director Treasury & Funding, Borealis AG

10:50 REFRESHMENT BREAK

11:20 How incoming regulation is likely to drive change in corporate financial operations (Expert speaker)
Make no mistake about it, big government is back. Leaders around the world are calling for sweeping reform of global financial regulation and the fallout from this will have a significant impact on how companies do business, including how they are funded, how they invest and even how they report their results. Capital adequacy reforms, more oversight of the banking and financial industry and greater transparency, tougher regulation on OTC derivatives, securitisation and hedge funds, and even caps on compensation in the financial sector will change the rulebook for good. How will it affect the global banking sector and, consequently, banks in the Middle East? This session will look at how your costs are going to go up, how banking rules will probably be misapplied to the corporate sector and the strategies that might help you mitigate regulatory risk.

12:00 Risky business (Corporate panel)
Following the session on regulatory risk, we talk to some key companies with significant Middle East operations about how the risk picture has changed in the last two years. How do companies reduce the volatility and uncertainty in their operations? Extreme volatility in commodities and currencies have played havoc with corporate profitability, so to what extent should companies be hedging and with what type of products? What will the new IAS 39 do to corporate hedging strategies? Country and political risk has always been an issue for the Middle East. How are companies taking new and proactive approaches to managing this? And, of course, counterparty risk has dominated the agenda for the past two years. What have companies learned and what tools do they now use? From explaining risk to your stakeholders to measuring the effectiveness of your risk management, this session will help you protect your business.
Arijit Shome, Group Treasurer, Almarai Company
Mussab Abdulmajid Al-Wohabe, Group Treasurer, Saudi Arabian Amaintit Company

13:00 LUNCH

14:30 Supporting growth in the region: Do companies and banks work together effectively? (Panel session)
How realistic is Dubai’s ambition as a global financial centre and the Middle East’s potential as a hub between east and west? What are banks doing to support growth in the Middle East? Can local and global banks work together or are competitive pressures too strong? What is the position regarding local bank strength, liquidity and expertise versus the global players, particularly as both local and international banks have huge exposure to heavily-indebted Dubai companies? What will be the impact of this latest crisis on bank lending and support for local and regional companies? Where is liquidity coming from in the region? Who is offering their balance sheet to support the global ambitions of both MNCs based in the region and local companies? What do companies require from their banking partners and are these needs being met? This panel discussion will talk about both bank and corporate aspirations; obstacles and opportunities as well as the liquidity and risk environment from both perspectives.
Karl Andersson, Treasury & Investment Manager, Corporate Finance, Higher Corporation for Specialized Economic Zones, ZonesCorp
Jan-Martin Nufer, Director Treasury & Funding, Borealis AG
Simon Penney, Head of GBM Middle East and Africa, RBS, UAE
James Binns, Head of Commercial Banking UAE, HSBC

15:30 REFRESHMENT BREAK

16:00 Better cash-control and flow-forecasting (Panel session)
Nothing taught treasurers better the value of cash and knowing where it is than the global financial crisis. Even for those companies fairly insulated from the mayhem, boards and shareholders began asking questions about where the cash was sitting and just how safe it was. As credit dried up in the international markets, treasurers were forced to look at internal cash to fund day-to-day business and projects. Treasurers worldwide reported that cash flow forecasting became one of the most important tools in the treasury arsenal. This corporate case study will look at best-in-class forecasting, accurate and reliable data flow, as well as assessing cash needs and better cash management. How can your cash forecasting and cash management contribute to a more stable business strategy?
Hussain Al Sayegh, Manager, Treasury, Dubai Aluminium

17:00 Conference closes