How did you get into the treasury profession?
In my previous role as a manager in the international audit and advisory practice of PwC’s Amsterdam office, I encountered for the first time with treasury professionals and their treasury work. Several audit assignments included complex financial products, allowing me to learn from treasury specialists how these products work in practice. For example, credit default swaps, mortgage-backed securities, and non-performing loan portfolios.
What are your main treasury tasks?
My treasury tasks include ensuring that the revolving credit facilities remain in line with the liquidity needs of all ANWB Group entities (including new entities such as ANWB Energy). My tasks also include: maintaining stable bank relationships; cash flow forecasting and identifying deviations between actuals and forecast; ensuring that payment transactions are executed as cost-efficiently and effectively (frictionless and reliable) as possible; assessing and executing requests for forward currency transactions; advising the business units on treasury related challenges (e.g. projects financing); managing the treasury process; implementing continuous efficiency improvements (e.g. through robotisation); KYC and compliance issues.
What appeals to you about treasury?
Switching on different boards and on various levels makes my work as a treasurer challenging and almost never boring. The one moment I am writing a letter of advice for the Board of Management or Supervisory Board, the next moment I am assessing the daily cash position, sometimes with interesting developments that can contain important management information. Especially since interest rates have risen sharply, and subsequently the relevance of the time value of money, monitoring and optimizing cash flows is extra relevant.
What challenge in your treasury career has impressed you most?
There is not one particular challenge that comes to mind. The diversity of issues makes my work interesting. For example, organizing financing for our new headquarters in the centre of The Hague. Or for our new successful activity in the field of dynamic energy supply, in which we use smart apps to reduce energy peak consumption in the overloaded Dutch energy network.
Why is treasury such an interesting field?
To me treasury is such an interesting field of work because of the diversity of issues I am addressing, and the switching between multiple boards and levels within the organisation. Furthermore, many global developments affect important treasury parameters such as interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates. This means that you have to follow these global developments closely and determine their impact on your business.
On a business level, the important developments within a company often have an impact on your cash development or forecast. This means that I receive critical information and can think along about which projects (and products and services) we do or do not want to finance within our organisation.