>e – T R E A S U R E R Page 1

I s s u e 4 > D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 8

>e-TREASURER

This was a sold out event again, held in the

Shelbourne Hotel on October 17th last and

is now firmly established in the financial

social calendar in Dublin. However our

educational events have also continued

apace. We hosted our first in many years in

Limerick in October with guest speakers

from Investec and Analog Devices. We also

hosted a presentation in Cork on the 11th

November and, again, there was a record

turnout at this event. Both were held in

conjunction with CIMA and this alliance has

proven to be fruitful to both professional

bodies. We look forward to further mutual

opportunities in the future with them. We

wrapped up the year with Smurfit Kappa in

Dublin on 25th November.

My year as President also comes to a close

at the beginning of December. Therefore,

I want to take this opportunity to thank our

patrons and speakers for their ongoing

support in organising events, the

committee for their fantastic commitment

over the course of the year and to you, the

members, for supporting our events in

numbers not previously seen by the

Association. I hope in some small way I

have managed to build on the great efforts

of the past presidents and that I hand over

the Association in good health to our

incoming president, Stuart Kirk.

I look forward to seeing many of you at

our events over the coming year.

Many thanks for your support and good

wishes and I wish a Happy Christmas and a

Peaceful New Year to you and your families.

John FinnPresident

Welcome to the fourth and final edition of E-Treasurer for 2008. It has been a busy quarter again forthe IACT with the Annual Dinner being the highlight.

Welcome

New Members Autumn/Winter 2008

Paul Kenny – Greencore Group

Mark Herbert – Citigroup

Rosemary Higgins – Lojack Equipment Ireland Ltd

Mark Hensey – KBC Bank

Kevin Halligan – KBC Bank

Chris Cusack – KBC Bank

Risteard Brennan – KBC Bank

Ross Mooney – KBC Bank

Damian Howley – KBC Bank

Ian Kelly – Bank of Scotland (Ire) Ltd

Tracey Sheehan – Bank of Scotland (Ire) Ltd

Mawardi Abu Bakar – Topaz Energy

Mary Treacy – Highland Pharma Ltd

Justine McCosh – ESB

Christopher Donohoe – Ingersoll Rand

Feargal O’Reilly – Dublin Airport Authority

>e – T R E A S U R E R Page 2

17th October 2008Annual Dinner – The Shelbourne Hotel The IACT held its Annual Dinner at the Shelbourne Hotel on Friday 17 October 2008. A record 317 people attended on the evening.

Very special thanks to all of you for supporting our Gala Dinner and to our guest speakers Mr. Enda Kenny and Mr. John Treacy.

Congratulations to Rory Hudson who received his award on the night for the IACT/DCU Student of the Year - 2008.

Thanks also to the members who sent in some very kind compliments regarding the success of the evening. We look forward to seeing

you in the Shelbourne in 2009! For those of you lucky enough to have had your photo taken on the night with the Heineken Cup or

with some friends and colleagues, further pictures can be viewed on our website www.treasurers.ie.

Guest Speakers John Treacy and Enda Kenny,pictured with IACT President, John Finn

John Norton (Greencore)

and Therese Noonan (NIB)

Anne Fitzgerald (Securitas), Sean Grace(Securitas) and Susan Webb (Pfizer)

Elaine O’Shea (Danske Markets), Orla Charles

(Danske Markets) and Leslie Cosgrave (BOIGM)Padraig Brosn

an, Caroline Walsh

and Colm Moriarty (ESB)

Rory Hudson (DCU/IACT Student of the Year)and John Finn (IACT President)

John Finn (IACT President)

and Lisa O’Shea (GOAL)Ailish Connolly (AIB) and Cara Moran (DCC plc)

REC

ENT

EVEN

TS

CIMA/IACT Autumn Seriesof Economic Briefing andTreasury Updates Presentation by Analog/Investec – Strand Hotel, Limerick

The first of our autumn economic series of Economic Briefings and Treasury Updates was held in Limerick onWednesday 22nd October. Speakers at the event were David Page, Chief Economist - Investec Bank, NollaigO’Connor, European Finance Manager – Analog Devices and Emma Twomey, European Treasury Manager –Analog Devices.

>e – T R E A S U R E R Page 3

David who is based in London, gave thebanks view on the likely economic andfinancial market prospects in 2009 forIreland, the UK and beyond in a verydetailed presentation. As always it isinteresting to get the view of those fromoutside the country to challenge our ownperspective from time to time. Emma andNollaig then set out the treasury andrelated accounting/service activities fromthe Shared Service Centre of Analog

Devices based in Limerick. Again this wasa most insightful and interestingpresentation and a useful model formultinationals based outside the Dublinmetropolitan area. Their presentationreinforced the importance of treasury in amultinational context and also its ability toadd value sitting side by side with aFinancial Shared Service Centre. In totalalmost 50 people attended the meetingwhich was a very positive turnout for

what was our first event in Limerick inquite a number of years and augurs wellfor future events in that part of the country.

Finally we would like to thank InvestecBank and in particular Peter Ellis whohelped to promote the event in the MidWest, and who also very kindly providedrefreshments before and afterwards

CIMA/IACT Autumn Seriesof Economic Briefing andTreasury UpdatesPresentation by O’Flynn Constuction/KBC Bank – The Elysian, Cork City

The Winter Treasury Series co-hosted with CIMA continued with a presentation in Cork on November 11th byBrendan Lenihan, Group Finance Director, O’Flynn Group and Austin Hughes, Chief Economist, KBC Bank Ireland.

Brendan outlined the approach to treasuryundertaken by this increasingly internationaland diverse group while Austin gave his wellinformed views on the outlook for the Irishand worldwide economies for the comingyear. The event took place in the new citycentre development of the O’Flynn Group,The Elysian, and gave the whole presentationan added dimension as a result.

The event was easily the largest ever hostedby IACT outside of Dublin in many yearswith 80 attendees present. On this basis, wewould hope to continue running joint eventswith CIMA in Cork for the foreseeable futuregiven that such numbers would rival Dublinevents at this point in time.

The rapid increase in the attendance in theCork events over the last four years sincethey were reinstated reinforces our view thatthe demand is there for quality events formembership around the country. Yoursupport in this regard is vital.

> e – T R E A S U R E R Page 4

6th and 7th November 2008 – Corporate Treasury and CashManagement ConferenceRoyal Hospital , Kilmainham

The Corporate Treasury and CashManagement Conference 2008,supported and endorsed by IACT, washeld on 6 and 7 November last in theRoyal Hospital Kilmainham. Goldsponsors of the event were Ulster Bankand it was introduced by John McGuinness Minister of State for Trade and Commerce chaired on Day 1 byJohn Finn, IACT President.

Simon Barry of Ulster Bank presented anoverview of global financial markets andthere followed a panel discussion on thecredit crunch and its impact on the Treasury function.

Tesco Group plc provided a veryinteresting insight into their developmentof a Treasury Management system, frominception to execution and testing.

Cash Management and Cash Flow issueswere well covered by Jonathan Hanly ofUlster Bank and Tom Byrne of CIE. SusanWebb gave an interesting and wellpresented insight into the workings of thePfizer Treasury operation in Ireland. Aninteractive discussion on the role of theTreasurer took place with John Finn,Susan Webb, Mary Sheahan of Elan,Nathan Dunton of Circle Anglia and IanLadd of DSG International UK (Dixons,PC World).

The following morning was hosted byVice President of IACT Stuart Kirk, IDA(Kieron Donoghue) presented on Irelandas a centre for International Treasury. Theconference finished with memorable

contributions from Deirdre Somers (IrishStock Exchange), Paul O’Connor (IrishBankers Federation), Jerry Moriarty(IAPF), Jim Power and Professor Ray Kinsella.

In general, the Conference appealed notonly to Treasurers but also to members oftheir staff and to bankers, accountantsand finance professionals. Excellent CPDCredits are available and it is a very goodlearning and interactive forum to keep upto date with developments in the treasuryand wider financial worlds.

All in all, a very successful event and wellworthy of the support of you and yourstaff for next year.

Minister for Trade and Commerce, John McGuinnesswith John Finn, IACT President and HSBC staff

Simon Barry (Ulster Bank) giving keynote address

>e – T R E A S U R E R Page 5

Ernst and Young in France surveyed 55 treasurers across

Europe on their views on a variety of areas. The in-depth

survey and conclusions from it are attached below. The

results show that the treasury functions of the companies that

participated share similar organization structures regardless

of their size or industry. Therefore, the identified trends can

be considered within a broader context and the

conclusions may be applicable to other companies,

including companies in Ireland. Unsurprisingly, liquidity

turned out to be a key issue in this survey, but other

longer term trends retained their prominence.

CLICK HERE TO VIEWEUROPEAN TREASURY

SURVEY

25th November 2008 Managing Treasury in Smurfit Kappa Group At the IACT breakfast briefing on the 25th November in Dublin, Paul Regan, Group Treasurer, Smurfit KappaGroup, provided a fascinating insight into the key treasury issues for his company. Paul explained how Treasuryworks in Smurfit Kappa.

He also outlined the key transactions over the last six years thathad created the Group, and its financial structure. Thesetransactions involved leveraging and de-leveraging at differenttimes, depending on shareholder requirements and marketconditions. Smurfit Kappa had put in place attractive, long termlending and committed facilities before the credit crunch hadbitten. Paul spoke about those market conditions, with very lowmargins, and 'covenant-lite' agreements for highly leveragedcompanies, and how Smurfit Kappa had taken advantage ofthose conditions. Paul went on to talk about the current creditcrisis, the issues that are exercising their minds in this new world,and how people should respond to this new environment.

Patrick Corkery (VanFleet Transport), Paul Regan(Smurfit Kappa) and Brendan Murphy (ESB)

Treasury survey from Ernst & Young

>e – T R E A S U R E R Page 6

PATRONS 2008The Association has invited selected treasury service providers IACT Patrons - to support our services to, and communicationefforts with, our members. We are pleased that the following IACT Patrons have provided financial support to help us in ouractivities. Please show your reciprocal support to them by visiting their websites:

CLICK ON ICON TOVIEW PATRONS

WEBSITE