Citigroup holds treasury confab

Financial services giant Citigroup recently reinforced its commitment to be more than just bankers to its customers through a unique cash, trade and treasury conference held at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel on May 15. The conference, entitled "Creating Competitive Advantage," was designed to provide finance managers with additional tools and fresh insights to enable them to function effectively in an increasingly demanding business environment.

"As business partners, we seek to add value to our customers’ businesses by providing them with excellent training opportunities such as this," says Citigroup Country Officer James F. Hunt. "Being the global leader in financial services, we have access to the latest state-of-the art products and techniques which we make available in more than 100 markets. This is what we seek to share with our customers."

Citigroup strengthened its partnership with senior managers of its corporate customer base by offering them a comprehensive choice of sessions. The topics ranged from managing change in today’s market place, doing business in China, and effective payables and receivables management.

A new dimension added to the conference was the session on e-treasury solutions. Hunt points out that "increasingly, the lines between traditional finance and treasury are blurring. We wanted to bring these varied topics together for benefit of the participants. Now, more than ever, the finance manager has a real opportunity to help their companies achieve greater competitiveness."

One of the components of the conference was a high-level panel discussion moderated by Makati Business Club President Guillermo Luz. Distinguished panelists were Texas Instruments finance director Alan Boyd, Caltex Shared Services Center general manager William Pfluger, PLDT director and chief financial advisor Christopher Young, and Jollibee Foods Corp. vice president for Shared Services Paul Zaldarriaga. The panelists shared their personal views on the key trends, challenges and opportunities facing today’s finance manager.