Is automation the solution to challenges in treasury?

In this episode of The Treasury Career Corner podcast, I speak with Vasu Reddy, Treasury Director – Africa at GE. He discusses the challenges of working with multiple countries in South and Central Africa, handling different languages, currencies, and processes. He believes that automation and AI are the solutions to dealing with outdated treasury systems.

Vasu is responsible for providing a strategic and operational overview on global funding, cash, investments, borrowings and foreign exchange management, and other treasury services for GE's operations. This includes trade finance and guarantees, credit risk, factoring, insurance, M&A transactions, and repatriations in Sub-Saharan Africa which spans over 25 countries.

He also supports the business needs for providing strategic advice on contract structuring, currency and cash restrictions, market research, indicative pricing, and hedging and liquidity strategies. As well as this, he’s responsible for establishing and maintaining global, regional, and local banking relationships with preferred and approved banks, central banks, and financial institutions.

Vasu joined GE from Chevron, South Africa, where he was the Senior Treasury Manager, covering South & Central Africa for seven years. Prior to that, he was at Land and Development Bank of SA before spending six years at Woolworths Holdings Ltd. He is a highly experienced professional with 24 years’ treasury, banking, and finance experience, having worked in multinational companies in retail, banking, oil & gas sectors, and diversified manufacturing and industrials.

Vasu holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) degree, an Honours degree in Financial Management from the University of Cape Town, a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. He also completed the Leadership Executive Program at the Graduate School of Business, Cape Town. Vasu is a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers, South Africa.

On the podcast, we discussed…

• Vasu’s background in accounting and finance management
• Why Vasu believes that treasury roles are varied and far from mundane
• How dealing with multiple different cultures, currencies, languages, and processes is a challenge
• Why automation and new tech is vital for banks and treasury departments to invest in
• The challenge of remote work when working with lots of different people
• Vasu’s tips for getting ahead in a treasury role.

You can connect with Vasu on LinkedIn.

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