10 July 2013
Auckland Council treasury team takes out top global awards
Auckland Council’s treasury team has won two awards at gtnews’ Awards for Global Corporate Treasury 2013, including the
coveted Judges' Choice Award.
Announced last night (9 July), the team took out the ‘Funding the Organisation Award’ for its transformation of treasury
funding in the three years following the 2010 Auckland Council amalgamation, as well as the overall ‘Judges’ Choice
Award’.
The awards attracted 71 entries from 53 different international corporate treasury departments, spanning nine different
categories.
“This global recognition is an outstanding result not only for council and the local government sector in New Zealand,
but also for Auckland ratepayers who can be confident that we have a world-class treasury team that manages the cash
flow and investment and secures the best borrowing rates for council,” says Chief Finance Officer, Andrew McKenzie.
“To receive the Judges’ Choice Award is a real accolade given that the other category winners were the treasury
operations of multi-national private sector companies such as Microsoft, Xerox, Coca-Cola, Nokia and Westinghouse
Electric,” he adds.
In 2010, Auckland Council became the largest non-bank borrower in domestic capital markets after the New Zealand
Government. Award judges said the treasury team overcame many challenges to transform council into a world-class
borrower using innovative solutions.
The Judges’ Choice Award is the supreme award and recognised the team’s ambitious multi-year project to manage the
treasury-related risks of council.
Since its inception in 2010, the awards event has a hard-earned reputation for authority and independence. The judging
panel consists of working treasury professionals from Tiffany's, AkzoNobel, SunGard, SABMiller and Merck, among other
corporates.
In May 2013, the treasury team won the prestigious Institute of Finance Professionals New Zealand Inc. (INFINZ) award
for Excellence in Treasury. In 2011 and 2012, Auckland Council Treasurer, Mark Butcher, was named KangaNews’ New Zealand
Treasurer of the Year.
ENDS