Etihad Airways Wins 2016 Treasury of the Year Award

Ricky Thirion, Group Treasurer at Etihad Aviation Group, pictured left, being presented with the 2016 Treasury of the Year award by Michiel Radder, EMEA Director Sales Management at BNP Paribas

Etihad Airways has been honoured with the 2016 Treasury of the Year award by Treasury Management International (TMI) for a string of achievements over the past 12 months. The annual TMI Corporate Recognition Awards, held recently in London, reflect achievements in treasury and finance policy, practice and innovation.

The Abu Dhabi-based airline’s treasury department was once again recognised for excellence in capital raising and to drive efficiency across the business.

Etihad Airways was commended for securing landmark funding agreements from the international financial community that raised over US$2.7 billion in the debt capital markets, as well as evolving its treasury systems infrastructure and streamlining processes to improve productivity.

In 2016, Etihad Airways drove the issuance of a second Etihad Airways Partners bond transaction of US$500m, together with a debut US$1.5 billion five-year Sukuk issuance, the largest ever non-sovereign Sukuk.

Etihad Airways also implemented leading edge treasury systems technology to drive greater efficiency, and radically reduced the number of suppliers for the bulk of its global transactional banking services to just two following a thorough evaluation of cash management capabilities.

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) was chosen as the airline’s Middle East strategic partner and Citi was named Etihad Airways’ international cash management bank affiliate in all other global markets.

The treasury team has responsibilities that have extended beyond many group treasury functions. In addition to core treasury activities such as cash, liquidity and risk management, it is responsible for corporate funding and structured finance, insurance, tax, property and infrastructure, payment solutions functions and fraud prevention across the group and in support of the airline’s equity partner airlines.

Voting for the award was by a TMI-led independent judging panel, based on articles and case studies of the airline’s treasury activities.