How important is treasury to an overall business?

While it may have previously been a mere offshoot of accounting, treasury is now a fully-fledged and essential department. To talk about the importance of treasury in modern companies, Ramez Sabawi, the Treasurer at Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP), joined this episode.

Ramez explains how the importance of treasury has changed and expanded over the years and become more about strategy and risk management.

SATORP is the largest state-of-the-art refinery in the Middle East and Asia, with a daily refining capacity of 460,000 barrels. Ramez is also SATORP’s Head of Corporate Risk & Investments. In these capacities, he maintains responsibility for:

• Capital markets activities, including corporate finance investments and foreign exchange
• Liquidity and cash management operations
• Insurance and risk management
• Compliance governance and controls within Finance & Treasury sectors

Ramez has strong banking, corporate finance, and treasury experience for more than 29 years in the industry. He started working with major banks in London in the early 90s before leading the corporate treasury functions in some of the major corporates in the Middle East and the GCC. He’s worked in several industries such as Engineering, Consulting, Telecom, Shipping, Trading, and finally, Oil & Gas.

During his professional career, Ramez won the “Highly Commended Deal of the Year” from ACT in 2010. He is also currently nominated for several Project Financing awards.

Ramez holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Business from top universities in England and Australia, and many professional memberships in a wide spectrum of professional entities.

On the podcast, we discussed…

• How Ramez’s banking background was the perfect start for a career in treasury
• Ramez’s many roles in banking and treasury and the lessons he’s learned
• Why treasury has become more of a strategic business role
• How the role of treasury has expanded in companies
• Why treasury is a great career to go into
• Ramez’s tips for treasury career success

You can connect with Ramez on LinkedIn.

Are you interested in pursuing a career within Treasury?

Whether you’ve recently graduated, or you want to search for new job opportunities to help develop your treasury career, The Treasury Recruitment Company can help you in your search for the perfect job. Find out more here. Or, send us your CV and let us help you in your next career move!

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