August 30, 2022 — Bethesda, Md. — Comcast Capital Corporation, Marsh McLennan and Oracle Cerner are finalists for the Association for Financial Professionals’ 2022 Pinnacle Award. Sponsored by MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group NYSE: MUFG), the AFP Pinnacle Award was established in 1997 to recognize excellence in treasury and finance.

Finalists were selected by a jury of treasury and finance professional peers. Decisions were based on innovative solutions that progress the efficiency and effectiveness of their organization’s treasury and financial operations. Voting is currently open for the submissions, and the Grand Prize winner will be announced during AFP 2022. MUFG will make a $10,000 donation to a charity of the winner’s choice.

“AFP is proud to recognize the 2022 Pinnacle Award finalists, as they represent some of the cutting edge of treasury and finance,” said Jim Kaitz, president and CEO of AFP. “The teams at Comcast Capital Corporation, Marsh McLennan and Oracle Cerner have developed unique solutions that advance not only their organizations but also the treasury and finance profession at large.”

“MUFG is honored to sponsor the Pinnacle Awards, which acknowledge innovation among treasury and finance professionals who are driving transformation across their organizations to achieve business objectives,” said Ranjana Clark, Head of Global Transaction Banking, MUFG. “MUFG supports the AFP’s continued commitment to education and recognizing excellence in treasury and finance as demonstrated by these Pinnacle Award finalists.”

Register for AFP 2022 by September 16 to save $350. For press inquiries or if you are interested in covering AFP 2022, please contact Melissa Rawak, managing director, at [email protected].

About the submissions:

Comcast Capital Corporation’s entry focused on a global treasury transformation journey involving the implementation of a global in-house bank (IHB) structure that allowed the company — which had accumulated 100 bank relationships and 3,800 bank accounts across more than 500 entities — to move toward an optimal banking structure, create shared liquidity and access cash in an efficient manner. In the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, the amount of cash incorporated in a liquidity management structure increased from 55% to 80%, leading to an extra $1 billion+ in available liquidity. Key lessons from the EMEA implementation of the global treasury transformation journey will shape future implementations, including in North America, over the next few years.

Marsh McLennan’s entry focused on training a machine learning model to predict client churn, a critical metric for driving business that had previously been calculated through a quarterly, and sometimes even monthly, manual review process. Using several years of transactional invoice data, the model computed the client retention rate in Mexico, achieving the same or slightly better accuracy than the manual process. The model removed manual workload from the financial planning & analysis teams and allowed client teams to proactively manage client relationships. Marsh McLennan is now migrating the model to full implementation and scaling it up to include other countries where the company has a large presence.

Oracle Cerner’s entry focused on building a solution to manage the company’s data volume in collaboration with internal engineering partners and external vendors and banks. A task force, identified by Treasury, assessed key requirements to achieve the immediate need for compliance, transferred SWIFT BIC Codes, maintained standardization of AL2, and became more independent and future-proof. The task force eliminated a $4 billion payments bottleneck, helped to address potential reputational and financial damage, and delivered a solution that will help the company to refine its processes for years to come.

About AFP^® 
Headquartered outside of Washington, D.C., and located regionally in Singapore, the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) is the professional society committed to advancing the success of treasury and finance members and their organizations. Established and administered by AFP, the Certified Treasury Professional and Certified Corporate FP&A Professional credentials set standards of excellence in treasury and finance.