Bechtel, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) and Micron are finalists for the AFP 2021 Pinnacle Award. Sponsored by MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group NYSE: MUFG), the 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.

“AFP is proud to recognize the 2021 Pinnacle Award finalists, as they set the global standard for excellence in treasury and finance,” said Jim Kaitz, president and CEO of AFP. “These teams at Bechtel, HCSC and Micron demonstrate innovative solutions that advance not only their organizations but also the treasury and finance profession as a whole.”

All AFP 2021 Pinnacle finalists will be honored for their winning solutions at an award ceremony at AFP 2021, and MUFG will make a $10,000 donation to a charity of the winner’s choice. The voting window for the Grand Prize Winner runs from September 13-30. Vote here.

“MUFG is honored to sponsor the Pinnacle Award to highlight the results-oriented innovations of treasury and finance professionals, and their impact on the industry,” said Ranjana Clark, Head of Global & Americas Transaction Banking, and Bay Area President at MUFG. “We are proud to support the AFP in its commitment to provide education and to acknowledge accomplishments in treasury and finance that these Pinnacle Award finalists exhibit.”

Submit your innovative idea for the 2022 AFP Pinnacle Awards, sponsored by MUFG. Three finalists will be chosen from all submissions and one Grand Prize Winner will be announced at AFP 2022 this October in Philadelphia. Submit your solution here.

Bechtel 

Bechtel’s entry focused on using a robotic process automation (RPA) tool to query Human Resource (HR) Management System database daily and compare against Treasury Management System data to identify if signatories had terminated or changed positions. When the solution ran for the first time, it generated 280 tickets that impacted 390 bank accounts where the signer had some type of HR position change or termination. The tool is now used daily to identify position changes in real-time to enable timely update of bank records, comply with long-standing audit recommendation, and prevent fraud/financial loss.

HCSC

HCSC’s submission centered on treasury becoming more data-driven, which meant upgrading skills, process efficiencies, automation, technology, and digital visualization techniques to better capture treasury data. In response, HCSC’s treasury team underwent a complete digital transformation. New teams were created, including a dedicated treasury systems solutions team, expanded forecast teams, and created enterprise banking service solutions function. Technology platforms were optimized, while data was centrally organized to make better decisions.

Micron

Micron’s entry focused on optimizing fund allocation. The treasury and automation teams developed an artificial intelligence tool designed to pull data from treasury systems that were already being aggregated into a single daily file. The first week it was implemented, the tool advised a reallocation of cash investments that increased the portfolio yield by low single digits of basis points. The treasury staff now runs the model daily to search for further opportunities to increase revenues through more optimal allocation.

Learn more about the AFP Pinnacle Awards and register for AFP 2021 by October 8 to save $350.