Born in Dubai, where he started his career as a financial controller at the Juma Al Majid conglomerate, Mahmoud Iskandarani employed his considerable language and numerical skills to transition into treasury, where the multitude of tasks appealed. Now living in Sweden as Global Head of Treasury at Bolt, he previously spent 10 years at industrialist Atlas Copco, which included some time in Ireland. As a result, Mahmoud is well used to personal and professional change. Here, he discusses the changing technology and risk parameters of the profession.
“Don’t over plan your career is my key advice, as life events and new experiences can always change it,” says 38-year-old Mahmoud, while discussing how he moved to Sweden in 2010 to obtain an MBA from Mid Sweden University, adding to the finance degree he already had from the UAE. “I met my wife while studying and never went home.
“My career was redirected by romance, my linguistic ability and an affinity with numbers. I now have a beautiful four-year-old Swedish daughter and live there permanently because I was open to change.
“Once I decided I wanted to live in Sweden, I transitioned into various roles in treasury at the country’s industrial conglomerate, Atlas Copco Group, based in Stockholm. They initially hired me because I could speak Arabic, a key growth region for them, and I was across the numbers. I worked hard on numerous cash management, risk and other roles, before eventually rising up the hierarchy to become Atlas Copco’s Head of Treasury Operations in 2017.”
Crediting first -rate mentorship
“The job of a treasurer is to be flexible and prepared to respond to any challenge,” continues Mahmoud, pointing out this is precisely why he prefers this role to that of financial controller. “My personal and professional curiosity and openness to new experiences have definitely been beneficial for me in terms of developing my career and my personal life.”
Mahmoud’s elevation happened when the Epiroc mining specialist was split off from the rest of the industrial tools and equipment manufacturer’s business. He was given the task of refounding the treasury of the reformed multinational Atlas Copco Group in Ireland, rather than Stockholm, moving there in late 2016, because he was once again open to a new experience. This time the task ahead was to embrace new technology and automation changes.
“I set up Atlas Copco’s new treasury from scratch, building new systems and a new smaller team in Ireland. We went from 20 people to being a single-figure team,” he explains. “It was a terrific challenge, moving country again and retiring old processes and technology in order to replace them with new more modern and responsive structures and systems. Updating the technology was a key part of the transformation, which effectively involved building a new treasury for the new group.”
“I was able to rise to the challenge thanks only to the terrific mentorship and help I received during my decade-long career at Atlas Copco.”
The experience of founding a new technology stack helped Mahmoud immeasurably when he decided to leave Atlas Copco after the Covid-19 pandemic and return to his home in Sweden as part of a post-pandemic reappraisal of his life goals. He moved to Bolt in July 2021 to become Head of Treasury at the fast-growing European tech firm, which offers ride hailing, restaurant and grocery deliveries, plus scooter and vehicle rentals across Europe, once again basing himself in Stockholm.
Setting up Bolt’s treasury team & tech
“I had to once again build a technology and treasury team from scratch, this time to cope with the stellar growth of Bolt. The company had never had a treasury before. But its growth across borders, the need for FX hedging strategies, real-time cash management to improve liquidity and cope with an on-demand instant pay-out facility to drivers, couriers and restaurants, all meant the function was desperately needed.”
After an extensive but fast-paced four-month long RFP selection, a TMS from Kyriba was installed with the help of Zanders as an implementation partner, with a ‘go-live’ date of June 2023. The payments and cash management system prioritises automation and liquidity updates. It links to FX dealing module 360T, as well as the automated Finastra Confirmation Matching Service. This enables multiple banks to bid for Bolt’s FX trades and boosts productivity.
The on-demand instant pay-out capability for commercial payments to drivers and other users of Bolt’s technology platform is presently structured outside of the TMS, at least for now. It was felt the large volume of these small payments, typically made on a weekly basis unless drivers demand instant cash, could be better catered for by a direct bank channel, which uses an open API methodology for connectivity and data-exchange purposes.
A specific API triggers pay-out requests to Bolt’s main partner bank, Citi, and collects bank statement information. The on-demand pay-outs are a key recruitment tool for Bolt’s partners but they need constant oversight and funding to ensure there is always enough money on tap.
“The TMS itself runs all non-commercial payments at Bolt, not pertaining to the pay-outs, and an in-house bank [IHB] as well,” explains Mahmoud. “The data-centric set-up of the new technology stack, and the use of forecasts received from internal systems with information about partner liabilities, means the TMS can automatically trigger commissions for the company’s services and move this money into our own core accounts at the Estonian HQ. The set-up includes a euro-pooling structure to ensure there is enough working capital to fund all of Bolt’s liabilities, global expansion, and investment plans.”
Intercompany loans, FX and counterparty risks are also overseen by the TMS, which receives data from the FX-dealing module and other aligned tools. The functionality of the technology is ever-expanding as the TMS embeds itself further within the organisation since its launch last year.
The new solution allows for self-service when it comes to creating bank formats for newly launched businesses in various countries, further embedding automation into the company. The key benefits of the scalable technology stack at Bolt include:
- Better control over cash and FX for the treasury team, and over all types of data
- More efficiency as automation has been prioritised
- Centralised and optimised cash structures
- The data-centric systems can execute better forecasting and risk mitigation as well as spot fresh opportunities.
Experience pays off
“My previous experience in Ireland running a treasury-transformation project at at Atlas Copco, effectively refounding the function after the move there, stood me in good stead in my new job, back in Sweden at Bolt,” recalls Mahmoud.
“I’d already built a new treasury from scratch recently, so I knew I could do it again. I also knew all the technology providers, so I skipped a long-listing procedure at Bolt and sped straight through to selecting three potential TMS providers, all of which I knew were good. Kyriba was the eventual winner for our particular needs.”
This ensured a fast end-to-end project timeline that was complete in less than one year, from planning and selection right through to implementation of the new technology stack.
Business culture
“Culturally, moving from a 150-year-old industrial company to a tech startup was the biggest challenge of my new treasury role,” admits Mahmoud. “Atlas Copco’s client base comprises corporates, and wearing suits to work is the norm. Whereas Bolt is used by millions of consumers, the staff wear T-shirts, and adopt a Silicon Valley mindset.”
Nevertheless, he has experienced many different cultures during his lifetime, so he rose to meet the challenge. “There was no tolerance for corporate speak at Bolt, nor of slow roll-outs or process-focused improvements. They preferred the tech mantra of moving fast and innovating. But the growth of Bolt meant it now needed a treasury and stricter planning, cash and liquidity management to maximise its financial productivity.
“I was pushing at an open door during the interview process three years ago when I managed to convince Bolt about the benefits of a flexible treasury function – if the company set up the appropriate structures and supporting technology, which has now happened. Automating procedures against a clear workflow is also beneficial for productivity. Obtaining long-term boardroom buy-in was easy once I demonstrated the value treasury could bring against some low-hanging fruit.”
Flexible, risk-aware, and poised for the future
Thanks to the automated treasury technology, Bolt’s small team has access to real-time data across the new IT estate. This has informed instant and longer-term liquidity planning at the firm and enhanced strategic risk aware decision-making. This will help the team, should Bolt decide to go ahead with a CEO-publicised plan to be ready for a potential IPO next year. The changed disclosure and reporting structures of such a public organisation could be Mahmoud’s next big challenge, if the company decides to greenlight the idea.
In the meantime, Mahmoud has enough to contend with by accommodating the rapid growth of Bolt and responding to the changing economic and geopolitical environment. “The present high interest rate [IR] environment, for example, means that access to capital has tightened considerably compared with when Bolt was formed as a start-up in 2013,” he says. “Low IR was the norm back then and cash was cheap. But that isn’t the case now.”
High IR impacts investment and other plans. But the establishment of a treasury means Bolt is well placed to handle this and other challenges, including enhanced AML, sanctions and other such obligations in a riskier world. “Our new technology systems help us in this regard. The new IT is data-centric and flexible, so we can span to meet future challenges.”
Be wise to the risks out there
Treasurers should be able to cope with high or low IR environments, and with geopolitical and macroeconomic shocks, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the tightening of monetary policy. As Mahmoud points out: “That underlines the need to be flexible in this job.” He stresses there are many different risks to be aware of, such as:
- Political risk: This can lead to trapped-cash scenarios, if appropriate planning and flexibility isn’t in place.
- FX risk: This is a peril that is particularly pertinent for Bolt now that it is present in 45 countries around the world. Its new greenfield tech system and FX module are helping to effectively manage this risk.
- Liquidity and credit risk: arise from changing IR, as illustrated by the collapse and subsequent rescue of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last March. One eventually leads to the other. Other causes of liquidity and credit risk, such as the cost-of-living crisis impacting consumer spend and growth prospects, are also possible drivers of change as the economic outlook darkens.
“In the present economic environment, you must manage your working capital more effectively,” says Mahmoud, adding that retaining cash and sweating it keeps risk-averse investors happy. “In the past you didn’t have to pay so much attention to this. Now you do.
“The world isn’t super-stable at the moment, economically or geopolitically, so having a flexible tech stack and team is vital. Treasurers need to adopt a more careful approach than in the past.”
Coping with changing realities
There have been three major changes to the treasury profession during Mahmoud’s time in the field. One of them is the aforementioned changing economic parameters. The demise of the post-2008 financial crisis era of low IR means treasurers cannot behave in the same way as they have been over the past decade. Cash is expensive again.
Factors including the turmoil of the Covid-19 pandemic, increased geopolitical risk, and the prevalence of sanctions have also changed the economy. The other two changes evident during Mahmoud’s time in the treasury function are:
- Technology: This has radically altered the job by reframing treasury from repetitive everyday cash management, which is now largely automated, towards a more risk-focused and proactive activity. The trend will only be accelerated by the drive towards more:
- The treasurer’s role: The job has shifted from everyday cash management towards a more strategic and risk-based function, as discussed. “In the past treasurers were viewed as a cost centre,” reflects Mahmoud. “Now, we are more of a value-adding function. Our role in the 21st century is different to that of the past. This means we can aim for the C-suite.”
He concludes: “The whole world is changing around us as digital marketplaces emerge, AI evolves, and geopolitical realities alter. Treasurers must embrace this change and be prepared to learn the new language of the 21st century, which is still numbers-based, but also technological.”
People skills and being aware of different cultural norms also still matter. Being open to change and curious will always ensure that treasurers remain relevant and of value to the business.
