VDT Summerschool Treasury® 2021

Twelve students from universities throughout Germany and an Italian university attended the second (Association of German Treasurers e.V.) VDT Summerschool Treasury® held at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Frankfurt am Main from 8-14 August 2021.

As part of the VDT Summerschool Treasury®, the core functions of corporate treasury are taught in a practical way. During the week-long event, students acquired both fundamental and in-depth knowledge of finance, cash, liquidity and risk management. In addition to teaching the basics, applying them in practice was a central element of the course. For this purpose, case studies were processed in groups for each theme, along with applications from practical partners.

The first day featured an overview of the treasury functions, these included the management of cash and liquidity, working capital, financing and financial assets, and financial risk. The functions were illustrated by practical examples given by a guest speaker from glass and ceramics manufacturer Schott AG.

The second and third days were dedicated to the theoretical basics and practical applications of financial risk management. Sportswear manufacturer Puma SE provided case studies and company-specific strategies for dealing with the challenges under discussion.. Other topics included hedging, and country, , counterparty, and credit risk. A  representative of Commerzbank AG led a session on foreign exchange trading, using the Chinese yuan as an example.

The fourth and fifth days focused on cash and liquidity management. From bank accounts to payments and payment factories and from cash forecasting to liquidity planning, the students were able to dive into practice topics presented by the VDT Cash & Liquidity Team. The sessions also included insights into the challenging topics of Know Your Customer and Dark Treasury, which focused on fraud risks. The students gained hands-on experience by using Coupa's treasury management system.

The highlight was the on-site event in Darmstadt held with the treasury team of multinational science and technology company Merck KGaA on Friday afternoon.

The final topic of the week was digital treasury, which presented new strategies and those being developed for the future. Artificial intelligence (AI) was an area of particular interest to the students.

University lecturers from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Leuphana University in Lüneburg, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, and speakers from VDT members gave an excellent mix of theory and practice, which was very well received by the students. In addition to contributing to the event as experts, VDT members also supported the event through financial sponsorship.