JULYASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK9Delegates from diverse organizations had gathered yesterday at Conrad Bengaluru to attend the CFO STRATECH conference organized by Netnex Global that was aimed at highlighting the transformation of finance in different sectors. CFOs of organizations like Schneider Electric, Alstom, Manipal Hospitals and others spoke about how the role of CFO is changing in their respective industries. They spoke about the technologies that are changing the finance landscape and also the structural changes that have emerged in the sector over the years. According to Sameer Agarwal, Group CFO, Manipal Hospitals, a CFO's role now is nothing less than a CEO. The scenario has changed greatly over the last decade and the role of a CFO has diversified. It has associated itself with various other aspects of business operations and has become intricately involved with business growth.AI in FinanceOperations have become faster across departments with the integration of AI technologies. Organizations that offer financial services have undergone an evolution with the usage of AI. At the conference today, Mohan Nair, MD, TMF India provided a detailed demonstration on the changing role of a CFO with the advent of AI.Cost Assessment Measures for Business GrowthA group of five CFOs from diverse organizations discussed about the cost optimization measures that modern day CFOs can take in order to boost business growth. The discussion was moderated by Debnath Mukhopadhyay, CFO, TruAlt Bioenergy and the others shared their insights according to the respective backgrounds. Here, it was discussed how a company can strategically avoid spending more capital than what is required. The area for investments were also discussed where the speakers acknowledged adapting modern technologies for total compliance. Saudi has surpassed China as the key issuer of international debt among growing markets, ending Beijing's 12-year dominance in the same. This year, the Gulf nation is borrowing at an unprecedented rate, with an increase in new bond sales driven by both government and business entities. The rise is due to the growing support for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 plan among global debt investors. In the meantime, Chinese borrowers are seeing a lot of demand in local-currency bonds. As a result, they are issuing fewer international issuance, which is one of the lowest in recent years.Saudi Arabia surpassing China in international debt issuance is a big deal because of the fact that the previous country's economy is much smaller, around 1/sixteenth the size of China's. By 2030, the nation in the Gulf intends to establish itself as a significant global business hub. Investors are confident that the nation will raise funds to fund projects that can reduce its economy's reliance on oil, according to the report's cited data. The country is also proposing to position itself as a connection among Asia and Europe. At the same time, bond issuance in other emerging nations are also having a positive year as well. Bond sales by Saudi Arabian entities have increased by 8 percent so far this year, exceeding $33 billion in total. The government alone makes up the greater part of this sum, which incorporates a $5 billion dollar-denominated sukuk deal last month. WITNESSING FINANCE TRANSFORMATION ACROSS SECTORS AT CFO STRATECH 2024SAUDI LEADS GROWING MARKETS IN BOND ISSUANCE, SURPASSES CHINANEWSROOM
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