Victoria/Tasmania

Vic/Tas Councilliors Mary Petreski, Sherif Hussein, Catrina Galanti and Alison Said congratulate our 2019 YCPA winner Farhan Hossain (recoveriescorp). 2019 Vic/Tas YCPA finalists Henry Liew (NAB) Martina Vucak (Kingspan), Farhan Hossain (recoveriescorp), Natasha Clarkson (Dulux Group) and Quan Le (Department of Justice).

President’s report

What an amazing few months since we last reported to our members. Our membership for Vic/Tas 2019 continues to grow and attendance at all our events is well above expectations with great numbers. The drive, pride and the commitment by the Victorian State Councillors continues to make all our events a success for each one of our members.

The Young Credit Professional of the Year Award (YCPA) program is the largest and most prestigious Youth Credit Award program in Australia and is sponsored by illion. We are proud to announce that Farhan Hossain from recoveriescorp, will be representing Vic/Tas at the national conference in October. I was honoured to meet all the other finalists and to hear their success. Well done Henry Liew, NAB, Martina Vucak, Kingspan, Natasha Clarkson, Dulux Group & Quan Le, Department of Justice.

We have two new councillors who bring great skills and attributes to our council. Welcome Alison Said, AGL who will assist us with the consumer portfolio and Michelle Carruthers, CreditorWatch who has put together her first magazine publication this month for Vic/Tas. Looking forward to working with both of you and excited to see your involvement with council.

I’m pleased to announce that I was re-elected as your President for Vic/Tas and Catrina Galanti was re-elected as the Vice-President. Both Catrina and I are committed to the AICM and will continue drive Toolboxes, Roadshows, Education Programs, Networking Events Pinnacle Awards, and Half Day

recoveriescorp celebrate with their YCPA Vic/Tas 2019 winner Daniel Greenhoff, Brooke Lawrence, Dhivian Govender, Suzanne Chhour, Farhan Hossain (2019 Vic/Tas winner), Rachel Aziz, Prashant Mathur, Melanie Randell and Thai Nguyen. Seminars for all our Vic/Tas members. Spring is almost here and if you haven’t already registered come along and hear Kim Coach over Breakfast on how to Show your true colours. Don’t forget to bring your Football teams colours. See you all in October at the AICM national conference. – Sherif Hussein MICM CCE Vic/Tas State President Winner YCP Victoria Farhan Hossain

recoveriescorp

at the Nationals this October in the sunny Gold Coast! Being a part of the AICM YCP program and being recognised as the Vic/Tas winner has been one of my most rewarding experiences to date. My journey with the AICM Farhan Hossain

Tony Mammone winner Martina Vucak (Kingspan) (centre) with Craig Brooks (illion) and Alison Said Vic/Tas YCPA Councillor. Daniel Greenhoff, Brooke Lawrence (both recoveriescorp), Ross Charles (NAB) and Dhivian Govender (recoveriescorp).

Cain Lacey and Bart van Riel (both Dulux) with Artemis Vrionis (Sharp & Carter).

kicked off with the opportunity to represent my company in the credit industry, allowing me to showcase my ability through the platform that the AICM provides. I have truly enjoyed every step of this journey and I am looking forward to the next steps.

How this journey has impacted me:

Researching and learning about topics for the interview process has increased my knowledge and taught me new business processes, which I have now been able to put into practice within my role. Furthermore, this process has increased my confidence and further developed my communication skills, allowing me to become a more rounded credit professional.

Winning the Victorian State Award has opened pathways within my current company and provided me with the opportunity to meet some wonderful people within the wider credit industry. I have also made some invaluable connections with some amazing individuals who have shared their knowledge and have offered their help and guidance as I prepare for the Nationals round. I would encourage all young credit professionals within the industry to partake in the program – to challenge and further yourself by stepping out of your comfort zone. The experience you will gain really will do wonders for you, both personally and professionally and will pave the way forward for your career within the credit industry.

About the Young Credit Professionals Awards

The YCP awards, proudly sponsored by illion are held annually across each state, selecting a winner for each state that will represent that state for the National Young Credit Professional awards held at National AICM conference in the Gold Coast this year. This year, as like each year, selection of the finalists can be quite challenging as each submission and candidate bring something unique and different to their current roles and achievements making them stand out amongst the other submissions. In total there were 8 submissions, with only 5 finalists chosen; 1) Natasha Clarkson (Dulux Group) 2) Mohammed Farhan Hossain (recoveriescorp) 3) Martina Vucak (Kingspan) 4) Henry Lieng (National Australia Bank) 5) Quan Le (Department of Justice)

The submissions closed on the 31st May and the finalists were selected by Amaran Navaratnam (YCPA Chair Vic/Tas), Alison Said (AGL), Rex Cheng (IAG) and Craig Brooks (illion).

With the lead up to the interview date, each candidate was so enthusiastic about the awards and really gave it their all tackling challenging questions such as: Credit Risk modelling, Artificial Intelligence to Automation within Credit, Financial Risk Management, Process improvement through to debt recovery.

Timothy Holden (Crouch Amirbeaggi) discusses how to change an appointed liquidator.

Although these topics were challenging, each candidate came prepared and confident for the interviews that were held at the illion Head office in July with the panel judges being; Alison Said, Rex Cheng, Rukan Zaman.

The award night was celebrated on the 19th July at the Golden Gate Hotel, South Melbourne. Catrina Galanti (VP- Vic/Tas AICM) was the MC for the night, while Coach Kim shared an insightful and thought-provoking presentation on positive thinking and resilience.

The event was a success with a strong guest turnout. Throughout the night, guests enjoyed a few drinks together in the lead up to the YCPA announcement.

Martina Vucak (Kingspan) was announced as the Tony Mammone award recipient (runner up). Mohammed Farhan Hossain (recoveriescorp) took out the top spot as the Vic/Tas AICM YCPA, who will now represent Victoria/ Tasmania in the National YCPA finals in October.

Congratulations to all of our YCPA candidates and winners. We wish you the very best in your future credit careers.

– Alison Said MICM

Credit update – Breakfast panel session

TurksLegal offices – Tuesday August 13th

On an early, grey Melbourne morning, a record number of AICM members made it in to the CBD to head up to the gorgeous views of the TurksLegal boardroom. Sustained by bacon and egg rolls and coffee, our eager members had a chance to mingle and catch up before getting into the presentation. As part of our initiative to keep members up to speed on what’s happening in the world of credit and best practices, we had 3 experts speaking.

Stephen Maloney, AMPAC Sales Director started us off with an entertaining anecdote on when debt collection action should really be put to the side to preserve your reputation. He also enlightened us on having strong relationships with our collection agent to ensure that they are representing your company with the same ethics you have. Because you can never have too many Stephens; we moved on to Stephen Teale, Partner at TurksLegal. Stephen updated us on the benefits of utilising PEXA for electronic conveyancing. He then ran through the importance of knowing the correct legal entity or identification of the person you are trading with when lodging caveats. Have a read through Legal Services Commissioner v Kotsifas 2014 VCAT 1615 that Stephen provided as a cautionary tale.

We finished up with the delightful Timothy Holden; a registered liquidator and bankruptcy trustee from Crouch Amirbeaggi. Timothy gave us the inside scoop on how to change an appointed liquidator and what to look out for when dealing with Trust Assets.

If you have a topic you want to hear more about, contact me or your local AICM councilor to put forward suggestions. Presentation slides for this event are also available by contacting me or one of our presenters. – Catrina Galanti MICM CCE Vice President Vic/Tas,

Stephen Maloney (AMPAC) addresses the breakfast.

Fantastic turnout to a really informative breakfast.

Stephen Teale (TurksLegal) explains the benefits of using PEXA.

Meet the two new Councillors

Alison Said

Credit & Payments Manager at AGL Energy

Prior to joining AGL in 2018, Alison also held senior credit roles at IAG and Pacific Brands. Alison was awarded the AICM YCPA Vic/Tas in 2012, AICM Credit Team of the Year finalist in 2014 and recently led her AGL Credit team to finalist stage in the AICM Credit Team of the Year in 2019.

Alison has been an active member with the AICM since 2011 and has held various Vic/Tas Council roles on the Vic/Tas Council since 2012. Outside of work, Alison enjoys being a mum to her 3-year-old daughter, Zoe; and enjoys scuba diving while on holiday.

Alison Said

Michelle Carruthers

I’m a Senior Business Development Manager at CreditorWatch and have been there for 3 years. I work closely with credit and procurement teams of all sizes and industries, across Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. Before my time at CreditorWatch I worked for 5 Michelle Carruthers years at Pearson Education. And immediately before starting my role at CreditorWatch I lived in Chile, South America for 12 months. I’m excited to be on the Vic/Tas council as I am passionate about the credit industry and I was inspired to join after attending the “Women in Credit Lunch” for the last 3 years. Outside of work, I’m an avid outdoor person, who loves bushwalking, snorkelling and painting.

Vic/Tas Vice President Catrina Galanti chairs the breakfast presentation.

Pinnacle Awards 21st of November

The AICM Pinnacle Awards, originally launched in 2013, are one of the most prestigious Credit Awards in Australia, which recognise Credit professionals in following categories, proudly sponsored by American Express: l Credit Manager of the Year l Credit Supervisor of the Year l Senior Credit Officer of the Year l Legal Representative of the Year l External Collections/Mercantile Agent l Recruitment Consultant of the Year l Consultant of the Year

Through the process of nomination, selection of finalists and popular votes, the crème-de-la-crème of the Credit industry are awarded for work in their respective fields. These awards promote not only the valuable contributions that Credit professionals make to their organisations but also the profile of the industry itself. Unfortunately, nominations have closed for this year but voting will be open on the 7th of October and the Vic/Tas awards night and is being held on the 21st November.

Vote vote vote

A note from Sunny Sharma, Viva Energy

Organising a prestigious event such as the Pinnacle Awards takes multiple stakeholders, streamlined efforts and plenty of timely check-ins. Being on the organisational committee has been nothing short of an exciting journey for me. From ensuring the grammar is correct on the primary email to be circulated, to having a say on what the judging criteria should be, I’ve had a multifaceted role in helping organise these Awards thus far. I’ve also leveraged my existing network to pique interest in sponsoring such prestigious awards, which isn’t easy when the counterparty has a fixed budget. However,

there’s still so much to do. I’ve sent out communications to my network to ensure we reach the maximum pool of candidates and the final touches on the venue for the Vic Awards is a work in progress. Last but certainly not least, I have put through a few highly deserving nominations to really provide high calibre competition within the candidates pool. After all, at the AICM, we recognise the best! HUGE THANKS to our award sponsors American Express, Jirsch Sutherland, Turks legal and Alloc8.

Law and legislation radar

Treasury Laws Amendment (Combating Illegal Phoenixing) Bill 2019

As credit professionals know Phoenix activity is a scourge on our society. The measures covered in this bill which was introduced into the House of Representatives on 4 July 2019 will see if enacted the taxes for which directors can be held personally liable extended to include not only PAYG and SGC but also include GST. This bill seeks to give Liquidators powers to recover property where the disposition was a creditor defeating disposition and will give the ATO the right to retain tax refunds where a taxpayer has failed to lodge a return or provide other information that may affect the amount of a refund. Disappointingly the introduction of Director Identity Numbers which will help stakeholders identify the identity of a director has not been furthered at this stage. Credit Professionals are reminded that the passage of law can take some time and neither of these bills are law at this point, they are matters to be kept on the radar.

Following on from the article published in the July edition of the journal titled “The Dodo and the Phoenix” which discussed the various pieces of legislation that had fallen away due to the calling of the 2019 Federal election, I am pleased to advise that the following issues have recently been resurrected and are again back on the governments agenda:

Taxation Administration (Tax Debt Information

Disclosure) Declaration 2019

On 24 July 2019, the Government introduced legislation which if enacted will give the Australian

Taxation Office (ATO) the ability to disclose the tax debt information of businesses who do not pay their tax debts to credit reporting bureaus where the business has total tax debts of at least $100,000 which has been payable for more than 90 days when the entity has not entered into a payment arrangement with the ATO and certain other conditions and safeguards are met. This is an exposure draft and submissions were invited from stakeholders. The AICM have long been a supporter of this initiative and have filed a submission. Robyn Erskine MICM, Partner – Brooke Bird

Upcoming Events

Show your true colours

20th of September

You may know already that people who set goals are more likely to succeed than those who don’t; but did you know that people who set meaningful goals are also happier? Goals help you create your reality, overcome obstacles and increase your overall wellbeing. Come along to our Football themed breakfast and hear from Coach Kim on authenticity, setting compelling goals and being a successful business leader. Wear your favourite team’s colours and get into the footy spirit just before grand final day! Hot breakfast provided and networking opportunities. Special thanks to our Divisional Partners: Turks Legal, Onguard, Sharp & Carter and AMPAC

SAVE THE DATES

l 20th September, Show your true colours – how to achieve your goals (Breakfast) l 16th–18th October, National Conference (Gold Coast) l 8th November, See you in court (half day seminar) l 21st November, Pinnacle Awards (dinner) l 5th December, The changing landscape of the Credit

Professional (Tasmania lunch).

The Australian Institute of Credit Management welcomes our Partners for 2019.

National Partners

Trusted Insights. Responsible Decisions.

Divisional Partners

CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Official Division Supporting Sponsors

Our National, Divisional and Professional Partners support and work with the AICM to promote the Institute’s activities, represent the Credit Industry and develop the careers of all Credit Professionals. As these organisations support your Institute and your Industry please consider them when you require assistance.