New South Wales

Emma Berry, Caroline Smith, Annie Esposito and Arman Vejdani (all CreditorWatch).

Luke Deer and Andrew Grant (University of Sydney), Annie Esposito (CreditorWatch) and Shalini Arora (Solgen).

Presidents Report

We hope you are all keeping well and have got through the end of financial year unscathed.

Most of you are probably flicking through the magazine and reading from your home office as you do your very best to adhere to the latest restrictions in lockdown. In doing so the days may feel long, and the weekends even longer. The buzzing office environment and phone ringing off the hook all feels like a distant memory; so, don’t forget to check in with your colleagues and friends (especially those who are home schooling their children).

As a council, we here in NSW are closely following the issues unfolding around COVID-19. The health and safety of the AICM’s councillors, members and broader community is of paramount importance.

In an effort to ensure that AICM’s members and sponsors are being supported by the NSW Council, we are committed to creating more value out of your membership, providing more opportunities for engagement with webinars and education, and also to AICM’s dedicated sponsors.

Unfortunately, days before NSW was going to hold the 2021 Women in Credit (WINC) luncheon, it had to be cancelled (with a view of postponement at a later date) in accordance with NSW Government COVID-19 restrictions. I am pleased to confirm that the 2021 WINC luncheon is scheduled for 17 September 2021. The same decisions were also made in relation to the planned professional development seminars which were scheduled for July and August 2021.

I would like to share with you all that I have decided to step down as President of the NSW Division of the AICM. During my 5 years of tenure, I have thoroughly enjoyed representing NSW and leading the best council. Thank you to the most hardworking team for all your support, and to all my mentors who have guided me along the way.

In the interests of remaining optimistic I would like to think that by the time the next AICM magazine publication is issued, that NSW will be able to share updates on recent events and functions. In the time being, I hope you, and your families, are remaining safe and healthy and as we adapt to this new normal. – Balveen Saini MICM CCE NSW Division President

Jonathan Wightwick (Equifax), Hamish Osborne (Creditworks) and Gary Poslinsky (EDX).

NSW Division President Balveen Saini presents Julie Payne (Sydney Catholic Schools) with her 5 year membership certificate.

Technology in credit panelists – Matthew Dowling (CNH Industrial), Patrick Coghlan (CreditorWatch) and Eric Maisonhaute (Esker).

Nick Pilavidis (AICM) with Andrew Smith (ARMA) and Alex Caruana (Risk & Security Management).

Technology in Credit

On 8 June 2021, the NSW AICM Division enjoyed a sold-out Technology in Credit discussion at the stunning new ARMA office, at The Grounds Alexandria.

The event focused on the technological tools that are available to credit managers both now and in the future.

We were privileged to listen to industry leading speakers including: z Jacqueline Vander Meeden, Optus discussed how digital facial biometrics is the new way companies will request and authenticate consumers ID. z Patrick Coghlan, CreditorWatch, spoke of how bureau data can assist with auto decisioning and he also shared insights and recent trends. z Matthew Dowling, CNH Industrial, spoke of how bureau data alongside non-traditional ‘alternative data’ could be ingested into your CRM via APIs to assist with managing the customer life cycle. z Eric Maisonhaute, Esker, excited us with how AR systems today can use AI to learn your customers behaviours to assist with prioritising collection calls through to allocation of payments.

After the thought-provoking session, the delegates then stayed on to share their own stories (and a cheeky wine or two) at the Potting Shed

Thank you to everyone who made their way out to Alexandria in the cold and rain, it was definitely worth the trip!

Jacqueline Vander Meeden and Nicola Kyprianou (both Optus).

Christine Higgins and Kerry Smith (both Scotts Refrigeratated Logistics).

Ines Nikolic (Force Legal) with David Jovanov (ARMA).

Representing the bowling night sponsors and celebrating a winning bowl: Rob Willoughby (CreditorWatch) and Andrew Smith (ARMA). Hayley Hitch, Bo-Jenna Hansen and Bonnie McMahon (all Matthews Folbigg Lawyers).

ARMA group team – Andrew Smith, Eddie Smith, Andrew Smith and David Jovanov.

Archie Brothers Social night

After so many months of not being able to meet it was fantastic to come together at a social event and have everyone catch up in a relaxed environment. Our event at the venue Archie Brothers was sponsored by ARMA and CreditorWatch and this allowed us to keep the ticket price down (thank you!).

The night consisted of bowling for the first hour with the teams enjoying the interaction and the banter as they tried to better their colleagues and rival teams results. We then moved into the main area of the venue where we had one hour of unlimited access to a multitude of arcade games and got to meet new friends and catch up with some old ones. The pictures demonstrate the fun that was had.

NSW WINC – postponed!

COVID-19 continues to send us curve balls with more crazy times ahead I’m sure. The NSW lockdown of mid-June saw Women in Credit luncheon postponed until September 17.

Your WINC team is confident that this date will be fine but also let’s keep our fingers and toes crossed to help. We’ve got over 250 attendees registered and we’re gratified that almost everyone has agreed to move to the date – a big THANK YOU!

Also thank you to our sponsors and our speaker who were happy to change and work with us to keep everyone safe plus those supporters of AICM that donated prizes for the raffle and auction we have on the day.

Our speaker is the amazing Mandi Gunsberger, whose story of startups, families, babies and making it all happen in an unflappable manner is truly inspiring.

All proceeds from our raffle will go to Endometriosis Australia.

We can still accept registrations for the event and should you wish to attend on the new date please book online or contact the office. Can’t wait to see you on 17th September!

– Treacy Sheehan MICM NSW WINC Committee Member

Each of the TurksLegal team are intent on winning – Sarah El Masri, Georgina Wu and Mitchell Hay. Melissa Giarratano, Simon Young and Toni Murtanovski (all CCSG Group).

Benjamin Bronzon (Gadens), Andrew McEvoy (Alston Chase Lawyers), James Rowland , Clementine Woodhouse (both Gadens), Ian Nicol (Alston Chase Lawyers).

Sponsor in the Spotlight

The NSW Council is excited to welcome Paycepaid as the latest Divisional Partner of the AICM.

Balveen Saini, NSW President, sat down with Paycepaid’s, Founder and CEO, Bill Mali, to welcome him and his team onboard.

How long have you been involved in the industry and what is your background in credit?

Bill Mali

Founded Paycepaid 2 years ago and prior to that spent the last 15 years working in credit & collections for some of Australia largest brands.

What do you do for fun/what are you passionate about?

I enjoy fitness, reading, golf, fishing and collect fine wine and single malt. I am also passionate about working and building Paycepaid.

What is an interesting/random fact about yourself that you would like to share?

I have lived for short and long periods of time in 6 different countries.

In a few words, can you tell me about Paycepaid what you can offer to AICM’s members and stakeholders?

Paycepaid is an end-to-end world class invoicing and account receivables software. We leverage the latest available technology to help credit leaders automate their collection. I look forward to meeting the AICM members so they can learn more about what we do, and in turn we can assist them in process and automation improvement.

John Hall (CCSG Group) sinks the ball and is watched by Malcolm Poslinksy (EDX). NSW President Balveen Saini demonstrates her dodgem skills to Nicholas O’Connor and Josh Mizzi (both BBW Lawyers).

Massive turnout from Optus. Back row: Lynda Lee, Danny Tran, Theresa Brown, Nicola Kyprianou, Melissa Khalil and Alex Simmons. Front row: Jacqueline Vander Meeden, Monica Cortez and Krystal Sivapalan.

NSW Member Contribution

The AICM is committed to their promise, to its members. In doing so, the NSW Council encourages members to share their experiences, ‘wins’ and ‘losses’ and any challenges which they may have overcome whilst working on the frontline of credit.

At the Coal Face Definition: doing the work involved in a job, in real working conditions, rather than planning or talking about it.

We have been working closely with a customer who is stretched financially due to contract issues on a major project and having to sue his financially strong customer to get what is rightfully his. There have been hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on Security of Payment actions chasing many, many millions of dollars.

A Voluntary Administrator (VA) was inevitable to enable a proper resolution and restructure. It was fair to say creditors were circling with one petitioning creditor being in court in June 2021 for a wind up. That action was supported by 3 other creditors.

Just 48 hours before that court hearing a VA was appointed.

The Director was putting together a quite reasonable Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) which would not see the light of day if the hearing was successful and a Liquidator appointed over the top of the VA.

We believed in the Director’s proposed course of action and to assist him provided a letter of support

Rob Willoughby, Ryan Arnold (both CreditorWatch), Eddie Smith (ARMA) and Caroline Smith (CreditorWatch).

for the VA. Next we reviewed a list of creditors of the company and jumped on the phone the afternoon before the hearing. In the space of a few hours we were able to convince a number of other creditors that a VA provided the best outcome for all. We were able to garner support from more creditors in both number and dollar than those that were petitioning for Liquidation.

The VA took this information/support to the hearing and was successful in defeating the application for windup.

Learnings from this:

z Don’t just think outside the square, but act on it. z Know your customer well, know his capabilities, take the time to understand his position and be prepared to work with him. z Have a good contact network – like minded professional people with mutual respect. z Consider your short and long term position | We will recover the majority of our debt, whereas in a Liquidation we would be lucky to see 5c in the $. | When our customer gets through this we will have a customer for life | VA’s don’t chase preference payments | In this case it would seem at least 4 creditors took the knee jerk response of commencing wind up action rather than getting to know their customer and understanding his position. Money poorly spent. z At the risk of repeating myself have a good contact network – like minded professional people with mutual respect.

PS. Thanks to the professional Credit Managers who supported me in supporting the customer. I know you are members of the AICM, will no doubt read this and I am sure will identify the matter and know who you are. Thank you.

The Australian Institute of Credit Management welcomes our Partners for 2021

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.