1. AVANTGARD
DUBAI ALUMINIUM CASE STUDY
DUBAI ALUMINIUM INCREASES
TRANSPARENCY, ENHANCES
DATA INTEGRITY & IMPROVES
SYSTEM INTEGRATION WITH
SUNGARD’S AVANTGARD
TREASURY & RISK
DUBAL’s corporate treasury department
is responsible for managing the group’s
global funding and investment
requirements. Comprising 11 people
located at the headquarters in Dubai,
it also manages the group’s exposure
to commodity, foreign exchange,
interest rate and liquidity risk among
its subsidiaries across the Globe.
Driven by Security &
Market Volatility
DUBAL made the decision to implement
a Treasury Management System (TMS)
as a means of strengthening the
financial risks mitigation and addressing
security concerns with its incumbent
spreadsheet–driven environment.
It also wanted to complement the
enterprise-wide risk management
initiative through integration with SAP
Exposure Management for the
identification of commodity and foreign
exchange exposures. By moving to a
more sophisticated and automated
treasury solution, DUBAL sought to
manage, control and report efficiently
on all of its treasury activities while
helping provide increased transparency,
enhanced data integrity and improved
integration with internal systems.
Prior to the implementation of
AvantGard Treasury (Quantum),
the treasury team was using a
combination of Microsoft Excel,
Microsoft Access and SAP for
transaction processing, mark-to-market
(MTM) valuation, hedging and treasury
reporting. These decentralized
processes exposed DUBAL to the risk
of spreadsheet errors, security
concerns such as manipulation of
unsecured data and unauthorized
access to financial sensitive information,
and a lack of audit trail. There was a risk
of this leading to financial, reputational
and governance harm to DUBAL,
which ultimately drove them to
seek an integrated, centralized and
system‑based TMS to mitigate these
operational risks.
ABOUTDUBAI ALUMINIUM
Dubai Aluminium PJSC (“DUBAL”)
operates one of the world’s largest
aluminium smelters. Built on a
480-hectare site in Jebel Ali, the
complex’s major facilities comprise
a one million metric tonne per
annum primary aluminium smelter,
a 2,350 megawatt power station
(at 30°C), a large carbon plant,
casting operations with a capability
of more than one million metric
tonnes per annum, a 30 million
gallon per day seawater
desalination plant, laboratories,
port and storage facilities.
DUBAL is an operating subsidiary
of Emirates Global Aluminum
(“EGA”) a jointly-held company
formed by Mubadala
Development Company of Abu
Dhabi and Investment Corporation
of Dubai by integrating their
respective aluminium industry
interests. Having begun to tap
metal at its Jebel Ali site in
November 1979, DUBAL
celebrates the company’s 35th
anniversary in 2014. For more
information visit www.dubal.ae
There are benefits such as improved
efficiencies, controls and governance and
transparency that come with implementing a
specialised TMS. SunGard proved to offer the
agility and level of control and reporting that
I require in order to manage our financial risk
in these highly volatile markets.
Toby Shore, MCT
Corporate treasurer and chief risk officer, DUBAL

2. During the project planning process, the
following requirements were identified:
››Implement a robust solution to
manage, report and mitigate DUBAL’s
financial risks
-- Increase transparency across
treasury processes
-- Improve integration and reporting
across treasury processes
-- Enhance data integrity
››Improve controls, corporate
governance and balance sheet
management
›› Require a full reporting tool that offers
flexible, configurable reporting and
analysis that is easy to produce as well
as detailed dashboard reporting
›› Offers the ability to accommodate all
treasury activities, contractual terms,
products and market conventions
currently in use
›› Must complement the Enterprise-wide
Risk Management initiative
›› Robust risk management tool that
allows flexible scenario analysis,
simulations, VaR, MTM valuation etc.
The Benefits of a Dedicated TMS
The key question was whether the
treasury function required a completely
new system or whether it should
upgrade the existing treasury module
within the ERP suite. With the clearly
defined objectives in mind, a joint
project team was formed to manage
the entire project cycle including the
RFP process and vendor selection.
Consisting of senior executives from
both Treasury and IT and led by
DUBAL’s Corporate Treasurer & Chief
Risk Officer, Toby Shore, the project
team developed a quantitative scoring
mechanism which comprised a detailed
vendor selection scorecard with
weighted scoring criteria in order to
maintain the objectivity and
transparency of the selection process.
A peer review and quality check of the
vendor selection score card and
methodology was undertaken by
Ernst & Young to ensure governance
and transparency of the process.
DUBAL purchasing and legal teams
were also central to the final decision-
making and contract negotiations.
DUBAL conducted extensive research
using various channels including case
studies, market surveys in prominent
treasury journals, discussions with
peers at treasury conferences as well
as reference checks with other
organizations already using a TMS.
After extensive evaluation of a number
of treasury solutions, the DUBAL project
team selected SunGard’s AvantGard
Quantum. The key factors driving the
decision included:
››An integrated solution covering
treasury operations, financial risk
management and risk analytics.
››Strong reputation in the Middle East
& treasury space.
››Enhanced functional capabilities to
accommodate DUBAL’s complex
hedging instruments.
››Ability to accommodate DUBAL’s
requirement to integrate with SAP ERP
system as well as integration with
other third party systems such as
360T, SWIFT and Thomson Reuters.
››An easy to use and configurable
reporting system.
››Ability and commitment to develop
a customized solution for bespoke
requirements in the risk
management domain.
MARKET DATA
TREASURY
REPORTING
MS EXCEL
MS EXCEL
MS EXCEL
HOUSE
BANKS
RISK ANALYTICS
- Money Market Deals
- Loan Administration
- FX Deals
- Payments
FX DEALING TELEPHONE DEAL CONFIRMATION
- Exposure Management
- FX Hedging
- Interest Rate Hedging
TREASURY
ACCOUNTING
Commodity Hedging
IBM AS 400
ERP
Bank
[A]
Bank
[B]
Bank
[C]
Bank
[D]
Bank
[E]
Bank
[F]
Manual Process
Straight Through Process
PAYMENT HUB
Diagram 1. Treasury Management before SunGard implementation.
Case Study Dubai Aluminium

3. A True Technology Partnership
The AvantGard Quantum solution was
implemented successfully over a period
of one year achieving all the objectives
listed in the Project Charter. Though a
standard implementation already offers
robust treasury management functionality,
owing to the significant financial risk
exposures it holds and the level of
“Straight-Through-Processing” it required
to ensure maximum efficiency,
transparency and control, DUBAL
partnered with SunGard to make some
unique custom developments. The project
was planned accordingly and executed
in a phased manner with the first phase
implementing standard functionality and
the second consisting of custom
developments. Diagram 1 shows the
operational infrastructure and systems at
the start of the project and Diagram 2
shows the picture at the end of the
project. Some of the unique and
innovative custom functionality developed
for DUBAL include the following:
1) Exposure Management
Financial risk exposures (FX &
Commodity) from various business units
are captured on a real-time basis in the
core ERP system and sent directly to the
tightly integrated AvantGard Quantum.
The custom-developed “Exposure Blotter”
allows consolidation of exposures as well
as netting with opposite exposures
(natural hedges) displaying net exposure
positions in time buckets under different
hedge programs on a real-time basis.
2) Straight-Through-Hedging (STH)
SunGard’s Exposure Blotter is
interfaced with 360 T FX dealing
platform enabling two way transaction
processing. Hedging action initiated in
the Exposure Blotter is sent to 360T
through “Straight-Through Processing”
and up on deal execution. Deal details
are transferred back to Quantum
creating an FX deal in the system.
3) Auto Hedge Accounting
Custom-developed “Auto Hedge
Accounting” functionality in Quantum
facilitates automatic creation of a
hedge relationship (HR), linking the
exposure with the corresponding FX
derivative upon deal execution in the
Exposure Blotter. Subsequent changes
in the exposure and corresponding
hedges are tracked and placed in the
same HR relationship sustaining the
hedge ratio. Transition of cash flow
hedge to fair value hedge, hedge
de-designation, and termination are
all tracked and executed in the
system automatically without any
manual intervention.
4) Risk Analytics
Some of the key risk analytics
features include:
››Historical & Monte Carlo Value
at Risk (VaR)
››Option pricing & derivative valuation
››Spot-volatility stress testing
››Scenario & sensitivity analysis
Bank
[A]
Bank
[B]
Bank
[C]
Bank
[D]
TREASURY
ACCOUNTING
TREASURY DASH
BOARDS
FX DEALING
PLATFORM
360T
SWIFT DEAL
CONFIRMATION
IN PROGRESS
MARKET DATA
ERP - GL BUSINESS OBJECTS
RISK
EXPOSURE
MANAGEMENT
ERP
CASH & LIQUIDITY
MANAGEMENT
CASH & BANK MODULE
QUANTUM
- Loan Management
- Money Market Deals
- FX & Commodity Deals
- Exposure Management
- Hedge Accounting
- FX & Commodity Risk Mgmt
- Interest Rate Risk Mgmt
- Limit Management
- Derivative Valuation
- Risk Analytics
- Risk Reporting
- Liquidity Forecast
- Electronic Payment (H2H)
- Automatic Bank
Reconciliation (MT 940)
- Online Petty Cash
- Commercial CardPAYROLL
PURCHASING
CAPEX
SALES
FINANCE
VENDORS
PAYMENT HUB
Straight Through Process
HOUSE
BANKS
Diagram 2. Treasury Management After SunGard implementation.
5) Commodity Risk Management
One key challenge during the
implementation was customizing
the solution to accommodate DUBAL’s
commodity hedging instruments,
valuation and settlement. Specific
customizations carried out in this
area include:
››Group settlement tool - functionality
for mass settlement of derivatives
››Floating-to-floating commodity
(Basis) swaps
››Valuation curves of MTM valuation
››Option stripping tool - functionality
for recording multi-year derivative
contracts into monthly strips
››Correlation & volatility files as per risk
metrics format.
6) Interface Monitoring Dashboard
AvantGard Quantum is interfaced with
multiple ERP, trading and market data
systems, and seamless functioning of all
these integrations is vital to the
efficiency of the solution. In order to
monitor these interfaces a dashboard
has been developed with real-time
alerts for any failures.
Looking to the Future
Following the recently announced
integration of DUBAL and Emirates
Aluminium to create Emirates Global
Aluminium, DUBAL plans to roll-out the
AvantGard Quantum solution to the
newly created entity and all other
companies within the group. Future
plans also include implementation of an
In-House Bank (IHB) and SWIFT
integration, as well as developing a
comprehensive Cash Flow at Risk (CFaR)
model, all providing ever greater
transparency, control and risk
management for the world’s fifth-largest
aluminium producer.
www.sungard.com/avantgard

4. ©2014 SunGard.
Trademark Information: SunGard, and the SunGard logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems
Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders.
About SunGard’s AvantGard
SunGard’s AvantGard is a leading
liquidity and risk management solution
for corporations, insurance companies
and the public sector. The AvantGard
solution suite includes credit risk
modeling, collections management,
treasury risk analysis, cash management,
payments system integration, and
payments execution delivered directly
to corporations or via banking partners.
AvantGard solutions help consolidate
data from multiple in-house systems,
drive workflow and provide connectivity
to a broad range of trading partners
including banks, SWIFT, credit data
providers, FX platforms, money markets,
and market data.
The technology is supported by a full
range of services delivered by domain
experts, including managed cloud
services, treasury operations
management, SWIFT administration,
managed bank connectivity, bank
on-boarding, and vendor enrollment.
For more information, visit
www.sungard.com/avantgard.
About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading
software and technology services
companies, with annual revenue of
about $2.8 billion. SunGard provides
software and processing solutions
for financial services, education and
the public sector. SunGard serves
approximately 16,000 customers
in more than 70 countries and has
more than 13,000 employees.
For more information, please visit
www.sungard.com.
For more information, please visit:
www.sungard.com/avantgard
www.sungard.com
From the outset the project team was encouraged to adopt a “blue sky”
approach; to conceptualize a unique system which could manage DUBAL’s
complex financial risk landscape with maximum efficiency and minimum
operational risk. Thanks to the unwavering support of senior management
and the expertise of SunGard consultants, we went boldly into unchartered
waters which resulted successfully in a unique and innovative solution.
Johnson Mani, CA, CTP, Cr.FA
Enterprise Risk Manager, DUBAL Corporate Treasury