As economies and companies target a path towards recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, treasurers, CFOs and treasury management professionals are aiming to support their companies in this journey by embarking on ambitious treasury transformation projects.

In the Asian sub-region of South Asia, many banks and companies that interacted with The Asset’s board of editors spoke of digitalization as a powerful tool for improving operational efficiencies. From allowing real-time account information flow through API (application programming interface) connectivity to integration with national payment networks, such as India’s UPI (unified payments interface), several banks demonstrated measurable value to their clients in the form of cost- and time-saving solutions that eliminated onerous, inefficient legacy manual processes.

India, South Asia’s largest market, always a hotbed of competition, was no different last year as the number of high-profile requests for proposals farmed out to the market demonstrated the sub-continent’s enthusiasm for treasury transformation. In addition to the usual multinational corporates active in India, a notable number of these mandates came from sunrise industry companies with focuses, for example, on e-commerce and electric vehicles. 

Banks, to stand out amid the stiff regional competition, had to dig deep and offer occasionally bespoke and multipronged treasury solutions that addressed both cash management and working capital concerns. In the case of cash management, banks, in a number of instances, streamlined accounts and persuaded companies to adopt an omni-channel collection approach to their operations that improved the accuracy of reconciliation efforts.

Other banks took a more proactive approach to winning Indian mandates by, in addition to providing glossy and slick presentation slides showcasing their capabilities, doing the groundwork necessary to discover the best way to address the specific pain points facing a client, as was the case with the Indian treasury team of a Germany-headquartered multinational.

Outside of India, other South Asian markets like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka had several banks that were able to proactively support some of these markets’ largest companies with a mixture of meaningful tools, such as optical character recognition-supported trade finance documentation processing services, and virtual accounts for collection and payment.

In a similar fashion, CFOs and treasurers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region discovered new ways to enhance their operations and demonstrate measurable value.

Successful banks in the region stepped up and provided a fresh take on the aspirations of the companies they serviced. For example, several client calls conducted by The Asset praised banks that guided their firms through the entire process of consolidating dormant accounts and, in one instance, setting up a regional treasury centre in the financial hub of Dubai.

As a number of sizable companies in the MENA region are heavily focused on oil and gas, many organizations were appreciative of banks that were able to structure financing solutions to help them transition towards a low-carbon state, either via sustainable chain financing or the issuance of green letters of credit.

For the complete list of South Asia/MENA winners, please click here.

To learn more about these awards, please click here.

To join the in-person annual celebratory dinner on the 6th of July 2022 at the Four Seasons Singapore, please contact us at [email protected].

Stay tuned in the coming days and weeks as more announcements are on the horizon as part of The Asset Triple A Treasury, Trade, SSC and Risk Management Awards 2022.