PIL achieves rapid transformation across 28 markets
Published: Feb 2026
Best Treasury Transformation Project
Highly Commended Winner
Pacific International Lines (Private) Ltd.
Photo of Ivy Lum, William Ng and Elli Oon, Pacific International Lines (Private) Ltd. and Simona Catanescu, Kyriba.
Ivy Lum
Head of Group Treasury, Corporate Finance and Finance Strategy
Elli Oon
Senior Manager, Group Treasury and Corporate Finance
Pacific International Lines (PIL) is a leading global container shipping company, founded in Singapore in 1967, operating a fleet of around 100 container vessels to serve customers in over 500 locations across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Oceania and the Pacific Islands.
in partnership with
The challenge
The objective was to build a next-generation treasury that balances centralised global oversight with local execution agility in less than 14 months. The company wanted to achieve cost savings from operational efficiency through automation and banking digitisation globally. These were strategic but challenging goals for a geographically dispersed shipping business with 70+ banking partners, 600+ bank accounts with highly complex regulatory nuances.
The solution
The team embarked on an ambitious transformation journey to modernise its treasury and finance operations across 28 markets of its core regions (APAC, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America) within 14 months with a “big bang” approach. PIL HQ based in Singapore worked closely with its regional team to optimise group liquidity of US$2.2bn and maintain US$800m in external debt for the next 24 months. PIL’s global team selected a global bank, Citi, to advise and to co-pilot its transformation journey and execute simultaneous roll-out strategy.
Centralised visibility, access to cash globally – PIL implemented a swift overhaul by upgrading its treasury and finance legacy infrastructure into a unified infrastructure. By leveraging Citi’s footprint and solutions, PIL achieved the optimised control and visibility of its cash and group liquidity, while PIL’s local team have digitalised access to operationalise all its payments and collections efficiently across its bank accounts.
Straight through payments – with a robust single gateway that connects all PIL’s systems (Oracle, Kyriba and SWIFT), allowing fully automated payment operations directly from PIL’s systems with Citi’s platform and enhance operational risk management. With this gateway, the team has also established a robust foundation for PIL’s next initiatives in account rationalisation and risk management, amongst others.
Liquidity management optimisation – by leveraging Citi’s leading-edge liquidity solution, the team also launched a robust and agile global liquidity structure to centralise and optimise its group liquidity in both fully convertible and restricted markets.
Locally agile and digital – the team further leveraged Citi’s innovative solutions in removing manual-processed transactions, especially in paper-based or highly manual processing markets. The team recently went live with 100% digital withholding-tax payment for its Thailand operations with Citi. This successful pilot also enabled heightened employee efficiency, improved operational risk management, and became a successful prototype in digitising local statutory payments in PIL’s other markets.
“Winning the Adam Smith Award Asia is a proud moment for Pacific International Lines. It is a testament to the dedication, resilience and innovative spirit of our global PIL team acting as one. This recognition affirms our commitment to driving transformation, embracing technology and fostering a culture of collaboration across our organisation. It inspires us to continue pushing boundaries and setting new standards for excellence in our industry.”
Ivy Lum, Head of Group Treasury, Corporate Finance and Finance Strategy
Best practice and innovation
Each member of PIL’s team contributed significantly to the project embracing a new, less travelled route in leveraging the bank’s innovative plug-in solutions, networks and specialisation, especially around the enablement of rapid connectivity and implementation of bundled solutions. This allowed PIL’s global team to scale and execute quickly, enable early completions, support early adoptions and allow milestone achievements of centralised banking across its accounts seamlessly.
The transformation was a massive undertaking and landmark achievement within just 14 months for such a complex project.
“In addition to close collaboration, the team harnessed the power of technology and embraced innovative solutions. Behind the multiple engagements and achievements lie the resilience and uniqueness of this journey. PIL’s global team acted as one, keeping balance between staying focused on the goal and larger picture and overcame local concerns and operational preferences. While the local team discovered and embraced their new and more heighten efficiency as the new ‘PIL culture’, which they can look forward to,” explains Ivy Lum, Head of Group Treasury, Corporate Finance and Finance Strategy.
Critically, this was also a human success story. Local finance teams, once siloed, were empowered with new tools, capabilities and a more connected way of working. The initiative instilled a common “PIL way” across all markets, fostering a culture of ownership, innovation and collaboration. It redefined treasury from a back office function to a strategic partner in PIL’s global operations.
Key benefits
Cost savings.
Process efficiencies.
Return on investment.
Increased automation.
Risk mitigated.
Improved visibility.
Errors reduced.
Number of banking partners/bank accounts reduced.
Manual intervention reduced.
Increased system connectivity.
Future-proof solution.
Exceptional implementation (budget/time).
Simona Caranescu
Account Manager, Kyriba
Kyriba warmly congratulates Pacific International Lines on winning Best Treasury Transformation Project at the Adam Smith Awards Asia 2025. Over the past five years, we’ve had the privilege of partnering with Ivy Lum, Elli Oon and the PIL team as they transformed their treasury operations from manual, Excel-based processes to an automated, integrated cash and payments hub. This award recognises PIL’s remarkable achievement in enhancing cash visibility, streamlining payment processes and significantly improving operational efficiency. Their success exemplifies what visionary treasury leadership can accomplish, and we’re proud to support their continued excellence.
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The Adam Smith Awards Asia are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards-asia
