PetroChina funds never sleep with follow the sun solution
Published: Feb 2026
Best in Class Treasury Solution in China
Highly Commended Winner
PetroChina International Co. Ltd.
Wilson Lee
Global Treasurer
PetroChina International is the international arm of PetroChina, focusing on oil and gas, refining and trading, with a key European hub in London and diversified global operations.
The challenge
PetroChina International Co., Ltd. (PCI) is the core international business operation platform of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). With three major oil and gas operation centres in Asia, Europe and America, and six major resource bases in Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, North America and South America, PCI has nearly 400 overseas bank accounts, distributed in over 20 countries. Before the solution was implemented, financial personnel needed to manage multiple bank systems, which was a huge workload and had low account transparency.
With five business units, 12 shared service centres, and nearly 60 branches across 120+ countries and regions, PCI’s cash flow management was highly fragmented. The absence of an integrated system hindered working capital optimisation, limiting the effective utilisation of surplus liquidity.
The lack of a centralised cash management structure led to inefficient fund allocation. Due to the lack of a streamlined approach, PCI found it difficult to effectively manage liquidity across its various financial operations.
The solution
24/7 follow-the-sun liquidity management solution – this innovative solution enables daily zero-balance automatic sweeping of account funds from over ten countries and regions including Singapore, UAE, Sydney, the US and the UK to PCI’s Hong Kong master account, while providing automated fund transfers for overseas subsidiaries’ operational expenses. The system achieves seamless cross-time-zone switching through two-way automatic allocation of global surplus funds between Hong Kong and overseas markets. During Hong Kong hours, Bank of China Hong Kong (BOCHK) instantly executes global payment instructions, while overseas branches fulfil local requirements during their respective time zones, creating a ‘follow-the-sun’ uninterrupted fund management network. Having operated flawlessly for nearly three months, the solution processes an average monthly transaction volume of US$20bn, improving cash flow efficiency by 100% and significantly optimising global treasury management.
Intelligent virtual cross-currency netting mechanism – tailored to industry-specific requirements, this AI-powered virtual cross-currency netting system utilises proprietary algorithms to automatically balance PCI’s multi-currency accounts, dramatically reducing foreign exchange costs. The mechanism innovatively designates USD as the base currency, automatically offsetting HKD, CNY and EUR account deficits with USD surplus in PCI’s Hong Kong accounts, thereby establishing a ‘synthetic’ balanced position. This breakthrough solution not only minimises physical FX conversion costs and operational risks but also enhances capital utilisation efficiency, delivering a high-performance, cost-effective cross-border treasury management framework.
‘Always-on’ revenue engine means ‘funds never sleep’ – this solution uses a unique ‘funds never sleep’ state engine to break through the traditional time zone barriers and ensure that overseas funds can be traded in the Hong Kong market on the same day via back-valued interest mechanism, thereby maximising profit potential and minimising idle funds. At the same time, in conjunction with BOCHK to provide customers with exclusive deposit interest rates, it has brought customers a total of HK$10m in deposit interest income, and the fund yield has increased by 150%, realising efficient appreciation of customers’ global funds.
“Winning the Adam Smith Award Asia is a significant recognition of our efforts in advancing financial excellence and innovation. As a state-owned enterprise, we are committed to upholding the highest standards of financial management and contributing to our nation’s sustainable economic development. This honour encourages us to keep developing reliable and forward-looking treasury practices, aligned with our mission to serve the long-term interests of our country and people.”
Wilson Lee, Global Treasurer
Best practice and innovation
BOCHK’s solution consolidates 50+ overseas accounts across more than ten subsidiaries in over ten currencies, enabling real-time cash flow monitoring and accurate forecasting. The cross-border cash pooling solution concentrates US$1.2bn daily, improving fund utilisation and enabling efficient intercompany financing, reducing external borrowing costs by 80%. The global treasury system provides precise cash flow forecasting, preventing liquidity shortages or surpluses in overseas subsidiaries. It also ensures timely responses to funding requests, enabling efficient cross-border fund allocation.
The company has automated 55% of treasury operations, eliminating manual processes and enabling teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than administrative tasks. It has also established a closed-loop transaction system within BOCHK’s network, enhancing security while enabling frictionless cross-border fund movements with full audit trails.
The newly implemented global treasury system provides unified authorisation management of overseas accounts, offering complete visibility into fund flows and reducing transfer error rates.
Key benefits
Cost savings.
Headcount 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.
Exceptional implementation (budget/time).
Quality accreditation achieved.
Improved key performance indicator (KPI) metrics.
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
