APAC challenges – innovate, centralise and standardise
Published: Feb 2026
Top Treasury Team
Highly Commended Winner
Royal Philips
Photo of Carol Chen, Kathy Yu, Royal Philips.
Kathy Yu
Head of Treasury APAC
Carol Chen
Treasury Business Partner APAC
Headquartered in Amsterdam, Royal Philips is a Dutch multinational health technology company that focuses on improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation.
in partnership with
The challenge for Philips’s APAC treasury team was to bring further innovation, centralisation and standardisation to the heart of its complex operation in APAC. To this end, the team implemented several market leading solutions, including netting, cash pooling, on-behalf-of (OBO) payment factory model and Swift FileAct connectivity. Key highlights are:
Innovation: market-first cross-currency netting solution in China – the Philips China team used to process over 2,500 intragroup cross-border transactions annually across seven currencies. In collaboration with HSBC, Philips obtained PBOC’s consent to launch a market-first RMB cross-currency netting solution, leveraging Philips’ existing cross-border cash pool under the free trade enterprise (FTE) framework to integrate its Chinese entities into the firm’s global netting structure. This innovation successfully reduced its transactions to just 12 netting payments per year, significantly improving efficiency, transparency and liquidity management.
Centralisation: centralised liquidity management structure – the structure comprises of domestic zero balance account cash pools in multiple countries. The CNH cash pool in Hong Kong is linked to the RMB cross-border cash pool in China, creating a seamless global liquidity network. In Taiwan, a TWD notional pool was implemented to offset credit and debit balances across the accounts for different lines of business locally.
Standardisation: manual payment reduction through the use of Payment Factory – at Philips, payments are processed through the Payment Factory operated by Group Treasury. The APAC treasury team identified that the continued use of manual payments (via e-banking and checks) in some countries was an inherent risk. To address this, the team reviewed all manual payments and worked to fully implement the global Payment Factory model in APAC. For example, in partnership with Bank of America, cheque payments were automated by transmitting payment instructions directly from Philips’ ERP system via SWIFTNet for the bank to process and dispatch.
Treasury team raise the bar
Philips’s APAC treasury team didn’t limit the scope to finding solutions to its pain points, it included making the case for change with policymakers in China and lifting the bar. It was first to secure the approval for RMB cross-currency netting, demonstrating the benefits of RMB internationalisation. With the solution, it aggregates multiple payments into a single monthly payment and offsets across other currencies, as well as onshore and offshore entities. In this current heightened interest rates environment, it had acquired the ability to free-up pockets of cash as working capital with a centralised multi-tier liquidity management structure. This involves domestic cash pooling, cross-border cash pooling and notional pooling. Its OBO payment factory model centralises payments across Philips’s entities, significantly streamlining operations and enhancing governance. Finally, its new cheque processing solution with Bank of America reflects the balance between appreciation for local practices and the need for digitisation to improve reconciliation and oversight.
As far as scalability is concerned, the solutions are future-proof and support Philips’s growth in the long term. Importantly, Philips’s treasury team has freed up valuable resources and is able to focus on strategic and value-added initiatives.
Some impressive benefits
Cost savings.
Headcount savings.
Process efficiencies.
Increased automation.
Risk mitigated.
Improved visibility.
Errors reduced.
Manual intervention reduced.
Increased system connectivity.
Future-proof solution.
Excellence, innovation and strategic impact
Philips APAC treasury team stands out in three specific areas, showcasing excellence, innovation and strategic impact across the region:
A lean yet impactful team – with just two treasury professionals managing the treasury function across APAC markets, Philips APAC treasury team redefines efficiency. Their lean structure surprises even seasoned bankers. Beyond core treasury functions such as bank relationships, cash and liquidity, payment channels, and FX, they act as a strategic bridge to HQ, localising policies and driving innovation. Their ability to implement advanced solutions with minimal resources exemplifies agility, influence and best in class treasury leadership.
Driving operational excellence via ESSA – Philips APAC treasury champions the ESSA framework – eliminate, standardise, simplify and automate to optimise treasury operations:
Eliminate – Philips’s treasury team conducts regular account reviews to drive bank account rationalisation and manual payment reduction, improving control and efficiency.
Standardise and simplify – the team navigates regulatory complexity to align local practices with global blueprint and implements best practices where feasible.
Automate – the team proactively drives automation to free-up capacity and delivers scalable value, not just for treasury but also for broader finance stakeholders.
Advancing innovation across APAC – Philips’s APAC treasury team leads with innovation, turning complexity into opportunity. The team introduced RMB cross-currency netting solution in China which is an industry first among multinationals. The forward-looking solution exemplifies Philips ability to transform legacy practices into scalable, tech-enabled treasury operations across diverse regulatory landscapes.
Baris Kalay
Head of APAC Corporate Sales for Global Payments Solutions, Bank of America
Royal Philips, in collaboration with Bank of America, executed a strategic treasury transformation across its APAC operations. Key initiatives included the implementation of an on-behalf-of payment model across four markets, centralising payment execution and enhancing efficiency. A multi-tier automated liquidity management structure provided real-time cash visibility and reduced reliance on external funding. Additionally, check processing automation in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia strengthened control and streamlined issuance. These initiatives significantly improved automation, reduced risk, optimised working capital and established a future-proof treasury infrastructure, setting new benchmarks for excellence in the region.
in partnership with
Irene Zeng
Country Head of Global Payments Solutions, HSBC China
At HSBC, we are proud to have supported Philips in rolling out a market-first renminbi cross-currency netting structure in mainland China, enabling the company to redefine global treasury management. The solution exemplifies Philips’ leadership in treasury innovation as they resourcefully combine existing liquidity structures with new regulatory interpretations in mainland China to drive greater process efficiencies. The outcome is a much simpler treasury structure as all of Philips’ entities and third-party agents in mainland China are now integrated into their Group In-house bank structure, for greater group-wide treasury centralisation. Congratulations on achieving this significant milestone and the well-deserved industry recognition.
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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
The challenge for Philips’s APAC treasury team was to bring further innovation, centralisation and standardisation to the heart of its complex operation in APAC. To this end, the team implemented several market leading solutions, including netting, cash pooling, on-behalf-of (OBO) payment factory model and Swift FileAct connectivity. Key highlights are:
