A coming-of-age treasury transformation with SOCAR Türkiye
Published: Sep 2026
Best Risk Management Solution
Highly Commended Winner
SOCAR Türkiye Enerji A.Ş
Vehbi Kerem Birgül
Trade Finance Senior Specialist
Turkey
SOCAR Türkiye Enerji A.Ş is the largest foreign direct investor in Türkiye, serving as the subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR. Founded in 2008, it focuses on oil refining, petrochemical production, natural gas turbine power plant and energy trading.
The challenge
SOCAR Türkiye treasury transformation was driven by the need to address operational inefficiencies and improve decision-making across the group. Previously, the financial processes of group companies, including PETKİM, STAR Refinery, SOCAR Türkiye Petrol Ticaret and SOCAR Türkiye Enerji A.Ş, were managed independently within each entity and relied heavily on manual tracking.
This decentralised approach led to frequent errors in cash flow monitoring, delayed reporting and negative impacts on financial forecasting. As the volume and complexity of transactions grew, it became clear that these legacy systems could not support timely, accurate and strategic treasury management.
A catalyst for change emerged from both internal operational pressures and the ambition to achieve sectoral leadership through efficiency and innovation. Implementing a unified treasury structure was necessary to consolidate processes, reduce errors, enhance transparency and enable data‑driven decisions.
The solution
To address the challenges of fragmented financial processes and manual transaction tracking, a single, centralised treasury team of 15 members, with diverse skills and experience, was established. This centralisation initiative enabled more effective and productive management of SOCAR Türkiye’s financial management. Prior to this, thousands of transactions were processed manually, resulting in recording errors and reconciliation issues at the end of accounting periods. The solution combined the centralisation of processes, system automation and digital tools to enhance accuracy, efficiency and transparency.
SAP TRM and BPC modules were implemented, along with SOCAR Türkiye’s integrated dashboard screens, enabling:
Automatic daily bank account balance views.
Instant cash flow reporting.
Faster domestic and international payment processing through lump-sum systems.
Real-time risk monitoring using established risk metrics.
Improved management of interest rate, FX and liquidity risks.
Enhanced accuracy in financial forecasts.
Real-time monitoring of deposits, loans, available bank limits and net cash position over dashboard screens.
“Winning an Adam Smith Award is a proud milestone for SOCAR Türkiye and a meaningful recognition of our treasury transformation journey. This achievement reflects our commitment to innovation, digitalisation and effective risk management, while highlighting the dedication and collaboration of our team. It also motivates us to continue delivering sustainable value and strengthening treasury’s strategic role in supporting our business.”
SOCAR Türkiye Enerji A.Ş
Best practice and innovation
The judges commended that there were lots to commend in this coming-of-age treasury transformation that went beyond just risk management to integrate centralisation of processes, system automation and digital tools to enhance accuracy, efficiency and enable treasury to focus on strategic, value adding activities.
SOCAR implemented an AI-supported RPA (Robotic Process Automation) system to manage manually tracked accounting records, significantly reducing workforce usage and operational risk. RPA has become a key milestone in SOCAR Türkiye treasury’s digital transformation, particularly for high-volume FX transactions – nearly US$22bn in 2025.
With Bloomberg integration, FX transactions are automatically recorded in SAP TRM, reducing manual effort and ensuring accuracy. Approximately 3,500 transactions in 2025 were processed via RPA, eliminating errors and accelerating recording. Letter of credit (LC) records, intra‑company transfer requests and nearly 15,000 deposit transactions in 2025 were also automated. In 2025, the LC automation process handled 37 transactions totalling nearly US$492m via RPA.
Key benefits
Cost savings.
Process efficiencies.
Risk mitigation.
Future-proof solution.
Improved key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics.
Improved visibility.
Increased automation.
Increased system connectivity.
Manual intervention reduced.
Reduction in errors.
These innovations not only improved efficiency and agility but also eliminated the risk of human error and potential monetary loss, demonstrating a clear best practice approach in treasury operations. The digital transformation also generated over 600 hours of workforce savings, enabling employees to focus on strategic, value-adding activities. By combining automation, AI and system integration, this solution exemplifies innovation, operational excellence and measurable impact, setting a benchmark for treasury management practices.
The Adam Smith Awards are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2026 awards attracted 635 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards
Creating a free account helps us to understand our community better, and tailor our content and events to suit your needs. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Creating a free account helps us to understand our community better, and tailor our content and events to suit your needs. You can unsubscribe at any time.
