Cash and liquidity management: a bedrock at A.P. Møller-Maersk
Published: Sep 2025
Corporate Treasurer of the Year
Highly Commended Winner
Netta Christensen, A.P. Møller-Maersk
Photo of Netta Christiansen, A.P. Møller-Maersk.
Netta Christensen
Head of Global Cash Management
Denmark
A.P. Møller-Maersk is an integrated transport and logistics company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a global presence in over 130 countries.
Netta Christensen brings over two decades of experience in cash and liquidity management, having held senior roles both in global corporates and international banking. She joined Maersk in 2019 as Head of Cash Management Strategy before stepping into her current global leadership role in 2024.
Fluent in multiple languages and with experience working across Europe and the Middle East, Netta brings both strategic breadth and operational depth to the role. She holds a degree in market economics from Copenhagen Business School and is certified in international treasury management from KPMG Amsterdam.
A broad treasury mandate to manage
Today at Maersk, she runs a complex treasury operation that moves billions across continents, currencies and ERP platforms – the central nervous system of a company handling everything from payments and cash tracking to foreign exchange trades and bank account management. At a company where the supply chain never stops, every detail must work seamlessly.
Managing global cash for one of the world’s most systemically important logistics companies, Netta oversees a 30-person treasury team spanning Copenhagen and India. Her remit also covers liquidity, foreign exchange risk and strategic banking relationships – all within one of the most complex treasury environments in European industry.
With Maersk carrying around a fifth of the world’s seaborne freight and reporting US$55bn in revenues last year, the scale – and stakes – are high. Netta’s ability to connect fragmented ERP platforms, streamline banking infrastructure and modernise how Maersk manages cash and risk has set her apart within the company and the wider treasury community.
Netta leads a major centralised banking structure
Historically, the shipping giant maintained an unwieldy structure – a tangled web of ERP systems, hundreds of bank accounts and nine core banking partners in Europe alone. Under Netta’s leadership, the treasury team reduced that to just two core banks and cut more than 90% of its physical euro accounts – a dramatic simplification of how the company moves money across the continent.
Where Maersk once held 400 euro accounts scattered across the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) – which allows euro transfers across more than 30 countries – it now operates a single physical account with virtual accounts layered beneath it. This structure allows the company to track payments and manage cash without maintaining hundreds of separate bank accounts. The result is a lean, compliant setup that centralises liquidity and gives the treasury team real-time visibility over cash across the region.
But this was more than a technical upgrade – it was a strategic answer to a complex problem: how to build a centralised banking structure that delivered greater control, efficiency and visibility, without disrupting how local teams work or collect payments.
As Netta says, “The challenge was building the ideal setup without upsetting the way dozens of teams already work. We had to deliver simplicity at the center without creating friction at the edges.” She combined deep technical expertise with a pragmatic, inclusive approach to change, aligning 11 internal teams behind a solution that worked from day one.
Strengthening treasury operations in India
Netta’s leadership isn’t just about structure – it’s about people. One of her most impactful moves has been reshaping Maersk’s treasury operations in India, ensuring the team focuses on core treasury tasks and functions as a truly centralised hub for global cash operations. By streamlining roles and sharpening priorities, she empowered the team to handle key treasury functions more efficiently, unlocking new value while fostering collaboration.
Through this restructuring, Netta reinforced a culture of excellence, positioning the India team as a critical pillar in Maersk’s global treasury network. The shift has not only improved operational efficiency but also strengthened how treasury supports the company’s broader financial goals.
Building on that success, she has extended the centralisation model to other currencies and regions. Scandinavian currencies are now consolidated through a single partner bank; a major US dollar centralisation is underway via a single Citi account in London, and in Northwest Africa, the treasury team has reduced 13 local banking partners to just two – centralising XOF, the currency used across eight West African countries, while still allowing local teams to collect payments as usual.
These regional rollouts reflect not just the scale of change but the way Netta has delivered it – with a clear strategy, hands-on leadership and a team built to manage the technical complexity and stakeholder alignment needed to move core banking operations into fewer, centralised structures.
Strong leadership rewarded
Netta’s work has directly supported Maersk’s broader strategy by aligning the treasury function with the company’s goals of financial resilience, operational efficiency and long-term value creation for shareholders. By centralising cash, reducing complexity and tightening control, she has delivered not just quick wins, but long-term, repeatable savings.
While the company is currently in a strong cash position, with operating profit rising two-thirds to US$6.5bn last year, her work is built for the long haul. In more challenging market conditions, immediate access to centralised cash could be vital for covering operating costs and meeting debt obligations.
Her team is now rolling this approach into its next phase – targeting the non-euro parts of Europe, along with East Africa and the Middle East. Each region brings its own complexity, but the goal remains the same: tighter control, lower risk, and ensuring Maersk’s cash is available where it is needed most – whether to reduce debt, fund operations or support investments.
Rather than changing how local teams work, she has strengthened the systems behind them – introducing automated payment and reconciliation processes that improve the speed, accuracy and control of cash movements across the company. This cuts down time spent on routine tasks like reconciliations and payment processing, allowing treasury teams to focus on activities that add real value.
Ultimately, everything her team delivers ties directly into Maersk’s broader goals – protecting the balance sheet, unlocking liquidity, reducing costs and building a treasury function that quietly, but meaningfully, strengthens the whole business.
Challenges addressed, outcomes identified and delivered
With limited IT capacity and a packed internal roadmap, only a few major projects can be implemented each quarter. Treasury initiatives often compete with higher-profile priorities in areas like logistics or core operations, meaning they do not always rise to the top.
Netta had to make a compelling case to senior leadership – not just explaining what the project was, but why it mattered now. That meant translating treasury objectives into outcomes the wider business cares about: long-term cost savings, lower financial risk and faster access to cash. It was not just about systems – it was about strategy.
And getting it through required persistence, clear messaging, and careful stakeholder management. Netta’s leadership has been as much about influence as innovation. At a company like Maersk, real transformation is not merely about building the right solution – it is about bringing people with you. That is the real challenge, and it is where she has consistently delivered.
The Adam Smith Awards are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2025 awards attracted 454 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards
Please enter the email that you signed up with below. If your email is
connected to a member account, we will send you a reset link.
This website uses cookies and asks for your personal data to enhance your browsing experience. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring your data is handled in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
