Photo of Hélène Richard and Katarzyna Stefanska-Balos, Colgate-Palmolive.
Gina Grant
EVP & Treasurer
United States
Colgate-Palmolive is a global consumer goods company that produces and distributes oral care, personal care, home care and pet nutrition products. Founded in New York City in 1806, the multi‑billion‑dollar corporation markets its essential goods in over 200 countries and territories.
The challenge
Managing foreign exchange risk for 200+ markets, over 80 currencies, actively hedging almost 30 currency pairs and approximately US$3bn in net exposure, Colgate-Palmolive’s end-to-end FX lifecycle was highly localised and reliant on manual processes.
FX exposure identification (the data gap): regional finance directors manually collected data from three disconnected sources: lagging ERP actuals, leading commercial forecasts and offline local adjustments. Highly specific local logic was maintained in offline files, which created capacity constraints and limited the frequency at which exposure data could be optimally analysed on a global scale.
Execution (the trade gap): without straight through processing, treasury transcribed exposures and trade requests into SAP Treasury and Risk Management using MS Excel to calculate hedge amounts based on exposures, existing hedges and ratio targets. Hedge requests were then entered into trading platforms.
Accounting (the book gap): the back office process was highly complex and resource-intensive. It required significant manual effort to book entries, diverting valuable time away from supporting analytic capabilities.
As the global geopolitical climate grew more volatile, Colgate-Palmolive recognised that legacy forecasting methods needed to be modernised to increase the speed and precision required to optimally layer hedges and more effectively mitigate the impact of rapid market fluctuations on the P&L.
The solution
Colgate-Palmolive implemented a distinctive ‘Hybrid Ecosystem’ combining SAP S/4HANA with AtlasFX to create a single, touchless source of truth for all FX exposures.
By building on the strength of SAP and integrating it with AtlasFX, Colgate-Palmolive accommodated complex local forecasting nuances without requiring significant customisations to the central ERP.
SAP S/4HANA feeds committed exposures (AR/AP), balance sheet items and forecast data directly into AtlasFX, where they are combined and translated into FX exposure forecasts that are sent back to SAP.
SAP S/4HANA applies Colgate-Palmolive’s hedging policy and local rules to the FX exposure forecasts from AtlasFX and calculates the amounts to hedge.
Once amounts to hedge are approved, SAP pushes requests for quote to FXall and Bloomberg where FX forwards are dealt and agreed on before sending transaction data back into SAP Treasury and Risk Management.
Colgate-Palmolive implemented a global big bang launch, bringing all regions online simultaneously to achieve global visibility. Moving regional finance directors from their trusted spreadsheets to a centralised system created an understandable fear of losing local control. Colgate‑Palmolive developed an extensive global training initiative to drive a mindset shift.
Best practice and innovation
The judges awarded Colgate-Palmolive in recognition of a huge FX programme to drive visibility and create a single source of truth in all FX exposures. Achieved without the support of a banking partner, the standout innovation also achieved real cultural change – getting regional finance directors off trusted spreadsheets onto a centralised system.
The FX solution demonstrates innovation and best practices in four key areas:
Unifying ‘leading’ and ‘lagging’ indicators (innovation).
Digitising complex local logic (innovation).
Policy-driven automation (best practice).
“Touchless” straight through processing (best practice).
Key benefits
Process efficiencies.
Risk mitigation.
Exceptional implementation (budget/time).
Future-proof solution.
Improved key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics.
Improved visibility.
Increased automation.
Increased system connectivity.
Manual intervention reduced.
Reduction in errors.
The true impact extends far beyond the almost US$3bn in risk optimised; it fundamentally elevates how Colgate‑Palmolive’s finance teams operate, shifting their focus from data collection to strategic analysis to significantly strengthen the business.
Prior to this project, managing FX risk across 200+ markets required highly resource-intensive manual effort from regional teams. Finance directors spent valuable time aggregating data from disparate systems and applying complex localised logic within offline spreadsheets.
Because this manual consolidation required such extensive administrative time, it inherently limited the frequency at which global FX exposures could be fully captured and analysed.
This automation allows Colgate-Palmolive to capture and analyse exposures more frequently, providing dynamic risk visibility that was previously impossible.
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
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