Treasury teams and their partners have done the hard work – reflecting on their achievements, drafting detailed answers to our rigorous nomination form, and submitting their completed nominations for consideration in this year’s Adam Smith Awards Asia.
Now it’s over to the judges to carry out the difficult process of sifting, scoring and shortlisting hundreds of worthy submissions, and choosing our 2026 winners. And while the judging process is still very much underway, it’s already clear that this year’s entrants have continued to raise the bar for treasury achievement in APAC.
Ingenuity and adaptability
Now in its 13th year, our Adam Smith Awards Asia programme reflects treasury achievement across a broad range of treasury responsibilities, from funding and FX to supply chain and sustainability. Cash management, investment solutions and payments all feature in the programme. This year, we’ve also added a new category, Best use of AI in Corporate Treasury, to showcase the cutting-edge solutions being adopted to address longstanding treasury challenges.
Reading through this year’s nominations, it’s impossible not to be impressed by the ingenuity and adaptability of today’s corporate treasurers. From integrating game-changing acquisitions to addressing vulnerabilities exposed by the pandemic, it’s clear that treasurers are increasingly being called upon to provide strategic support for their organisations.
They’re also demonstrating their problem-solving skills with innovative variations on well-established cash management structures. For example, this year’s Best Cash Pooling Solution category has provided a wealth of examples of how complex pooling techniques can be harnessed across disparate markets in APAC. Likewise, the entries to our Best Supply Chain Solution category demonstrate the myriad ways supply chain solutions can be deployed to support suppliers and improve supply chain resilience.
Technology is, of course, a major feature of many of this year’s nominations: treasurers across the region are harnessing virtual accounts, APIs, blockchain and AI-powered solutions in a variety of inventive ways.
Competition in Best Treasury Transformation Project is particularly high, with ambitious programmes of improvement that include many different moving parts. And there are some very high-achieving teams angling for success in this year’s Top Treasury Team category, combining evidence of technical achievement with relatable stories of people working together to achieve something special.
Human stories
Choosing the winners is nothing if not challenging. This year’s Adam Smith Awards Asia attracted 345 nominations across 21 countries. The high volume of submissions means that, inevitably, many strong nominations don’t quite make the final cut.
To win in such a competitive field, nominations need to be truly impressive across the board. Naturally this means implementing best practice, executing on ambitious plans, and achieving strong qualitative and quantitative benefits.
Beyond this, the very best nominations are those that tell a great human story: capturing the challenges and catalysts that have set each project in motion, explaining how collaboration and communication have played a role in making projects a success, and spelling out how real people have benefited.
It goes without saying that we are excited to share these stories with the treasury community. Sophie Jackson, CEO of Treasury Today Group, and Meg Coates, Publisher & Operations Director, will reveal the winners of the 2026 Adam Smith Awards Asia at our live announcement on 17th September at 14:30 SGT/PHT/HKT. To find out which companies have been recognised in this year’s awards, please register for the live announcement.
Following the announcement, all winners and their partners will be invited to our prestigious Celebration Dinner on November 10th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Singapore, where they will be honoured amongst their peers and presented with their awards. Last but not least, we will showcase the achievements of this year’s winners in a series of case studies published on our website.
