This year’s Adam Smith Awards Asia received an impressive 345 nominations from 21 countries. The winners were revealed at our announcement, which took place on 17th September.
This year’s Top Treasury Team was Chinese ride-hailing company DiDi, with a strategic repositioning of treasury that the judges described as “impressive in its vision, boldness, innovation, operating model and disruption of conventional wisdom.”
In addition, Rio Tinto and Solstice Advanced Materials were Highly Commended in Top Treasury Team for their impressive technical achievements and teamwork.
The 2026 winners also included:
Best Cash Management Solution: Rio Tinto was named Overall Winner, with a wide-ranging cash management integration project that showcased the importance of a robust global treasury model.
Best Cash Pooling Solution: Overall Winner in this category was Tata Communications Limited. The judges recognised the firm’s achievements in pursuing a comprehensive cash pooling project with a broader scope that included best practice in governance, scalability and automation.
Best Foreign Exchange Solution: Alibaba Group Holding Limited impressed the judges with an innovative solution that leveraged AI for FX risk management while redefining the boundary of human-machine collaboration in treasury management.
Best Funding Solution: ZTE Corporation was named Overall Winner, with the judges applauding a “groundbreaking approach to treasury with a great impact on business and society” that showcased how far treasury can reach.
Best Payments Solution: InterGlobe Aviation Ltd was Overall Winner in this category, with a novel approach to addressing merchant payment risk that showed how treasury can act as a strategic business partner.
Best Risk Management Solution: InterGlobe Aviation Ltd was recognised again, this time for adopting a derivative-based hedging programme to strengthen risk governance and reduce earnings volatility.
Best Supply Chain Solution: SRF Limited impressed the judges with an innovative, multi-product, multi-geography solution dealing with geopolitical shocks and market structural changes.
Best Sustainable Treasury Solution: Trina Solar Co., Ltd built a modern, ESG-aligned treasury from scratch, in an initiative that included using supply chain finance, deploying a data lake to leverage green data and adopting AI-enabled cash flow forecasting.
Best Treasury Transformation Project: In a highly competitive category, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd was named Overall Winner for a transformation that the judges described as “a major multitrack initiative touching several of the friction points global treasuries face.”
In our two categories dedicated to the innovative use of technology, Alibaba.com emerged triumphant in Harnessing the Power of Technology. The judges were impressed by the company’s achievements in solving real-world problems, driving a cultural change and building trust.
And Alphabet Inc. was named Overall Winner in this year’s new category, Best use of AI in Corporate Treasury, with a solution that harnessed agentic AI to forecast excess cash, review rates, invest and generate accounting entries. As the judges observed, this use of agentic AI “sets a new best practice.”
Winning solutions in China, India and ASEAN
Turning to our market-specific categories, CES International Financial Leasing Co. was the Overall Winner in Best in Class Treasury Solution in China, with an innovative lease financing solution that supported the strategic use of capital.
For our Best in Class Treasury Solution in India, Overall Winner went to Mercedes-Benz R&D India. The company dazzled the judges with a sizeable, multifaceted project that delivered considerable benefits and provided better control over the company’s multi-bank ecosystem.
Grab was named Overall Winner in Best in Class Treasury Solution in ASEAN with an innovative approach to supporting revenue growth and building customer trust.
Individual achievement
Where individual achievement is concerned, this year’s Overall Winner in A Rising Star was Joris Chevaux, Regional Treasury Manager at Clarins APAC, who demonstrated a strong track record of technical achievement, rapid career progression and contributions to the wider treasury community. Whilst the Highly Commended award went to Conor Hussein, Senior Analyst at JERA.
And Corporate Treasurer of the Year was Sachin Chougule, Global Treasurer of Infosys Ltd. His achievements include multiple industry-first initiatives in India, his proactive approach to team development and his efforts to shape the treasury profession in India, not least as a co-founding member of the Indian Corporate Treasurers Association. Claire Neubronner, APAC Regional Treasurer of Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants Pte Ltd, was the Highly Commended winner in this category.
Judges’ Choice
Last but not least, this year’s Judges’ Choice is South Korean entertainment group HYBE. As well as undertaking an impressive transformation project, HYBE’s treasury team supports the company mission by attending concerts and following different artists on the company’s roster.
The full list of winners can be found at https://treasurytoday.com/asa-asia-2026-winners/
Celebrating this year’s winners
All of this year’s winners and their partners are invited to a prestigious black-tie Celebration Dinner on 10th November. The dinner will take place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Singapore.
All of the winning solutions will then be showcased in a series of case studies that will be published on our website in the coming months.
