Monday November 10th saw the winners of the 2025 Adam Smith Award Asia congregate in Singapore at the impressive Four Seasons Hotel for an evening of celebration. The Adam Smith Awards Asia programme is justifiably recognised as the industry benchmark globally for corporate treasury and finance excellence across this dynamic region. This year’s awards programme, which opened for entry in May, received almost 400 nominations across 18 categories.
From the many outstanding submissions received, our esteemed judges identified 65 overall and highly commended winners, honouring their innovation, creativity, collaboration and teamwork. This resulted in a grand celebration, with attendees travelling from across the region and beyond to collect their bespoke crystal awards, meet their fellow winners and enjoy a gala dinner alongside their colleagues, banks and other solution partners.
Sophie Jackson, CEO at Treasury Today Group took to the stage in the Crescent Ballroom to welcome everyone to this year’s event, congratulating award winners on their success.
“The only constant in our current world is change. The ability of all of you in the room to seize opportunities when they present themselves and to relish a fast-paced environment with complex challenges is what drives modern success,” Sophie said. “What is very clear to see in the nominations this year is the sheer scale of the teamwork across departments, also the best practice and collaboration that has led to some truly impressive outcomes.”
Opportunity to celebrate in person
Award winners were revealed with a special announcement on September 17th. Now assembled in the ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel, attendees were addressed by Meg Coates, Publisher & Operations Director at the Treasury Today Group who opened the presentation. “It’s fantastic to see so many of you in the room this evening and to be here together to celebrate your achievements.”
Winners were then invited onstage to thunderous applause from their peers, colleagues and partners. Some of our winners’ achievements are included below, but these represent just a small selection of this year’s success stories.
Best in Class Treasury Solution in ASEAN Overall Winner was awarded to Yongyut Setthawiwat, MD – Group Treasurer at Thai Union Group which has set a benchmark for corporate treasury in Thailand including a stretching target strategy for its US$1.8bn long-term financing portfolio to be sustainably financed.
Chris Tang, Group Treasurer at Haier emerged as the Overall Winner of the Best Cash Management Solution category for its impressive acquisition and timely integration of Carrier Commercial Refrigeration. “I’m so excited and honoured to receive another Adam Smith Awards Asia. Our company, my team and I, have been working hard with our partners in past years to realise the excellent global treasury management in the dynamic environment. This industry leading award inspires us to make more contribution to treasury management industry in future, with close collaboration with our ecosystem partners,” said Chris.
In the Best Sustainable Treasury Solution category, one of three recognised Highly Commended Winners was IHH Healthcare for its landmark SG$300m sustainability-linked loan.
Shell Treasury Centre East (Pte) Ltd claimed the Overall Winner award for the Best Treasury Transformation Project for its speedy acquisition and integration of Pavilion Energy from Carne Investments Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Temasek which closed on March 31st, 2025.
Liang (Charles) Cao, VP Treasurer/Head of Financial Markets and the team at Ant Group were recognised as Overall Winner in the Harnessing the Power of Technology category by going fully digital with a six-year transformation.
Our Best IPO Listing winner, new for 2025, was collected by Freya Smith, Chief Legal and People Officer and Craig Kennedy, Managing Director at Cuscal Limited in Australia for their IPO which raised AU$337m on the ASX.
What do the Adam Smith Awards mean to you?
Lee Trewartha, Group Treasurer at Fortescue, a Highly Commended Winner in the Best Cash Management Solution category said “At Fortescue, we regularly look to benchmark our treasury to our peers and industry partners, to identify opportunities that will add value to the company and shareholders. The Adam Smith Awards provide us with a forum to hear and learn from others and showcase our own innovation. Receiving an award is great recognition for the team’s efforts and inspires a continuous improvement philosophy that will continue to deliver value for years to come.”
Vibhash Joshi, Regional Treasury Head, Cash & Banking (APAC) at GE Vernova who were a Highly Commended Winner in the Best Cash Pooling Solution category had the following to say, “Our team received our first Adam Smith Award in 2018 after creating a Regional Treasury Centre in Singapore. The feeling is still the same – we are equally excited even today because we keep setting new levels of milestones. The fact that we keep improving on the previous structures speaks volumes on the creativity and determination of the GEV treasury team. We are very pleased that Treasury Today has acknowledged the hard work put behind this structure.”
Karen Wang, Treasury Director at Trip.com said: “Winning an Adam Smith Award Asia is a tremendous honour, both for me personally and for our company. It serves as a powerful recognition of our relentless efforts and innovative approaches in treasury management. And it energises us to continue our journey of exploration.”
Devendra Mishra, Finance Director at Bekaert, a Highly Commended Winner in the Best Funding Solution category said, “Winning the Adam Smith Award Asia is a proud and inspiring milestone for me and for Bekaert India. Delivering a first-of-its-kind funding solution through Gift City has positioned India as a catalyst for treasury innovation within our global organisation. It demonstrates how ideas originating from India can create global impact and set new benchmarks in financial excellence. This award motivates me to continue driving innovation, empowering teams and leading transformative treasury solutions that shape the future of finance for our organisation and the wider industry.”
A Rising Star
Lucia Ma, Group Treasurer, Klook was announced as our 2025 Rising Star. Lucia has followed an unconventional journey into treasury. Klook’s CFO said, “Lucia represents the future of finance leadership: a self-motivated learner who conquers new challenges with speed and depth, a decisive leader who effectively manages complex global and cross-functional teams across multiple locations, and a collaborative force who builds bridges across the organisation.”
Corporate Treasurer of the Year
The award for Corporate Treasurer of the Year was presented to Vineet Sood, Executive Vice President, Head of Treasury & Finance, HCL Technologies who has established a blueprint for modern finance leadership. Hannisel Obedicen, Head of Treasury APAC, Inchcape is a deserving Highly Commended Winner for her leadership which has future-proofed the organisation’s treasury function.
Judges’ Choice
Our Judges’ Choice is a special award that allows the judges to recognise a solution that does not fit into our defined categories, and this year our judges wanted to recognise two companies.
Manjiv Dodanwela, VP and Transformation Lead, Treasury at IHH Healthcare for its innovative adoption of a corporate treasury tender platform to select its TMS. Cui Jiaqi, Treasurer & Wei Qiaoling, Technical Engineer at Kuaishou Technology was the other Judges’ Choice this year for its all-female Beijing team which powered a Brazil payments breakthrough.
Anxious wait for three treasury teams
The presentation ended with the eagerly anticipated category of the evening, Treasury Today Asia’s Top Treasury Team 2025. Three companies had been shortlisted and informed at the live announcement on September 17th so those attending were anxiously awaiting the final decisions.
First, the two Highly Commended Winners were announced as Marsh McLennan and Royal Philips.
The wait was finally over when the Overall Winner was announced as Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel (AMNS) treasury team led by Annapoorna Venkataramanan, Chief Treasury, Capex Investments, Risk & Insurance.
The evening concluded with laughter, networking and a vibrant atmosphere as winners took to the stage for celebratory photographs. Guests left with a sense of pride and inspiration, reflecting on their accomplishments and the shared success of the treasury community.
As the celebrations wind down, the Treasury Today Group looks forward to spotlighting the achievements of all winners through detailed case studies, set to be published across our digital platform in January 2025.
Nominations for the 13th season of the Adam Smith Awards Asia will open in May 2026.
