Operating in markets where government regulations restrict currency conversion, cross-border funds transfers, or other aspects of corporate liquidity management can prove challenging for corporate treasury.

As the nonprofit International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has discovered, "there are disparities in payment standards, settlement systems, and compliance requirements across regions," says group treasurer John Kluza. "Even in developed countries, there can be a lot of nuances and different data elements required. Then, in the emerging markets, we run into a lot of regulatory issues around transaction codes and central bank reporting, which make payment transaction support rather complex for our three-person global treasury team."

Organizations' development of innovative approaches to these types of emerging-market challenges drove the projects that won this year's Alexander Hamilton Awards in the category Best Practices in Restricted/Emerging Markets. Both of our 2022 award winners overcame such restrictions, and resulting efficiency challenges, to build optimized and efficient treasury processes that comply with local restrictions on cash flows.

• Silver Award:  Korean e-commerce giant Coupang has been expanding, doing business in new parts of the world. Unfortunately, as the business grew, the treasury group lacked visibility into cash balances on some of its bank accounts. To improve efficiency and increase returns on its roughly US$3.5 billion in cash reserves, Coupang deployed a new treasury solution, customizing the technology as needed to meet the company's emerging-market needs.
• Gold Award:  Although IFAW has operations on nearly every continent, its corporate-level treasury and finance staff resources are limited. Thus, the nonprofit organization launched an initiative to optimize efficiency across treasury processes. Through a highly collaborative planning process, IFAW treasury revamped banking and cash management processes, with a heavy emphasis on standardization and automation.

These innovative initiatives have prepared both treasury teams to support their organizations, now and into the future. "We live in a world where technology can disrupt the ordinary course of our lives in a good way or a bad way," says Eddie Hong, group treasurer of Coupang. "There will probably be more disruptions to come in treasury technology, and we need to be prepared to harness those potential disruptions to make a meaningful improvement in cash management and treasury operations."