In today’s volatile macroeconomic environment, treasury functions are no longer limited to transaction execution or cash administration. They have become strategic financial control centres that directly influence liquidity resilience, funding strategy, risk management, capital allocation and long-term business sustainability. For SOCAR Türkiye, this shift has been particularly important given the scale, complexity and integrated nature of its operations across the energy value chain.
As Türkiye’s largest foreign direct investor, SOCAR Türkiye operates through a broad group structure that includes more than 30 companies, including PETKİM, STAR Refinery, SOCAR Turkey Petrol Ticaret and SOCAR Turkey Depolama. Managing treasury activities across such a large and interconnected ecosystem requires not only operational discipline, but also strong visibility, reliable data, standardised controls and fast decision-making capability.
SOCAR Türkiye’s treasury transformation was initiated to address precisely these needs. Previously, treasury-related financial processes across group companies were managed through fragmented and manually intensive structures. Cash flow monitoring, transaction tracking and reporting activities were largely dependent on manual processes, which created challenges in efficiency, accuracy, visibility and forecasting. As transaction volumes increased and financial requirements became more complex, it became clear that a more centralised, automated and digitally enabled treasury infrastructure was essential.
The core objective of the transformation was to strengthen SOCAR Türkiye’s financial resilience by improving liquidity visibility, enhancing cash forecasting accuracy, reducing operational risk and enabling more effective management of funding and working capital requirements. Treasury digitalisation was therefore positioned not simply as an operational improvement initiative, but as a strategic enabler of financial sustainability and disciplined growth.
Building a transformation
The transformation was built around three main pillars: centralisation, system integration and automation. First, treasury processes were strengthened under a centralised operating model, supported by a team of treasury professionals responsible for group-wide financial oversight. This helped improve accountability, standardise workflows and create a clearer view of liquidity and risk exposure across SOCAR Türkiye companies.
Second, SOCAR Türkiye implemented and integrated key digital treasury systems, including SAP TRM and SAP BPC, together with internal dashboard structures. These systems enabled automatic daily bank balance tracking, real-time cash flow reporting, faster domestic and international payment processing, and enhanced monitoring of deposits, loans, bank limits, net cash position and risk metrics. As a result, management gained access to more timely and reliable financial information, supporting better-informed decisions in a fast-moving business environment.
Third, Robotic Process Automation was introduced to automate repetitive and high-volume treasury processes. This became one of the most important milestones of the transformation. Through AI-supported RPA and system integrations, manual transaction entries were significantly reduced, particularly in areas such as FX transactions, deposits, letters of credit and intra-company transfer requests. With Bloomberg integration, FX transactions could be automatically recorded in SAP TRM, improving both speed and accuracy.
These improvements reduced manual workload, minimised human error and enhanced transaction reliability across a total annual transaction volume of approximately $22bn. The automation initiatives also generated more than 600 workforce hours of savings, allowing treasury professionals to focus more on analytical, strategic and value-adding activities rather than repetitive operational tasks.
Governance, visibility, decision-making
Beyond efficiency gains, the transformation created broader organisational value. Near real-time financial dashboards strengthened management visibility and improved decision-making capability. Standardised digital workflows enhanced internal controls, audit traceability and governance. Data quality improved as manual intervention decreased, while risk monitoring became more transparent and consistent across group companies.
The transformation also supported a more sustainable workload structure within the Treasury team by reducing overtime pressure and enabling more efficient workforce utilisation. In addition, the integration of e-signature processes contributed to SOCAR Türkiye’s sustainability journey by reducing paper usage and supporting more environmentally responsible ways of working.
What distinguishes SOCAR Türkiye’s treasury transformation is not only the use of digital tools, but the way these tools were embedded into a scalable and group-wide financial management framework. The infrastructure now supports centralised monitoring across more than 30 consolidated companies and can be extended to newly established or acquired entities. This modular and standardised approach ensures that treasury capabilities can be replicated efficiently across the broader organisation.
Treasury as a strategic value creator
For a capital-intensive energy group, the ability to monitor liquidity, funding requirements, risk exposures and financial positions in near real time is a critical source of resilience.
SOCAR Türkiye’s digital treasury transformation has helped shift the Treasury function from a reactive operational unit into a proactive strategic partner. By combining automation, integrated systems, data visibility and strong governance, Treasury now plays a stronger role in supporting financial stability, operational excellence and long-term growth.
Ultimately, SOCAR Türkiye’s experience demonstrates that digital treasury transformation is not only about improving processes. It is about building a future-ready financial infrastructure capable of supporting strategic agility, risk resilience and sustainable value creation in an increasingly complex business environment.
