Deutsche Bank’s FX automation for DOKU recognised at TMI Awards for Innovation and Excellence

Corporate treasury is undergoing a significant transformation as changing business models require faster, more efficient, and data-driven solutions. To manage these new demands, the way core treasury functions – from managing cash, liquidity and working capital, to addressing foreign exchange and interest rate risks – are executed and the additional value they can deliver is evolving rapidly.

At the heart of this transition, Deutsche Bank is empowering its clients to navigate Tomorrow’s Treasury landscape, offering a comprehensive toolkit of solutions to centralise and automate existing processes, while also paving the way for real-time operations and innovative technologies such as application programming interfaces (APIs). This approach is not going unnoticed.

At the TMI Awards for Innovation and Excellence, Deutsche Bank picked up the “Bank Fintech Collaboration in Payments” award for its work helping DOKU – the Indonesian payments platform – navigate the complexities of cross-border payments in a fragmented and rapidly evolving market.

Due to the fragmented nature of its payments market, when making a purchase through an online marketplace in Indonesia, it is not unusual for 20-30 payment methods to be offered at the checkout. The resulting technical lift for merchants to connect to all these payment channels is huge – and this is where a payments gateway such as DOKU comes in.

But as DOKU rapidly scaled to meet growing demand among merchants, the manual processes involved in managing the FX flows quickly began to erode profitability. By automating FX conversions and remittances, Deutsche Bank enabled DOKU to streamline settlement flows, allowing payments collected in Indonesian rupiah to be seamlessly converted and transferred to global merchants and PSPs in their required foreign currencies. This eliminated manual processes, reduced operational inefficiencies, and ensured compliance with Bank Indonesia’s stringent FX remittance regulations, which require daily submissions under tight deadlines. The collaboration also simplified workflows and strengthened DOKU’s treasury operations, enabling the company to scale efficiently as transaction volumes surged.

“This recognition highlights the strength of our partnership with DOKU and our commitment to addressing the complexities of cross-border payments in dynamic, fragmented markets,” said Kriti Jain, Head of New Economy Coverage APAC & Cash Management Sales APAC MEA at Deutsche Bank. “By automating FX conversions and remittances, we have not only streamlined settlement flows but also helped DOKU enhance operational efficiency and scale effectively in response to growing transaction volumes.”

In addition to Deutsche Bank’s win, two of the banks’ clients – BioNTech and Straumann Group – were also recognised by TMI.

BioNTech took home “Best Treasury Tech Overhaul” for its ongoing real-time treasury transformation. In June 2024, for example, BioNTech implemented real-time account balances and push notifications for credits and debits via API, in collaboration with Deutsche Bank – allowing the treasury team to access real-time data at every point in time through its standard treasury application.

Straumann Group was also Highly Recommended in the Best AP/AR Solution, where we supported Straumann India to accelerate growth by implementing scalable financial processes with easy-to-use technology. This has streamlined reconciliation, reduced complexity and improved efficiency.

“As the partner of choice for treasury teams undergoing transformation, we take great pride in providing tailored solutions that meet our client’s unique needs. We are thrilled to see our clients recognised for the outstanding work they’ve accomplished, and that we have had the privilege of supporting”, said Christof Hofmann, Global Head of Corporate Cash Management at Deutsche Bank.