“Be a pain in the ass, it pays off” – Treasury lessons from new and mature companies

With a career spanning major treasury operations at Volvo Cars, SKF and Polestar, Stenborg shared her unique vantage point. “When the opportunity came to go to Polestar, that was something I couldn’t resist,” she said. “With a blank canvas, I could then try to put something in place which was completely new and with no legacy.”

But building treasury from the ground up isn’t without its challenges. “There’s simply no history, which is also a challenge,” Stenborg explained, citing issues like lack of historical data for bank due diligence or payment testing.

Fail-fast culture

Jansell highlighted the flexibility and experimentation that defined Polestar’s early treasury build. “You had to take decisions quickly, move forward, and if something didn’t go as planned, you just had to go back and do differently,” said Stenborg. “That fail-fast culture was key”, responded Stenborg.

Upon returning to SKF, Stenborg brought back hard-won lessons. One was the value of flexible roles. “We decided to hire two people and rotate their positions, front office and back office. By seeing each other’s processes, we gain real efficiency.”

She also emphasised small wins. “I’ve probably been a big pain, asking thousands of questions—why do we do this, can we stop doing that?” One such change involved removing a legacy manual FX netting procedure. “It was set up years ago for cost reasons. Today, it just slowed us down. We removed it and freed up valuable time.”

Question what you do

For mature treasuries where IT resources are tight, Stenborg advised: “Not everything has to go through the IT department. Sometimes it’s just about switching something on or off in the system yourself.”

Her top three takeaways? “Align priorities with the business. Get as flexible as you can in team and systems. And create a culture where it’s good to question what you do.”

Speakers:
Susanne Stenborg, Head of Treasury Operations, Group Treasury, SKF
Kristoffer Jansell, Director, FX Sales, Nordea

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