Can one euro account really manage a pan-European treasury?
VIDEO | At Treasury 360° Nordic 2025, Maersk’s Netta Christensen and Carlo Macri delivered a candid account of their ambitious treasury transformation project: reducing 400 EUR accounts across Europe to a single centralised setup. In theory, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) should make one EUR account sufficient for managing payments across borders. But does it work in practice?
“When looking at euro only, we started with 400 euro accounts, spread across 140 legal entities and 25 bank relationships,” said Christensen, Head of Global Cash Management at A.P. Moller – Maersk. “We were sweeping euros back and forth, inefficiently and at great cost.”
The goal was to drastically simplify operations. “We located our virtual account hub in the Netherlands, allowing us to centralise EUR liquidity on one physical account,” said Macri, Head of Cash Management Strategy. Using virtual accounts became the cornerstone of the project, offering automatic centralised accounting and reducing direct and indirect bank account costs, estimated internally at €7,500 per account annually.
Yet, SEPA’s promise falls short when faced with operational realities. “Is it possible to just have one euro account? Unfortunately not,” said Macri. “It’s a journey still taking place.”
Hurdles
Local regulations, ERP system limitations, and customer expectations proved persistent hurdles. Macri noted that “banks use virtual accounts very differently,” requiring deep dives into product specifics. In some cases, Maersk had to retain physical accounts in southern European countries due to legal and operational constraints.
IBAN discrimination and potential tax implications for light-footprint entities also emerged as concerns. “You need to listen for regulations, listen for local clearing,” Macri advised. Even with SEPA, “some vendors and customers struggle when the account they deal with moves across borders.”
Not yet
Despite challenges, the benefits were clear: streamlined onboarding for acquisitions, reduced KYC workload, and better treasury visibility. “It was a huge achievement to do this rebanking project in parallel with an S/4HANA migration,” Macri added.
Their final verdict? “It’s not a no, it’s a not yet,” Christensen concluded.
Speakers:
Netta Christensen, Head of Global Cash Management, A.P. Moller – Maersk
Carlo Macri, Head of Cash Management Strategy, A.P. Moller – Maersk
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