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FACING cumbersome manual processes and disparate currency regimes globally, pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) sought an impactful solution that could alleviate treasury pain points to drive growth in the 130 countries where it operates.
Specifically, BI was looking for an automated solution that could centralize its intercompany (IC) flows in the face of cross-border payment regulations, customs declaration processes, and capital controls unique to specific markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
To address these pain points, BI decided to co-create a solution with Deutsche Bank, utilizing the bank’s comprehensive range of services, including workflow solutions for cash management and FX services.
“Two years ago, we had a discussion about our intercompany payment process and related FX trading mainly in the non-convertible currency countries in Southeast Asia that resulted in an invite to Deutsche Bank to help us out,” shares Eric Humbert, head of corporate cash management at Boehringer Ingelheim.
The IC payments, according to Deutsche Bank, posed a significant challenge for BI, as several countries in Asia were requesting valid underlying documents, such as invoices, before payment could be executed.
“There was a lot of operational effort in handling documentation and the additional information required by each currency market. It was an elaborate process for the shared service centre of Boehringer Ingelheim,” details Harald Abel, co-head of workflow solutions, EMEA, at Deutsche Bank.
Automated solution
The initial plan Deutsche Bank carried out was the automation of IC payments between BI’s local entities in Asia and its headquarters in Germany, including netting where allowed, target balancing, and automated transparent FX conversion at benchmark fixing rates.
“At the bank, we collaborate across cash management, foreign exchange, and risk management, so the team has knowledge of all areas, which helps in better understanding how clients run their operations and where the challenges lie,” highlights Abel.
Implementing the solution was straightforward, with Deutsche Bank leveraging its existing host-to-host channel with BI through TIS, enabling the smooth communication of enterprise resource planning (ERP) data and IC invoice information. This allowed Deutsche Bank to identify, calculate, and execute FX to effect IC payments.
The new IC automated workflow leverages technology and serves as an overlay solution on BI’s existing setup without any incremental technology spend from the company. Deutsche Bank was able to map out the clients’ existing processes, align them with the country regulations and guidelines, and automate most steps including digital documentation.
“It was required for us at Deutsche Bank to build the infrastructure to digitally take in the data, generate the FX transaction, and match it with the regulatory documentation,” says Abel.
As a result, BI was able to move away from the legacy process of signing and submitting physical documents, saving time and manual effort. Moreover, by moving from a multi-bank process to a single bank benchmark execution, transparency around costs increased and coordination across time zones as previously required was removed.
“We wanted to essentially transfer the supporting documents to Deutsche Bank, delegating them to provide all the other services around payment initiation, payment authorization, and FX dealings. Now everything is done by Deutsche Bank. We just deliver the documents via our global payment transaction platform,” explains Humbert. “Currently, we are doing this once a month, but now the solution provides us the possibility to do this even more times in a month. We can do it on a weekly basis or daily basis. The solution is really flexible. We just need to align intercompany payments to the invoices that need to be cleared.”
Saving time and effort
In the end, Humbert and the team of the shared service centre of BI were pleased with the solution and have estimated that the new arrangement with Deutsche Bank has saved their team around 3.5 days a month of having to go through physical documentation, allowing the company to focus on other priorities such as centralizing processes into the company’s in-house bank entity.
“Deutsche Bank brought an impactful solution to us with minimal implementation effort. This will save time for our colleagues to take part in other projects we are focusing on,” says Humbert.
The solution has already been replicated in several markets in Asia-Pacific, including South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam, with more markets to follow. “We are looking at South American countries now because they have similar complexities such as having non-convertible currencies. Local colleagues from our side are also looking forward to getting that done because it brings a lot of advantages for them as well,” shares Humbert. “What started as a solution for non-convertible currency countries in Southeast Asia is ending up being a global solution for us.”
Deutsche Bank remains committed to supporting BI in treasury priorities across various regions where the bank is active. “We are now trying to adapt their Asia workflow to Brazil, where the channels are similar – you have custom references and need to provide underlying documentation,” details Abel. “BI has plenty of liquidity and they are always looking for ways to invest either locally or offshore, exploring areas such as money market funds.”
This solution has been recognized as the Best Hedging and Risk Solution in the region at The Asset Triple A Treasurise Awards 2025, showcasing a successful benchmark for companies striving to efficiently move capital from regulated local markets to their global headquarters.
