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Coeclerici replaces legacy treasury infrastructure

Italian family-owned group Coeclerici has transformed its treasury infrastructure as part of a wider finance modernisation, moving away from an on-premise treasury management system and its own SWIFT setup towards a more flexible and scalable cloud-based operating model combining direct bank connections with Cobase’s SWIFT connectivity.

 

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Challenges

Complex legacy infrastructure

An on-premise treasury system built for a very different organisation.
Coeclerici maintained its own SWIFT BIC and supporting infrastructure, requiring significant internal IT involvement.

An increasingly international banking

Approximately 30+ bank accounts across 10+ countries.
Different connectivity requirements across Europe and Asia, with SWIFT not necessarily the appropriate or available channel for every bank.

A wider finance transformation

The introduction of NetSuite created an opportunity to reconsider the infrastructure surrounding the ERP.
Coeclerici wanted a cloud-based environment that could integrate more easily with other platforms in future.

With a history stretching back to 1895, Coeclerici has evolved from its origins as a coal importer in the port of Genoa into an international group spanning commodity trading and manufacturing. The Italian family-owned business today generates around €800 million in revenue, with its trading activities managed primarily from Singapore and supported by offices and banking relationships across Asia and Europe.

Giacomo Clerici has seen much of that transformation first-hand. A member of the family behind the business, he joined Coeclerici as Group Financial Controller in 2004, later becoming CFO, and today serves as Chairman and Managing Director of Coeclerici Far East (Pte.) Ltd., the Singapore-based trading arm.

When Clerici first joined, the business was still centred largely on Milan. Its treasury infrastructure was built around an on-premise treasury management system (TMS), together with Coeclerici’s own SWIFT BIC and additional local banking connectivity.

Twenty-two years later, the business looked very different. Clerici himself had moved to Singapore, which has become the center of the Group’s international trading operations, and the business itself had become more international, with more than 30 bank accounts across 10 countries. Meanwhile the technology underpinning its treasury remained relatively complex to operate and maintain, and relied on an in-house IT team based in Italy. For an international commodity trading business operating across multiple markets, currencies and banking relationships, efficient and reliable treasury connectivity is a critical part of the operating infrastructure.

For Clerici, it was clear that change was needed. As he began to search for a new solution, he had very clear aims: To switch from on-premise to a cloud base product, to simplify connectivity and remove the need for direct access to SWIFT, and to position the system for future growth.

“We looked at a range of treasury solutions because the company had changed significantly,” says Clerici. “As we grew internationally, we needed an infrastructure that was leaner, simpler and better suited to the way we operate today. We wanted to reduce complexity without compromising our ability to support an increasingly international business.”

One particular source of that complexity was SWIFT. Maintaining its own BIC gave Coeclerici direct access to the SWIFT network, but it also meant taking responsibility for an infrastructure that required specialist technical support. At the same time, SWIFT alone could not necessarily provide the answer across the group’s entire international banking network.

Rather than recreate that model around a new TMS, Coeclerici wanted to simplify the architecture and shift responsibility for maintaining connectivity away from its own internal teams.

The company researched the market and evaluated a number of potential providers, assessing them on cost, simplicity, scalability, ease of implementation, usability and their approach to international bank connectivity. Cobase’s cloud-based model, its specialisation in connectivity and its ability to work alongside Coeclerici’s new NetSuite ERP were important factors in the decision.

Crucially, Cobase could also provide access to its own SWIFT BIC.

It feels like having your own IT team in-house. You send an email and you get the feedback promptly. There is continuity in the people you work with, and they know your history.

Giacomo Clerici
Managing Director, Coeclerici
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That allowed Coeclerici to adopt a hybrid connectivity model. Banks could be connected directly where appropriate, while connections requiring SWIFT could be routed through Cobase’s SWIFT infrastructure. In practical terms, Coeclerici could therefore cover its banking network without having to build, operate and maintain the underlying SWIFT infrastructure itself.

“One of our objectives was to move away from maintaining SWIFT infrastructure ourselves,” Clerici explains. “Where SWIFT remains the appropriate channel, we can use Cobase’s connectivity. We retain the benefit of the network without having to manage the underlying infrastructure internally.”

For a lean organisation, the implementation support was equally important. Clerici highlights the continuity and responsiveness of the Cobase team, particularly when resolving issues with individual bank connections.

“From day one, the process was very efficient” he says. “The team was responsive, responsibilities were clear, and we had continuity throughout the implementation”.

Not every connection has been immediate. Some implementations have taken longer than originally anticipated because of individual banks’ KYC and onboarding processes. But Clerici distinguishes these delays from Cobase’s own delivery, which he describes as consistently responsive.

The result is a fundamentally simpler and more flexible treasury environment designed around the needs of an international business. Infrastructure that once depended on on-premise software and internal technical resources is now cloud based. Information can be accessed more easily from different locations, data is easier to extract and analyse, and payments can be processed securely through a more intuitive interface.

For Clerici, that simplicity is also creating a foundation for the next phase of treasury transformation. Coeclerici is extending the model to additional subsidiaries and, once connectivity is fully embedded, aims to explore capabilities such as cash optimisation and cash forecasting.

Perhaps most importantly, the new environment is designed to remain open. Clerici sees cloud-based platforms and APIs becoming increasingly important as finance systems, treasury technology and potentially AI-driven tools become more interconnected.

Results

Simpler treasury infrastructure

Migration from an on-premise environment to a cloud-based platform.
Reduced need for specialist internal IT support.

Connectivity without the burden

Direct bank connections and Cobase’s SWIFT BIC can be combined to cover the group’s international banking network.
Cobase manages the underlying bank connectivity workstream.

Improved usability and access

A more intuitive interface for payments, information retrieval and analysis.
Treasury information is available securely from different locations.

A platform for further transformation

Deployment is being extended to additional subsidiaries.
Future opportunities include cash optimisation, forecasting and further integration.

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