10 years of FX automation: Top 10 reasons to automate your treasury workflow

In 2026, Nordea celebrates 10 years of FX automation – a journey that has transformed not only how treasuries and finance teams operate but also what they can aspire to achieve. What began in 2016 as a simple rule-based spot-trading robot has grown into a comprehensive treasury autopilot used by thousands of companies across the Nordics and beyond. 

Here are the top 10 compelling reasons we hear from our clients for why treasuries and financial departments should embrace automation now:

1. Navigate volatile markets with precision and speed

In today’s volatile environment – where USD/SEK moved more than 20% within a single year in 2025/2026 – FX volatility has become an important financial risk that demands a clear strategy.

Automation empowers treasury and finance departments to apply their risk reduction strategies consistently, accurately and at scale. With automated execution, companies ensure that hedging and liquidity strategies are applied the moment the exposure arises, not hours or days later when the market conditions may have shifted. This transforms risk mitigation from a manual best effort into continuous, always-on capability.

2. Apply full-scale treasury strategies regardless of size

Corporates without treasury functions can access capabilities previously out of reach. For instance, many smaller finance departments often evaluate and assess the liquidity situation monthly, while automated solutions optimise it daily or more frequently – with full accuracy.

3. Optimise financial outcomes at unprecedented scale

Automation not only saves time, it also improves results by enabling optimisation that would be impossible manually. Today’s sophisticated automation means some clients now automate everything: every currency, every flow, every day. Where companies once relied almost exclusively on cash-flow-based triggers, automation now covers balance-sheet items such as accounts receivable and accounts payable, intercompany loans, internal exposures and real-time ERP-driven data streams. In recent years, it has also become possible to hedge your forecasts properly – in full alignment with the policy your board has approved.

4. Enable strategic finance functions

Automation frees treasury and finance teams from routine tasks to focus on high-value strategic work that drives business outcomes. When manual execution no longer consumes the day, finance professionals can evaluate complex hedging strategies, analyse market opportunities and become true strategic partners to the business.

“When you automate the manual tasks, you can improve the overall process, with more time to think about the strategy rather than the actual doing,” says Nordea’s Head of Next Gen FX Matti Honkanen.

5. Eliminate human error and ensure compliance

Rule-based robots and sophisticated algorithms minimise the risk of human error and individual speculation. Nordea’s AutoFX Liquidity Management solution ensures that a company’s currency flows are traded in line with its strategy at all times, using pre-defined frameworks based on account balances.

“Manual trades can easily go wrong and run afoul of the company’s financial policy. Automated trading within a rule-based framework prevents that risk,” says Kristoffer Jansell, automation lead in Nordea Markets.

6. Unlock advanced data analytics and insights

Modern automation frameworks can analyse vast volumes of data and identify patterns that would be impossible for humans to process manually. Automated solutions can model behaviour patterns, navigate complex entity hierarchies and optimise exposures across dozens of business units, giving treasuries deeper control, predictability and transparency.

7. Smarter integration of systems

Instead of logging into dozens of systems for daily cash management, liquidity and FX risk management, automation provides a single interface with seamless back-end integrations between in-house and third-party systems. 

“Previously, you would have had to rely on a manually-pulled report and then take action. Now, a certain balance can trigger a red flag in your primary interface, and you can mitigate risk much more quickly. Or you can go even further, automate the monitoring, execution and post trading action, and only be notified about it,” says Honkanen.

8. Build resilient, always-on operations

Automation creates finance operations that function continuously, regardless of individual availability or unexpected events. This isn’t just about backup – it’s about creating resilient systems that maintain optimal performance 24/7 while keeping teams ready to respond strategically to new situations.

“See it as an end-of-day insurance,” says Jansell. “If you get stuck in a meeting or have a cold and haven’t done the manual work you usually do, the robot kicks in with what you missed or takes care of the entire process for you.”

9. Gain control of the FX handling in your subsidiaries

Automation enables real-time policy enforcement across subsidiaries that would be impossible to manage manually. Modern automation ensures subsidiaries operate within group policy even in complex, large groups with many legal entities and currencies involved. 

10. Execute complex strategies at industrial scale

Automation enables sophisticated strategies impossible to perform manually at scale. A prime example is invoice-based hedging – a process so detailed and time-consuming that it was previously unrealistic to perform manually for large volumes. 

Today, we see clients hedging thousands of invoices on a weekly basis. Automation manages this continuously, from reading invoice data to aggregating exposures and executing trades. The same applies to managing complex accounts receivable/accounts payable exposures, real-time ERP-driven workflows and intercompany loan optimisation.