In this interview Domingos Antunes, Head of Treasury and Financing at Decathlon, discusses how the company has reimagined its treasury organization, leveraging data. He reflects on this transformation, which had the aims of enhancing the team’s capabilities, reducing risks, optimizing financial management and, ultimately, driving cost savings.
Could you briefly describe how Decathlon Group’s treasury department is organized?
Decathlon is primarily a retailer of sports and leisure equipment, operating in 60 countries. The Group generates annual sales of €16 billion through a business model that, in addition to retail, encompasses real estate, logistics and factories. In several of the regions in which we operate, Decathlon has three or four local entities, each of which is subject to distinct business cycles.
Our treasury organization employs 144 people, both full-time and part-time, across the various geographical regions in which the Group operates.
The diversity of treasury practices worldwide, coupled with the challenges posed by different time zones and bank cut-off times, makes it impossible for us to centralize all our treasury functions. Our treasury organization is therefore based on the principle of subsidiarity. However, the evolution of the treasury function has created the need for greater specialization among treasury team members, prompting us to pool our resources at the regional level.
What benefits do you expect to result from pooling treasury resources at the regional level?
There are two main benefits. First, risk reduction – cash centralized in accounts in a politically stable country is less exposed to risk than assets dispersed in more uncertain regions. Second, from the point of view of the treasury team, there is a refocusing of missions and a strengthening of skills.
Three years ago, we examined the benefits of pooling our treasury resources for the APAC region in Singapore. The study highlighted the advantages of centralizing our cash and pooling card-acquiring flows. It also highlighted the limitations of our decentralized organisation, in which our team members are generalists, performing a variety of tasks. Over the last few years, Decathlon had developed an internal cash management tool with advanced functionalities, but which proved to be little used by our operators.
Initially intended as a proof of concept, this analysis paved the way for an internal reflection on our target operating model.
Why did you enlist the services of a consultant to define the target operating model for your treasury department?
Undertaking this kind of project in-house is always challenging as it’s natural to stick with existing structures and underestimate the scale of change that’s required. We therefore felt we needed the views of an external expert who could push us out of our comfort zone by challenging our ideas about our target model, processes, the technical aspects of treasury and the technology and tools we should be using.
We chose Redbridge, a long-standing partner of Decathlon’s finance department. We value their expertise in treasury matters, but above all we knew they had the intellectual rigor and strong views to help us make this change a success.
What was Redbridge’s contribution to the development of the new target operating model?
The Redbridge consultants helped ensure we took structured, long-term decisions that would enable our treasury operators to enhance their skills. The treasury team’s objectives were revised to account for the constraints associated with banking communications – an issue that is often unfamiliar to treasury teams. Together, we decided to abandon our internal treasury tool in favor of a widely-used third party platform. Redbridge helped us distinguish between the sales pitches and the real capabilities of the treasury tool vendors we considered.
Redbridge also helped us to set out a timeline for the transformation project by sequencing and coordinating the various stages. Their consultants played a key role in managing our relationships with all partners and ensuring that everyone honored their commitments regarding delivery.
How will this project transform Decathlon’s treasury organization?
As a result of this project, Decathlon is abandoning its proprietary treasury system, which is currently being used in 10 countries, and replacing it with two more standardized modules: one dedicated to the central treasury and regional treasury centers, and the other for local treasuries.
Initially, the tool for regional treasury centers will be deployed in a lighter version, focusing on payment management. Forex, which is mainly managed by the central treasury, will be handled separately. For local treasuries, the tool will include a dashboard that provides our financial directors and controllers with a real-time view of their cash position, debt and forecasts.
In Europe, Decathlon has decided to locate its regional treasury center in Portugal, where we already have an accounting division and treasury teams. The aim is to establish a fluid organization that promotes effective communication between our accounting and treasury teams so that we can respond quickly to requests from local financial managers.
How far has Decathlon progressed in implementing its new model, and what are the next steps in the project?
We have selected the treasury tool we will be using. We are currently conducting proof of concept tests within our regional cash centers and carry out beta-testing of the initial modules.
By the end of 2025, the goal is to have deployed an initial cash module covering the Group’s holding company and the APAC regional cash center, which will be based in Singapore. At the same time, we will be conducting proofs of concept in local Asian treasuries – notably in China, which is a complex market for cash management, and in a second, easier to operate environment, either Malaysia or Hong Kong. In Europe, we will be carrying out tests in Belgium, and in Switzerland.
We will roll out further modules gradually, beginning with forex and then financing. The aim is to The aim is to complete the project by 2026.
How will the new treasury model transform the Group’s financial management?
We will have more data at our disposal to guide our financial management. Seven members of our IT team are dedicated to treasury, and they report directly to the Group’s finance and treasury department. Previously focused on technology, this team is now shifting towards an approach in which the accessibility and quality of data play a predominant role in their activities.
Through this data-oriented approach, which is at the heart of the project, the objective is to equip the Group with a high-performance treasury tool that will be able to produce accurate forecasts and adapt to changing economic conditions and geopolitical shocks.
In addition to the new technology, the project aims to refocus treasury resources on analysis and strategy. It will also help us optimize operating costs. For example, Decathlon conducts foreign exchange transactions totaling €8 billion every six months. The cost involved are currently not challenged. The project therefore opens the door to the potential for us to make significant savings.
Once our new data-driven treasury organization is in place, it will be up to the teams to identify new sources of savings and propose strategic projects in line with our senior management’s expectations.