EuroFinance

When Essilor and Luxottica merged, the combined group inherited not just a global eyewear empire but also a fragmented treasury: multiple teams, three different systems, and thousands of bank accounts. For Alessandro Malagrino, group treasurer at EssilorLuxottica — a leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of advanced vision care products, eyewear, and med-tech solutions — the challenge was clear. But instead of beginning with systems, he started with people.

“The vision that had to drive us was to put together people and create one team before creating one treasury department,” he explained.

One team first

By 2021, once governance was settled, Malagrino decided to build a unified treasury team in Paris, integrating it with Luxottica’s regional hubs.

“I didn’t want to wait for systems to become one,” he said. “If I had waited, I would have spent three or four years in endless discussions. Instead, I wanted to create one unique team from the start.”

The move was about shifting mindsets. “I told people: you are treasurers of this new reality. Don’t think about Essilor or Luxottica standalone. Think about the new group.”

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 Managing culture and talent

The hardest part, he admits, was not technical but cultural. “Probably at the beginning I underestimated the time I would spend talking with people. They need to be reassured when you change their way of working,” Malagrino added.

Malagrino pushed the team to rely on their expertise rather than consultants. “We didn’t need too many consultants. I asked everyone to make sure we could do 95% of the job internally. That empowered people, but it also meant turnover—some left, others came in. Attracting and retaining talent was one of the biggest challenges.”

Malagrino added, “Today I’m proud to say the team is solid, international, and well integrated.”

Simplifying the structure

A milestone of the transformation was the closure of more than 3,000 bank accounts. “We had way too many accounts with no visibility. My point was simple: we don’t need treasury 3.0 or 4.0—we need to go back to basics. Rationalise everything, close as many accounts as possible, and ensure they are  visible daily in our systems,” Malagrino said.

Technology helped identify dormant accounts and justify closures. “When you see accounts with no movements, it’s easy to explain why they need to be closed. Many were just luxuries for reconciliation. Thanks to virtual accounts, we could still support the business when they were truly needed.”

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 Automation as obsession

After simplifying the structure, automation became the next priority. “We are obsessed with cash reporting,” said Malagrino. “We want to see cash positions in more than 95% of our legal entities every day. And not just balances—we want to know collections by type, whether retail, e-commerce, or wholesale, and payments like vendors, salaries, taxes or capex.”

The shift freed up time for analysis. “The only way to understand the figures is to spend time on analysis. Collecting bank statements manually must be automated. If you really understand your cash flow, it’s not just good for reporting—it prevents frauds and risks.”

Foreign exchange exposure management was also automated. “Our system automatically gathers FX exposures from all ERP systems, groups them by currency pair, and proposes the hedge. Deals are then sent to execution platforms. This was a big efficiency gain.”

The aim was never to reduce headcount. “I didn’t want to cut people. I wanted to elevate the role of corporate treasurers. Automation gives them the time to ask the right questions, to challenge the business, and to improve working capital and FX risk.”

Strengthening governance

“Cash control is by definition fraud prevention. But our TMS, Kyriba, also became a hub for banking connectivity. It feeds data into a fraud detection platform, which compares statements against accounting and expected flows. It highlights risks automatically.”

The system itself adds further safeguards. “It prevents duplicate payments, flags new counterparties or changes in settlement instructions—the typical cases fraudsters exploit. Without this automation, our obsession with cash reporting and control would not be possible.”

Lessons learned

Reflecting on the past, Malagrino highlights three guiding principles. “Simplification of complexity, owning the figures, and attention to people. These three pillars helped us through the integration.”

Project management discipline was also vital. “You must be clear with the message, but also with timing. Chase internal people, chase technology providers, make sure they deliver quickly. That was the key to our success.”

It is this combination of clarity, trust and discipline that later earned EssilorLuxottica the EuroFinance Treasury Excellence Award 2025 ‘highly recommended’ under the Technology Transformation category. For Malagrino, the recognition reflects a simple truth: successful transformation begins not with platforms, but with people.

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