Baltrea First Networking Event - Takeaways

On March 20, 2025, we held the first networking event for Treasury professionals in the Baltics as part of the Baltic Treasury Association.

The event was very well attended with around 35 delegates present to dive into the theme of the afternoon - FX Risk Management.

We started the afternoon with a presentation by Citadele Bank's Tomas Ališauskas, Head of Market Sales Lithuania, Citadele. The presentation provided a high-level setting into FX and partnering with the banks to transfer the FX Risks companies may face.

It also raised an interesting question whether the Banking industry favorably looks at clients who manage their risks. Of course, banks' assessment of credit risk depends on many factors, but it is reasonable to expect that FX Risk Management program's existence will be a favorable factor as it helps the companies to reduce volatility of their financial performance and, therefore, likelihood of things going wrong.

Then we went into the topic of setting up an efficient and effective FX Risk Management program by myself, Alexander Ilkun, Founder and Chair of Baltrea's Ad isory Group.

Setting up a program may be summarized by a few steps:

1. Define framework, policy, and process

2. Identify exposures 

3. Quantify risk and hedging cost/benefit

4. Take a risk management action

5. Monitor results

Having a structured and consistent approach to FX Risks Management allows companies to move away from uncertainty, identify risk and reduce it in line with risk appetite of the organization.

As the last item of them prepared part of the program we had a panel discussion moderated by Evaldas Balkys, Vice-Chair of Baltrea Advisory Groups. It was a lively discussion of representatives of different perspectives on how Technology is impacting the Risk Management function.

There were a couple of takeaways that resonated deeply with me - first, is the advice to "not be afraid", where it comes to FX Risks as voiced by Girts Innis, Head of Markets, Citadele. Taking the first step may be daunting, but it's important to get started as it helps the businesses to grow in an environment where risks are managed. Why add FX Risks as yet another aspect to the other inherent business risks, when you can manage it properly and focus on other areas?

Monta Tija Brakovska, Treasury Manager at L.J.LINEN and Baltrea's Advisory Group Member also shared the need for Treasury professionals to communicate well with internal stakeholders, especially senior management, when explaining how the Risk Management program runs. It is often an easy discussion when the hedges are delivering gains, but a much more difficult one, when one has to explain losses on the hedging program. The key to these discussions, as we've seen from the afternoon's sessions, is to focus the narrative on the KPI of any hedging program, which is reduction of volatility. The hedges may result in gains and losses alike, but it is the reduction of volatility that one should closely monitor.

We then had a great time networking and getting to know each other - this time spent together was invaluable in building the community of Treasury professionals and core to why Baltrea exists.

It was a great afternoon and very positive feedback from the attendees, which is heart-warming. We look forward to seeing you at our future events.

We are very grateful to our supporters and sponsors, without whom the event wouldn't have taken place.

Big thanks to Citadele for being such a great host! We really appreciate their support!

Thanks to CorpHedge for providing sponsorship for video creation by the professional team at CSQ to commemorate the event and use in the future.

Also big thanks to Santa Vandzberga who very kindly took the photos of the event, some of which you can see in this article. A great professional - certainly recommend for anyone looking for high-quality photos!