A clear course despite headwinds

The risks facing businesses are on the rise. In recent years, geopolitical shocks, the COVID-19 pandemic, disrupted supply chains, inflation and rising financing costs have fundamentally altered the economic landscape. In many cases, these risks affect not only companies’ financial performance but also their strategic direction or even their entire business models.

This means that proactive risk management is becoming increasingly important for treasury departments. After all, those who only act once a crisis is already apparent have often already lost crucial room for manoeuvre.

Hardly any sector illustrates this as clearly as the automotive industry. Since the mid-2020s, it has experienced an extraordinary succession of crises and upheavals. In particular, the pandemic’s impact on supply chains, the transition to electric mobility and competition from Chinese car manufacturers are putting carmakers and suppliers in this country under pressure. Heavily reliant on international supply chains and strongly geared towards just-in-time manufacturing, the sector is particularly vulnerable. For suppliers, there is the added factor that they are dependent on the strategic decisions of the OEMs – which are currently highly volatile.

Banks as risk partners

The treasury department acts as the central interface between external lenders and companies: it must identify risks at an early stage, allocate capital efficiently and ensure liquidity. In the automotive sector, however, companies must monitor not only their immediate risks but also developments across the sector as a whole, as well as in upstream and downstream areas. Banks can provide important impetus in this area of risk management.

As financial institutions, they are familiar with demanding risk management requirements. Furthermore, as financiers, they bring sector-specific expertise to the table, which also encompasses the interdependencies at the various levels of the value chain.

Right from the start of the semiconductor crisis, the first signs of supply bottlenecks were visible earlier among technology companies than in the automotive sector. Banks with relevant exposure were able to provide additional insights in this regard, thereby helping the treasury department to identify relevant developments at an earlier stage. Furthermore, they regularly analyse the risks in their loan book themselves. To this end, they identify potential difficulties at an early stage, for example through sensitivity analyses of the impact of US tariffs on the automotive sector. They can share this knowledge with their clients. Furthermore, a bank not only contributes its cross-sector market monitoring but can also combine this with support for systematic risk management, thereby helping to develop measures that strengthen the company’s resilience.

However, this requires an active client relationship and close dialogue, not least during times of crisis and transformation. A bank is more likely to support a company that is transparent and can credibly demonstrate that it is well-prepared for the future, particularly during periods of increased financing requirements, thereby ensuring planning certainty.

Author

Alexander Wolik, Global Senior Credit Officer at ING Wholesale Banking Germany

This article was first published in the magazine DerTreasurer 03/2026.

Alexander Wolik, Global Senior Credit Officer at ING Wholesale Banking Germany