Growing demand for automated treasury services but banks must earn control and trust
Banks have a clear opportunity to strengthen ties with corporate customers by providing them with automated treasury services.
Growing demand for automated treasury services but banks must earn control and trust
Banks have a clear opportunity to strengthen ties with corporate customers by providing them with automated treasury services. Demand for such services is on the rise as chief financial officers (CFOs) and treasurers look to harness real-time data to improve cash management, liquidity, and predictive funding. However, to satisfy this demand, banks must tailor their treasury services more closely to client needs.
Around 80% of the CFOs and treasurers surveyed by professional services firm EY are open to banks handling treasury tasks such as risk management, operations, and cash and liquidity controls. EY surveyed more than 1,800 CFOs, treasurers, and other financial officers across seven countries. Many financial officers, however, are reluctant to outsource treasury services completely because of concerns about data access and control.
“When we talk to CFOs and treasurers, only one in four believe they are equipped to tackle digitization in house. This provides a unique opportunity for banks to offer cash flow forecasting and other kinds of digitization of treasury functions,” says Matt Cox, Global Corporate, Commercial and SME Banking Consulting Leader at EY.
Further opportunities include helping corporate treasuries manage data flows, linking them for instance to resource planning and transport systems, and applying analytics solutions to improve risk management and predictive funding. Benchmarking and advisory services are also in demand, says Cox.
“We hear regularly from our banking clients that there's an expectation (from their customers) that they should know everything that's going on in an industry or a sector. So, if there's supply chain disruption, they ask why did you not tell me, you're my bank?”
Cox was speaking at an online event hosted by the Qorus SME Banking Community and EY which examined the future of treasury management. Alongside speakers from EY were representatives from Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), Millennium bcp, Commercial Bank of Qatar, and TBC Bank.
More than half of the banking executives polled at the online event identified data-driven insights and forecasting as the biggest opportunity to add value in treasury and cash management.
Key takeaways:
- Strong appetite among CFOs for bank-run treasury support, says EY.
- Rising demand for strategic treasury services as well as operational support.
- Treasury executives highlight a shortage of sector-specific services.
- Bank clients eager for data services that go beyond liquidity visibility.
- Agentic AI is set to benefit treasurers but presents new risks.
- Scaling is constrained by client fragmentation and integration complexity.
Check out the live poll results!
1. Design the right managed services offerings. While 83% of CFOs and treasurers are comfortable with banks managing a critical function such as treasury risk, automated treasury services will not scale as a managed service unless providers can satisfy client concerns about data security and privacy.
2. Develop sector-specific solutions: Over 90% of CFOs and treasurers are open to using sector-specific platforms and close to 75% believe it’s important for banks to offer tailored products and services. High demand solutions include investment management, strategic advisory services, and risk management.
3. Deliver data-driven insights: Around 87% of CFOs and treasurers are willing to use strategic advice based on aggregated internal and external data. Among organizations planning to use managed data services from banks, 45% are looking for performance benchmarking, 42% predictive forecasting, and 41% real-time data management.
4. Embed artificial intelligence (AI) in treasury solutions: About 90% of CFOs and treasurers would use an AI financial advisor that makes recommendations in response to financial issues, while 86% are open to using an AI treasury assistant that provides bespoke insights.
CFOs and treasurers are under pressure to improve their treasuries and many are looking to banks for help, says James Sankey, EMEIA Corporate, Commercial and SME Banking Leader at EY.
“In a world where there are more and more players, banks have to be very clear about their strengths. Understanding what matters to your clients and where they see you playing is really important,” says Sankey.
Banks rolling out new treasury services
The four bank representatives backed EY’s findings.
Ketevan Kandelaki, Director of Nonlending Business at TBC Bank in Georgia, says her organization is providing strategic advisory services, a digital platform of tailored solutions, and extensive cash-handling infrastructure.
Commercial Bank of Qatar reports rising demand among corporate clients for data services.
“We’ve seen increased interest from corporates in having, on top of liquidity information, the ability to slice and dice information [to see] how historically they made their payments and what kind of future payment obligations they have to consider for their business models,” says Venkata Indraganti, Senior Assistant General Manager and Head of Transaction Banking at Commercial Bank of Qatar.
Indraganti adds that his organization analyzes payment types and patterns to segment clients and tailor treasury services for SMEs, corporates, and public sector organizations.
Portugal’s Millennium bcp and Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) in Austria expect AI, particularly agentic AI, to become increasingly influential in automated treasury services.
António Fery Antunes, Head of Direct Channels for SMEs and Corporates at Millennium bcp, believes treasury executives will initially use AI for decision support. Millennium bcp recently introduced a web-based agentic AI service that advises companies within seconds whether they are eligible for European Union funds.
Antunes believes human relationship managers will continue to be a critical part of banks’ relations with large treasury clients.
“Our perspective is that a human in the loop will always be in business banking for medium and large companies although obviously not for smaller firms.”
Herbert Auinger, Head of Group Corporate Digital Transformation at RBI, says agentic AI is emerging as a fifth channel for treasury services, alongside physical touchpoints, online platforms, integration links, and third-party networks. He points out that agentic AI’s ability to handle customer service requests and engage directly with other autonomous processes can help banks avoid expensive IT integration.
“For large corporates, the number of transactions is not that high. We are talking about 200 or 300 transactions a year and these transactions are not standardized. So, if you have an AI agent bringing the data from A to B, you don’t need an expensive IT integration that will cost you millions for only 200 or 300 transactions.”
Auinger describes three layers of agentic AI within a bank: speeding up and integrating internal processes, handling customer service requests and communication, and supporting deal execution.
“I think that the lower two levels are quite easy to digest. On the upper level, you have to know what you are doing.”
Indraganti adds that his organization analyzes payment types and patterns to segment clients and tailor treasury services for SMEs, corporates, and public sector organizations.
Portugal’s Millennium bcp and Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) in Austria expect AI, particularly agentic AI, to become increasingly influential in automated treasury services.
António Fery Antunes, Head of Direct Channels for SMEs and Corporates at Millennium bcp, believes treasury executives will initially use AI for decision support. Millennium bcp recently introduced a web-based agentic AI service that advises companies within seconds whether they are eligible for European Union funds.
Antunes believes human relationship managers will continue to be a critical part of banks’ relations with large treasury clients.
Herbert Auinger, Head of Group Corporate Digital Transformation at RBI, says agentic AI is emerging as a fifth channel for treasury services, alongside physical touchpoints, online platforms, integration links, and third-party networks. He points out that agentic AI’s ability to handle customer service requests and engage directly with other autonomous processes can help banks avoid expensive IT integration.
“For large corporates, the number of transactions is not that high. We are talking about 200 or 300 transactions a year and these transactions are not standardized. So, if you have an AI agent bringing the data from A to B, you don’t need an expensive IT integration that will cost you millions for only 200 or 300 transactions.”
Auinger describes three layers of agentic AI within a bank: speeding up and integrating internal processes, handling customer service requests and communication, and supporting deal execution.
Treasury challenges banks must overcome
While all four bank representatives acknowledged that demand for automated treasury services creates plenty of opportunities, they also highlighted several challenges.
- Client fragmentation: End-to-end automation is difficult because many mid-market clients use several banks and automated treasury services must accommodate offerings from multiple providers.
- Low volume and variable transactions: Back-end integration is complex and often lacks a strong business case because corporate transaction volumes are low and deals are not standardized.
- Investment and resourcing constraints: Treasury digitization at corporates frequently competes with other priorities for funding and resourcing.
- Security and fraud controls: Security requirements, such as validation and confirmation of payees and the processing of digital certificates, can limit the rollout of automated treasury services.
- Agentic AI risk: While agentic AI can improve treasury data flows and customer engagement, it also introduces risk when executing client transactions.
EY advises banks to avoid trying to “boil the ocean.” Instead, they should focus on the biggest client pain points, deliver value fast, and build new offerings in stages, with clear ownership, governance, and controls that match risk. Then they can expand their services, integrate them with other solutions, and eventually use agentic AI to support highly complex tasks.
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