Growing demand for automated treasury services but banks must earn control and trust

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!