Shaping the Treasury of 2025

Shaping the Treasury of 2025

Journeys to Treasury partnership announces its 4th annual report

Journeys to Treasury combines vision and practicality to offer a realistic view of treasury challenges – and opportunities - of today and tomorrow. How can treasurers leverage best practices and new technologies to take the treasury function beyond an operational centre of excellence to a strategic business partner?

Wednesday 16 October, Copenhagen - The treasury – and the treasurer - of 2025 will look very different to that of today. Treasury is becoming more relevant as the need to manage liquidity and risk internationally becomes more important and visible at Board level, and more strategic as it becomes more deeply involved in the commercial aspects of the business. As treasurers extend their reach and influence, the skills requirement is changing while the combination of data and available technology is creating valuable new opportunities..

Embracing change can be daunting, and treasurers may often think that other treasuries are ahead of their own. Rather than taking an idealised view of treasury, the Journeys to Treasury report acknowledges the reality that although some treasuries have digitised more fully than others, everyone has organisational, human, technology and budget constraints that shape their priorities and capacity.

In the fourth edition of Journeys to Treasury, BNP Paribas, PwC, SAP and the European Association of Corporate Treasurers (EACT) come together once again to explore some of the priorities that treasurers have identified, and which are shaping the treasury of today and tomorrow:

Payments and Collections. As digital business models emerge, new payment methods are proliferating. Treasurers can play a key role in supporting business units by proposing new payment and collection methods to differentiate the experience of customers and suppliers. Bruno Mellado, Global Head of Payments and Receivables, BNP Paribas comments,

“Whether treasurers are leaders or influencers, they have a vital role to play in evaluating, facilitating and managing the effects of different payment and collection methods. By doing so, they can help to drive the company’s success in a changing, increasingly digital, environment.”

FX Risk Management. Managing foreign exchange (FX) risk remains one of treasurers’ highest priorities, and FX volatility can make a major difference to earnings. Didier Vandenhaute, Partner, PwC notes,

“Senior executives and company Boards continue to be motivated to understand the potential impact of FX volatility and limit negative effects on the business. Consequently, treasurers are renewing their focus on hedging strategies and optimal execution to manage risk and reduce the impact of volatility. Given limits on resources, automating some of the day-to-day business, including the use of robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, can give treasurers time to spend on more complex and strategic activities.”

Technology Enablers. With expanding technology opportunities and lower barriers to adoption, treasurers have an unprecedented ability to automate processes and enhance decision-making. However, the success of these endeavours relies on high quality data. To get the best from new technology, treasurers and their partners across the business need to adopt a data-driven mindset. Christian Mnich, VP and Head of Solution Management, Treasury and Working Capital Management, SAP highlights,

“To gain the full value of new solutions, treasurers need to look at their needs and identify where pain points are occurring. In many cases, problems with underlying data prevent treasurers from fulfilling basic treasury requirements, let alone developing advanced capabilities. Improving the completeness and integrity of data is therefore becoming a significant priority. With treasury data often owned and held in different parts of the organisation, this will often require a company-wide shift towards a data-driven mindset.”

The Future Treasury. Treasury is still a relatively new profession, yet has become increasingly important as corporations expand their international reach. In a fast-changing business and digital environment, and with an expanding set of responsibilities, how can treasurers prepare for the future? François Masquelier, Deputy Chair EACT says,

“As treasury structures, processes and controls are increasingly shaped by technology, and the role of treasury continues to evolve, treasury functions need to reinvent themselves to remain relevant and enhance their value to the business. The need to engage and collaborate with internal and external partners will be also be amplified in the coming years.”

This year’s report shares the findings of in-depth workshops attended by experts from the four Journeys to Treasury partners, complemented by practical insights, case studies and interviews with nine leading corporate treasurers.

To download a copy of the report, please click www.journeystotreasury.com . For further information or to arrange interviews with the Journeys to Treasury partners, please contact Apoorva Dwivedi, Head of External Communication, BNP Paribas at [email protected] .

 

Notes for Editors

BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas is a leading global financial institution that aims to finance the economy in an ethical and sustainable manner #positivebanking. With an extensive product offering and presence in 70+ countries, BNP Paribas accompanies its clients in their international development with a network of over 220 business centres and 1,700 transaction banking relationship managers around the world. Co-creating the future of cash and treasury management with its corporate clients, the bank has one the most inclusive global cash management footprints and the highest level of direct clearing connections. BNP Paribas is also at the forefront of cyber-security and fraud management efforts and is uniquely positioned to meet the local, regional and global cash management requirements of its corporate clients, today and in the future. cashmanagement.bnpparibas.com

EACT

The EACT brings together 13,000 treasury professionals through 23 National Treasury Associations. They are active in 21 countries and work in 6,500 companies.

Our mission is to be the voice of this community in Europe. We do this by representing the financial professionals of the real economy with European authorities and institutions; by actively promoting dialogue at every level; by encouraging our members to develop their competences; by sharing best practices and facilitating high level networking. eact.eu

PwC

Our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. We’re a network of firms in 158 countries with more than 250,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory and tax services. pwc.com

PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see pwc.com/structure for further details.

SAP

SAP (NYSE: SAP) is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables our customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference.

SAP offers a comprehensive suite of treasury management solutions helping businesses gain greater insight and control over processes for managing cash, liquidity, and risk, while integrating financial reporting within one single system. Available in the cloud or on-premise, built on SAP S/4HANA – the next-generation ERP suite - our solutions offer instant visibility, straight-through processing and business integrity across the enterprise.

With a global network of customers, partners and employees SAP helps the world run better and improves people’s lives. sap.com/treasury

About PwC Belgium

Building trust and delivering sustained outcomes

At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. We’re a network of firms in 151 countries with more than 364,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory and tax services. Find out more and tell us  what matters to you by visiting us at www.pwc.com.

PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

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