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Can treasury keep up with rising business demands?


Discover how a flexible treasury operating model can help organizations address pressing challenges.


In brief

  • Faced with rising demands, treasury teams often struggle to keep the business running with limited resources, manual processes and fragmented systems.
  • A flexible treasury operating model can support treasury operations, Treasury Management System (TMS) application management or both, depending on client maturity and priorities.
  • Standardized processes, governance and technology-enabled delivery free up treasury teams to focus on other value adding day-to-day activities.

The role of a corporate treasury function is expanding beyond liquidity, payments and risk management as treasury teams are being asked to support transformation programs, M&A transactions, enterprise decision-making and meeting regulatory expectations. Equipped with limited resources and working with fragmented systems, treasury departments frequently struggle to meet the increasing demands they are facing.

The resulting challenge is not simply a matter of capacity. It concerns the organization’s ability to operate a controlled, scalable and technology-enabled treasury model that covers cash and liquidity operations, forecasting, payments, bank account management, financial risk management, governance and treasury systems support. Treasury leaders may struggle to respond quickly to business needs when manual work, inconsistent data and disconnected platforms provide only limited insight.

Managed treasury services provide a flexible and scalable way for organizations to bridge the gap between their current treasury capabilities and rising demands.

What stops treasury teams from scaling effectively?

Treasury teams often struggle to scale because operational demands rise faster than available specialist capacity. Daily cash positioning, payment execution, bank account administration, forecast consolidation, exposure analysis and controls monitoring all require accuracy, timeliness and clear ownership. When these activities rely on manual processes or fragmented tools, treasury teams spend valuable time resolving exceptions rather than improving decision-making.
 

How fragmented operating models impact treasury performance

Fragmented operating models can also create inconsistent execution across regions, business units and banks. Data may be collected from multiple sources, approvals may sit in different systems and reporting may not provide a consistent view of cash, risk and liquidity across the enterprise. These issues can affect forecasting accuracy, control effectiveness and the ability to support business change.
 

For example, a multinational organization operating across multiple regions and holding various banking relationships may rely on separate processes and systems for cash positioning, forecasting, hedging of FX exposures, and bank account management. Treasury teams can spend significant time reconciling information from different sources before they are able to produce a consolidated view of liquidity and risk across the enterprise.
 

How a managed treasury services model can help

A managed treasury services model can address these constraints by creating a more consistent service framework. Designed as a scalable solution that adapts to the needs of the business, the model combines treasury experience, technology platforms and global delivery capabilities to help organizations standardize processes, strengthen controls and improve operational resilience.
 

Standardized processes, defined service levels, specialist treasury resources and technology-enabled delivery can help treasury functions increase reliability while maintaining flexibility to respond to changing business needs.
 

How do organizations integrate managed treasury services successfully?

A good managed treasury services model is built around clear accountability, strong governance and practical integration with an organization’s existing treasury technology. It should both support day-to-day execution and also improve the data, controls and reporting needed for strategic treasury management.
 

What activities can be covered by managed treasury services?

In terms of treasury operations support, this can range from daily cash positioning, liquidity administration, cash forecasting and payment monitoring to bank account and signatory maintenance, debt and investment record tracking, as well as hedging support, derivative reporting and working capital support. In the realm of treasury application support, services can include helpdesk and ticket triage, system administration, configuration changes, interface monitoring, release support, enhancement management and performance optimization.
 

Why integrate treasury operations and TMS support?

The strongest models connect operational delivery with TMS application management. This has proven most effective because treasury processes and treasury systems are closely linked. A payment process issue may also be a technical workflow, interface or master data issue. A forecasting challenge may require changes in data sourcing, reporting configuration or process ownership. Integrated treasury operations and TMS support can help resolve issues at their root. As a result, the treasury operating model improves over time.
 

How can managed treasury services support transformation?

Managed treasury services give treasury teams access to specialist capabilities without requiring them to build every capability internally. This is a key advantage in any business transformation, which invariably ties up resources and tends to require professional support. Organizations can use managed services to stabilize core operations, support a TMS implementation, modernize reporting, improve controls or scale a regional treasury model.
 

Which delivery model is right for my organization?

Organizations can choose from several delivery models depending on their treasury maturity, technology landscape and strategic priorities.

Model

Best suited for

Labor-based delivery

Organizations seeking process standardization without major technology change

Hosted TMS model

Organizations modernizing treasury technology while reducing internal support requirements

Treasury application managed services

Organizations with an existing TMS seeking ongoing support and optimization

Labor-based delivery: One option is labor-based delivery using the organization’s TMS or ERP environment, which allows treasury activities to be standardized without a major system change.

Hosted TMS: Another option is a technology-enabled model on an externally hosted treasury management system, which can help organizations modernize their treasury platform with managed operational support.

Treasury application managed services: A third option is treasury application managed services, where the focus is on maintaining, supporting and continuously improving existing treasury technology.

This flexibility is important because not every organization needs the same model. Some treasury teams need additional operating capacity for cash and liquidity management. Others need treasury systems support for Kyriba, SAP Treasury, FIS Quantum or other platforms. Others again need a combined model that brings operations and application management together under one service framework.

How can managed treasury services improve control, visibility and efficiency?

For many treasury leaders, the business case for managed treasury services is built around three outcomes: stronger control, greater visibility and improved operational efficiency. 

Over time, these outcomes can help treasury move from manual execution toward a more scalable operating model.

What should organizations consider before choosing a managed treasury model?

Organizations should start by clarifying which treasury outcomes matter most. Some may prioritize liquidity visibility and forecasting accuracy. Others may need stronger treasury governance and controls, more resilient payment operations or a managed TMS support model. The model chosen should also reflect the organization’s risk appetite, technology landscape, operating footprint and internal treasury capabilities.

In addition, a practical assessment will need to be made that considers current pain points, process ownership, system architecture, data quality, controls, service levels and future growth plans. The organization should also define where internal teams will retain decision-making authority and the extent to which a managed service provider can support execution, monitoring and continuous improvement.

The goal is not to outsource treasury judgement. The goal is to create capacity, consistency and control so treasury leaders can focus on strategic value. With a flexible managed treasury services model, organizations can modernize treasury operations, improve treasury technology support and build a more resilient foundation for future growth.

The goal is not to outsource treasury judgement. The goal is to create capacity, consistency and control so treasury leaders can focus on strategic value.

Summary

As treasury's role expands, many teams struggle to meet growing demands with limited resources, fragmented processes and disconnected systems. Managed treasury services help address these challenges by combining treasury expertise, technology and scalable delivery models to improve control, visibility and operational efficiency. Services can support treasury operations, treasury management systems (TMS) and transformation initiatives through labor-based, hosted or application-managed models. By standardizing processes, strengthening controls and enhancing technology support, managed treasury services enable treasury teams to focus less on manual execution and more on strategic decision-making and long-term business value.

Acknowledgement

Many thanks to Ashish Agrawal for his valuable contribution to this article.


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