Beyond monitoring bank accounts and the daily ebb and flow of cash in corporate coffers, the role of treasurers is changing.
And technology has become a major enabler of that change.
A series of recent headlines related to FinTech funding and partnerships between traditional financial services companies and digital-only companies highlight the expanding portfolio that treasurers must accommodate, so to speak. These individuals and their staff are increasingly tasked with helping manage risk and shape an organization's strategy, especially as more business operates on a global stage.
In recent news, fintech company Embat, which provides real-time corporate financial management tools, announced late last month that it had raised a Series A round of €14.7 million ($15.96 million). According to the company's site, its platform enables real-time banking connectivity, financial forecasting, and payment capabilities, allowing users to approve, sign, and monitor transactions with automatic reconciliation.
As mentioned elsewhere, and here, Treasury4 has raised $20 million in its own Series A funding round to expand its software platform for treasury and financial professionals. The company's platform helps with global money management and predictive management. The platform also enables ISO 20022 messaging automation for SWIFT onboarding for enterprises.
A good place for AI too
It's no surprise that artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being seen and used as a tool to help streamline and improve back-office decision-making. This has positive ripple effects across markets, commerce and supply chains.
Just this week, news broke that JPMorgan Chase's own AI product reduced manual work by almost 90% by automating the classification and visualization of customer payment flows. We noted that AI can analyze historical data, market trends, and various parameters to provide more accurate and dynamic cash flow forecasts.
Platforms and built-in options (PNC partners with finance platform Koxa for real-time balance and transaction information) are coming to the forefront as treasurers look to new growth opportunities. .
In PYMNTS Intelligence and Citi's report, “Navigating Unexpected Strategies,” treasurers looking to take a strategic and proactive role in setting up simple cross-border payments, moving into large-scale global payments points out the need to pursue easy access, plug-and-play interoperability with ERP and forecasting. tool. A separate study from PYMNTS Intelligence found that the majority of CFOs and treasurers across a wide range of industries, such as retail and manufacturing, plan to invest in working capital management and back-end AP/AR modernization efforts. I found that I was refining it. Additionally, 90% of midsize businesses with annual revenue between $3.5 million and $15 million plan to automate AP and AR processes, expecting more accurate and efficient data reporting and analysis. states that it is.
