Treasurers press new PM for clearer UK business strategy

The Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) has urged UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s new government to turn its growth ambitions into clearer conditions for business investment, as the Prime Minister opened talks with industry groups and promised a closer partnership with the private sector.

ACT congratulated Burnham and the new Chancellor on their appointments, but used its response to call for greater clarity, predictability and confidence for corporates operating in the UK. Its headline proposals include ensuring access to capital, upgrading skills and technology, promoting international trade and developing a coordinated strategy to attract and retain corporate treasury centres.

Annette Spencer, chief executive of ACT, said delivering the government’s ambition for “good growth in every postcode” would depend on creating conditions that allow businesses “to invest with greater confidence”, avoiding a disconnect between pro-growth language and delivery.

Initial moves from Downing Street speak directly to part of that agenda. Burnham has told business representative groups including the CBI, British Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses and Make UK that his government will offer greater certainty, clearer long-term direction, faster decision-making and a stronger business voice in policy.

Cost reduction is also being pushed early. Relief of 20% for pubs, clubs and music venues has been announced, while the Prime Minister has promised business rates reform, lower business costs and a more agile state, with more decisions taken closer to communities, employers and investors.

Prime Minister Burnham said: “We’ll bring down costs, reform business rates and use the power of government to back British business.” In return, he said he wanted companies to “invest in their people, back their communities and help us give every young person a fair chance to find a good job.”

For treasurers, the immediate question is how quickly broad commitments become bankable policy detail. Lower operating costs, faster planning decisions and more predictable regulation would feed into cash flow forecasts, investment cases, funding plans and risk assessments. Uncertainty over tax, labour rules, energy costs or trade conditions can have the opposite effect, raising contingency buffers and delaying capital allocation.

Trade policy will be watched closely. ACT has called for international cooperation, while the government says it will work with partners to deepen trade relationships and strengthen economic security. Downing Street pointed to the UK’s Economic Prosperity Deal, saying zero tariffs on whisky and medical technology remain in place despite a further round of US tariffs.

Skills and technology are another area of overlap. Burnham has asked employers to work with government on youth unemployment, skills shortages and workplace readiness. ACT’s own priorities include upgrading skills and technology for the digital economy, a theme that matters to treasury teams dealing with automation, data quality, payments modernisation and financial risk management.

Gaps remain. ACT’s call for a standalone strategy to attract and retain corporate treasury centres is more specific than the government’s first-week business language. Details are also needed on access to capital, procurement policy, worker rights reforms and the proposed more active role for government in markets such as energy, water and essential services.

Spencer said corporate treasurers are central to financing investment and managing associated risks. Burnham’s first business overtures align with that principle, but corporate finance teams will judge the new administration by the predictability of its policy framework and the practical effect on funding, trade, costs and confidence.

 

Dutch banks set timetable for Wero migration

Dutch banks, payment service providers and the European Payments Initiative have agreed the next phase of the migration from iDEAL to Wero, setting a timetable for one of Europe’s most closely watched retail payment transitions.

Following the introduction of iDEAL | Wero co-branding earlier this year, the next stage will see more Dutch online payments gradually move onto Wero’s infrastructure. EPI said a growing number of consumer-to-consumer and e-commerce transactions are already being processed through the platform.

By October 2026, all Dutch issuing banks are expected to be connected to Wero and ready for the next phase. From then, iDEAL payments will begin moving gradually to Wero infrastructure, although consumers will continue to pay through their own bank and should see little immediate change at checkout.

For merchants and payment service providers, the timetable gives more clarity over a migration that affects online checkout, acquiring relationships, reconciliation and payment operations. ABN Amro, ING and Rabobank are among the Dutch banks involved, alongside PSPs including Adyen, Mollie, Buckaroo, CM.com, PAY.nl, MultiSafepay and PPRO.

EPI, the banks and PSPs have also agreed to introduce Purchase Protection collectively, with the objective of achieving full coverage by 1 January 2028. A phased approach is intended to give the market time to build the necessary operational processes, including handling rules, customer communication and merchant-side implications.

Martina Weimert, chief executive officer of EPI, said the first phase showed the migration was “progressing as planned”, adding that “dialogue, transparency and alignment” would be needed to give stakeholders “the clarity and time needed to prepare”.

Cost visibility is another important element for payment providers and merchants. Wero scheme pricing will remain broadly aligned with the current iDEAL | Wero level until 31 December 2028, giving PSPs a more predictable basis for commercial planning during the transition.

European payment sovereignty remains part of the wider policy context. For finance teams, however, the operational questions are more immediate: how quickly checkout flows change, whether reporting remains consistent, how refunds and disputes work under Purchase Protection and whether payment costs remain stable during migration.

Completion of the iDEAL to Wero migration is targeted by 31 December 2027.

 

Investors seek stock themes beyond AI visibility

Volatility in AI-linked infrastructure stocks is pushing investors to look again at equity themes less dependent on the technology trade, according to Goldman Sachs Research.

The firm has highlighted consumer-experience stocks, quality “compounders” and potential M&A candidates as three themes with limited correlation to AI-related equities. The work comes as investors reassess how much portfolio performance has become tied to one dominant market narrative.

“While many fund managers have maintained a bullish fundamental view on the AI infrastructure complex, recent volatility has made it challenging to maintain that view in portfolios,” Ben Snider, chief US equity strategist at Goldman Sachs Research, wrote in a report.

“Our conversations with investors have also focused on the challenge of finding investment opportunities not tied to AI, with many sectors trading with a strong positive or negative correlation to AI and momentum in recent months,” Snider wrote.

Consumer-experience stocks offer one route. Goldman Sachs Research said these companies provide exposure to sustained growth in spending on experiences, trade at undemanding valuations and face limited risk of AI disruption.

A second group, described by the firm as compounders, includes stocks with strong earnings growth, returns on capital, balance sheets and free cash flow conversion. These companies have recently lagged the wider market and now trade at a historically large valuation discount.

M&A candidates form the third theme. Goldman Sachs Research said a group of potential targets identified by its equity analysts has outperformed sharply in recent weeks, but still does not appear to have fully priced in the recent increase in deal activity.

Behind the stock themes is a broader question about concentration. Companies with investment portfolios, pension exposures or surplus cash mandates may need to consider how much indirect exposure they have to AI momentum through equities, funds or broader risk assets.

The themes also point to wider corporate finance questions. Experience-led consumer demand may influence revenue planning in leisure, travel and retail-related sectors. Strong balance sheets and free cash flow remain important markers for counterparties and investors. Rising M&A expectations can affect acquisition valuations, defence planning and access to capital.

Goldman Sachs Research’s message is that equity opportunities are still available outside the AI trade. For finance teams, the practical issue is whether market assumptions have become too dependent on one source of momentum.

 

China and Hong Kong deepen bond and FX links

China and Hong Kong are moving to deepen links between their fixed income and currency markets, with CFETS and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing set to develop an electronic trading platform in Hong Kong.

The collaboration between the China Foreign Exchange Trade System and HKEX is intended to support institutional trading in fixed income and currency products, while strengthening Hong Kong’s role as an offshore renminbi centre and international financial hub.

The initiative follows Hong Kong’s 2025 roadmap for fixed income and currency markets, which identified a next-generation electronic trading venue as one of its key priorities. Further details, including the product scope and launch timetable, have yet to be announced.

The People’s Bank of China, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission said the platform should follow international market standards while meeting Hong Kong regulatory requirements. It is expected to support local and international institutions, with a focus on trading efficiency, transparency, price discovery, lower transaction costs and technology-led market development.

The strategic point is closer market connectivity between Hong Kong and mainland China. A stronger electronic venue could give global institutions another route into RMB-linked bond and currency activity, while giving mainland market infrastructure a deeper offshore channel through Hong Kong.

Corporate finance teams with RMB exposure will watch how the platform develops, particularly around liquidity, pricing transparency and access to hedging instruments. Companies raising capital, managing Asian cash positions or hedging China-related currency risk may benefit if the venue improves execution and market depth.

Practical impact will depend on participant access, connectivity, product coverage and timing.

 

Mastercard widens virtual card controls for B2B payments

Mastercard has expanded its virtual card platform with issuer-level controls, enhanced clearing controls and broader embedded payments capabilities, as financial institutions and enterprises look for tighter governance over digital B2B payments.

The changes apply to Mastercard’s virtual card number ecosystem, which now includes issuers, platforms and corporates transacting across 43 countries and 174 currencies. Citi is already live with the new issuer and clearing controls, and is expected to be the first issuer to roll out the capabilities globally later this year.

Virtual cards are increasingly used for supplier payments, travel, procurement and accounts payable, giving companies more control over who can be paid, for how much and within what time period. Mastercard said fraud rates on virtual cards are less than one fifth of those on non-virtual cards, with lower rates still when virtual cards are issued through its control platform.

The new issuer enforced controls apply when a virtual card number is created. Issuers can set baseline guardrails such as spend limits, transaction caps and validity periods, giving banks a way to apply controls from the start of a programme rather than relying only on checks later in the payment chain.

Clearing controls extend validation beyond authorisation into the clearing stage. Enhancements are intended to let corporates and platforms block invalid transactions, apply more precise rules, manage payment timing and centralise policy management as virtual card programmes scale.

Integration is the other focus. Mastercard is expanding single API access through Commercial Connect, allowing virtual card creation and payment initiation to be handled through one connection. The company pointed to industry data showing that 69% of companies struggle to integrate payment and business systems.

Those integration issues matter for treasury and finance teams because virtual card benefits can be diluted if payment data remains disconnected from ERP, accounts payable, expense management or reconciliation tools. Stronger links into existing systems could give finance teams better visibility over committed spend, outstanding supplier payments and policy compliance.

Mastercard is also widening its embedded virtual card network, which was launched in March 2025. Partners across expense management, ERP, accounts payable, travel, hospitality, healthcare and e-commerce have joined the programme, with SAP among those enabling a partnership through the model.

Recent use cases include a mobile virtual card solution with HSBC in the UAE, which allows tokenised virtual card numbers to be used in digital wallets. Mastercard also pointed to activity in travel through partnerships including Juniper Travel, HBX Group and TravelSoft.

The wider corporate finance issue is control at scale. As more B2B payments move inside digital workflows, companies need virtual card programmes that support security, spend policy, audit trails and reconciliation without adding another layer of operational complexity.

 

MIGA and Deutsche Bank widen frontier trade finance

MIGA and Deutsche Bank have set up a €1bn guarantee platform to expand trade finance in frontier and emerging markets, targeting countries and sectors where financing gaps are growing.

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, part of the World Bank Group, will provide guarantees to Deutsche Bank under its first standalone trade finance portfolio framework with a global commercial bank. The guarantees will protect against non-payment risk in eligible transactions involving state-owned banks.

Those banks often act as important intermediaries where private-sector trade finance capacity is limited, particularly for imports of essential goods or support to underserved clients. MIGA said the structure is intended to help maintain availability where risk appetite is tightening.

The platform includes targets to direct a meaningful share of trade finance volume towards priority areas, including International Development Association countries, fragile and conflict-affected situations, SMEs, agriculture, health and water.

The corporate relevance lies in bank capacity. Companies sourcing from, selling into or operating in higher-risk markets can find viable trade flows constrained by sovereign risk, counterparty exposure or reduced appetite among commercial lenders. A multilateral guarantee can help banks keep financing available for transactions that might otherwise be harder to support.

Trade finance pressure has become more important as companies reassess supply chains, manage geopolitical risk and navigate uneven access to working capital. In frontier and emerging markets, tighter credit can lengthen payment terms, restrict imports and make it harder for suppliers to fulfil orders.

Guarantee capacity will not remove those risks, and availability will still depend on eligible counterparties, transaction type and bank appetite. However, the framework gives Deutsche Bank a broader risk-sharing structure for supporting trade flows where the private sector alone may struggle to absorb the risk.

MIGA’s guarantees cover losses caused by the failure of a sovereign, state-owned bank or public authority to meet an unconditional financial obligation linked to a trade finance transaction.

 

Komgo and Marvin target commoditiy trade document delays

Komgo and Marvin have partnered to connect physical commodity trade execution with letter of credit preparation, targeting errors and amendments that can delay working capital in land-based industries.

The agreement brings together Marvin’s supply chain planning and verification tools with Komgo’s trade finance workflow. The companies said the combined process will cover commodities in sectors including forestry, mining, energy, food and beverage.

Letters of credit remain an important instrument in physical trade, but they are also sensitive to wording, document and shipment-data discrepancies. Mistakes between the commercial order, logistics data and LC wording can trigger amendments, delay bank acceptance and slow access to liquidity.

Under the partnership, Marvin will verify physical trade execution data before it is used to generate LC wording. Komgo will then share that wording as a validated draft before submission to the bank. Once the LC is issued, it will be compared automatically with the draft to identify differences before presentation.

The final LC will be attached to Marvin’s Digital Evidence Vault, creating a shipment record linked to the physical trade, while Komgo continues to handle financial orchestration, including LC preparation, tracking, digital document delivery, bank performance benchmarking and fee governance.

The model is intended to reduce the gap between the movement of goods and the financing documents that support them. For commodity traders, producers and industrial buyers, that gap can affect liquidity, cost of capital and supplier relationships, particularly where shipments move across jurisdictions and documentation requirements are complex.

Treasury and trade finance teams are likely to focus on working capital control. Cleaner shipment data and earlier document validation could reduce LC amendment cycles, improve audit trails and give finance teams a clearer view of where cash may be delayed.

Adoption will depend on how easily the workflow connects with banks, enterprise systems and existing trade documentation processes. The practical test is whether automation can reduce disputes before they reach the bank, shortening the distance between physical shipment and financial execution.

 

Garanti BBVA targets exporters’ CBAM cost risk

Garanti BBVA has executed a derivatives-based transaction to help Medcem Cement Group hedge price risk linked to the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, as carbon costs become a more direct treasury issue for exporters.

The bank said the structure is designed for companies trading with the European Union that face uncertainty over the future cost of CBAM certificates. Those certificates must be surrendered by importers of covered carbon-intensive goods and their price mirrors the EU Emissions Trading System carbon price.

Medcem used the transaction to lock in the average EU Allowances price over the reference period, reducing uncertainty over part of its future CBAM-related costs. Garanti BBVA said the transaction is an early application in Türkiye of a treasury solution intended to help exporters manage CBAM certificate price volatility.

Cement is one of the sectors most exposed to the EU regime, alongside other carbon-intensive industries. For exporters, fluctuating carbon prices can affect product pricing, margins, customer negotiations and forward sales into the EU market.

Mehmet Ali Ceylan, chief executive officer of Medcem Cement Group, said the shift of CBAM into its financial obligation phase made carbon cost predictability increasingly important for industries exporting covered products to the EU. For the cement sector, he said, the process should be addressed “not only from a regulatory compliance perspective but also in terms of financial resilience and international competitiveness”.

For corporate treasurers, the transaction shows climate regulation moving into familiar risk management territory. Carbon exposure can now sit alongside FX, interest rate and commodity risks when companies assess pricing, working capital, margin protection and hedge policy.

CBAM-linked hedging may also force closer coordination between treasury, sustainability, tax, sales and trade teams. Exposure depends on emissions data, export volumes, customer contracts and EU carbon pricing, which means the risk cannot be managed through treasury systems alone.

Use of derivatives will not remove compliance obligations, but it can give exporters greater visibility over part of their future cost base. As CBAM moves towards financial implementation, that predictability may become more important for companies competing in EU supply chains.

 

Visa and Airwallex target freight payment delays

A partnership between Visa and Airwallex will look to develop embedded finance solutions for freight and shipping platforms, targeting payment delays, cash-flow pressure and cross-border complexity in global logistics.

The collaboration will combine Visa’s commercial payments, acceptance and risk management capabilities with Airwallex’s multi-currency infrastructure and embedded finance technology. The companies plan to build payment and financial tools that sit directly inside freight platform workflows.

Freight remains a difficult sector for payments because cargo movements, invoicing, documentation and settlement often involve several parties across countries. Payment processes can still be fragmented and manual, even as booking and logistics management become more digital.

Visa and Airwallex said shipping payments take an average of 42 days to reach the invoicing company. Processing and administrative costs can also account for nearly one fifth of total transportation costs, partly because of labour-intensive document handling.

The proposed solutions are intended to help freight platforms simplify payment acceptance, manage multi-currency flows and improve access to working capital. For logistics businesses, faster settlement could free up cash for the next shipment and reduce pressure caused by funds being caught between counterparties, banks and borders.

Freight costs feed directly into working capital, inventory planning, supplier terms and margin management. Delayed payments or unclear FX costs can make it harder for companies to forecast cash and assess the true cost of moving goods.

Adoption will depend on how easily the tools integrate with existing freight, invoicing and finance systems. In a sector built around tight timing, payment infrastructure will need to match the reliability expected of the physical supply chain.

 

Billtrust connects receivables data to AI assistants

Billtrust has launched a Model Context Protocol server that connects live accounts receivable data to AI assistants including Claude and Microsoft Copilot.

The capability allows finance teams to ask plain-language questions about cash flow, invoice ageing and payment risk without logging into a separate receivables platform. Users receive read-only answers drawn from invoice-to-cash data across invoicing, payments, cash application and AR analytics.

Billtrust said the system can pull from connected tools such as ERP, CRM and FP&A platforms, alongside its own AR intelligence trained on anonymised payment data from 13 million buyers and more than $1 trillion in annual invoice volume.

For finance teams, the practical value sits in faster visibility over working capital pressure. A CFO could ask for a summary of AR risk before quarter end, while an AR manager could identify accounts trending late by outstanding balance and days past due.

Receivables data is often one of the earliest signals of cash-flow stress, customer payment behaviour and potential collection risk. Making that information available inside AI workspaces could reduce the time spent stitching together reports, provided the answers remain traceable and controlled.

Billtrust said customer data remains within each customer’s own environment and is not exposed to other users. AI tools receive structured answers rather than raw data access, with each query tracked through an audit trail. Setup is handled through the customer’s existing identity provider.

Further functionality is planned, including an embedded interface, prompt library and the ability to trigger collections outreach, apply payments, escalate disputes and start early payment campaigns from inside AI workspaces.

 

Amazon expands business checkout with pay-over-time option

Amazon Business has added Affirm as a pay-over-time option for eligible sole proprietor customers, extending buy now, pay later finance into small business procurement.

The rollout starts immediately and is expected to reach all eligible Amazon Business sole proprietor customers by Black Friday. Affirm is the first pay-over-time option available at checkout on Amazon Business.

Customers selecting Affirm will enter details such as registered business name and address before receiving an instant credit decision. Approved users can choose repayment terms of three to 48 months, with the amount due agreed upfront and no late or hidden fees, according to the companies.

The launch marks Affirm’s entry into a B2B pay-over-time product aimed at sole proprietors. Amazon and Affirm already work together in consumer e-commerce, Amazon Canada and Amazon Pay.

Small business owners could use the payment option to spread the cost of stock, equipment or operating purchases made through Amazon Business. That may support cash-flow management where revenue timing does not match procurement needs.

The finance relevance is narrower than a full trade credit or working capital facility, but the direction is notable. Consumer-style credit products are moving further into B2B checkout, giving smaller firms more financing choices while placing greater importance on repayment discipline and transparent cost comparison.