Treasury teams struggle to automate as manual processes persist

Nearly 80% of treasury departments continue to rely on manual or fragmented processes despite broad agreement that digital tools are reshaping liquidity management, according to TD Bank’s survey of treasury professionals at the Association for Financial Professionals’ 2025 conference in Boston.

Three-quarters of respondents (75%) say digital cash-flow visibility and liquidity solutions have already influenced their growth strategies, yet adoption remains limited. Many teams are tied to legacy systems and workflows that slow reporting, complicate reconciliation, and reduce the accuracy of forward-looking decisions. The survey suggests that treasurers increasingly understand the value of real-time integration but face structural and organisational barriers when attempting to get there.

Respondents cite three top challenges: manual or fragmented systems (36%), macroeconomic uncertainty and market volatility (also 36%), and a lack of real-time cash-flow data (20%). These issues reflect the tension between rising expectations for speed and accuracy and operational models that still depend heavily on spreadsheets, manual uploads, or siloed banking portals.

When asked which capabilities would most improve day-to-day liquidity management, 35% pointed to real-time reporting and visibility, while 34% emphasised better integration across banking platforms and data sources. Automated cross-border payments and currency conversion ranked further behind at 13%, indicating that foundational connectivity remains the dominant priority for most teams.

Tom Gregory, Head of Treasury Management, Merchant & Government Banking at TD Bank, said the findings highlight the need for firms to strengthen their technology base. “As businesses navigate shifting rates, evolving supply chains and rising expectations for efficiency, treasury teams that embrace digital integration now will be better positioned to manage growth and guard against risk. By modernising treasury systems and improving access to real-time data, businesses can make more timely, strategic decisions that support long-term growth.”

The survey also points to a widening disconnect in fraud prevention. Although 82% of respondents express confidence in their controls, 62% of employees still fail fraud tests, revealing gaps in training and operational awareness. As firms process higher volumes of payments through multiple channels, exposure to threats such as business email compromise, payment diversion and cyberattacks has increased. Losses can be significant, both financially and reputationally, making fraud one of the most persistent operational risks facing treasury teams.

Respondents identify several areas where additional support would help reduce risk: vendor or payment-verification tools (29%), real-time monitoring and alerts (28%), and more structured employee-training and awareness programmes (17%). The data suggests that technology alone is insufficient without corresponding behavioural safeguards and consistent internal processes.

For treasurers, the overall message is one of urgency. Automation gaps limit visibility, slow decision-making and leave teams exposed to preventable errors. At the same time, increasingly complex fraud schemes require more robust internal controls and staff education. As liquidity management becomes more data-driven and markets remain volatile, the shift toward integrated, real-time treasury architectures is becoming essential rather than optional.

 

APAC finance leaders brace for tougher 2026 as growth remains top priority

CFOs and treasurers across Asia Pacific expect 2026 to be a more challenging year for the region’s businesses, even as many continue to prioritise expansion and new market opportunities. J.P. Morgan’s latest CFO View: Asia Pacific Outlook 2026 report, based on responses from around 200 senior finance leaders across 10 markets, shows rising caution around trade, inflation and the regulatory environment, alongside growing interest in digital currencies and AI.

Almost half of respondents (44%) anticipate a tougher global economic climate next year, while only 26% expect conditions to improve. Despite these concerns, revenue growth remains the dominant priority: 48% rank it ahead of cost optimisation, digital transformation and risk management. Many companies are pursuing new markets, refining supply chains and investing in technology to support expansion in a more volatile backdrop.

Kerwin Clayton, co-head of Global Corporate Banking, Asia Pacific at J.P. Morgan, said firms that respond proactively to shifting conditions will be better positioned to capture opportunities: “As multinationals and midcap firms prepare for 2026, those that anticipate shifting trade dynamics, invest in market knowledge and embrace new financial technologies will be best positioned to turn uncertainty into growth in Asia Pacific.”

External factors are shaping much of the planning for the year ahead. Tariffs and trade policy are expected to have the greatest impact on financial strategies, cited by 41% of respondents, followed by inflation and rising operational costs (31%). Shifting trade agreements, evolving tariff regimes and supply-chain adjustments have already influenced business decisions through 2025, and those pressures are expected to intensify.

Alongside economic concerns, interest in digital currencies continues to rise, though adoption remains limited. Regulatory uncertainty is the biggest barrier, cited by 40% of respondents, while 60% rate their own understanding as low or very low. Security, volatility and a shortage of internal expertise also constrain readiness. The findings point to early-stage exploration rather than near-term deployment, with many finance functions seeking clearer guidance before incorporating digital currencies into treasury operations.

Liquidity management remains an operational flashpoint. Cash-flow forecasting is identified as the biggest challenge for 2026 by 38% of respondents, while 35% highlight market volatility. The region’s diverse markets and frequent currency fluctuations make visibility a central concern, particularly for companies expanding across borders or reconfiguring supply chains.

Oliver Brinkmann, co-head of Global Corporate Banking, Asia Pacific at J.P. Morgan, noted that trade patterns are shifting across the region: “Amid global uncertainty intra-Asia trade is rapidly increasing, driven by regional economic integration and supply chain diversification, meanwhile the continent’s vast and increasingly digital consumer markets are a powerful magnet for global businesses.”

AI integration is also accelerating. Finance teams are using AI primarily for analytics and forecasting (44%) and for automating routine tasks (36%). Adoption remains limited in areas such as risk management and compliance, where only 7% report active use, but the focus on data insight suggests that many organisations are laying foundations for deeper automation.

Taken together, the findings show a region preparing for headwinds while continuing to prioritise long-term growth. For CFOs and treasurers, 2026 is likely to require a tighter balance between opportunity and risk, driven by shifting trade dynamics, regulatory change and the need for better visibility across liquidity and digital-asset developments.

 

EU reaches agreement on sweeping overhaul of payment services rules

EU lawmakers have reached a political agreement on two major pieces of legislation that will reshape payment services and fraud protections across the bloc. Negotiators from the European Parliament and Council finalised terms for the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) and the Third Payment Services Directive (PSD3), setting the stage for a more harmonised and secure payments landscape.

The new rules will apply to a wide range of payment service providers, including banks, post-office giro institutions, payment companies and technical service providers that support payment processing. In some circumstances, electronic communications firms and online platforms will also fall within scope. The combined framework aims to strengthen fraud prevention, ensure fair competition and improve access to cash, particularly in rural and remote communities.

A central feature of the agreement is a more stringent approach to fraud liability. Payment service providers that fail to implement appropriate fraud-prevention measures will be responsible for covering customer losses. Providers will have to verify whether the payee’s name matches the unique identifier on a payment order, and decline the transaction if discrepancies are detected. They will also be required to apply strong customer authentication, conduct risk assessments and offer customers tools such as spending limits and blocking features.

Unauthorised transactions, including those initiated or altered by fraudsters, will trigger full liability for the provider. Receiving institutions will be obliged to freeze suspicious payments, and customers affected by impersonation scams will be refunded if they report the incident to the police and notify their provider. Online platforms will also face liability in cases where they fail to remove fraudulent content after being alerted.

The agreement also introduces new transparency requirements. Customers must be clearly informed of all applicable fees before initiating payments, including foreign exchange conversion charges or cash-withdrawal fees at third-party ATMs.

Access to cash is a key policy priority. Under the deal, shops across the EU will be permitted to offer cash withdrawals of up to €150, with a minimum of €100, without requiring a purchase. Lawmakers argue this will help maintain availability of cash where ATM networks are sparse.

The package also targets barriers that have historically limited the growth of open banking. Authorised providers of account-information and payment-initiation services will be guaranteed non-discriminatory access to bank accounts, supported by clear rules on prohibited obstacles. Users will receive a dedicated dashboard to monitor and manage third-party permissions.

For payment institutions, authorisation procedures will be streamlined and subject to harmonised timelines and prudential requirements. Crypto-asset service providers already authorised under the bloc’s Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation will benefit from simplified procedures where appropriate.

The agreement now moves to formal adoption by the European Parliament and Council before entering into force.

 

Japanese investors lose significant returns to unclaimed withholding tax

Japanese investors continue to hold significant positions in European equities, yet a sizeable share of dividend-related withholding tax (WHT) is still going unclaimed, according to new long-term research from TaxTec. The firm estimates that just under 20% of reclaimable WHT globally was left unclaimed in 2024–25, representing around US$16bn in unrealised returns.

Historically, investors and service providers cited complexity and administrative burden as the primary reasons for non-reclamation. However, TaxTec notes that the rapid development of automated and AI-enabled reclaim tools is reducing barriers that once made the process difficult to manage at scale. Against that backdrop, the firm set out to quantify what non-reclamation means in practice for Japanese institutions with European exposures.

Using the MSCI Europe Index as a proxy for typical portfolio construction, TaxTec assessed domicile-specific withholding rules, relative index weightings and reclaim eligibility across component securities. The analysis indicates that failure to reclaim WHT equates to a reduction of roughly 43 basis points in annual returns for Japanese investors. When viewed in the context of the trailing dividend profile of European equities, the forgone value amounts to more than 10% of total dividend returns.

The findings underline the importance of tax reclamation as part of portfolio value preservation, particularly for investors with long-term allocations to European dividend-paying assets. They also show how much performance leakage can occur when operational processes lag regulatory frameworks or technological capabilities.

For institutional investors and their custodians, the research points to a growing need to integrate reclaim processes more effectively into post-trade operations. Withholding tax regimes vary widely across jurisdictions, and reclaim rates differ depending on the underlying tax treaties between Europe and Japan. Automating workflow steps, standardising documentation and improving data accuracy can significantly increase the proportion of reclaimable tax recovered.

Stephen Everard, CEO of TaxTec, said, “Japanese investors have very substantial equity holdings in Europe delivering strong dividend returns. While some leading custodians deal with tax reclamation on this dividend stream efficiently and effectively, this is by no means universal. With the availability of automated services to manage the complexities of WHT reclaims, institutional investors and their service providers now have the tools they need to maximise investors’ rightful returns.”

 

Financial system completes ISO 20022 migration

The global financial system has completed its long-planned migration to ISO 20022, marking one of the most significant upgrades to international payment infrastructure in decades. The final cutover took place on 22 November, ending the coexistence period with the legacy MT messaging format and making ISO 20022 mandatory for all cross-border payment instructions.

The shift follows years of coordinated work by banks, market infrastructures and the wider Swift community, after the decision in 2018 to adopt the richer data standard for global payments. The move also supports G20 priorities to improve speed, transparency and efficiency in cross-border flows, while strengthening compliance processes.

Swift reported that 97% of payment instructions were already using ISO 20022 on the first day after the transition. A temporary conversion service remains in place to translate residual MT messages into the new format to ensure continuity while institutions complete their final system adjustments.

ISO 20022 allows payment messages to carry far more structured information than the former MT standard. For financial institutions, this is expected to improve automation, reconciliation and screening, reduce exceptions handling and enhance risk management. For end users, it lays the groundwork for faster and more predictable transaction experiences, alongside improved data quality for corporate treasury teams handling high volumes of cross-border flows.

Jerome Piens, Chief Operations Officer at Swift, said the transition represents “a huge achievement for the global industry, and a collective effort in upgrading the global payments experience,” adding that the new standard provides the foundation for “an instant, frictionless, interoperable, and inclusive future.”

The move also positions the financial system for future innovation, including potential shared-ledger models for the movement of tokenised assets and new payment schemes aimed at improving retail cross-border transactions. Swift will now turn its focus from migration readiness to helping institutions extract value from ISO 20022 data, offering tools and analytics to support optimisation and new product development.

For treasurers, the universal adoption of structured data should eventually translate into clearer remittance information, improved straight-through processing and more reliable global liquidity insights as banks embed the standard into their services.

 

UK SMEs take on record debt to plug cashflow gaps

Small and medium-sized enterprises are increasingly relying on borrowing to keep day-to-day operations running, according to new analysis from Purbeck Insurance Services. The data shows a marked shift in how firms are using debt, with a growing share of loans now directed towards maintaining cashflow rather than funding expansion.

Purbeck reports that 38% of SME loans taken out in October were used purely for working capital. This is the highest level recorded in 2025 and reflects mounting financial pressure across the sector. The trend aligns with findings from the latest Barclays Business Prosperity Index, which shows that 55% of SMEs have paused investment plans amid heightened economic uncertainty, up from 48% last year.

Rising insolvency figures underline the strain. According to the Insolvency Service, business failures increased by 16.7% year-on-year, with more than 2,000 companies entering liquidation in October alone. The combination of weaker investment appetite and higher failure rates points to a business environment where firms are prioritising survival over growth.

Purbeck’s lending data highlights the scale of the shift. The average SME loan value rose 42% year-on-year in Q3, reaching £289,827. Younger businesses appear particularly exposed, with average loan values for firms aged two years or less climbing 64% to £155,257. The figures suggest that newer ventures may be taking on significantly more debt to bridge operational gaps or navigate volatile trading conditions.

The research points to a broader change in SME financing behaviour. Instead of seeking capital to scale, invest in technology or expand into new markets, more firms are taking on debt to manage cashflow volatility, absorb rising costs and protect liquidity. This shift increases financial vulnerability, particularly for businesses relying on loans backed by personal guarantees.

As costs rise and confidence remains subdued, the data indicates that many SMEs are operating in a defensive posture. Borrowing patterns through 2025 suggest that firms are increasingly dependent on debt to manage short-term pressures, leaving fewer resources available for investment and growth.

The findings highlight a challenging backdrop for UK small businesses, with record loan values, higher personal liability exposure and a growing reliance on working-capital borrowing signalling sustained financial stress across the sector.

 

Swiss pilot shows potential for near-instant cross-border settlement using DLT

A pilot project led by Switzerland’s AMINA Bank and Crypto Finance Group has demonstrated how distributed ledger technology could support near-instant settlement for cross-border, cross-currency and point-of-sale transactions, while operating fully within existing regulatory and banking frameworks. The test took place on Google Cloud’s Universal Ledger platform, with participation from several Swiss-regulated financial institutions.

The initiative explored whether DLT-based infrastructure can improve settlement speed and transparency without introducing new forms of digital currency or altering the regulatory treatment of commercial bank money. Today's cross-border payments often take days to complete and involve high operational costs. The pilot showed that using a shared ledger for transaction processing can support 24/7 settlement in fiat currency while maintaining compliance standards expected in the Swiss financial system.

Crypto Finance Group acted as the Currency Operator within the pilot, defining transaction rules, coordinating participating banks and overseeing adherence to the framework on the Universal Ledger. Settlement and payment execution remained the responsibility of the individual institutions, preserving the current division of roles within the banking sector.

AMINA Bank integrated the pilot technology into its core-banking systems, enabling select clients to access near-real-time settlement without altering existing workflows. The approach aims to demonstrate how DLT-based infrastructure can be embedded into traditional banking environments with minimal disruption.

Underlying the test is Google Cloud’s high-performance distributed ledger framework, designed to support real-time movement of traditional money and tokenised assets. The model enables financial institutions to build new services while continuing to rely on established deposit and lending structures. For treasurers, the results point to potential future benefits such as improved intraday liquidity visibility, faster reconciliation and reduced counterparty risk, particularly for cross-border operations.

The successful pilot creates a foundation for broader rollout. The next phase involves onboarding additional financial institutions, expanding testing beyond controlled environments and exploring practical applications including cross-border settlement and point-of-sale payments. The partners say the findings highlight Switzerland’s ongoing focus on modernising financial infrastructure while maintaining regulatory continuity.

 

RTGS.global expands network to support instant settlement in 23 currencies

RTGS.global has expanded its cross-border settlement network to include 23 major currencies, marking a significant step in its effort to modernise international payments. The fintech’s platform allows banks and payment companies to connect through a single API, offering real-time settlement that aims to match the speed and simplicity of domestic payments.

The company positions its cloud-native, SaaS-based infrastructure as a way for institutions to join without adding technical debt. With the latest expansion, the network is fully operational and available for commercial use by banks and payment providers globally.

The development comes as international settlement infrastructure continues to lag behind other parts of the payments ecosystem. RTGS.global points to an estimated $3tn to $5tn in daily payments still exposed to Herstatt risk, where one counterparty fails to settle its leg of a transaction. Many cross-border payments also continue to move through multi-step correspondent chains, introducing delays, cost and uncertainty.

By enabling continuous, near-instant settlement, RTGS.global’s network is designed to bypass time zone cut-offs, intermediary banks and traditional business hours. The approach offers a potential alternative for institutions operating in regions with limited or fragmented banking infrastructure.

A recent test case highlighted by the company is the launch of an instant settlement corridor between Tajikistan and Turkey, supporting real-time settlement in local currencies. The example illustrates how the model can be applied in markets where conventional rails have struggled to provide predictable settlement.

The network’s expansion is supported by partnerships with specialist payment providers that maintain liquidity pools across multiple currencies. TransferMate plays a key role by giving institutions access to a broad set of currencies and domestic payment routes through a single connection to the RTGS.global API. The aim is to integrate next-generation settlement capabilities with providers already operating at global scale.

With the latest additions, RTGS.global plans to continue broadening its currency coverage and institutional participation, framing its platform as a bridge between traditional banking infrastructure and emerging models for real-time global money movement.

 

Monex Canada adds mass payments capability to FX platform

Monex Canada has expanded its online FX payments platform, Monex Pay, with a mass payments feature designed to help organisations automate and manage high-volume, multi-currency payouts. The addition introduces bulk processing tools aimed at reducing manual effort and improving accuracy across treasury workflows.

The capability is designed to allow businesses to process up to 10,000 payments per file, covering common use cases such as global payroll, contractor payments, royalties, licensing fees and dividend distributions. By combining FX conversion, payment execution and reconciliation into a single workflow, the feature is intended to simplify operations that typically rely on fragmented systems and manual data handling.

Cross-border payment operations often face challenges linked to inconsistent processes, multi-currency exposure and the need to connect with different payment networks. According to Monex Canada, the mass payments functionality provides a centralised mechanism for executing payouts while helping teams reduce operational risk and ensure compliance.

The upgraded platform incorporates automated processing and smart error handling that isolates issues at the individual payment level, preventing full-file delays. It also provides access to global and domestic payment rails, enabling organisations to route international and local payments through a unified interface.

With embedded FX conversion, beneficiary management tools and controls designed to support secure high-volume operations, the latest development positions Monex Pay as an infrastructure option for companies managing multi-jurisdictional cash flows. Monex Canada plans to introduce additional features and enhancements over the coming months to support broader treasury and multi-currency payment needs.

 

SAP Taulia launches Italian supply chain finance SPV in fintech first

SAP Taulia has introduced Italy’s first supply chain finance special purpose vehicle, becoming the first fintech to deploy this type of structure in the market. The SPV is governed under local securitisation law and registered with the Bank of Italy, allowing transactions to be executed in full compliance with national regulatory requirements.

Italy’s regulatory environment has long made it difficult for international supply chain finance providers to operate at scale. By establishing a locally governed SPV and partnering with domestic banks, SAP Taulia can now offer early-payment and working capital solutions to buyers and suppliers across Italy on a daily basis. The structure is already in use for its first customer programme, with further expansion expected.

The SPV model allows banks to fund approved invoices while maintaining regulatory clarity over risk, reporting and creditor rights. For corporates, this provides greater certainty that programmes will operate seamlessly within Italian legal frameworks. For suppliers, it enables earlier access to liquidity, particularly valuable for those navigating rising borrowing costs and longer payment cycles.

To bring the structure to market, SAP Taulia worked with CSC as corporate service provider and Cerved Master Services as master servicer. BNP Paribas acted as the initial local funding bank, while Bird & Bird provided external legal support.

The launch strengthens SAP Taulia’s footprint in Europe and adds a significant jurisdiction to its global multi-funder model. It also signals continued movement towards more localised, regulator-aligned structures in supply chain finance as markets tighten oversight and push for clearer governance.