Redefining Treasury in Asia: Voices of Treasury Report

The result was a uniquely detailed insight into the views and concerns of over 130¹ senior treasury and finance experts in Asia, with first-hand experience of their subject matter.

The Big Picture: Roles, rates and roiling geopolitics

• Treasurers’ roles have expanded beyond traditional tasks and are expected to be enablers of growth.
• While technology exists to assist them in growing their roles, management need to be convinced of the bottom-line benefits of additional investment. Now is a good time for treasurers to speak up.
• Geopolitics and financial market volatility keep treasurers awake at night more than cybersecurity, system outages or bank failures.
• Trade policies, both tariff and non-tariff, are evolving between major trading partners. This has an impact on treasurers.
• This and financial volatility affect hedging costs and funding differentials, complicating the outlook for treasurers.
• The high and fluctuating rate environment can make different currencies look attractive than normally. But everything will always depend on liquidity and the availability of affordable hedging.

Technology and Treasury

• For all the fanfare around artificial intelligence, the bulk of its use today is at the machine learning/robotic process automation end of the spectrum.
• Treasurers hope AI will prove itself in more accurate cashflow forecasting.
• In all cases, AI and automation still require a human check.
• Embracing AI requires treasurers to get comfortable with data security – an issue that raises its head most frequently in mainland China.
• Another challenge around AI is convincing management that it is sufficiently useful to bother investing in. Linking outcomes to KPIs will help.
• Real-time treasury is a goal well worth pursuing – but it requires investment and effort to ensure the quality, cleanliness and governance of the underlying data.

Resilience

• Return on and reallocation of capital are the biggest priorities for treasurers today, ahead of growth into new markets, new technologies, dealing with industry changes and supply chain realignment.
• Capital issues matter more in an environment of high and changing rates. Liquidity management is increasingly key.
• Liquidity management – and cross-border pooling mechanisms – are making progress in mainland China, but documentation and regulation remain challenging.
• Many treasurers want increased regional centralisation – not in place of global centralisation but to support it. Treasurers believe there is value in on-the-ground knowledge enabling them to be quick and nimble in a complex and highly diverse environment.
• Cyberattacks are a threat, and for all that companies invest in firewalls and enterprise-wide technology, the greatest vulnerability is the individual. Training is the best defence.