Redefining Treasury: Voices from Singapore

But what of other resources? And is artificial intelligence (AI) really the fillip it's intended to be?

It can be difficult for treasury to convince top management there are benefits to what they propose. But now, post-pandemic and amid an ongoing uncertain landscape, while the memory of crisis and risk is still fresh, is exactly the time to be heard.

“The treasurer is no longer someone who is in a hidden corner on the seventh floor just doing liquidity reconciliation or payment. They must be a strategic partner.” - Treasurer

Treasurers are well-aware of technological possibilities, but find it challenging to secure budget to make the right investments.

A talent crunch is also affecting treasury departments. New employees are expected not just to understand the fundamentals of treasury but to be tech experts too. This is essential for a resilient treasury.

“We have to leverage technology and AI but from a corporate perspective there’s always a lot of red tape we need to get through before we are able to adopt that technology.” - Treasurer

More than half of treasurers surveyed at HSBC’s Redefining Treasury Singapore event in March 2024 stated that around 70% of their time is still spent running daily processes while only 30% is spent on matters to drive change and achieve growth.

Treasurers are excited about the potential of data to help with a host of different challenges across cash management, but if it is to make a difference – helping to forecast more accurate cashflows and optimising returns in a high interest rate environment – then they must be able to extract and interpret this data on a real-time basis. They also want to ensure that the basics are right – clean, extractable data with good governance around it.

“We need information immediately.” - Treasurer

In today’s real-time environment, payments is fast becoming a differentiator.

“Payments is a huge value add. It’s a competitive factor because it’s offering clients real-time payments, certainly domestically but increasingly cross-border – as cheap as possible, as fast as possible, as secure as possible, and with a return.” - CFO

There is enormous hype about AI, but treasurers today say that the greater use is at the machine learning end of the AI spectrum than tactical approaches such as ChatGPT.

Treasurers like to use machine learning and RPA to make mundane processes easier, and this has value. But for reasons of security and risk management, AI still needs a human check: it cannot be relied upon 100% until it has learned all possible scenarios that today require human insight.

“There needs to be simpler things like checking basic documents and data crunching, to break down barriers and make people want to try the technology and see that it can potentially help them.” - Treasury advisor

There is a role for centralised treasury in a global setting, and there is also still a place for regional treasury centres. Matters of policy and direction should be made at the global level, but local capability and knowledge are valuable, particularly in dynamic markets of diverse regulations in Asia.

Asked about centralisation, over 40% of treasurers were more enthusiastic about increased regionalisation through Regional Treasury Centres than a single Global Treasury Centre.

“There are things that HQ would do better – global strategy, policy setting – but local reaction decisions should be made on the ground.” - Treasurer

When asked about their top priorities for the year, return on capital and implementing technology are bigger issues for treasurers than the realignment of supply chains.

In terms of what keeps them up at night, geopolitics and outages concern treasurers far more than cyberattacks or a banking crisis.

Treasurers are ready to embrace their expanded role and to play a bigger part in the growth and resilience of their businesses. But they must be given the tools and resources to make this step up.

These insights were based on a survey conducted across 27 corporate finance and treasury professionals who attended the HSBC’s Redefining Treasury Singapore event in March 2024.