From Seconds to Strategy

Europe's Instant Payments Regulation is speeding towards implementation, forcing a rethink of corporate cash management and cross-border practices. With ISO 20022 enabling richer data and AI sharpening fraud detection, treasurers need to turn the race for real-time into a strategic gain.

As interest rate cycles continue to diverge and geopolitical tensions flare, treasurers are left grappling with multicurrency headaches – often while wading through forecasting fog. BNP Paribas' Arnaud Peis and Matthieu Boyer explain how liquidity structures, with physical hedges and virtual offsets, are helping corporates regain confidence, without surrendering control.

An innovative collaboration between the Ikano Bank Branch in Poland and BNP Paribas Bank Polska has brought Polish instalment loans into the modern age. By linking consumer credit utilisation to BLIK cheques, customers can apply online, receive a decision instantly, and pay in-store with nothing more than a nine-digit code – giving retailers a faster, cheaper, and more scalable way to offer financing at the checkout.

They might not operate in the limelight, but implementation teams lead the line within banks when it comes to the highly involved and often sensitive task of designing and delivering innovative solutions for clients. In this article, two experts from BNP Paribas discuss the bank's implementation philosophy, and explain what makes or breaks the business of delivering ground-breaking, efficient, and resilient solutions for clients.

Boston Consulting Group has transformed its treasury into a connected, data and analytics-driven operation. The shift delivers sharper visibility, centralised liquidity, and a scalable platform for the next wave of innovation.

The pressure on treasury is no longer simply to manage liquidity and risk, but to help the business respond faster and smarter.  Olivier Anceau and Baris Kalay (Bank of America) explore how, particularly in APAC, volatility, fragmentation and cross-border complexity are pushing treasury beyond execution, towards providing earlier visibility, more accurate forecasting and clearer, decision-ready options. From local currency settlement that helps manage FX risk to payments decisions that shape working capital and customer experience, treasury's fundamentals are becoming more consequential across the business.

Strategy is arguably one of the most overused words in the treasury sphere. Yet behind the label lies a more interesting story about influence, connectivity, and the growing expectation that treasury should assist organisations as they proactively navigate uncertainty rather than simply respond to it.

The corporate world has never before had access to so much rich data and fast connectivity. But will this exciting new terrain really change how treasury operates? A recent TMI podcast recorded at Treasury 360 in Gothenburg, Sweden, uncovers the reality of real-time. Lena Myklebust, Head of Cash Management Infrastructure, Equinor, and Christof Hofmann, Global Head of Cash Management, Deutsche Bank, are your guides.

Agentic AI is already here, but treasury workflows won't be transformed by novelty features or scattered pilots. Five Truths about Making AI Work in Treasury with Grant Walker of Nestlé, Dr Arif Esa of SAP and Aniket Kulkarni of PwC

In addition to welcoming a record 1,346 attendees, offering its largest exhibition to date, and calling upon some well-respected speakers, the annual Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) conference, held this year in Liverpool, showcased a broadening of the Association's programmes. With new ideas around study, membership models, and accessibility, it's all about building on treasury's appeal, says Janet Legge, Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Education & Membership.