Emerging Trends in Corporate Treasury Functions

Our latest thought leadership explores key developments in treasury management, including technological innovation, geopolitical risks, ESG integration, and strategic treasury roles. Discover how your organisation can leverage these trends to optimise treasury operations and drive financial success.

To discover the full insights and strategic implications – download the complete paper on emerging trends in corporate treasury functions.

Key Trends Shaping Corporate Treasury in 2025

1. Managing Geopolitical Risks and Uncertainties

Global geopolitical volatility continues to impact treasury functions significantly. Currency fluctuations, trade barriers, and evolving monetary policies create challenges for liquidity and working capital management. Treasury teams must develop robust risk management strategies to navigate:

• Currency volatility and exchange rate risks
• Trade tariffs and cross-border payment restrictions
• Tightening corporate bond markets and rising capital costs
• Market dislocations affecting traditional safe investments
• Effective treasury risk management is essential to maintain financial resilience in this unpredictable environment.

2. Technological Innovations and Digitalisation

Technology is transforming treasury operations, driving efficiency and strategic decision-making. Key innovations include:

• Treasury Management Systems (TMS): Central to modern treasury, TMS solutions streamline processes, reduce errors, and ensure compliance. Adoption is growing, especially among mid-sized companies facing increasing complexity.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI (GenAI): AI enhances cash forecasting, anomaly detection, payment fraud monitoring, and predictive analytics, enabling smarter, faster decisions.
• Application Programming Interfaces (APIs): APIs enable real-time data exchange between banks and treasury systems, improving liquidity management and risk control despite current standardisation challenges.
• Automation and Integration: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and real-time bank connectivity reduce manual tasks in payments, reconciliations, and reporting.Treasury digitalisation must be paired with strong cybersecurity and regulatory compliance to safeguard assets and data integrity. Read the paper now to gain and understanding on how this can be applied in treasury functions.

3. Leveraging Financial Derivatives for ESG Objectives

Sustainability is increasingly integrated into treasury functions through the use of financial derivatives that support Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals. Examples include:

• Equity Index Futures linked to ESG benchmarks
• Credit Default Swaps in sustainable fixed-income products
• Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) facilitating renewable energy transition
  

Treasury teams are essential in valuing these derivatives, managing hedge relationships, and ensuring smooth back-office operations. This evolving role requires upskilling, cross-department collaboration, and advanced technology adoption to balance ESG ambitions with financial risk management.

4. Strategic Roles for Treasury Functions

Treasury professionals are expanding beyond traditional liquidity management to become strategic partners to the CFO. Key focus areas include:

• Aligning treasury goals with corporate capital allocation and shareholder return strategies
• Enhancing collaboration with finance and strategy teams through cross-functional initiatives
• Investing in data analytics and technology to improve forecasting and decision-making
  

This strategic integration enables treasury to contribute more significantly to overall business performance and value creation.

Our Treasury Advisory Service Offerings

Deloitte Switzerland offers end-to-end treasury advisory services designed to optimise your treasury function and prepare it for the future:

• Target Operating Model Design: Build future-ready treasury structures aligned with business goals.
• Benchmarking and Best Practices: Compare and enhance treasury performance against industry standards.
• In-House Bank and Payment Factory Setup: Streamline cash management and payment processes.
• Working Capital and Cash Forecasting Optimisation: Improve liquidity planning and risk mitigation.
• Digital Treasury Enablement: Implement TMS, AI, APIs, and automation for efficient operations.
• ESG Derivatives Advisory: Support valuation, risk management, and compliance for sustainability-linked instruments.
• M&A and Integration Support: Ensure treasury readiness during corporate transactions.
• Managed Treasury Services: Flexible outsourcing of treasury activities with strong controls.
  

Our comprehensive approach helps organisations build resilient, efficient, and digitally enabled treasury functions.

Discover the full insights, our practical case studies and strategic implications to help you understand how your organisation might be impacted by these trends and what can be done to properly respond — download the complete paper on emerging trends in corporate treasury functions now.