ACT's core pillars of treasury 2025: Technology

Technology is advancing at a rate that is difficult for many corporates to keep pace with.

However, a key part of the treasurer’s role is picking their way through all of the possibilities to identify and implement those solutions that actually solve a problem they have in their business. Effective innovation and deployment of technology offers a competitive advantage and as such must be a priority.

The use of technology is key for the efficient delivery of treasury services to the organisation, but there are many questions that the treasurer needs to consider when approaching the topic, not least, how do you define technology?

So many potential solutions fall into the technology basket: - there is infrastructure, whether that be Microsoft Office, an ERP system, a TMS, an electronic trading platform, a payments system; there are processes – digitalisation, STP, KYC; and there are products: tokenisation, crypto assets and Gen AI.

The ACT Annual Conference is the perfect opportunity to cover a lot of ground very quickly when it comes to the latest developments in technology. Not only are there technical sessions on topics such as trade digitalisation and the impact on cash management, but there are also much more strategic debates such as the impact of AI on banks and financial markets more generally.

Some of the questions that have been raised ahead of this year’s conference include:

• What are the use cases for generative AI in treasury
  • Is anyone actually using it?
• How can I streamline my KYC processes – they seem to get more complex every year
  • How do I open a bank account in under 4 weeks?
• What does digitalisation mean for me?
  • Can it really reduce costs?

And the exhibition hall is the perfect place to talk to solutions providers and understand the ‘art of the possible’ when it comes to what’s happening.

Finally, there’s the networking opportunity it offers which gives the opportunity to talk to your peers and find out what people are actually doing – as opposed to talking about… in summary, it’s the ideal time to identify what solution may be useful in your business.