At the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) Annual Conference, a panel tackled the key question of how corporate treasurers can invest confidently in an increasingly unpredictable financial environment. The panel, moderated by Kevin Cook, CEO and co-founder of TreasurySpring, included Payal Sarma, treasury director at Haleon; Travolta Mohan, group treasurer of Mangopay; and Lisa Dukes, co-founder of Dukes & King.
Together, they explored the transformative role of technology in enabling better, faster and safer cash investment decisions.
Automation should allow us to spend more time on value-add, not just do more work
Sarma described her transition from traditional, manual treasury processes to a fully digital environment: “When I started... cash management was so paper-based... call the bank on the phone... wait for a day to see the price... now it’s consolidated FX positions, automated straight-through processing.” Mohan echoed this sentiment, noting that “from batch processing and late cutoffs to concurrent databases”, the ability to interact with real-time data has fundamentally changed treasury operations.
Yet, as Dukes pointed out, with increased automation comes increased complexity. “We’ve moved from a physical paper world to a digital automated state... but that also brings new risks we have to manage.” Indeed, the collapse of SVB and Credit Suisse were cited as examples where digital withdrawals and rapid information flows escalated risk at unprecedented speeds. As Mohan said: “We really became aware of how quickly we need to access data, and how quickly can clients access cash.”
A key takeaway was that technology should elevate the quality of decision-making, not just increase efficiency. “Automation should allow us to spend more time on value-add, not just do more work,” said Dukes.
The discussion then shifted to risk-adjusted returns on cash investments. Despite widespread understanding of the concept, Cook noted that many treasurers still struggle with tools for implementation. Mohan shared how his team uses alerts and data dashboards to actively monitor market sentiment: “We had set up Google alerts because we realised some of our early warning indicators were not fit for purpose.”
Sarma highlighted the importance of scenario planning and stress testing: “It’s the interlink of financial risks… being aware of CDS spreads and how they impact investment decisions.” She emphasised the value of secured investments, noting that working with TreasurySpring helped Haleon gain “more optionality in our toolkit at the shorter end of the horizon”.
The panel also discussed the importance of policy flexibility and proactive review. “Policy is an expression of risk appetite,” Dukes explained. “It shouldn’t be so prescriptive that it prevents innovation or reaction to market shifts.”
If the data is incorrect, the technology will not work
In closing, Sarma stressed that technology is only as good as the data and behaviour it relies on. “If the data is incorrect, the technology will not work,” she said.
Ultimately, the message was clear: in an era of volatility, confidence in every click comes from combining intelligent technology, dynamic risk management and strong business integration.
Philip Smith is editor of The Treasurer