DLL (De Lage Landen) is a global asset finance company headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Rabobank. Operating in more than 25 countries, it delivers leasing and asset-based financing solutions across a variety of industry sectors, including agriculture, construction, energy transition, food, healthcare, industrial, technology, and transportation. With a strong focus on responsible finance, the company supports businesses to access capital, manage risk, and make the transition to more sustainable business models.

Central to the company’s financial infrastructure is its global treasury function, based in Dublin, Ireland. This team manages the liquidity and Treasury risk management needs of the group. The team consists of an experienced group of highly qualified financial services professionals who are dedicated to meeting the treasury needs of DLL, covering everything from cash management to foreign exchange and interest rate hedging.

A critical turning point

A core element of DLL’s risk strategy is the use of interest rate swaps to mitigate exposure to interest rate volatility. Given the size and complexity of its global lending portfolio and the direct impact that interest rate movements can have on company earnings, these instruments are essential for maintaining financial stability and predictability.

“We have two large portfolios – euro interest rate swaps and US dollar interest rate swaps,” explains Coyle, Head of Hedge Accounting at DLL. “To mitigate the fair value movements of those swaps, we run macro fair value hedge accounting models in euros and dollars.”

These models allow DLL to align the value of derivatives with the risks they offset. This reduces earnings volatility, provides a transparent view of the company’s risk position, and ensures compliance with accounting standards.

For years, DLL’s hedge accounting models were developed and maintained by a previous provider. Due to regulatory requirements they were no longer allowed to support the models beyond 2025.

Faced with a tight deadline to transition to a new solution, DLL launched a competitive tender process to identify a partner capable of building fair value macro hedge accounting models for both their euro and dollar swap portfolios. To prevent disruption to DLL’s hedge accounting process, replacement models needed to be ready for testing in early 2025, ahead of full deployment a few months later. This challenging timeline relied on delivering a complete, fully tested and operational solution as quickly as possible, rather than following a more gradual, phased approach.

Zanders’ approach stood out because they proposed building a Python-based application from the start – delivering the end product we needed, and within the timeline that we wanted.

Coyle, Head of Hedge Accounting at DLL.

“Another provider suggested an Excel build first, then a Python version later – essentially two separate projects, which would not only take a lot longer but also impacted on the price as well.”

Rapid prototyping and agile development

Once selected in late 2024, Zanders began working on replicating the models. Despite having no access to the original model’s codebase, the Zanders team was able to reverse engineer DLL’s hedge accounting methodology in just a few weeks based.

“They started in December, and by the end of January we had our first models ready for testing,” Coyle recalls.

From February to March, both Zanders and DLL conducted independent back testing using the legacy model as a benchmark to validate outputs. This rigorous comparison helped ensure consistency and build confidence in the new models.

“This gave us comfort that we were on the right road,” Coyle says. “We did find a few things that we wanted to change – such as adding certain risk controls  – and the Zanders team was very open to suggestions. These were implemented quickly, and it was a very easy process.”

By the end of March, the new Python-based applications was fully operational, enabling a seamless transition with no disruption to DLL’s interest rate risk strategy.

Faster, simpler, more integrated

While the primary focus of the project was the replication of DLL’s existing models, it ultimately evolved into an opportunity to streamline and modernize the company’s hedge accountancy processes.

“The new model is much quicker,” explains Marais, Treasury Hedge Accountant at DLL. “The old model had features we didn’t really use that slowed down performance. This was a chance to simplify and focus on what we needed.”

One of the most valuable technical gains was improved alignment with DLL’s internal treasury systems.

“With the new model, we are now able to utilize reports from our own treasury system – that was a significant improvement,” says Marais. Previously, the team had to rely on reports from Rabobank systems and model calculations, but the new model directly interfaces with DLL's internal system. “This makes our work process much quicker and more efficient compared to previously,” Marais adds.

Beyond the technical delivery, the project also stood out for the way it was executed. Working under a tight deadline, collaboration between the teams was critical and made a real difference to the overall experience. The DLL team particularly appreciated Zanders’ responsive and collaborative approach.

IT projects can be quite stressful, but this one was remarkably stress-free. That’s a reflection of a robust, collaborative process and great people. If someone asked whether we’d recommend the Zanders team for a project like this, we wouldn’t hesitate.

Coyle, Head of Hedge Accounting at DLL.

Interested in transforming your treasury infrastructure?

Whether you're navigating regulatory change, replacing legacy models, or looking to gain deeper insights into your risk exposure, Zanders combines advanced modeling with deep industry expertise to deliver accurate and audit-ready valuations.

Find out more about how Zanders can support your treasury and risk management transformation.

This article was first published on: TMI (Treasury Management International).

As the Swift MT-MX¹ co-existence phase came to a soft ending in November 2025, ISO 20022 (MX) messaging became the main standard for cross-border payment instructions between FIs. The migration will see the majority of cross-border payments moving from the legacy Swift FIN network to the Swift InterAct (FINplus²) network, with Swift providing an extension to the translation services where an FI has still not completed the migration to MX payment messages. Furthermore, last year, Swift started a pilot that would also allow the corporate community to access the FINplus network under a new Standardised Corporate Environment (SCORE) Plus model³. This article aims to demystify SCORE Plus as a possible additional or replacement Swift for corporates service and considers the key question – does it make sense for the corporate community to adopt?

Evolution of Swift for Corporates

The corporate community first gained access to Swift back in 1997 through the treasury counterparty model. This enabled corporates to receive the MT300 series messages covering FX confirmations. In 2001, corporate access evolved through the Member-Administered Closed User Group (MA-CUG) model. This enabled the corporate community to access the Swift FIN network covering the traditional MT-based messages in addition to the new Swift FileAct network, which supported file-based flows.

However, given the bank proprietary/bilateral nature of the MA-CUG model, this logically evolved into the SCORE model in 2006. SCORE offered the corporate community a more standardised and simplified implementation of the multi-banking model with access to both Swift FIN and FileAct networks.

Corporate adoption of Swift

From a corporate perspective, we have seen two primary adoption models:

• Swift FileAct only: under this corporate adoption model, vendor urgent and non-urgent payments, tax payments, treasury transactions, and in some cases payroll transactions are all sent to the cash management partner banks via FileAct. This standardised and secure file-based model simplified the corporate technology integration stack, with the flexibility to support both industry and bank proprietary payment, status reporting and balance and transaction reporting file formats. Importantly, performance wise, there was no material delay in the banking community processing urgent treasury payments under a file-based model, when compared with a separate Swift FIN network connection, with FileAct typically offering much richer file and transaction level status monitoring through the use of the ISO 20022 XML payment status report.
• Swift FIN and FileAct: this second corporate adoption model was typically linked to corporates that operated a TMS that only generated the Swift MT101 payment message. Individual treasury payments would be sent via the Swift FIN network, with vendor payments, tax payments, and possibly payroll transactions being generated within the ERP system and sent as a file using the Swift FileAct network. This adoption model required the corporate to subscribe to both the Swift FIN and FileAct networks.

Corporate adoption of XML messaging

An important point to underline at this stage is the corporate adoption of ISO 20022 XML messaging. A combination of the 2009 ISO standards maintenance release – commonly referred to as XML version 3, the underlying corporate motivation to simplify and standardise banking integration and finally the global industry collaboration – the common global implementation market practice group (CGI-MP⁴), which published a series of implementation guidelines.

These factors all contributed to XML payment messaging going mainstream in the corporate to banking domain. As the XML payment message (pain.001) could support almost any payment method globally, the corporate community embraced XML messaging for vendor payments, payroll, urgent payments, tax payments, and treasury transactions.

XML messaging enabled the corporate community to at least standardise the file format for making payments across the multi-banking environment, with the associated benefit of richer file and transaction status reporting.

Introduction of SCORE Plus

SCORE Plus, which came on-stream last year, is being labelled as an enhanced Swift for corporates adoption model, which provides more detailed and structured data for payments and reporting, combined with real-time transaction tracking and management, offering corporates improved visibility into their payment life cycle.

However, this reference to improved data is directly linked to the corporate migration onto ISO 20022 XML standard from the legacy MT101 FIN message. As noted above, the corporate community adoption of ISO 20022 XML messaging is already mainstream – globally. Second, taking the current cross-border payment services into account, payment tracking is already available today through the Swift Gpi service⁵ which enables the tracking through to the beneficiary bank account being credited.

The table below (fig. 1) seeks to highlight some of the key differences between SCORE (FileAct) and the enhanced SCORE Plus solutions from a corporate community perspective.

What is the impact to the corporate community?

While the below table provides a simple overview of the key differences, it’s important to understand what this means in practice to the corporate community, as there are some significant considerations:

• XML Version 9 payment message: first and foremost, any corporate looking to adopt SCORE Plus will have to develop the new XML version 9 payment message (pain.001.001.09), which was introduced as part of the ISO 2019 annual standards maintenance release. While this SCORE Plus development will permit other domestic payment methods, which can be defined through use of the service level code, users are limited to sending just one transaction per file. This single transaction limitation follows the same logic as the legacy FIN MT101 payment message, despite the richness and flexibility of the underlying XML V09 payment message, which has almost 1,000 XML data tags.
• Business Application Header: in addition to developing the new XML V09 payment message, there is an additional Swift requirement to also include the Business Application Header (BAH), which contains sender and receiver information. The BAH is not required where the XML V09 payment message is sent under the traditional FileAct connection.
• Swift network validation: strict network messaging validation will apply to all SCORE Plus messages. While this might sound like a benefit, migrating to the new XML V09 message will logically and ultimately embrace the other payment methods that can be sent in bulk – so domestic non-urgent, instant, domestic urgent, tax, and potentially payroll transactions that will be sent via Swift FileAct. A key guiding principle of the CGI-MP group was data over-population, which both simplified the design and development of XML payment messaging, and also enabled a core multi-banking XML template to be agreed with core banking partners. This approach is particularly beneficial where a corporate maintains a global master vendor record, which typically contains both domestic clearing and international bank routing codes in addition to full address information. This approach allows more information to be provided in the XML payment message as part of an agreed template, with the originating banking partner accepting and ignoring any surplus data that is not relevant for the requested payment method. Although there does appear to be some flexibility under the SCORE Plus model, this is an area that needs to be carefully considered as part of any adoption decision in order to ensure messages that contain data over-population will not be rejected by the Swift network. This means the corporate community will need to closely review the published Cross-Border Payments and Reporting Plus (CBPR+) industry guidelines⁶ to determine any possible friction points.
• Remittance Information: SCORE Plus will support up to 9,000 characters of payment remittance information, however this can only be provided in either the structured or unstructured xml tags. Users are not permitted to use both structured and unstructured within the same payment message. This is in contrast to the Swift FileAct model, which will allow the corporate community to populate both structured and unstructured xml tags within the same payment instruction.
• Message Design: when the XML payment message was designed, it provided flexibility for the corporate community to decide whether to specify elements such as the payment method, ultimate debtor, and charge bearer code at batch or individual transaction level. This flexibility allowed for a more efficient payment message design as a file containing 10,000 non-urgent payments could be defined once using the service level code NURG at the batch level as opposed to 10,000 times at a transaction level. Now while SCORE Plus is crystal clear that only single transactions can be sent within each file, which removes any issue, this does mean the corporate community will need to design a completely different XML V09 message for the Swift FileAct flows adding additional complexity and cost.
• Status Monitoring: in terms of the status monitoring and tracking capabilities, SCORE Plus provides options, which translate into additional development. The first option is to use the new XML V10 payment status report, which, subject to partner bank capabilities, will incorporate the Swift Gpi end-to-end tracking for cross-border payments. Alternatively, or in addition to the payment status report, Swift will be introducing the new TRCK.004 payment tracking message, which will provide improved end-to-end visibility around cross-border payments. The new tracking message will be released as part of the November 2026 standards release (SR2026). Although this initially sounds positive, it’s important to remember that the Swift Gpi service enables tracking through the intermediate banking partners through to the beneficiary bank account being credited. Furthermore, the new XML V10 payment status report will still be required for the Swift FileAct flows whenever the corporate decision is taken to migrate to the XML V09 payment message. Ultimately, this could mean two types of status and tracking messages will have to be developed, contributing to the overall cost and time taken to complete any development.

Key questions corporates should be asking themselves

The first question is what is the reason behind considering SCORE Plus? If a business is currently sending the MT101 message via Swift FIN, there is currently no industry-agreed end date to the corporate community sending the MT101 payment message to partner banks. However, given the November 2026 end date for providing the unstructured postal address, this might require some fine tuning in the form of adopting Tag 59 option F. This Swift-agreed industry workaround permits the corporate community to send structured postal address data, subject to specific formatting rules. The Tag59F approach provides a light-touch way of achieving compliance as the actual development is limited to a field-level change in addition to some master data address clean-up work. And full compliance means providing the minimum mandatory postal address data requirements⁷ – city/town name and ISO country code.

Alternatively, the reason might be to replace the existing Swift FIN network connection with the new SCORE Plus network. If this is the case, it is important to consider whether there is an existing Swift FileAct connection to send payment messages. The benefit of potentially extending the use of the existing FileAct connection to also make cross border payments is twofold.

1. It removes the immediate requirement to develop the new XML V09 payment message, BAH and associated new tracking messages.
2. It now allows the consolidation of Swift services to just a Swift FileAct service and thereby reducing overall Swift membership costs.

Conclusion

SCORE Plus has been designed as a replacement for the legacy Swift FIN network. While the benefits are mainly associated with a corporate migration from the MT101 message to the new XML V09 payment message, this does not recognise that XML messaging is already mainstream within the corporate community – with Swift FileAct typically supporting a multi-banked file-based interface.

There are also alternative approaches to address the forthcoming November 2026 compliance deadline – both a light touch for MT101 users, while existing XML V03 (version 3) message users can add cross-border payments as a new payment method and configure either the hybrid address or full structured address and continue to send via Swift FileAct or bank proprietary host-to-host connection.

An additional material risk is the pending decision on whether corporates that adopt SCORE Plus will also have a mandatory requirement to keep aligned to the latest version of the XML payment message. Discussions are planned for December 2025, but if the decision is taken to force corporate users to align to the annual ISO standards maintenance release, this will create a significant cost overhead on corporate users, with questionable benefits.

It’s also important to note that the associated XML V08 bank statement (camt.053.001.08) is currently in pilot-only mode and is subject to release later this month. As the SCORE Plus network has a bandwidth limit of just 100Kb, this translates to approximately 250 transactions that can be reported per bank statement message. This limitation does not exist under the FileAct network.

So, recognising the typical cost pressures within the corporate domain, further internal questions must be asked before formalising a plan to adopt SCORE Plus. It’s important that an informed decision is made around this key architectural change, as it impacts the connectivity, messaging, and associated payments workflow.

Does the commercial business case really stack up, or is now the time to think about if and when rationalising the current Swift for corporates services makes sense?

Introduction

In the previous article, From Day 1 to Strategic Partner: Building a Treasury Function for a Carved-Out Business, we highlighted the importance of a tailored target operating model (TOM) to establish a solid strategic and organizational base for the new treasury. Following the definition of the treasury TOM and once day 1 readiness measures are in place, the next priority is to focus on value creation via cash and liquidity management, which represent another key pillar for a successful treasury implementation and treasury process. Cash and liquidity capabilities play a vital role in ensuring treasury delivers both operational continuity and strategic value. This article outlines how to build that foundation by establishing robust and forward-looking cash and liquidity management processes already at the time of the transaction, addressing immediate post-transaction needs, and enabling mid-term process efficiency.

Prepare for Day 1: Managing Liquidity Readiness

When preparing for the closing of an M&A transaction, treasury plays a critical role in ensuring that the new organization operates independently from Day 1. Liquidity planning is essential as cash pressures often peak around the time of legal close.

The following aspects may erase cash reserves if not properly anticipated:

• Upfront costs (transaction fees, legal, advisory, integration).
• Debt financing frameworks still under negotiation.
• Cash repatriation constraints or internal investment requirements to support the separation.

Hence, treasury must address these topics in cash and liquidity planning by:

• Modeling short-term needs under multiple scenarios based on validated assumptions on the business’ structure and liquidity needs.
• Ensuring cash visibility and centralization of cash, where possible to manage funding efficiently.
• Evaluating working capital buffers and the need for interim funding lines.

By addressing these topics before closing, the new entity enters day 1 with visibility on liquidity positions, funding plans, and confidence in its ability to operate independently.

Manage Day 1: Establishing Control, Visibility and Centralization

For a newly independent entity, cash visibility is often fragmented across systems and bank accounts, especially in the early stages after a carve-out. Yet gaining (real-time) transparency is fundamental to effective cash management and decision-making. The foundational elements to achieve at this stage are:

• Set up efficient connectivity with all banking partners.
• Deploy treasury technology (e.g., a TMS or interim solution) to aggregate bank balances and transactions centrally.
• Implement daily cash positioning processes across all relevant bank accounts.
• Define responsibilities and control mechanisms for cash operations, ensuring a clear RACI model.

Cash visibility improves control and reduces risk while enabling better liquidity allocation across the group via a centralized cash management process. The deployment of cash concentration structures, such as cash pooling, allows the unlocking of financial resources and benefits, such as fee reduction or interest optimization. Furthermore, centralized cash management data is a prerequisite for AI-driven cash applications and greater financial risk exposure definition¹, which can significantly reduce manual effort in distributing and managing cash across the group.

Early Stabilization: Forecasting and Short-Term Control

Once operational continuity is secured, the focus should move to stabilizing cash and liquidity processes.

Forecasting in a post-carve-out environment is challenging, yet essential. Missing historical data, unclear transaction volumes, and transitional arrangements (e.g., TSAs) often reduce forecast accuracy.

A suitable solution is the deployment of a layered forecasting approach, including:

• Short-term cash flow forecasts (typically 13-week rolling) to guide immediate liquidity needs.
• Medium-term liquidity planning, integrated with business planning (FP&A) and CAPEX cycles.
• Stress-testing and scenario analysis to evaluate performance under simulated business conditions.

In our experience, cash forecasting is an evolving process, which can be optimized and automated over-time through data integration (e.g. from ERP system) and predictive modeling. With data quality as the foundation, cash flow forecasting can begin by establishing  the most accurate starting point and committed forecasts under company control, such as opening balances and invoice payables. Once the high-certainty inputs are captured, additional cash flows such as committed accounts receivable and other material forecasts e.g. sales forecast or CAPEX forecast can be integrated.

Carved-out entities must consider the growing maturity and quality of their systems and respective data over the first 12 months after day 1.

Designing a Fit-for-Purpose Liquidity Structure

Once visibility and forecasting are addressed, the focus should immediately shift to structuring liquidity flows across the new organization. The objective is to ensure funding efficiency, mitigate cash drag and trapped cash, and enable flexibility, all within the constraints of the newly formed legal and operational setup.

Key design considerations include:

• Tailored cash pooling and automated cash concentration structures.
• Intercompany funding structures, including currency and transfer pricing alignment and documentation.
• Liquidity buffers tailored to business volatility and seasonality.
• Working capital optimization levers (e.g., payment terms, supplier financing).

Hybrid liquidity management structures, combining centralized oversight with localized autonomy for operational banking, often achieve the best balance. Zanders supports clients based on its wide experience in bank relationship strategy and liquidity optimization for disentanglements.

Optimizing Cash Flow Management towards long-term state

Throughout the transition and towards the steady-state operations, treasury must monitor and manage cash & liquidity against an evolving backdrop of business integration activities and one-off events.

These may include:

• Working capital shifts based on new supply chains or changes in customer behaviour.
• Integration costs linked to systems, people, and process harmonization.
• Divestitures or asset sales to fund operations or sharpen the business focus.
• Cash flow issues caused by system delays or supplier renegotiations.

To address this, Treasury should establish daily cash positioning routines utilizing state-of-the-art technologies and tools, escalation mechanisms, and strong collaboration with FP&A, procurement, and tax. Treasury shall also foster a “Cash First” mindset in the newly created organization. This ensures quick resolution of bottlenecks and reinforce cash flow discipline.

Strategic Liquidity Considerations for Long-Term Success

Cash and liquidity decisions taken during a carve-out will influence the new company’s financial flexibility as it takes quite some time and effort to implement changes in liquidity structures considerably at a later stage. Therefore, treasury should consider as early as possible the following aspects:

• Debt and credit rating impacts, especially if carve-out funding involves leverage.
• Treasury risk centralization (especially FX risk), to reduce cross-border inefficiencies and improve hedging performance.
• Tax and regulatory considerations, such as repatriation limitations, transfer pricing, and cash tax leakage.
• Strategic investment readiness, ensuring adequate liquidity for future M&A, CAPEX, or digital transformation.

The liquidity setup must be scalable, allowing the business to respond confidently to  rapid growth, market volatility, or external shocks with resilient measures.

Zanders’ clearly sees a need for treasury functions to evolve into applying strategic enterprise liquidity models providing an efficient framework to link various stakeholders around the office of the CFO, including treasury, FP&A, risk management, accounting and more. A group-wide approach ensures alignment, cooperation and can lead to faster and more informed decision-making processes.

A Roadmap to Liquidity Maturity

The path to liquidity excellence starts with day 1 readiness preparation and implementation but extends far beyond. Treasury should approach this evolution through a structured roadmap that includes:

• Standardization of forecasting processes and technology tools.
• Centralization of liquidity governance, structures, and banking relationships.
• Continuous optimization of working capital, pooling structures, and investment of surplus funds.
• Measurement and benchmarking of liquidity KPIs and stress performance.

We bring a proven methodology and deep experience in day 1 planning and execution, as well as in post-M&A treasury transformation. We help clients design and implement cash and liquidity frameworks that deliver control, flexibility, and strategic value.

In the next edition of this series, we look at implementing effective banking strategy and funding practices within the newly carved-out entity, including key areas of focus and potential challenges.

Until recently, most UAE corporate entities were not subject to corporate income tax. This changed with the Ministry of Finance’s announcement on 31 January 2022, introducing a federal corporate tax regime applicable to financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023. The new regime also formalised the UAE’s transfer pricing framework as part of its commitment to the OECD BEPS standards.

Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 sets out the corporate tax rules and embeds transfer pricing requirements under Articles 34–36 and 55. In addition to the Federal Decree-Law No. 47, the UAE’s Ministry of Finance and Federal Tax Authority also issued additional rules and guidance specific to transfer pricing:

• Ministerial Decision No. 97 of 2023 – Sets out the conditions for the preparation of Master Files and Local Files in line with OECD BEPS Action 13.

• UAE Transfer Pricing Guide – Detailed guidance on the practical impact and implementation of transfer pricing regulations. The guide was prepared in alignment with the OECD’s Transfer Pricing Guidelines.

The incorporation of these rules, together with the growing attention from tax authorities on the Transfer Pricing of Intra-Group Loans, has significantly increased the focus of tax and treasury teams on the importance of transfer pricing in the region.

Importance for treasury teams

Over two years on from the UAE’s adoption of a formal corporate income tax regime, the region has positioned itself as a potential financial hub for multinationals to set up their centralised group finance and treasury functions. The UAE’s economic reforms and growing alignment with international financial standards further strengthen its case as a pragmatic and effective financial hub.

Multinationals are increasingly looking towards centralised, in-house financing functions to more effectively navigate variables between markets such as regulatory requirements, currency exposures, and broader liquidity and cash flow targets.

As more multinationals set up financing hubs in the UAE, scrutiny from the Federal Tax Authority will increase accordingly, particularly with a legitimate transfer pricing regime now in place. This means that both treasury teams and tax departments need to price intra-group loans on an arm’s length basis.

Alignment with the OECD TP Guidelines

The UAE follows the OECD TP Guidelines Chapter X for the transfer pricing of intra-group financial transactions, with additional local guidance provided in section 7.1.3.2 of the UAE Transfer Pricing Guide. Intercompany loans must reflect arm’s length terms, including loan amount, maturity, repayment terms, and arm’s length interest rates.

In practice, a 4-step process should be followed to comply with these requirements:

Step 1: As a first step, the terms and conditions should be reviewed to ensure their commercial rationale and that they reflect the actual economic reality of the parties. In this sense, special consideration should be given to the loan amount and whether an independent party would extend such an amount to the borrower. To this end, the so-called Debt Capacity Analyses are performed.

Step 2: As a second step, a credit rating analysis should be performed. While the recommended approach is to follow a bottom-up approach, based on the standalone credit rating of the entity adjusted for group support, in some cases a more simplified top-down credit rating approach can also be considered acceptable.

Step 3: As a third step, the pricing analysis is performed, typically by application of the external CUP method, identifying comparable third-party transactions with similar characteristics. Of course, the necessary comparability adjustments should be performed to reflect the differences between the external comparables and the loan under analysis.

Step 4: Finally, the analysis should be documented in a Transfer Pricing Report, explaining in a transparent manner the analysis performed in the previous steps. It is important to have legal documentation in place, reflecting the terms and conditions of the loan that have been considered during the analysis.

Interest limitation rules:

Alongside traditional transfer pricing regulations, the UAE also enacted interest deductibility rules in Article 30 of the Ministerial Decision No. 120 of 2023. The provisions are broadly modelled after the OECD’s BEPS Action 4. These interest limitation rules should be considered alongside transfer pricing regulations. In principle, net interest expense in the UAE is deductible only up to 30% of the borrower’s adjusted EBITDA. This rule only applies to cumulative interest expense greater than AED 12 million in a given year.

Article 28(1)(b) provides further rules that should apply specifically to intercompany arrangements. In addition to the foundational rule, any intercompany interest expense is non-deductible if:

• The financial arrangement lacks economic substance or commercial purpose; and
• The lender is not subject to a corporate tax rate of more than 9%; and
• The main purpose or one of the main purposes of the loan was to obtain a tax advantage.

Each of these must be proven for any interest deductions to be denied. These rules function to mitigate intergroup profit shifting and hybrid arrangements.

Zanders Transfer Pricing Software as a tool:

As tax authorities intensify their scrutiny, it is essential for companies to carefully adhere to the recommendations outlined above.  

Does this mean additional time and resources are required? Not necessarily. Technology provides an opportunity to minimize compliance risks while freeing up valuable time and resources. The Zanders Transfer Pricing Software is an innovative, cloud-based solution designed to automate the transfer pricing compliance of financial transactions.  

With over eight years of experience and trusted by more than 90 multinational corporations, our platform is the market-leading solution for intra-group loans, guarantees, and cash pool transactions. 

Our clients trust us because we provide: 

• Transparent and high-quality embedded intercompany rating models. 
• A pricing model based on an automated search for comparable transactions. 
• Automatically generated, 40-page OECD-compliant Transfer Pricing reports. 
• Debt capacity analyses to support the quantum of debt. 
• Legal documentation aligned with the Transfer Pricing analysis. 
• Benchmark rates, sovereign spreads, and bond data included in the subscription. 
• Expert support from our Transfer Pricing specialists. 
• Quick and easy onboarding—completed within a day! 

If you are interested in exploring how the Transfer Pricing Software could optimize your transfer pricing processes for financial arrangements, let us know in the contact form below.

AI is everywhere – but many treasurers still struggle to move beyond the hype and identify real, value-adding applications. That’s why in this blog series, we’ll explore four practical use cases in depth, each resulting in a concrete, actionable application you could begin implementing tomorrow. 

In this blog, we focus on one of the most time-consuming challenges in any treasury transformation: system testing. Testing remains highly manual, repetitive, and resource-intensive. But the rise of AI agents is changing the game, offering a way to make testing faster, more intuitive, and highly repeatable. 

The Challenge 

Testing is at the heart of every treasury transformation. It’s a meticulous, iterative process: before you even begin, you need a robust set of test cases that reflects your specific workflow to ensure every critical scenario is covered, without drowning in an endless list. Then comes the manual execution, documentation, and feedback cycles, repeated again and again until every issue is resolved. 

Even after go-live, the work isn’t over. Regular system updates and configuration changes mean more rounds of regression testing to catch any unexpected side effects. It’s essential work, but it can be a real drain on time and resources. 

Now, thanks to AI, there’s a smarter way. 

The Solution 

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AI agents are autonomous actors that can interact directly with your web browser and through that with your Treasury Management System (TMS) to complete tasks and resolve issues. Imagine instructing an AI agent in plain language, and watching it execute complex test cases right in the user interface. The agent is able to navigate to the right page, fill in information in the forms, the buttons, and record output. The flexibility of these agents even allow them to identify error messages and validate the result of a set of actions.  

Armed with vendor documentation, solution designs, and implementation blueprints, the AI agent proposes a comprehensive set of test cases and relates those to actions in your system of choice. Users can easily add their own scenarios by simply describing the workflow. The agent then navigates the system, executes the tests, and records the results, all autonomously. 

Worried about safety? Don’t be. Today’s test automation tools come with robust guardrails: 

• Test environments only: No risk to production. 

• Controlled user rights: The agent gets only the permissions it needs. 

• Plan mode: The agent presents its action plan for human approval before anything runs. 

With these safeguards, the risk of unintended actions is virtually eliminated—while the efficiency gains are game-changing. 

You can build AI agents in-house, but many organizations will benefit even more from cloud-based platforms. These solutions: 

• Lower deployment costs and speed up implementation 

• Offer ready-made integrations 

• Enable users to share successful test scenarios 

At Zanders, we’ve developed an AI-powered test suite that plugs directly into leading cloud TMS platforms—empowering treasurers to accelerate testing without sacrificing control. 

A Real-World Example 

Let’s make this tangible. Suppose you want to test a workflow for adjusting FX exposure and generating a report. The AI agent, using system documentation and blueprints, proposes relevant user flows. One test case might be: 
“Change the EUR/USD exchange rate to 1.12, create a new EUR/USD FX Forward with a six-month maturity, and run the FX Exposure report.” 

The agent executes these steps, records the results, and once the optimal route is captured, can repeat the test autonomously and even evaluate the outputs itself. Over time, you build a powerful, reusable suite of automated test scenarios for both transformation projects and ongoing regression testing. 

Conclusion 

AI in treasury is no longer a futuristic possibility, it’s a practical, high-impact technology that treasury teams can start leveraging today. Do you want to explore automated testing? Contact us! Are you interested in other concrete use cases, learn more about transforming your treasury operations for the digital age. 

The interest in AI has been increasing at record pace, with new technology releases every month and an impressive number of new use cases for chatbots or agents. However, many treasurers still struggle to translate this hype into value-added implementations for their business. These upcoming blog series explore practical use cases for AI that delivers concrete value to treasurers. This article specifically shares an implementation of AI agents to automate the pricing, review and documentation of intercompany loans.

The challenge

One of the core functions for many treasury departments is the distribution of cash in their group. Intra-group loans are one of the tools used by treasurers to distribute cash, but their use comes with challenges. The interest rate on intercompany loans has a significant impact on the tax expense incurred by the subsidiary and taxable income received by the head-office and therefore should be based on an arm's length approach.

Arm’s length pricing of intercompany loans requires a detailed analysis of the credit standing of the borrower, the influence of the group on the borrower’s credit risk, and a review of the debt market to determine a price. Due to the tax implications, this process should be documented in detail including sources and models. Regulations surrounding transfer pricing of financial transactions have been expanding in many countries in the past years, posing greater challenges for treasury teams to perform a complex process with high compliance requirements. As a result, many have resorted to advisors or build complex Excel models to perform the recurring pricing analyses.

The solution

The main challenge when automating the pricing of intercompany loans is the access to data and models. A compliant process relies on the periodic retrieval of benchmark transactions to set an interest rate – for example with bonds, loans, or a Credit Default Swap (CDS). On the other hand, an objective calculation of the credit risk requires a model that is explainable and is filled with company data.

AI Agents are a powerful tool that can be used to automate the retrieval of data and execution of tools in a complex process with changing inputs. In the diagram below, an AI Agent is coupled with a credit rating model, a tool to gather benchmarking data, and a documentation method. In our implementation, we have used the modules in the Zanders Transfer Pricing Solution to provide this functionality to the agent. Next to the tools, it is important to provide the Agent with sufficient context on what role it should play and how it should execute a pricing analysis. The agent should understand the compliance requirements and the tools before it can reliably run the process. For this use case, this is done through context engineering by providing example cases, differences in methods, and checks that the agent should perform.

In the resulting setup, the Agent can automate the full pricing step: identifying entities, calculating a credit rating, and running a pricing benchmark. As a result, the Agent provides a report that is generated according to our template.

With the same tools, we can extend the system even further, by reviewing past calculations versus policies and tax regulations to spot high risk cases or evaluating the credit position of entities to set borrowing limits or update credit ratings. By automating these processes, treasurers can move away from the operational hassle of pricing intercompany loans and instead focus on managing the funding mix of their group. Agents take care of automatic handling of loans and the importing or exporting of data, where treasurers set the objectives of the pricing approach and funding.

AI in Treasury is no longer a futuristic possibility - it's a practical, high-impact technology that Treasury teams can start leveraging today. Do you want to explore intercompany pricing? Let us know in this contact form below.

If you are interested in more use cases, read more here.

Nationaal Warmtefonds was established in 2013 as an experimental fund backed by the Dutch government to help homeowners make their houses more energy efficient. Today, it's a key player in the Netherlands’ climate ambitions, granting over 1.8 billion euro of loans and helping more than 130.000 households make their homes more sustainable.

From cautious beginnings

In the early stages, Nationaal Warmtefonds-backed loans were only offered to homeowners who could afford traditional credit. But in 2015, the Paris Agreement was signed, setting new international climate targets and raising action on energy efficiency to a national priority. This sparked a rapid extension of the fund’s mandate. Notably, the decision was made to expand from financially stable owners to provide access to funding to households with lower incomes. This led to a surge in the scale and impact of the fund.

“Initially the fund grew steadily – in the first year we financed €5 million,” says Ernst Jan Boers, Chairman of Nationaal Warmtefonds. “But within five years, we were doing €150 million a year and it became clear we had to reshape ourselves. The fund was expected to double in size and to support this growth, we needed more than just a loan administrator – we needed the full second and third lines.”

As Nationaal Warmtefonds’ objectives became more ambitious, so did the need for specialist risk management, compliance, and treasury functions. These were services beyond the capabilities of the organization and its existing administrative providers. So, five years ago, the fund set out to find an advisor that could support their growth strategy. This led them to Zanders.  

“In the early stages, it was about managing the funds with boots on the ground,” says Ernst Jan.

Zanders offered treasury knowledge, but they were also willing to do the day-to-day work – and the same applied for compliance and risk. We needed a role that we called ‘fund director’ and Zanders filled that position.

Ernst Jan Boers, Chairman of Nationaal Warmtefonds

Tasked with managing the fund, coordinating with other service providers, and supporting the board, the Zanders team was quickly embedded into day-to-day operations, providing advice and hands-on support across risk, compliance, and treasury. And as the fund rapidly grew to over €400 million a year, Zanders’ role also expanded as it helped the fund navigate growth and the challenges it presented.

Navigating the challenges of fund expansion

A strengthening moment in the partnership came with the near collapse of a large, multi-million-euro eco-renovation of an apartment building, involving more than 180 homeowners. When the construction firm went bankrupt mid-way through the build, the future of the project plunged into uncertainty. Zanders played an important role in enabling the project to proceed – mediating between homeowners, authorities, and internal credit committees, while also designing a financial restructuring plan. With this hands-on, credit management, Zanders helped Nationaal Warmtefonds not only rescue the project (it was ultimately completed to almost zero-emission standards) but also reshape future governance and credit approval processes to reduce risk going forward.

Large, high-stakes projects like this highlighted how fast the fund was evolving and how far its role had expanded beyond its original scope.

“We started with a lifetime from 3 to 6 years for the fund,” Ernst Jan reflects. “But if you look at the scale of the transition and how embedded we’ve become in the national climate effort, we’ll likely be doing this work through to 2050.”

The impact of this growth is that the somewhat short-term nature of Nationaal Warmtefonds’ operational structure was no longer sufficient to manage the growing complexity and scale of its role.

“About a two years ago, things were moving so fast and we realized it was time to become a real organization,” admits Ernst Jan. “Up until that point, we had a board of just four people, each working only one or two days a week. Everything was outsourced – risk, finance, and loan administration. We had good controls, but no one on payroll, and not even a physical office. We were becoming too big for that model and, more importantly, we realized we’re not temporary – we’re actually here to stay.”

At this point Nationaal Warmtefonds decided to insource key service providers, and at the same time, the board transitioned from a part-time structure to working three to four days a week.

“As part of this shift, the role of fund director was no longer needed in the same way,” says Ernst Jan.

Zanders continues to support us – especially in areas like risk, compliance, and treasury – but the nature of the support has changed again. It's now more advisory and less operational, because we’ve built the internal structure to handle much of it ourselves.

Ernst Jan Boers, Chairman of Nationaal Warmtefonds

This marks a new, more consultancy-driven era for our partnership, where Zanders empowers Nationaal Warmtefonds with the expertise, guidance and strategic support to continue to grow the fund and proactively manage risk.

Flexible foundations for the future

From providing hands-on crisis management during complex projects to shifting towards a more advisory role as internal capacity grew, Zanders’ support for Nationaal Warmtefonds has evolved in line with the fund’s growth and changing needs. This flexibility has been crucial in navigating the challenges of rapidly scaling the fund as climate action has climbed the national agenda.

Looking to the future, as the energy transition deepens and new challenges arise, our partnership will keep adapting, continually re-balancing operational support with strategic advice to ensure Nationaal Warmtefonds is positioned to respond effectively and continue to drive forward the energy transition in the Netherlands.

To find out more about how we can support the growth strategy of your business and fund, please contact Eva de Lange.

The games market just keeps getting bigger. And with limits on this growth seemingly uncharted, interest from governments and private sector investors is at an all-time high. Savvy Games Group is a global gaming and esports business, wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Tasked with transforming the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) into a global games hub, the Riyadh-based group is pursuing an ambitious investment strategy aimed to rapidly accelerate growth of the sector and maximize the opportunities the Kingdom offers.

Acquisition-driven growth

Savvy is clear in its intention to be the leading force in global games investment. At first glance, this could appear a bold claim for a three-year-old company operating in one of the world’s most buoyant and exciting markets. But it’s a challenge Savvy has already proven it’s well-equipped to deliver. Despite being a relative newcomer to the games sector, through high-profile acquisitions—including Scopely in the US and EFG Group in Europe and the US—Savvy has quickly established itself as an active investor. This has led to fast growth for the business. In just a few years, the Group has expanded to become a global enterprise of more than 3,500 employees across 69 locations in 22 countries.

While the scale and speed of Savvy’s development successfully solidified its reputation and investor profile, it also created a disparate banking and cash management structure. With the Group’s cashflows spanning a global network of more than 40 banks and 400 bank accounts, cash management was cumbersome and inefficient.

A rapid bank rationalization

With centralization as the clear goal, the starting point was to consolidate Savvy’s banking services and implement an inhouse bank in order to harmonize disparate cash management processes. To enable this, in June 2024, Savvy issued a request for proposal (RfP) for the provision of banking services to the Savvy Group.

“After a competitive RfP, we chose Citibank for our global cash management and HSBC for our cash management in the US and in Saudi Arabia,” Saleh Alfadhel, Savvy’s Group CFO, recounts. “We then had to go from 40 banks and 400 bank accounts to two banks and 50 bank accounts in one year.” This was a complex project, involving the establishment of three cash pools—a multi-currency notional pool in London, a US dollar and Saudi Arabian Riyal (SAR) pool in KSA, and a virtual US Dollar pool in the US. But this was only one part of establishing the Group’s treasury function. While bank rationalization and cash pooling created the foundations for a more streamlined and centralized treasury organization, to extract maximum value from this new structure, they also needed full visibility of the group’s cash balances and positions worldwide. This is where a second RfP came in—the selection and implementation of a global treasury management system (TMS).

From selection to solution

Driving Savvy’s treasury technology project was the target to have a new, global TMS for the Group in place by December 2024.

By leveraging Zanders’ technical expertise of Kyriba and deep treasury experience, we successfully developed and implemented best-in-class processes across cash management, payment processing, and in-house banking. Harnessing Kyriba’s functionality, we streamlined and automated our treasury operations for greater efficiency and control.

Dheeraj Parmar (Assistant Treasurer at Savvy Games Group)

With Zanders leading the technical conversations with the vendors, Savvy was able to explore and compare the different solutions on offer in a highly structured, relevant, and informed way. This ensured the selection of a TMS that was the best-fit to deliver high levels of transparency and central control of cash management. The outcome was the selection of Kyriba and the appointment of Zanders to advise on the implementation of the first five modules. The deadline set for completing this was December 2024.

“Between June and December, Zanders implemented five modules of Kyriba,” Saleh says. “In six months, we had a full implementation of Kyriba across our operating companies, the headquarters in KSA, and the three inhouse banks.”

Between June and December 2024, Zanders implemented five modules of Kyriba. In six months, we had a full implementation of Kyriba across our operating companies, the headquarters in KSA, and the three inhouse banks.

Saleh Alfadhel (CFO at Savvy Games Group)

With clarity comes cash control

Savvy’s Kyriba journey may still be in its early stages but the value of the visibility it gives them over their cash position globally is already evident. “As of December 2024, we have a liquidity pool set up, and we have a dashboard in Kyriba showing us 100% of our in-scope balances,” Saleh says. “We estimate that by having full visibility and cash concentration, we can operate the Savvy Games Group with circa 45% less cash globally.”

And there is still more value-driving performance for Savvy to unlock from operating a centralized, digital treasury. Kyriba cloud-based treasury management solutions offer a powerful way for businesses to connect banks, ERPs, apps, and portals. This unifies data, providing not only the clarity and insight to improve liquidity, but also the opportunity to automate processes and improve efficiency. Unlocking this enhanced performance is where Zanders’ work with the group turns to next. “Once we add host-to-host, straight through processing and a shared service center to Kyriba, we should have full automation between our ERPs—SAP in Germany and Oracle in KSA and the US,” Saleh says. “With this, we will be able to automate accounts payable and the treasury department completely.”

Continuing our transformation journey in collaboration with Zanders will allow us to further optimize our treasury operating model while ensuring scalability to support the company’s growth—both organically and through strategic M&A actions.

Dheeraj Parmar (Assistant Treasurer at Savvy Games Group)

To find out more about our treasury transformation services and the benefits we can offer your business, please contact our Partner Mark van Ommen.

Thailand's e-Withholding Tax (e-WHT) system officially launched on October 27, 2020, in collaboration with 11 banks, marking a significant digital transformation with far-reaching benefits for corporate treasurers. This system was introduced to streamline the process of withholding tax by allowing taxpayers to remit taxes electronically through participating banks. The initiative aimed to enhance convenience for taxpayers and reduce the administrative burden associated with traditional tax filing methods. To encourage adoption, the government implemented measures such as reducing withholding tax rates for those utilizing the e-WHT system.

Thailand's Digital Tax Evolution

The e-WHT system aligns with Thailand's digital transformation strategy, offering corporate treasurers an opportunity to modernize tax processes and enhance cash flow management. This initiative reflects Thailand's commitment to creating a more efficient business environment through technology.

What Corporates Need to Know

Companies conducting business in Thailand are required to withhold tax on certain payments including:

• Service fees
• Professional fees
• Royalties
• Interest
• Dividends
• Rent/Lease

Once the tax is withheld, businesses must submit the amount to The Revenue Department, part of the Thai Ministry of Finance. This requirement applies to both domestic and foreign companies conducting business in Thailand. 

e-WHT only applies to domestic electronic payments. Paper cheques must continue to follow the traditional paper WHT model.

Key Benefits for Treasury Departments

The adoption of e-WHT offers multiple strategic advantages:

• Improved cash flow visibility – provides real-time status of tax-related movements, enabling more efficient WHT monitoring
• Simplified documentation – reduces the risk of human error in tax calculations and documentation procedures
• Accelerated processing times – shortens the tax filing and refund cycles
• Enhanced compliance – reduces the risk of non-compliance
• Better reconciliation – enables real-time verification of taxes withheld and credits

Implementation Insights

Our treasury technology specialists have assisted companies operating in Thailand with the successful implementation of  e-WHT submissions, covering domestic payment types such as ACH and RTGS via Standard Chartered Bank (SCB).

Key insights from these implementations include the importance of establishing dedicated interfaces from ERP S/4 HANA systems to the banking file gateway linked to Thailand's Revenue Department for seamless e-WHT processing.

Impact on Corporate Operations and User Experience

The introduction of e-WHT has streamlined tax filing for companies in Thailand, marking a significant shift toward digital transformation and compliance.

From a user experience perspective, companies can expect the following:

• No need to issue or store paper-based withholding tax certificates
• No manual month-end tax submissions to the Revenue Department
• Reduced document handling and storage costs
• Verification of withholding tax records by beneficiaries via the Revenue Department’s website
• Reduced withholding tax rates for eligible businesses

Looking Ahead: Strategic Implementation Considerations

When planning for e-WHT implementation, treasurers should keep the following in mind:

• Errors in tax rates cannot be corrected once submitted
• Faster tax payment cycles may require adjustments in cash flow planning
• Managing both paper and electronic WHT processes requires additional oversight and potential training for finance teams

For corporate treasurers, e-WHT represents an opportunity to modernize tax procedures, improve processing efficiency, and embrace digital transformation. Companies that properly plan the adoption of this initiative will align with Thailand's digital tax strategy while gaining operational benefits.

For more information on navigating Thailand's e-WHT implementation for your organization, please contact our Treasury Technology specialists.

As mid-sized corporations expand, enhancing their Treasury function becomes essential. International growth, exposure to multiple currencies, evolving regulatory requirements, and increased working capital demands are key indicators of the need for a well-structured Treasury function. These factors heighten the risk of challenges such as limited cash visibility, foreign exchange fluctuations, and a greater need for centralization and diverse financing sources—making a solid policy framework essential. A Treasury function built around a clear Target Operating Model (TOM) is critical for managing this complexity and enabling sustainable growth. 

Zanders has deep experience in helping companies of all sizes define and optimize their Treasury TOM—from small businesses to global multinationals. Across industries from pharmaceuticals to manufacturing, we support organizations at every stage of treasury maturity. A well-designed TOM gives you a roadmap to transform Treasury into a strategic, scalable capability. 

Benchmarking your Treasury Performance: Know Where You Stand 

A treasury benchmark study provides a clear and objective view of how your treasury function compares to peers and industry best practices. It helps to identify strengths, spot inefficiencies, and uncover opportunities to enhance performance and resilience. 

This kind of assessment is especially valuable during periods of rapid growth, when your treasury must adapt to increasing complexity. It also proves to be critical during major events such as mergers, acquisitions, or shifts in the market, where quick adaptation is key. 

Benchmarking is more than a comparison exercise. It delivers clarity on your current state and defines what’s needed to evolve. That insight becomes the foundation for targeted improvements, stronger risk management, and the development of a TOM that aligns with your organization’s goals. 

In the sections below, we outline two key areas to consider and how benchmarking provides the insights needed to build your optimal treasury roadmap. 

Strategic Alignment in Action: Optimizing Organizational Structures for Sustainable Growth 

As organizations grow, it becomes increasingly important to clearly define treasury responsibilities separately from those of the broader finance function. At the same time, integrating Treasury into the interconnected structure of the Office of the CFO helps build a stronger and more resilient finance organization. A common challenge in change management arises when legacy definitions of roles and responsibilities remain unaddressed. For example, certain processes—such as reconciliation—may continue to be performed within the ERP system simply because “that’s how it’s always been done,” even if it’s no longer the most efficient approach. In some cases, the accounting team may lack the capacity to take ownership of such tasks, resulting in inefficiencies and blurred accountability. 

A TOM review creates the opportunity to redefine treasury roles, policies, and processes. This should be revisited regularly to keep it aligned with the organization's structure and goals. 

Key Opportunities for Policy and Procedure Optimization: 

• Consolidation and Standardization: Implementing unified policies and procedures can enhance efficiency and consistency across the organization. This involves consolidating knowledge, standardizing processes, and ensuring that all departments operate in alignment with organizational goals. 

• Enhancing Segregation of Duties: Reviewing and refining the organizational structure can better support the segregation of duties, reducing risks and improving operational integrity. This involves defining clear roles and responsibilities to ensure effective internal controls. 

• Streamlining Operations: Centralizing certain activities currently performed locally can lead to streamlined operations, improved efficiency, and reduced costs. Centralization allows for standardized procedures, clearer decision-making processes, and improved resource utilization. 

• Strategic Resource Realignment: Redirecting treasury resources from routine operational tasks to strategic initiatives can significantly enhance the treasury's value proposition. By automating non-core activities, the treasury can focus on high-impact projects and internal consulting roles, driving business growth and strategic alignment 

Alongside a review and assessment of the organizational structure, a deep dive into the treasury technology landscape of an organization is another key aspect to consider when transforming a treasury. 

Technology as a tool 

While large organizations typically have an ERP or TMS in place, many small to mid-sized companies have not yet reached that level of maturity. In these organizations, treasury functions often rely heavily on spreadsheets, which can be cumbersome and prone to error. Additionally, treasurers must log into multiple bank portals to gather essential data for reconciliation and forecasting. As the company grows, the time spent on these manual processes increases, along with the risk of mistakes and inefficiencies. 

Recognizing the need for modernization, treasurers are increasingly focusing on upgrading treasury technology. As mid-sized corporations scale and face greater financial complexity, the reliance on outdated, custom-developed solutions and manual processes becomes more problematic. This makes the need for an enhanced treasury management system even more critical to efficiently manage financial operations and reduce operational risks. 

Key opportunities for a Treasury Technology Upgrade: 

• Enhanced Flexibility and Scalability: Upgrading to cloud-based treasury management systems (TMS) can provide greater flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency compared to traditional onsite systems. This allows for easier access and management of treasury operations across different locations and teams. 

• Advanced Reporting Capabilities: Real-Time Financial Insights: Implementing a more advanced TMS can address reporting challenges by providing accurate, real-time financial insights. This capability enables treasurers to make timely and informed decisions, enhancing overall financial management and strategic planning. 

• Streamlined Operations: Upgrading to a system with seamless integration capabilities can automate processes, reduce operational delays, and minimize errors. This integration ensures that all systems communicate effectively, fostering a more efficient and cohesive treasury environment. 

• Efficient Cost Management and Regulatory Compliance: A modern TMS can help achieve significant cost savings and improve compliance by supporting segregation of duties and multi-level approval processes. This ensures adherence to regulatory requirements while optimizing operational expenses. 

• Improved Cash Management: Access to real-time data, such as global cash positions, is crucial for effective decision-making and cash management. Upgrading to a system that provides these insights can enhance treasury operations by allowing for proactive management of liquidity and financial risks. 

Organizations should carefully evaluate when and how to upgrade their TMS, recognizing signs of inadequacy, understanding the benefits, and identifying essential features. A suitable TMS will not only optimize treasury operations but also provide the necessary tools for effective financial management, maintaining a competitive edge in an evolving landscape.  

Build a Strategic Roadmap 

With the insights gained from benchmarking, organizations can define their long-term target state and build a tailored solution design. This becomes the foundation for a strategic roadmap that outlines the initiatives needed to elevate your treasury function. Whether the focus is on technology upgrades, process improvements, or resource realignment, each initiative should shape a treasury function that is agile, efficient, and growth ready. A fit-for-purpose treasury is not just a support function; it is a strategic asset that underpins long-term performance and resilience. 

If you wish to learn more about how we can support the growth of your organization through the treasury function, please contact Ernest Huizing or Vincent Casterman.