Stablecoins vs. Tokenized Deposits: The right debate?
Written by Sharyn Tan (Views are my own) As of late 2025, the total stablecoin market capitalization has surged to around $300 billion, with projections suggesting it could exceed $2 trillion by 2028. This growth is fueled by diverse use cases, from cross-border remittances to institutional settlements and DeFi applications. Yet, a persistent debate dominates industry discussions: Will bank-issued stablecoins or tokenized deposits dominate, leveraging regulated trust and scale? Or will non-bank issued, let’s call these ‘open market’, stablecoins, like USDT and USDC, prevail through their programmability, global reach, and network effects? The real question isn’t which model “wins.” It’s what happens if these two universes remain isolated. Without robust interoperability, we risk fragmented liquidity pools that are fast inside their silos but slow and costly across them—undoing the very efficiencies stablecoins promise. Two parallel worlds emerging today Bank-issued stablecoins and tokenized deposits represent a regulated, compliance-first approach. Institutions like JPMorgan, Societe Generale, Fiserv, and European bank consortia are issuing tokens backed by high-quality reserves, often on permissioned or hybrid blockchains. These offer treasurers the familiarity of institutional trust, robust risk management, and integration with existing banking infrastructure. In the U.S., the GENIUS Act of 2025 has accelerated this trend by providing a clear federal framework, encouraging banks to issue stablecoins while maintaining strict reserve and redemption rules. On the other side, ‘open-market’ stablecoins—dominated by issuers like Tether, Circle and Paxos —thrive on public blockchains. They excel in programmability, enabling smart contracts, DeFi yield, and borderless access. These coins power much of the $650–700 billion in monthly on-chain transactions, particularly in emerging markets and crypto-native ecosystems. Their strength lies in network effects: deep liquidity pools, widespread wallet integration, and innovation driven by open ecosystems. Each model addresses distinct needs. Banks provide a regulated scale for corporate treasurers wary of volatility or regulatory scrutiny. Open stablecoins deliver speed and accessibility for global, programmable payments. But for corporate treasurers, duplicated liquidity, trapped capital, and prefunding requirements persist when the two ecosystems don’t seamlessly connect. The Hidden Costs of Non-Interoperability Fragmentation creates real-world pain points. Consider a multinational treasurer managing working capital: Funds held in a bank-issued tokenized deposit might settle instantly within the bank’s network but face delays or high fees when moving to a public chain for DeFi optimization or supplier payments. Conversely, open stablecoins offer global reach but may lack the full regulatory assurances needed for large-scale institutional holding. This silos liquidity, forcing treasurers to maintain excess buffers—reviving the very inefficiencies stablecoins were meant to eliminate. The IMF has warned that proliferation without interoperability could undermine faster, cheaper payments, as networks become restricted by regulations or technical hurdles. Regulatory divergence exacerbates this: The U.S. GENIUS Act emphasizes U.S.-based reserves and federal oversight, while Europe’s MiCA requires EU bank-held reserves, potentially splitting global liquidity into regional pools. Without bridges, we see duplicated efforts: Higher operational costs, increased run risks in isolated ecosystems, and missed opportunities for capital efficiency. In a 24/7digital economy, slow cross-ecosystem transfers mean trapped cash and renewed reliance on legacy rails like SWIFT. So, who is best placed to build the bridges? Industry debate rages on who should lead the construction of essential bridges: traditional banks, agile fintechs and payment giants, or neutral blockchain protocols and infrastructure providers? The ideal future isn’t one party dominating; it’s a connected ecosystem where institutional trust meets open-network innovation. Interoperability allows treasurers to move value securely between regulated and public networks, with full visibility, compliance, and control. No single group can—or should—build these bridges alone. Success demands collaboration: banks for trust anchor, fintechs for orchestration and speed, protocols for technical neutrality. A Treasurer’s Take: Liquidity follows efficiency, and efficiency follows connection The treasurer’s ideal isn’t about picking sides—it’s about making them work together. Regulated tokens bring safety and trust. Open stablecoins bring speed and global reach. The real potential emerges when value moves freely between the two—secure when held, instant when needed. That’s when digital money truly delivers on real-time, programmable finance. Interoperability isn’t optional anymore—it’s the key to unlocking scale, liquidity, and efficiency. Liquidity follows efficiency, and efficiency follows connection. Markets are quick to reward connectivity and just as quick to punish fragmentation. When networks connect, capital moves faster, costs drop, and liquidity multiplies. Fragmented ecosystems, on the other hand, trap cash and recreate the old frictions that digital money was meant to solve. So, maybe it’s time we stop asking who wins and start asking who’s building the bridges. Because the future of money won’t belong to the loudest or the biggest silo—it’ll belong to the best connectors, linking the two together. Also Read Join our Treasury Community Treasury Mastermind is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below to get more information. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.
Franklin
Manual vs Automated Treasury Forecasting: What’s the Real Cost?
This article is written by Palm Introduction If you’ve ever lost a full afternoon chasing down missing bank files, fixing broken spreadsheet links, or double-checking cash flow formulas — you’re not alone.For many treasury teams, manual forecasting has been the norm for years. It’s what we know, what we inherited, and what still kind of works.But as your business grows more complex — more accounts, more currencies, more uncertainty — that once-reliable spreadsheet becomes harder to trust and even harder to maintain. And the real cost? It isn’t just time. It’s the opportunity you lose when your team is stuck in a loop of updates, rather than shaping strategy. This post explores what treasury teams are really giving up by staying manual — and what’s possible when you replace the routine with a tool built to do the heavy lifting. 1. Time: The Most Expensive Resource in Treasury What It Looks Like Today Most treasury teams spend an inordinate amount of time building and maintaining forecasting spreadsheets. Across dozens of companies we’ve interviewed, we found: Even small errors in these forecasts can result in significant misallocations of liquidity or missed opportunities for yield optimization. What Changes with Tools Purpose-built tools automate data collection and harmonization. Whether from ERPs, bank portals, TMS platforms, or spreadsheets, modern systems ingest real-time cash flow data and surface insights instantly. Key outcomes: 2. Accuracy, Consistency, and Confidence The Risks of Manual Forecasting Manual forecasting isn’t just slow — it’s risky. Common issues include: The result? Treasury teams report internal forecast variances of 10–20% regularly — particularly when business units operate in silos or when revenue is highly seasonal. Worse still, these inaccuracies erode trust from senior stakeholders like the CFO or board. Forecasting with Tools Modern forecasting platforms bring consistency to the chaos: 3. Strategic Enablement vs. Survival Mode Manual processes keep treasury teams in a loop of survival: chasing data, correcting errors, and defending assumptions. There’s little room left for what treasury should actually do: advise, allocate, and anticipate. The Manual Trap The Strategic Shift with Tools Modern platforms flip the script. Real-time visibility enables: 4. Team Morale, Talent Retention, and Growth Manual forecasting doesn’t just drain hours — it drains energy. Top treasury talent doesn’t want to reconcile CSVs all day. They want to use their expertise to drive strategy, optimize cash, and support the broader business. The more teams stay stuck in manual loops, the higher the risk of turnover and disengagement. What Manual Processes Do to Teams: What Tools Enable: 5. Let’s Be Clear: Tools Don’t Replace Treasurers — They Free Them At Palm, we don’t believe technology replaces the human factor. Treasury is — and always will be — a function that relies on expertise, judgment, and business context. Yes, pulse checks and manual inputs still matter. Yes, a human lens is needed to read between the lines. But today, that expertise is too often spent cleaning spreadsheets instead of influencing outcomes. Modern tools aren’t about automating people away. They’re about giving treasury professionals back the time and headspace to work on the things that actually drive business growth: We don’t want to replace your treasury team. We want to amplify it. 6. Manual vs Tools Forecasting at a Glance Area Manual Setup With Automation Tools Time spent High — forecasting tasks represent a high percentage of weekly tasks Low — most inputs and updates are automated Data Quality Manually cleaned and restructured Auto-standardised and categorised Update Cadence Weekly, sometimes delayed Daily or live Scenarios Manual duplication + error-prone formulas One-click simulation Collaboration Email chains, duplicate versions Shared access, in-app reports Variances 10–20% forecast error common Reduced through standard inputs + variance flags Strategic Output Compliance-focused Decision-ready forecasts Morale Repetitive tasks, low engagement Strategic focus, ownership and clarity Conclusion: What’s It Costing You to Stay Manual? Manual forecasting might feel manageable — even necessary. But it’s not scalable, not accurate, and not aligned with the expectations facing today’s treasury teams. The organisations we work with aren’t replacing treasurers with tech. They’re elevating them by removing what gets in the way. If you’re still relying on spreadsheets, here are three questions to ask yourself: Also Read Join our Treasury Community Treasury Masterminds is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.
Treasury Trends for 2026: Building Smarter, Faster and More Resilient Treasury Functions
Written by Patrick KunzFounder/Board member, Treasury Masterminds When considering the treasury trends of 2026, the Treasury has never been more visible than it is heading into 2026. Markets remain unpredictable, supply chains twitch at the slightest disturbance, regulation swells like a badly managed ERP project, and CFOs want clarity in places where clarity is… optimistic. Treasury isn’t simply managing cash anymore. It’s shaping how organisations stay resilient, react quickly and plan confidently. The coming year will bring a set of trends that will define how modern treasuries operate and what constitutes “good” practice. 1. Liquidity Becomes a Strategic Infrastructure Layer The old idea that liquidity structures exist purely to “sweep surplus cash” is gone. In 2026, liquidity architecture becomes core financial infrastructure. Companies are redesigning their setup to deliver: Treasurers who treat liquidity as a design discipline rather than an administrative task will outpace competitors, especially in multi-market environments. 2. Treasury Trends of 2026: Forecasting Finally Grows Up Treasury forecasting has often been a mix of spreadsheets, instinct, and quiet despair. Not anymore.Volatility makes precision non-negotiable, and 2026 pushes organisations toward: The treasurer’s role evolves from “reporting variance” to “guiding business decisions.” 3. Technology Goes Modular Treasury systems are moving from monolithic giants to ecosystem architectures.Instead of ripping out and replacing entire landscapes, companies are layering: This modular approach reduces implementation pain, speeds up deployment and finally gives treasurers what they’ve been asking for: flexibility. 4. Treasury Trends of 2026: AI Moves Out of the Experiment Phase If 2024–25 were about pilots, 2026 is about production.AI becomes part of day-to-day treasury operations with use cases like: It’s less about replacing treasurers and more about reducing the work nobody wants to do, so teams can focus on strategy instead of digital housekeeping. 5. Banking Relationships Shrink and Intensify Treasuries are trimming their banking panels to improve pricing, streamline KYC, and reduce operational drag. At the same time, relationships with core partners are becoming deeper and more data-driven. However, regulatory realities mean that even with fewer banks, complexity doesn’t magically disappear. Treasurers will need sharper governance frameworks and better documentation to avoid falling behind. 6. The Talent Gap Becomes Impossible to Ignore Demand for treasury expertise keeps rising faster than supply.Technology accelerates. Regulation expands. Teams stay small. 2026 forces companies to rethink how they resource treasury: Treasury is becoming a hybrid model: lean internal teams supported by specialised external capability. 7. Treasury Steps Fully Into Its Strategic Role This is the big shift. Treasury’s voice is now required early, not as an afterthought.Whether it’s FX strategy, pricing, supplier terms, investment decisions or scenario planning, treasury is being asked to influence—not just execute. Companies that elevate treasury as a strategic advisor will navigate volatility far better than those who treat it as a reporting function. Treasury Trends of 2026: The Year Treasury Builds What’s Next The strongest treasuries next year won’t be the ones with the biggest tech stack or the most complex policies. They’ll be the ones that master simplicity, integration and clarity. A Note from Treasury Masterminds Treasury is changing quickly, but the best insights rarely come from vendor brochures or generic trend reports. They come from real treasurers sharing what works, what breaks, and what they’d do differently next time. That’s exactly what we’re building at Treasury Masterminds: a place to share practical knowledge, lessons learned, and real-world treasury stories. If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover in 2026, or if you have an article idea you want to contribute (solo or co-written), send it our way. The best content is the content that treasury people actually recognise as true. Also Read Join our Treasury Community Treasury Mastermind is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below to get more information. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.
How to build a business case for a payment hub?
This article is written by Nomentia Every morning, global treasury teams brace for impact. Payments are scattered across dozens of banks, each with its own portal, passwords, and approval process. One region still faxes payment instructions. Another logs in manually to multiple platforms just to confirm cash positions. No central visibility and no control. Just chaos. The ERP systems. Disconnected. Verifying balances? A manual marathon. The team logs into bank portals one by one, piecing together cash positions across hundreds of accounts. One number is always out of sync. Is it an error? A missing transaction? A delayed payment? Who knows. Meanwhile, costs keep climbing. Bank fees for every account. IT support for every new bank connection. A payment approval takes hours instead of minutes. A simple reconciliation? Days. Then, the near disaster. A single fraudulent payment—disguised among thousands—almost slipped through. Millions nearly lost. A last-minute catch saved the company. This time. The CFO asks: How did this happen? The real question is: Why did it not happened sooner? So, how could you manage this better as a treasury or finance team? Advice from an expert: Daniel Neubauer With over 3 years as a Senior Solution Manager at Nomentia, Daniel Neubauer is a highly experienced professional in the field of financial process automation. His expertise spans multiple areas, including accounts payable (AP), cash management, payments, collections, and document management processes. Daniel’s extensive background in automating and optimizing financial operations makes him an authority on the integration of automated systems in reconciliation. The overwhelmed Treasurer Lena used to love her job. She became a treasurer because she liked solving problems and making things run smoothly. But now, she spends her days fighting fires, as payments keep growing: more countries, more currencies, more urgency. But her team? Same size. Same tools. The bank fees pile up. Every new account means another charge. Another set of approvals. Another login to be sorted out. Regulations tighten and KYC rules demand endless paperwork. A rejected payment because of sanctions in one country triggers a compliance review in another. She’s expected to keep up, but without the systems to do it. Worst of all? She has no real control. The company’s payment landscape is a patchwork of different banks, portals, and regional processes. By the time she sees a problem, it’s already too late. She’s raised the alarm more than once. The risks are clear. The costs are rising. But leadership isn’t listening. Because as long as payments go through, who cares how the job gets done? How to improve your payments set-up? No one questions a system that seems to work. As long as vendors get paid and cash is in the bank, leadership moves on to bigger things. But behind the scenes, Treasury and Accounts Payables are juggling a number of systems built over years and long ago. Acquisitions brought new banks, new accounts, new systems—never fully integrated. Regional teams found their own ways to handle payments. Now, no two processes look the same. It’s inefficient. It’s expensive. It’s a risk. One missed sanction check, and a critical payment is lost for good. A forgotten account in an acquired bank becomes an open door for fraud. A failed payment delays a critical shipment. When something finally breaks, it won’t be small. Treasurers see the cracks before anyone else. But until disaster strikes, no one listens. The misstep: Treasurers selling themselves short Some treasurers see the problem but hesitate to push for change. As this will add to the workload. So, they stay in the weeds. Approving payments. Chasing down errors. Logging into bank portals like it’s still 2009. A great year, but some time ago already. But treasury isn’t about pushing buttons. It’s about managing risk. It’s about optimizing cash. It’s about driving efficiency. A treasurer who fights for a smarter, more controlled payment process is ensuring they can spend their time on more value-adding tasks. They’re proving just how valuable they really are. How to win over the CFO with a rock-solid business case? Step 1: Speak numbers & ROI Decisions at the top come down to costs, risks, and returns, so translating impact into numbers. Want buy-in? Show the math. Estimate savings, calculate ROI, and prove that a payment hub pays for itself. Step 2: Put a spotlight on compliance and risk reduction Regulators don’t care if the treasury is overwhelmed. A missed sanction check that causes payment to be frozen or a fraudulent transaction can cost millions. A payment hub: CFOs don’t like surprises. A payment hub makes sure treasury or accounts payable isn’t the next one. Gaining control: The treasurer’s new reality Lena used to spend her days fighting fires. Too many payments, too many banks, too little control. She saw the risks, the waste, the inefficiencies—but no one listened. Because as long as payments went through, who cared how messy the process was? Now? They listen. But Lena’s job isn’t done. It’s different. Instead of chasing payments, she’s using real-time data to make better funding and liquidity decisions. She’s managing risk proactively and protecting the company from fraud and operational blind spots. She’s driving strategy and helping leadership decide which banks to work with, where to centralize payments, and how to reduce costs without increasing risk. She didn’t automate herself out of a job. She automated the noise so she could finally do the work that matters. The real question is: Are you ready for the work that comes after the approval? Winning the CFO’s buy-in was the first step. Implementing the payment hub was the second. But real transformation doesn’t stop at go-live. Lena’s team isn’t just processing payments faster. They’ve redefined how treasury operates. The biggest shift? Treasury is no longer stuck in execution mode. They’re leading. So, ask yourself: Are you ready to stop fighting fires and start building something better? More Posts from Nomentia Join our Treasury Community Treasury Mastermind is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics…
Innovative approaches to working capital optimization
This article is a contribution from our content partner, Kyriba Working capital is the lifeblood of any successful business, but optimizing it in today’s volatile environment requires more than just best practices. It demands innovation, collaboration, and real-time intelligence. If you caught our first post, you know that amid economic uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, rising inflation, and shifting consumer demands, working capital has become a lifeline for resilient businesses. We explored why optimizing working capital is crucial in today’s unpredictable landscape and shared foundational strategies for getting started. In this follow-up, we move from the “why” to the “how,” highlighting innovative approaches and smart moves companies are using right now to optimize working capital, overcome bottlenecks, and drive business growth. Identifying and eliminating inefficiencies Before you can fully optimize working capital, you need to uncover hidden bottlenecks that are slowing you down. Supply chain volatility, fluctuating shipping rates, and outdated processes can disrupt cash flow and limit flexibility. Common bottlenecks include: The Solution? High-performing businesses are leveraging automation and real-time tools to minimize these challenges. By automating payment workflows, digitizing invoice approvals, and using cash visibility platforms, these companies are freeing up trapped cash, reducing friction, and streamlining their cash conversion cycles. Leveraging data analytics for timely insights In an era of rapid change, intuition is not enough, but neither are manual systems or siloed processes that often lead to disconnected, delayed decision-making. Many organizations still operate with limited visibility into their supply chains, leaving them vulnerable to costly disruptions and concentration risk. A recent CFO Brew article on supply chain visibility highlights just how little awareness some companies have of their third-tier and indirect suppliers, and how this lack of insight can expose them to risks that may not surface until months after an event. Without robust, real-time data, businesses are forced to make “feel-good decisions” that simply don’t work in today’s fast moving, interconnected world. Leading organizations are moving beyond intuition and manual processes by turning to advanced data analytics and technologies that provide deep, actionable visibility across their supply chains. By harnessing big data and predictive analytics, companies can: But visibility alone isn’t enough. The real differentiator for leading organizations is the ability to rapidly and decisively move from insight to action. Forward-thinking finance teams aren’t just identifying cash positions or spotting inefficiencies; they’re empowered to act on those insights in real time. That means having the tools to seamlessly leverage idle cash through payables strategies, accelerate receivables when needed, or dynamically adjust working capital allocations as market conditions shift. Platforms that combine full cash visibility with integrated action, such as enabling payables financing, receivables financing, and dynamic discounting unlock a new level of working capital agility.This holistic approach ensures that finance leaders aren’t just observers of data, but active participants in shaping outcomes. It’s this marriage of intelligence and execution that’s setting new benchmarks for resilience and growth in today’s market. Collaboration across teams boosts efficiency Optimizing working capital is no longer just a treasury responsibility. The most successful companies treat it as a cross-functional challenge, requiring close collaboration between treasury, supply chain, and procurement teams. For example, when tariffs and trade policies shift, procurement must work hand-in-hand with treasury to anticipate the impact on payables and inventory levels. Here’s how collaboration can make a difference: This integrated approach ensures that every dollar invested in inventory, payables, or receivables is working as hard as possible for the business. Rethinking innovation in working capital strategies True innovation in working capital optimization isn’t just about adopting the latest tools—it’s about fundamentally reimagining how people, processes, and platforms connect to unlock value. Today’s most successful organizations no longer treat treasury, procurement, and supply chain as separate, siloed functions. Instead, they are building integrated ecosystems where data flows freely, decisions are collaborative, and action can happen in real time. From my experience, organizations leading the way are: The real breakthrough comes when companies move beyond visibility alone and empower teams to act on insights, turning working capital from a static metric into a dynamic lever for resilience and growth. Innovative CFOs and treasurers are partnering with platforms that offer unified visibility across cash, payments, and working capital, creating real-time command centers for liquidity performance. In summary, working capital optimization is about more than incremental improvements. It means rethinking how teams connect, how data is harnessed, and how technology is deployed to enable rapid, confident decision-making. By identifying bottlenecks, fostering collaboration, and embracing real-time analytics, organizations can unlock new cash flow and build lasting resilience. Read more from Kyriba Join our Treasury Community Treasury Mastermind is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below to get more information. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.
European Fintech Vendors Risk Losing to Global Giants
Written by Enrico CamerinelliSupply Chain & Finance- Strategic Advisor Helping European Fintech Vendors Break Into Commercial Banking The Uncomfortable Truth[1] European fintech firms have since now faced challenging market conditions, including funding constraints and increased competition that lead to consolidation among smaller players. This is mostly driven more by macroeconomic factors (e.g., post-2021 funding environment, interest rate changes) than by incumbents systematically taking their accounts. However, with banks wanting unified platforms, the provision of best-of-breed fintech solutions for trade finance, supply chain finance, payments, and core banking risk of no longer satisfying procurement teams. European fintech vendors face stark choices: dominate a niche, seek acquisition, or invest heavily in platform expansion to compete with established giants. Technology No Longer Differentiates Documentary credit processing, invoice financing automation, and supply chain visibility tools have become commoditized. Banks can access similar functionality from multiple providers, compressing margins and trapping vendors in a feature-parity race. Procurement criteria transformed completely. Banks evaluate integration depth over feature breadth. Questions focus on seamless treasury system connections, data orchestration across tech stacks, network effects through banking partnerships, and integration with ERP systems. Technical excellence has become merely the entry fee. Winning vendors embed themselves into broader commercial ecosystems, linking trade finance with receivables platforms, connecting supply chain data with working capital facilities, and orchestrating multi-bank arrangements. Standalone point solutions face commoditization and price pressure. Survival depends on building genuine network effects through critical mass adoption and becoming the integration layer banks cannot easily replace. Mistakes Regional Vendors Make Competing on Features European vendors deplete engineering budgets chasing feature parity with incumbents. When procurement teams create comparison matrices with hundreds of feature checkboxes, the fintech player has already lost. Global vendors have decades of client requests baked into bloated platforms. You cannot out-feature them. What actually closes deals is implementation speed (e.g., 12 weeks versus 18 months); genuine API-first architecture without middleware complexity; and support teams responding in hours instead of weeks. A European fintech vendor spent €2M building a rarely-used reconciliation module because “the RFP required it,” while burying their 48-hour integration capability that saves banks six months and €500K on page nine of their pitch deck. Geographic Dilution Vendors waste millions pursuing “pan-European” strategies while home market advantages evaporate. A Dutch vendor dominated trade finance in the Netherlands, then pivoted to become pan-European. They translated platforms into four languages, hired country managers in Milan and Madrid, and redesigned workflows for every European regulatory framework. Revenue grew 12%. Burn rate tripled. Meanwhile, a focused German competitor captured their Rotterdam pipeline through superior execution in digitizing letters of credit and accessing liquidity from funding partners. Deep integration with domestic customs systems, connections with local bank relationship managers, and understanding of regional supply chain seasonality have now become footnotes in generic marketing. Successful vendors do the opposite: they double down on core strengths and find similar micro-markets elsewhere. A Norwegian trade finance platform targeted seafood exporters specifically. First in Norway, then Scotland, then Galicia. Same buyer, same letter of credit complexity, same regulatory knowledge. They stayed narrow and won. Undervaluing Physical Presence European fintech vendors risk of burning millions believing superior technology opens doors. It doesn’t. A platform with physical presence in one country outperforms brilliant cloud-native solutions sold remotely every time. European commercial banks don’t buy technology. They buy relationships, regulatory comfort, and the ability- sad but true- to blame someone local when things fail. When trade finance infrastructure fails at 3 AM and €50M in letters of credit are stuck, procurement officers want someone they can call who speaks their language and understands their market. Not a chatbot. Not a support ticket. A person in their country who comprehends local nuances. The Five-Question Framework Question 1: Can You Name Three Clients? Strategic clarity means that you, fintech vendor, can name three clients using your platform successfully, describe the exact pain points your solution solved, and articulate why they’re referenceable. If this takes longer than an hour, then you are not ready to scale. Better run smaller pilots, gather proof points, and build references that sell. European banks reward evidence over enthusiasm. Question 2: What Should You Stop? Strategic retreat may be more valuable than expansion plans. Not all geographies deserve attention. Vendors too often waste months trying to crack corporates in one country while pipelines in another go cold. Southern Europe’s decision cycles stretch beyond Series B timelines. If you’re sub-€10M in annual revenue, pick two markets maximum. Kill feature bloat. Your blockchain-based documentary credit module that three clients requested? Eliminate it. That AI-powered risk scoring you’ve built for eight months while banks request better Excel exports? Stop. Question 3: How Do You Amplify Regional Advantage? I see fintech vendors lose pipeline not because their technology is weak, but because roadmap priorities misalign with how banks actually buy. You build features existing clients requested while prospects dismiss you after strong POCs. Current clients optimize for operational efficiency. Prospects need proof that you solve their strategic pains. Be that regulatory compliance or correspondent banking costs. Audit your next two quarters. Map every roadmap item to sales objections that cost you deals. Ruthlessly deprioritize features that don’t directly address prospect concerns. Your client success team will complain. Your sales team will close deals. Question 4: Who Should You Partner With? European fintech vendors pour millions into flashy banking partnerships while ignoring unglamorous middlemen who actually close deals. System integrators (SIs) and regional consultancies (the ones banks actually listen to) sit untapped. In commercial and trade finance, procurement doesn’t start with your CMO’s LinkedIn post. It starts when a bank’s trusted system integrator flags capacity constraints during core banking upgrades. Vendors land three implementations in six months through one well-placed SI relationship. Deals that would’ve taken 18 months of direct prospecting. Question 5: What Does Victory Look Like? Your realistic first-year market share in European commercial banking isn’t 15%. It’s 2-3% if you’re exceptional. Regional banks with €20-50B in assets are desperate for digitization but ignored by major providers. They…
Finance Automation Is Having Its Sourdough Starter Moment
This article is a contribution from our partner, Embat Theo Wasserberg, Head of UK&I at Embat In early 2020, everyone suddenly had time to bake bread. Instagram was filled with proud photos of bubbly starter cultures. People read obsessively about hydration ratios and fermentation schedules, and then came the actual baking. Only most loaves emerged as dense, sour bricks. The fundamental lesson isn’t about desire or ingredients, it’s about the gap between growing a starter and maintaining one. These are completely different challenges. The first requires enthusiasm; the second requires changing how your kitchen works. I’ve spent 2025 watching finance teams get stuck in exactly the same place. The Kitchen That Can’t Bake The conversations I have with CFOs follow a pattern. They’re excited about AI, they’ve read the articles, attended conferences, and maybe run a pilot. But then they show me their architecture: legacy ERPs that can’t expose data properly, point solutions that don’t talk to each other, manual reconciliation processes that shouldn’t exist in 2025. They’ve got the starter culture bubbling away – the ambition, the budget approval, the stakeholder buy-in – but the kitchen itself can’t support what they’re trying to bake. Think about what this parallel actually means in practice. Both involve living systems that resist rigid rules. Sourdough starters are colonies of wild yeast and bacteria – they respond to temperature, feeding schedules, and flour quality in ways that can’t be fully programmed. For twenty years, finance automation assumed the opposite: that every transaction would follow a predefined path, that exceptions were rare bugs rather than daily reality. The 30% Brick Wall That’s why rule-based systems automated 30% of work and then hit a wall. They were designed for a world where payments arrive with perfect reference numbers and customers never consolidate invoices. It’s like writing a recipe that only works if your kitchen is exactly 21°C and your flour is exactly 12% protein. Real kitchens – and real finance departments – are messier than that. What makes AI different is that it’s built for messy, unstructured environments. It learns patterns rather than following rules. When a payment arrives with a typo in the reference field, it doesn’t freeze and wait for human intervention – it recognises intent from context. This is precisely how an experienced baker can look at their starter and know it’s ready, even though it doesn’t match the textbook description of “doubled in size with large bubbles throughout.” You Can’t Bake Sourdough in a Microwave But here’s where the sourdough parallel gets uncomfortable: AI adoption requires the same thing successful bread-baking does. You can’t just add a starter to your existing routine. You have to rebuild the routine around the starter’s needs. Most finance teams I work with are trying to drop AI into their current architecture the way someone might try to bake sourdough in a microwave because that’s the heating appliance they already own and use. The technology is irrelevant if the surrounding infrastructure can’t support it. This is the architecture problem, and it’s why so many pilots produce impressive demos but never scale. We were at Google’s Gemini Founders Forum when they named it: AI theatre, the gap between what looks transformative on stage and what actually survives in production. Prove Something and Then Scale The contained‑value approach we advocate – focused use cases, defined datasets, and measurable outcomes – is the same advice every sourdough guide gives. Start with one simple loaf. Master that. Then experiment. Don’t attempt twelve kinds of bread at once with a starter you fed for the first time yesterday. Yet that’s precisely what happens in corporate finance when companies launch sweeping “AI transformation initiatives” before they’ve automated a single reconciliation workflow successfully. I tell treasury teams: prove you can automate one thing completely before you write a roadmap for twenty things. Get cash visibility working in real-time for one entity before you roll it out globally. The discipline is in resisting the urge to scale before you’ve proven you can execute at a small scale. When the Dutch Oven Finally Arrives The interesting thing about the regulatory wave hitting finance is that it doesn’t actually change the fundamentals. PSD3 and ISO 20022 will help – they’re the equivalent of finally getting a proper Dutch oven after months of failed attempts with a sheet pan. Standardised connectivity will remove fragile data flows, which is one of the biggest technical barriers we see. But here’s the uncomfortable truth – a tool only matters if you’ve learned the fundamentals. Teams that have been practicing contained-value AI deployments will scale quickly when those regulations hit. Teams that have been waiting for perfect conditions will still be reading articles about transformation. Nobody Wants to Learn Using a Microwave Kitchen What all this means for talent is straightforward, but nobody wants to say it out loud. The best finance graduates don’t want to work at companies still reconciling CSVs across fifteen spreadsheets for the same reason nobody wants to learn to bake at a restaurant still using a microwave. It signals that the organisation doesn’t understand its own craft. And here’s where the gap becomes a problem. When I talk to treasurers who can’t provide real-time liquidity visibility, I think about what message that sends to incoming talent. The narrative is clear: if your systems look and behave like a microwave kitchen, top talent will go elsewhere. Where Reality Bites The fundamental lesson for 2026 isn’t about technological maturity; it’s about exposure. The technology is already adequate. What changes is that the space between companies that executed and companies that deliberated becomes impossible to hide. In sourdough terms, you can claim you’re “really into artisan bread” for only so long before someone asks to see your loaf. And that’s where reality bites. Finance leaders sitting in 2026 with transformation roadmaps instead of working pilots will face a simple reality: their competitors have been baking bread while they’ve been perfecting their starter. And in the treasury department, nobody cares…
What Are FX Liquidity Providers?
This article is written by Bracket When your business executes foreign exchange (FX) transactions, the quality of your rate depends on more than just market conditions. Often it hinges on your FX liquidity provider. These entities supply the market with buy and sell quotes, allowing you to execute trades at competitive prices. Definition and role of liquidity providers the FX market FX liquidity providers are typically large banks, financial institutions, or firms that constantly quote bid and ask prices. Their role is to ensure that counterparties can transact in the FX market without significant delays or price gaps. Primary vs secondary liquidity sources Primary liquidity providers Tier-1 banks with direct access to interbank markets. Secondary liquidity providers Brokers or aggregators that source rates from multiple primary providers. For most corporates, the right choice is often an aggregator that blends multiple feeds, reducing exposure to price spikes. Why choosing the right FX liquidity provider matters Selecting the best FX liquidity provider isn’t just about rates, it’s about long-term cost efficiency, risk management, and operational stability. This can change a lot business-to-business. Impact on transaction costs Even a 5–10 basis point difference in spreads can translate into six-figure annual savings for companies with large FX exposures. Transparent pricing models help CFOs identify, and avoid hidden FX fees and markups. Companies can use tools like an FX Benchmarker to check their rates and understand what costs are being incurred. Risk management benefits A reliable liquidity provider can: Understanding the true cost of FX by benchmarking What is FX benchmark? An FX benchmark is a reference rate used to measure the competitiveness of your FX deals. Examples include the WM/Refinitiv rates or central bank reference rates. How benchmarks can reveal hidden spreads By comparing your trade execution prices to a benchmark, you can identify if you experience consistently wide spreads, and any additional markups beyond agreed fees. This providers CFOs and Treasury leaders opportunities for renegotiation. Recently a European airline discovered their provider was adding a 0.25% spread to EUR/USD trades, costing them £250,000 annually. Benchmarking revealed the gap, and they secured a better deal within a month. How to compare liquidity providers Pricing transparency The best place to start is from asking your provider for: Our tip: Avoid providers unwilling to show how their rates stack against independent FX benchmarks. Technology and execution speed Execution delays can cost money. Leading providers offer: Regulatory compliance Only work with providers regulated in reputable jurisdictions (e.g., FCA in the UK). This reduces counterparty risk and ensures better dispute resolution. Common pitfalls avoid when selecting FX liquidity providers How a CFO Saved €280k in FX costs A leader in live video technology, faced challenges in managing FX operations. Romain Pirenne lacked visibility on pricing applied by banks and brokers, making it difficult to assess and compare FX margins charged on FX Forwards and FX Options with no visibility on provider profits. By using a Benchmarking tool, he was able to: The power of benchmarking tools are undeniable, as Romain Pirenne explains, “We now have full visibility on margins applied by our FX providers and have drastically cut our costs. The transparency and efficiency it provides have been game-changing for our treasury operations.” For CFOs seeking to unlock similar savings, the right benchmarking tools can turn hidden costs into measurable gains. Key questions to ask your FX liquidity provider Also Read Join our Treasury Community Treasury Mastermind is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below to get more information. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.
The supply chain process: Step by step
This article is written by our partner, SAP Taulia The supply chain process influences how effectively you manage costs, mitigate risks, and meet customer expectations. Learn how to optimize each stage here. A guide to the supply chain process An effective and efficient supply chain is vital to the success of any business. It contributes significantly to overall financial health, increases resilience against adverse conditions, and plays a vital role in ensuring products are delivered on time to customers. By focusing on improving their supply chain processes, businesses can improve product quality, avoid inventory shortages or oversupply, increase customer satisfaction, protect against supply chain risks, and reduce costs. Stages of the supply chain A supply chain represents the flow of goods, materials, and services that underpin business operations, from sourcing raw materials to delivering finished goods. Each business has its own supply chain and is responsible for constructing and managing it to suit its unique objectives. Involving suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and customers, the supply chain process can be broken down into the following stages: 0. Establishing the supply chain One of the most important steps in the supply chain process comes before it’s up and running. That step is planning and establishing a supply chain that is finely tuned to your specific business needs, the sector you operate in, and the market you serve. During this step, you first need to decide on supply chain objectives and specify the metrics that will be used to monitor progress toward them. Then, move on to build your supply chain to suit those metrics. This includes supplier sourcing – the process of choosing suppliers to fulfil your need for goods and materials while also considering how well they serve your specific aims. At this initial stage, you can also consider how to achieve visibility over inventory flowing through the supply chain, and determine how you’ll integrate other technological processes like cash flow and demand forecasting. 1. Purchasing materials/goods With the sourcing of suppliers complete and the foundation of your supply chain well established, the supply chain process proper begins with purchasing raw materials and components. The purchasing process formalizes the way in which a company buys goods and services, meaning that spending can be carefully managed and tracked. By having guidelines in place for every part of their purchasing process, from negotiating contracts to approving purchase requests, companies can ensure that their purchasing practices match their business objectives while increasing efficiency and minimizing risk. 2. Manufacturing and inventory management The manufacturing process involves taking purchased raw materials and components and developing them into finished products. Although some manufacturing processes can be straightforward, modern manufacturing may include several steps that require products to pass through different facilities at various stages of completion. At this stage, the priority is to make sure that the materials or components supplied meet the required standards. Rigorous measurement of supplier performance, in terms of order fulfillment rates, price accuracy, and quality of goods, act as metrics to assess them against. It’s also increasingly common to track the flow of goods and materials throughout these steps, to facilitate inventory visibility. When complete, the final products must then be stored, so they’re ready for distribution to customers. Different options are available for this, each with their own pros and cons. The balance to be struck is between the cost of holding inventory and the speed with which you can fulfil orders. Using inventory management techniques to oversee both raw materials and finished products, you can take steps to optimize stock levels and improve how well your inventory warehousing and product delivery process serves your business objectives. 3. Delivering products to customers The distribution process involves the movement of finished products from storage to the end customer. Success here revolves around moving the right products, in the right quantity, on time, and to the correct location – all while managing costs. Depending on your business goals and the market in which you operate, you can either deliver products directly to customers or distribute them indirectly through partners or third parties such as agents, wholesalers, or retailers. Choices made at this stage of the supply chain process influence inventory cycle times and costs. Choosing the right distribution partners and tools can both drive efficiency and increase customer satisfaction levels. 4. Processing returns Inevitably, there will be occasions when customers return products. When goods are returned, they need to be checked to see if they meet the criteria for returns and refunds. They are either repackaged for resale or disposed of, with the relevant data entered into an inventory system. Refunds should be issued as quickly as possible, as customer relationships can be severely damaged if this process is mishandled. A smooth process, on the other hand, can strengthen customer relationships. Optimizing your supply chain process The supply chain process is a dynamic part of business operations, each stage of which can be optimized and refined to bring about efficiency. These are some of the most viable methods for improving the way your supply chain operates. Choosing the right supply chain model First and foremost, it’s essential that you adopt a supply chain model that fits both your unique objectives and the sector in which you operate. The main dichotomy in supply chain models is between lean and resilient. Lean supply chains seek to eliminate unnecessary expenditure, turning raw materials into finished goods with minimal waste and loss. Resilient supply chains are designed to adapt quickly to unanticipated events by holding safety stock and having a degree of supplier redundancy built in. The former approach is geared to ‘just-in-time’ inventory practices, and the latter ‘just-in-case’. The lean approach relies on all the supply chain steps functioning almost perfectly. Without safety stock, disruption from a single supplier could cause production to halt almost immediately. On the other hand, a resilient approach will come with greater storage costs and a greater risk of obsolescence while tying up more cash. Refining your approach to supply chain…