Global Finance names the year’s best treasury and cash management providers in systems and services.
The mantra “cash is king” is as relevant as ever in treasury and cash management (TCM) and TCM systems hold the key to getting a grip on cash. Technology has never been more useful; but it hasn’t always been a treasurer’s best friend. A lot of functionality in large enterprise systems goes unused, and a lot of TCM software hasn’t delivered as promised.
Yet today—by using application programming interfaces (APIs), and more user-friendly tech—new digitally savvy nonbanks are finally shaking up parts of this business. The banks and the leading software stacks in treasury operations—from FIS, ION, Kyriba and others—are innovating, too. Open banking and APIs could be truly transformational for treasury. These awards recognize the leaders in delivering and driving change.
BEST A/P SOLUTION
Serrala Invoice to Pay
Most accounts payable (AP) solutions automate manual paper-based invoices. Serrala’s Invoice to Pay (I2P) can do that; but it also does a lot of other things useful to a company managing large volumes of invoices and complex AP processes. I2P includes a cloud-based digital service that automatically captures information from the invoice. Serrala says it takes more of an “end-to-end” approach, considering the whole invoice-to-pay transaction lifecycle—when monitoring suspicious activity, for example, as part of fraud . AP teams have a range of functionality at their fingertips, including the ability to set rules so invoices can be automatically routed through the most cost-effective payment method. Its solution also includes a fraud monitoring feature that checks for suspicious activity at each step of the invoice-to-pay process. Its solutions can be accessed via the cloud, integrated with existing ERP systems or accessed as a hybrid solution.
BEST AR SOLUTION
FIS GETPAID
FIS was one of the first vendors to support predictive modeling and analytics for accounts receivable (AR) management. Its GETPAID solution, which has benefited from significant new investment, now incorporates a helpful AI, called Carla, which quickly learns user behavior in, for example, exceptions handling. FIS says Carla uses a form of AI called accelerated learning, ensuring payments can be processed straight through. GETPAID also uses AI and open APIs to automatically retrieve information from credit bureaus for use in risk assessment of buyers.
BEST TREASURY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Kyriba
As a pioneer in treasury SaaS, Kyriba challenged the naysayers who describe SaaS as a watered-down version of a fully fledged TMS. In addition to the traditional functionality you’d expect, Kyriba’s SaaS treasury management software also includes working capital solutions that allow buyers to extend early payment in return for a discount, another way for treasurers to use excess cash and liquidity to strengthen supply chains. Last April, Kyriba received market intelligence firm IDC’s 2020 SaaS TM Customer Satisfaction Award, which placed it in the highest scoring group of vendors serving the SaaS treasury management market.
BEST MOBILE CASH MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Bank of America CashPro App
Before the pandemic, mobile cash management was simply another channel banks offered companies to authorize payments and check deposits. For many treasurers, it was a convenience but not a must-have—until the pandemic. Mobile payment volumes skyrocketed. and stay-at-home orders forced many treasurers to use mobile banking apps more regularly or, indeed, for the first time. CashPro’s volumes were up by more than 200% year-on-year as of September 2021. Bank of America has sped product development as treasurers look to do more via apps.
BEST CASH FORECASTING
ION Treasury
Accurate long-range cash forecasting is a major treasury challenge, and to date, most improvements in treasury forecasting have been incremental. ION Treasury is betting machine learning and AI will change that. According to ION, benchmark tests with real customer data show its machine-learning-based cash forecasting solution can produce forecasts as accurate as 95%.
BEST NEW TREASURY TECHNOLOGY
Neo
Neo, unencumbered by legacy systems, offers an alternative to the old challenge of opening multicurrency accounts. Neo’s core banking system allows corporates to easily create their own international bank account numbers (IBANs) and virtual wallets to send and receive payments more efficiently. Since launching its multicurrency account in 2020, Neo says it has created IBANs for more than 200 companies in Europe. Last August, it cleared more than $1 billion in transactions, facilitating payments in more than 30 currencies. Its platform also provides treasurers with analytics for FX trading and hedging.
BEST INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
ICD
Institutional Cash Distributors (ICD) is the largest independent portal of money market funds and other short-term investments for treasury. As the go-to investment portal for hundreds of treasury organizations, it has evolved along with the changing investment needs of treasury managers. In 2021, ICD added 30 new investment products, half of which were ESG-related, as well as a screening tool to help treasurers better assess the ESG credentials of investment funds.
BEST VIRTUAL ACCOUNTS SOLUTION FOR CORPORATES
Citi Virtual Accounts
Leveraging its global network, Citi offers virtual accounts in a multitude of countries and currencies. These accounts speed reconciliation and support a wide range of transaction types beyond ACH transfers and checks. The accounts can be integrated into various treasury workflows, such as cash pooling structures or intercompany reporting. To ease reconciliation, the bank has even added what it calls “custom narratives” that ease money movements between physical and virtual accounts. With virtual accounts, treasurers can minimize the number of traditional bank accounts they need.
BEST TREASURY ANALYTICS PROVIDER
FIS Treasury and Risk Manager – Integrity Edition
The Integrity SaaS treasury management solution, which celebrated 30 years in 2019, got a makeover last year that added major new functionality. FIS Treasury and Risk Manager – Integrity Edition includes Adaptiv risk analytics for performing simulations. Using APIs, FIS is also able to tap into the treasury and risk offerings of other key providers. While corporate allocations to volatile asset classes such as cryptocurrencies are still relatively low, FIS says it is working to support cryptocurrency tracking for cash positioning and forecasting. It also plans to embed ESG analysis so its treasurers can more easily assess the ESG credibility of funds and counterparties.
BEST CROSS-BORDER PAYMENTS SOLUTION FOR CORPORATES
Fides Treasury Services
Fides’ Multibanking Suite SaaS portal takes the pain, cost and processing time out of corporate cross-border payments. From aggregating such payments for cost savings to supporting many different payment message formats, Fides has pretty much all aspects of cross-border payment processing covered.
BEST OPEN BANKING TREASURY SOLUTION
Kyriba Open API
Kyriba has developed an open API-enabled platform that can exchange information in real time with other data-driven applications to ultimately benefit Kyriba’s customers and its tech partners. Félix Grévy, vice president of Open API and Connectivity at Kyriba, says its Open API platform accelerates product innovation and delivers highly modular applications for reducing risk and fraud, and for optimizing liquidity. One such application is a solution it developed with BlackLine to help treasury teams access real-time data analytics so they can automate more than 90% of bank reconciliations and accounts receivable processes.
