Providers are delivering digital innovations that help treasurers navigate an increasingly complex and interconnected global financial landscape.
Geopolitical tensions are escalating, manifesting in volatile trade relationships, unpredictable regulatory shifts, and fragmented global supply chains. For corporate treasurers, the instability translates into increased currency volatility, heightened counterparty risk, and a critical need for real-time visibility into global liquidity and payments to navigate disruptions and ensure business continuity.
In response, financial institutions are innovating rapidly, developing new platforms and services designed to enhance resilience, optimize liquidity, and streamline global operations. Offerings range from advanced cash management systems to real-time payment solutions, robust cross-border capabilities, and cutting-edge technology, all aimed at empowering treasurers to make faster, more informed decisions.
Collectively, these innovations underscore a pivotal transformation in corporate treasury. From real-time cash visibility and automated receivables to seamless global payments and sophisticated risk management tools, the industry is moving toward a more digital, data-driven, and strategically integrated treasury function. This evolution is not merely about efficiency but equips treasurers to navigate an increasingly complex and interconnected global financial landscape, transforming geopolitical challenges into opportunities for enhanced resilience and strategic advantage.
Meet the winners
World’s Best Bank for Transaction Banking | Societe Generale
Navigating the complexities of real-time payments, Societe Generale excels as an instant payments innovator, offering rigorous testing and dedicated IT support, including client training. While clients expect similar functionalities for domestic and cross-border payments, Jean-François Mazure, head of cash clearing services, notes that customers struggle to differentiate. Converging both payment types, which hinges on interlinking financial market infrastructures, is critical, he stresses.
Numerous market initiatives, including the IXB between the US and Europe, face significant hurdles, Mazure warns: “It is truly complex from a compliance and legal framework standpoint. So, for the moment, none of these initiatives have succeeded in scaling up.”
To interconnect real-time payment systems, Mazure says, the most likely way forward is to adopt the “one leg out” (OLO) principle already in operation for transactions involving one bank inside the European Economic Area and one bank outside. But all parties will need to continue to align for interconnectivity to be achieved. OLO’s success hinges on compliance with ISO 20022 standards as well as resolving commercial and liability challenges across various schemes.
World’s Best Bank for Cash Management | Bank of America
Reflecting the need for consistent global visibility and control, Bank of America saw the app version of its CashPro platform surpass $1 trillion in payment approvals in 2024. CashPro allows clients to manage treasury operations across multiple channels: online, app, APIs, and file-based interfaces.
“One thing that distinguishes CashPro is its global consistency,” says Tom Durkin, head of CashPro in BofA’s Global Payments Solutions, “so that when a company’s finance team has team members in different countries, they’ll all have access to the same tools, views, and processes. The advantages are obvious: better visibility and control and no additional financial outlays.”
Much of CashPro’s success is due to BofA’s close engagement with clients, he notes, particularly those who participate in client board meetings: “This dialogue is so important. We do deep dives into our clients’ priorities and challenges, we present options for new functionality and discuss whether those innovations are going to solve their real-world issues.”
The bank’s strategic vision for CashPro “will always be to provide a best-in-class platform that is personalized, predictive, and proactive,” Drake says. “One recent demonstration is how we’ve embedded CashPro into our clients’ own systems through the CashPro Network, a collaboration with thirdparty providers allowing quick, easy connection to the bank with little to no investment.”
World’s Best Bank for Long-Term Liquidity Management | Citi
As the real-time economy places new demands on global liquidity, Citi, is leveraging its extensive network to provide sophisticated solutions.
“The transition to a 24/7 real-time economy presents both challenges and opportunities,” says Debopama Sen, head of Payments at Citi Services. “Balancing speed with robust security is crucial. Firms need to adapt their liquidity management strategies for around-the-clock operations, which demands new approaches and capabilities.”
Currently, 80 countries operate a live instant payment network, but these systems all function for domestic transactions.
World’s Best Bank for Payments, World’s Best White Label System Provider – Bank & World’s Best Bank for Financial Institutions | BNY
Demand for immediate cash visibility, automated forecasting with AI and analytics, virtual accounts and real-time payments for faster, informed decisions, and optimized working capital is piling pressure on corporate treasurers. Recognizing the accelerating demand for 24/7 operations and instant payments, BNY is implementing a payments infrastructure modernization that enables all-hours multi-currency access delivery, automation, and scalable solutions through its Payments Enablement Platform.
The service promises 24/7 US-dollar payments, real-time data delivery, and improved liquidity management. BNY also facilitates instant cross-border payments through global relationships, such as with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, for real-time cross-border transfers and is advancing domestic real-time payments by supporting high-value real-time payment transactions. Early last year, BNY completed the largest instant payment in US history on its RTP network, exceeding $1 million. The bank also offers trade outsourcing and its Trade Network Access Service, which helps banks with compliance and reducing KYC costs. And its collaborations with Mizuho Bank enhances international trade connectivity.
World’s Best Bank for Collections | Wells Fargo
To combat manual cash application inefficiencies and optimize working capital, Wells Fargo has enhanced its Integrated Receivables service with improved FXWire functionality and straight-through internal onboarding, cutting client implementation times.
Using AI, machine learning (ML), and robotic processing, Integrated Receivables replaces manual cash application, reassociating payments with remittances and matching them to open invoices, in turn reducing days sales outstanding (DSO) by up to 30%, automating electronic cash application, and freeing up staff time. The technology processes thousands of transactions in seconds, continuously learning and improving; one client has reported a 95% straight-through processing result.
World’s Best Corporate Cross-Border Payments Solution | Fides Treasury Services
For corporates grappling with the intricacies of global payment flow management, Fides Treasury Services launched its intuitive ONEHub platform early last year. Having achieved ISO 20022 readiness in 2024, ONEHub simplifies payments to both major and regional banks.
Fides offers a dual-BIC “hybrid” service for banks outside the Swift CORE network, processing over $6 trillion annually. It connects over 4,000 clients to 13,000-plus banks globally with 3,000 direct connections and processes payments in over 200 countries. Fides provides tools for global payments, financial compliance, sanctions screening, fraud prevention, and security, and in March launched ONEPool, a cash pooling solution.
World’s Best White Label System Provider – Non-Bank | ION Treasury
Meeting the growing need for accessible yet powerful treasury management technology, Reval Treasury Services, owned by ION Treasury provides a flexible, white-labeled treasury management system.
Reval TS specializes in cash management, including pooling, liquidity forecasting, financial transaction management, risk management, intercompany tracking and funding, and accounting. It tailors its offering for companies that do not require a standalone system, allowing them to implement only essential features through their bank.
Reval TS integrates with ION AI to provide ML-powered cash forecasting, generating forecasts rapidly from historical data. Future offerings are slated to include expanded ML services, improved RESTful API integration, and support for opensource databases like PostgreSQL to enhance efficiency, security, and cost-effectiveness, significantly reducing banks’ total cost of ownership.
World’s Best Provider of Short-Term Investment/Money Market Funds | Industrial Bank of Korea
Responding to evolving market dynamics and investor demand for stable, short-term investment options, Industrial Bank of Korea pioneered South Korea’s first floating rate note tied to the Korea Overnight Financing Repo Rate (KOFR). The product aims to meet the need for a readily available stable investment option, bolstering the Korean financial system.
