2025 as a Turning Point: How Corporate Treasury must strategically reinvent itself.

Why 2025 was a turning point for Corporate Treasury

Looking back at 2025, one thing is unmistakably clear:
The treasury function in corporations has reached a critical juncture.

Treasurers now face an unprecedented combination of challenges - volatile trade policies, shifting tariffs, geopolitical fragmentation, and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. At the same time, the expectations from boards, CFOs, and investors are continuously rising. Treasury is no longer seen solely as an operational function, but increasingly as a strategic nerve center for liquidity, risk, and financial resilience.

Current studies confirm this transformation. An EY survey underscores what many organizations already know from their own experience: the role of the treasurer is becoming significantly more strategic. And yet most treasury teams are still trying to tackle the challenges of 2026 with a toolkit from the year 2010.

The result is a growing discrepancy between aspiration and reality.

The reality gap in today's Treasury Operating Models

Across industries and regions, treasury organizations are confronted with a structural 'operating model crisis.' While business model complexity has scaled globally, treasury capabilities have not kept pace.

1. The HQ Bottleneck

Lean central units are expected to manage 50, 100, or more legal entities worldwide - often without any significant local treasury resources. The headquarters becomes the bottleneck: it consolidates information, manages liquidity, and ensures compliance - across diverse markets and time zones.

2. The Operational Trap

Treasury leaders spend a disproportionately large amount of their time on manual execution, reconciliations, and data cleansing. Spreadsheets, emails, and isolated solutions dominate the daily routine. The consequence: there is a lack of mental space for strategic tasks like scenario planning, risk management, or capital optimization.

3. Data Silos and Lack of Transparency

Fragmented system landscapes - ERP systems, TMS, banking portals, Excel files, and local tools - make a consistent, global real-time view of cash and liquidity almost impossible. Data is delayed, inconsistent, or already outdated when decisions need to be made.

Taken together, there emerges an ever-growing gap between what treasury is supposed to achieve and what is realistically possible with the current tools.

2026: The year of the Treasury Agent

For years, the industry has been talking about 'automation.' But automation alone is no longer enough.

We are now entering the age of digital employees.

Instead of static workflows or rule-based scripts, AI-powered agents act as experienced, knowledgeable resources, working side by side with human teams. They not only perform predefined steps – they analyze, prioritize, and act proactively.

At Flowzar, we understand treasury agents as a fundamental lever to close the gap between:

lean human teams and highly complex, global treasury structures.

These agents work continuously, across systems and borders – without additional organizational friction or headcount.

A compelling Use Case: Agent-Based Cash Forecasting

Cash forecasting is one of the clearest examples of how a digital treasury workforce creates instantly measurable value. Traditional forecasting approaches rely on static inputs, periodic updates, and high manual effort. An AI-powered treasury agent follows a fundamentally different principle:

Proactive Data Collection and Validation

The agent continually collects relevant data from ERP systems, bank feeds, files, and – where sensible – communication channels. The data is automatically checked for consistency, deviations, and anomalies identified and marked without manual intervention.

Pattern Recognition and Real-Time Insights

Instead of retrospective reports, the agent continuously analyzes cash flows and liquidity positions. Risks, patterns, and deviations are identified early and translated into concrete, actionable recommendations.

Simultaneous Local and Global Coverage

The agent works in parallel at the subsidiary and corporate level, ensuring that no subsidiary, region, or currency position is overlooked.

The result is not just a more accurate forecast, but a learning, adaptive liquidity intelligence layer that continually evolves with new information.

The Bottom Line: High ROI, Lower Risk

The transition to a digital treasury workforce is not a technology experiment - it is a financial and strategic necessity.

• Optimized Liquidity

Higher forecast accuracy enables more efficient capital allocation, reduces unused liquidity, and significantly improves financing decisions.

• Operational Leverage

By eliminating manual 'spreadsheet acrobatics,' operational effort and Opex decrease significantly – without losing transparency or control.

• Strategic Agility

Treasury evolves from reactive reporting ('What has happened?') to forward-looking decision support ('What should we do next?').

Rethinking Treasury TOM 2030

As companies realign their Treasury Target Operating Model 2030, the central question has shifted. It is no longer about whether digital employees become part of the treasury organization.

The crucial question is how quickly they can be deployed to deliver measurable value.

The future of treasury is neither fully automated nor purely human.
It is augmented.

If you would like to experience our digital employee Flow or Flow sounds like the perfect addition to your Finance-Team, let's talk.

Picture from Tom Parkes on Unsplash