A Decade in Dialogue

Celebrating 10 Years of Journeys to Treasury

As the Journeys to Treasury (JTT) collaboration marks its 10th anniversary, the project stands not only as a record of evolving treasury priorities but as a reflection of the profession’s ability to learn and adapt – under pressure and often without fanfare. Here, we examine how the JTT report (and now event and podcast series) has become one of the most trusted spaces for shared thinking and for forecasting the future of treasury.

Reaching the end of the first decade of any partnership is a milestone worth celebrating. In the UK, the tradition of marking 10 years of marriage involves giving a gift of tin – an unassuming metal, originally chosen by the Victorians for this anniversary because it is durable and malleable. It bends without breaking, and weathers change without losing its essence.

There’s something fitting in applying this metaphor to Journeys to Treasury’s first decade. Over the years, the partnership between BNP Paribas, SAP, PwC and the European Association of Corporate Treasurers (EACT) has displayed the same qualities of resilience, adaptability, and the ability to combine perspectives into something more enduring than any single party could have produced alone.

And throughout particularly tough times, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative has endured and evolved, bending with the times, while staying relevant to treasurers navigating uncertainty and sparking conversations that spread far beyond the pages of the report.

Opening the door to real conversations

When Journeys to Treasury first launched in 2016, the founding partners asked a simple but radical question: what is really on treasurers’ minds, and how can we create space for those concerns to be heard?

That decision to convene rather than dictate the agenda shaped everything that followed, offering treasurers legitimacy and an acknowledgement of their painstaking work to transform their own operation and the profession at large.

Jan Dirk van Beusekom, Head of Strategic Marketing Cash Management, Trade Finance and Factoring, BNP Paribas recalls: “We didn’t set out to predict the future per se. Rather, we wanted to capture the moment, the priorities, hesitations or concerns, and the signals of future change. Like a benchmark and a barometer in one. Of course, the treasurers we spoke to for the report knew where the pressure points were. Our role was to listen carefully, to reflect them back, and to give their journey structure.”

Turning promise into practical reality

The early years of the initiative coincided with a surge of technological optimism. Fintechs pledged to disintermediate banking, blockchain was being hailed as a universal solution. Real-time payments were positioned as inevitable. And the phrase “anytime, anywhere treasury” entered the treasury lexicon.

But when treasurers spoke candidly, the reality was different. They were preoccupied with cybercrime, which was emerging as a direct corporate threat, as well as adapting to the impact of Basel III liquidity requirements and BEPS reforms. In addition, they were grappling with negative interest rates. As such, the distance between technological promise and operational reality was already obvious.

A key figure in the development of Journeys to Treasury, Pierre Fersztand, Global Head BNP Paribas Cash Management, Trade Solutions, Payments and Factoring, notes: “Back in 2016, there was this sense that everything was about to change overnight. But at that time, treasurers were asking more fundamental questions rather than focusing on bells and whistles. Such as, ‘How do I protect against payments fraud? How do I manage liquidity when rates are negative? How do I even know where my cash is sitting?’”

By the second edition, though, conversations had matured. Treasurers were asking whether and how new technologies overcame challenges for them. Data analytics began to show its worth in fraud detection and transaction monitoring, and cyber-security shifted from an IT concern to being firmly on the treasury team’s radar.

Christian Mnich VP, Global GTM and Partner Lead, CFO Solutions, Finance and Spend Management, SAP recalls: “We started to see a real change. It was less ‘what’s possible?’ and more ‘what’s useful?’. Treasurers quickly became sophisticated consumers of technology, pressing for integration, security, and return on investment. That pragmatism has defined treasury’s digital journey ever since, and shaped how the initiative itself has developed.”

From concept to capability

By 2018, the contours of modern treasury had begun to take clearer shape in the report’s main themes. Liquidity management moved centre stage, driven by Basel III, persistent negative rates, and more sophisticated pooling and virtual account strategies. Robotics and automation moved from pilot to production. APIs shifted from curiosities to essential connectors. Open banking regulations expanded the possibilities of real-time data.

Treasurers had also accepted even more deeply that cyber risk was not someone else’s dilemma. Dedicated security operations centres, multifactor authentication and incident response protocols became mainstream. And at the same time, tax reform forced reconsideration of intercompany flows, transfer pricing, and asset location.

This period also marked the beginning of cultural change. As automation and connectivity matured, treasurers began to see that the profession’s value was not only in technical expertise, but in collaboration – with IT, procurement, risk management, and the business on the whole. The outlines of the ‘strategic treasurer’ that we know and love in 2025 were starting to be drawn and shaped.

François Masquelier, Chair of the EACT, remembers it as a turning point: “Treasury was evolving from a support function to a strategic enabler. But that required new ways of thinking, new collaboration, new skills. Technology was becoming pivotal and what mattered was how teams adapted and learnt.”

Crisis as catalyst for change

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw countries go into lockdown in 2020, put every assumption to the test. Cash forecasting cycles often compressed from monthly to daily as liquidity buffers were reassessed constantly and payment behaviours became unpredictable. Remote working also stretched controls and exposed vulnerabilities in existing processes, while fraud attempts also surged.

Companies with standardised processes and integrated systems found they could respond with agility. But those with fragmented, manual operations struggled. As such, the pandemic validated years of investment in resilience – and revealed gaps where investment had been postponed.

Didier Vandenhaute, Partner, PwC reflects: “The pandemic didn’t break treasury – it legitimised it and shone a spotlight on its critical role. We actually saw how years of careful preparation created flexibility when it mattered most. Journeys to Treasury captured that, looking at what really matters under stress.”

The post-pandemic recalibration in 2021-22 took time to take hold, but also saw some stabilisation as well as greater willingness to embrace change. Digitisation remained top of the agenda, but with more discernment about where technology added value and where human judgment remained essential.

Interestingly, ESG also entered the conversation with more force,  not yet operationalised everywhere but increasingly seen as part of treasury’s remit. Real-time payments also started to move from hype to habit, although among only a small percentage of corporates. And treasurers found themselves playing more strategic roles in D2C models, where payments, FX, and working capital converged with customer experience.

Back to fundamentals

Just as confidence began to return in 2022, new disruptions arrived – such as war in Europe, inflation after decades of stability, climate-related shocks, and banking turmoil. Treasurers responded by going back to fundamentals such as forecasting, liquidity, bank relationships, even as they continued to automate and digitise.

The EACT survey, which forms the basis of Journeys to Treasury every year reflected this sober environment. Forecasting, digitisation, and bank management topped the list of priorities. APIs, analytics and automation were valued less for innovation and more for resilience. The possible impacts of Basel IV compliance also consumed attention, while counterparty risk monitoring naturally became more of a focus. ESG also continued to be prominent, with more treasury teams looking at ways to embed sustainability considerations into financing and investment decisions.

Bruno Mellado, Global Head of Payments and Receivables, BNP Paribas, reflects on this balance: “The themes move in and out of the spotlight, but the underlying questions don’t change – where is the cash, what’s the risk, and how do we control it without killing agility? Journeys to Treasury has always understood that rhythm.”

By 2023-24, it seemed that the treasurer had fully embraced their role as guardian of resilience (alongside cash, of course!). Forecasting, working capital, and technology infrastructure dominated attention, while treasury-as-a-service (TaaS) also became a hot topic. At the same time, frictionless payments through APIs became a practical possibility, although not necessarily widely used. And once again, counterparty risk management became more acute after the failures of Credit Suisse and US regional banks.

Infrastructure and actionable insight

Meanwhile, the most recent editions of Journeys to Treasury (and the event and podcast series that have grown around the core report) have shown a profession moving from aspiration to action. In 2024-25, the EACT survey saw AI move into application mode, supporting forecasting, reconciliation and fraud detection. Hyperautomation also entered serious discussion, although more as a possibility than a reality.

Elsewhere, corporate restructuring and spin-offs brought new architectural challenges, as corporate case studies in the report (see box) demonstrated. In such cases, treasury was asked to design systems flexible enough to separate entities while keeping control intact – and banks and service providers were tasked with finding new solutions to support them. Liquidity resilience remained a central theme, but the focus shifted from visibility alone to predictive pooling and integrated working capital management.

And in the current 2025-26 edition, the focus has sharpened again. Mellado notes: “Payments are centre stage, with the EU Instant Payments Regulation [IPR], verification of payee [VoP], enriched data standards, and the impact of digital currencies. Centralisation of company cash also continues being re-engineered through virtual accounts.”

The human dimension

Perhaps the most subtle but significant theme throughout this decade of change has been the evolution of treasury as a profession, reflected in the people who practise it. Skills required for success have expanded beyond traditional financial analysis to include data literacy, AI knowledge, process design, and cross-functional collaboration – not to mention communication skills.

While the early years of Journeys to Treasury focused on technical competency such as understanding new payment systems, implementing API connections, and managing cyber risks, the middle years emphasised analytical capability. This ranged from building more accurate and reliable forecasting models, designing scenario analyses, to interpreting regulatory requirements.

Recent years, however, have highlighted the importance of strategic thinking and organisational influence. Treasury teams are increasingly expected to partner with business operations, influence product development, and contribute to corporate strategy beyond traditional financial management.

Van Beusekom notes: “Without wanting to sound too cliché, we are seeing treasury evolve from a support function to a strategic enabler. But that transition requires new ways of thinking, new forms of collaboration, and new types of expertise.”

Corporates at the heart

Helping to add to these new ways of working, thinking, and being, since its second edition the core of Journeys to Treasury has revolved around case studies featuring real corporates. And, arguably, the breadth of corporate participation has been one of the initiative’s greatest strengths, demonstrating that treasury challenges and solutions span industries, sizes, and geographies.

Over the years, the case studies have shifted from showcasing primarily operational improvements to highlighting more strategic, structural, and forward-looking approaches.

Large multinational groups have shown how complex organisations can centralise treasury operations while maintaining flexibility across diverse business units and regulatory jurisdictions. Their contributions trace a journey from basic consolidation through to sophisticated automation, real-time visibility, and predictive management.

Innovators in fast-moving industries have demonstrated how treasury can be designed from first principles to support rapid growth, disruptive business models, and changing market conditions. These examples often highlight anticipatory thinking, shaping treasury capabilities ahead of industry trends rather than simply reacting to them.

Elsewhere, customer-focused enterprises have illustrated how treasury can directly enhance business outcomes through payment innovation, SCF, and working capital optimisation. Their integration of treasury and commercial priorities has provided a model for organisations looking to embed treasury more closely within the customer experience.

Meanwhile, corporates navigating restructuring, spin-offs, and portfolio change have shed light on the treasury implications of transformation at scale. Their experiences have provided frameworks that others can draw upon when facing strategic shifts in corporate structure.

Each profile reflects distinct pressures and objectives, yet together they demonstrate a consistent theme – namely that successful treasury transformation is not about applying generic best practices but about tailoring solutions to the organisation’s specific needs while ensuring alignment with wider business strategy.

The road ahead

As Journeys to Treasury enters its second decade, several themes are emerging that will likely define the next phase of treasury evolution:

AI governance will become as important as AI implementation, requiring frameworks for model validation, bias detection, and human oversight of automated decisions. The challenge will be capturing AI benefits while maintaining appropriate control and transparency.

Programmable money through CBDBs, stablecoins, and smart contracts will create new possibilities for automated treasury operations but also new forms of operational and regulatory risk. Implementation will likely be gradual and focused on specific use cases rather than wholesale replacement of existing systems.

Cross-border regulatory harmonisation will continue to evolve, requiring treasury systems that can adapt to changing rules while maintaining operational efficiency. Complexity of managing multiple regulatory frameworks will drive further investment in automated compliance and reporting capabilities.

Embedded finance could expand treasury’s influence further into customer experience, supplier relationships, and product development as financial services become integrated into broader business operations rather than separate functions.

Climate integration could move from reporting to decision-making as environmental considerations become embedded in routine financing, investment, and operational choices rather than separate sustainability initiatives – despite political rhetoric.

At the same time, the professional capabilities required for treasury success will continue to evolve. Systems thinking, data literacy, and collaborative leadership will become as important as traditional financial analysis. And the ability to design adaptive processes will become just as important as the ability to optimise fixed procedures.

The enduring value of shared thinking

What Journeys to Treasury has proven over the past decade is that treasury progress happens through genuine conversation. Not dialogue that seeks to persuade or promote, but conversation that seeks to understand and share. This series has succeeded because it has consistently prioritised questions treasurers are actually asking over answers that vendors or consultants might prefer to provide.

This approach has created something rare in professional publishing – a resource that practitioners trust because it reflects their experience rather than trying to shape it. When treasurers read case studies in Journeys to Treasury, they recognise challenges, appreciate trade-offs, and can imagine how similar approaches might work in their own contexts.

Conversations captured in each edition have rippled outwards, influencing conference presentations, internal strategy discussions, and vendor product development. Ideas that first appeared in Journeys to Treasury have become standard practice across industry, not because they were mandated or marketed, but because they were shared and adapted by practitioners who found them useful.

“This was never about telling people what to do,” reflects Mellado. “It was about giving people a space to say. ‘Here’s what we’re trying, here’s what’s hard, here’s what’s working.’ That’s why people trust it.”

And that trust has created an initiative that not only reports change, but enables it. No single organisation has all the answers to what shifts will come next, but together, the treasury community has an opportunity to join future conversations, contribute their experience, and help shape the next chapter of this journey.