Above and Beyond

Introducing Treasury as a Business (TaaB)

Treasury has already moved from being an isolated back-office function to being a well-respected business partner. Now it’s time for the next level. Bank of America’s Venkat ES, Head of Treasury Products, Asia Pacific, Global Transaction Services, and Aziz Parvez, Head of Corporate Treasury Sales, Asia Pacific, Global Transaction Services, explain how adoption of the TaaB model will see the department become an influential business unit in its own right.

During the pandemic and its aftermath, there were certain commercial functions that rose to the top of the pile out of sheer necessity. Indeed, with many businesses facing a cash crisis, and others on the brink, it often fell to the treasurer to bring cash and liquidity back on track.

Now, propelled by huge pent-up post-pandemic demand, growth may have been relaunched onto the agenda for many companies, but a strong riptide of global economic uncertainty continues to push the unsuspecting off course, not least with the ratings agencies. As a result, treasurers are stepping up once again to help steer their organisations in the right direction. 

Despite (or perhaps because of) the challenges treasurers have had to manage over the past few years, a positive note is emerging. The treasury function has reached a stage in its evolution where the rest of the business knows what it is and does, and has seen first-hand the value it brings in times of need. So now it is time to take matters to the next phase, and for the role to push far beyond its original operational and transactional duties to become an active planning partner across a wider range of commercial activities. In other words, says Aziz, it is time to realise the notion of TaaB.

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