Transforming Compliance from a Burden into a Strategic Asset
Published: July 01, 2025
In today's rapidly evolving and intricate global regulatory environment, financial compliance has transcended its traditional role as a mere checklist item.
It is now a strategic imperative and a core pillar of robust risk management, directly impacting a company's financial health and reputation. Catriona Razic, Co-Founder and CRO of compliance education and technology firm Skillcast, explains how treasurers can use it to their organisations’ advantage.
For corporate treasurers, unequivocally positioned at the heart of liquidity management, financial risk and regulatory adherence, navigating the complex compliance landscape, and staying truly ahead demands not just vigilance and agility but also a sophisticated, data-driven approach.
The recent Finance Trends 2025 report, published by bank integration provider AccessPay, revealed that 42% of finance leaders are highly concerned with regulatory risk and compliance, underscoring the mounting pressures across the financial sector. With evolving demands such as ESG reporting standards – most notably the inclusion of a new cohort of companies under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) – businesses are now required to disclose more detailed, transparent, and forward-looking information about their sustainability practices.
It's clear that alongside dynamic sanctions regimes and the continuous evolution of AML regulations, treasury teams are now tasked with ensuring organisational compliance while maintaining financial resilience.
Expanding scope of risk
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) continues to impose record-breaking fines, while globally, penalties for non-compliance hit an astonishing $14bn in 2024. Despite efforts to reduce the burden on firms, the FCA has outlined 144 regulatory initiatives in its April 2025 Regulatory Initiatives Grid, with nearly half of these being new additions for the year.
Historically, compliance oversight largely resided within the legal and risk departments, but today, it is deeply embedded across virtually all financial functions. This places treasurers firmly on the front line of defence, with every facet of treasury operations carrying inherent compliance risks.
As a result, corporate treasurers must demonstrate acute awareness of diverse issues. For example, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), which means UK firms can be held liable for failure to prevent fraud and will be effective from the start of September this year , shifts the responsibility for preventing fraudulent activity directly onto companies. This demands a proactive overhaul of treasury functions and fraud prevention measures.
The most recent figures indicate that the financial repercussions of non-compliance – extending from substantial fines to irreparable reputational damage – are approximately 2.71 times greater than the costs of maintaining robust compliance programmes. This makes proactive investment in compliance not just a regulatory obligation but a clear financial imperative.
Embedding the right culture
The shift towards mitigating financial compliance risk within an organisation begins with comprehensive employee training. This ensures that every team member not only comprehends the specific rules but, crucially, internalises the underlying rationale and significance behind them.
This need for thorough training is particularly acute in areas such as cyber-security, which is increasingly intertwined with financial compliance. Our recent survey of 200 UK finance professionals (Careless Clicks: Could Your Team Spot Cyber Threats?) revealed that despite 85% of them expressing confidence in their ability to spot a cyberattack, a startling 59% admit to having clicked on a link they later suspected was a phishing scam.
Modern digital compliance training platforms are revolutionising the delivery of this essential education. Through interactive, scenario-based modules tailored for treasury professionals, employees can gain the skills needed to effectively identify red flags, circumvent common pitfalls, and grasp the broader, often severe, business implications of compliance breaches.
It’s widely understood that corporate treasurers face significant time constraints; in 2024, according to Strategic Treasurer, 46% reported insufficient time for all their duties, with a quarter specifically citing a lack of time for compliance and bank account management. To ease this burden, AI-powered digital assistants can deliver personalised, bite-size compliance training modules, making essential learning more accessible and less overwhelming.
Compliance as a competitive edge
A robust compliance framework directly enhances credibility with banks and investors, potentially securing better financing terms and lower capital costs. This commitment fosters deeper, more trusted relationships with FIs, leading to more efficient and favourable banking services.
Beyond banking relationships, a well-managed compliance function significantly strengthens an organisation's risk profile, boosting investor appeal and protecting brand equity. New research by PwC shows that proactive companies gain better risk visibility (64%) and achieve faster issue identification and response (53%) – effectively minimising the risk of substantial fines and irreparable reputational damage.
Managing financial compliance is undoubtedly a dynamic, enterprise-wide challenge, yet it's also a profound opportunity for forward-thinking corporate treasurers to lead with confidence. By transforming compliance from a burden into a strategic asset, treasurers can not only mitigate risks but also unlock new avenues for growth and financial optimisation.
As regulatory expectations continue to rise and scrutiny intensifies globally, organisations that embrace this strategic view of compliance will be optimally positioned to safeguard their assets and reputation, fostering sustained success and competitive differentiation in the long term.