Preparing for Treasury Trends in 2025

Economic uncertainty and shifting consumer sentiment is prevalent in early 2025 and some companies are struggling to keep pace. To help treasury and cash management teams prepare for whatever comes their way, Kyriba Vice President Thomas Gavaghan highlighted some of the most significant trends that treasurers will face in the coming weeks and months.

AI’s Growing Role in Treasury Management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an essential tool in treasury management, transforming repetitive tasks into strategic decision-making processes. AI enables treasurers to process vast amounts of data rapidly, enhancing their ability to forecast market trends, identify patterns, and model financial scenarios. By leveraging AI, treasury teams can refine financial strategies, optimize capital allocation, and proactively anticipate market fluctuations.

Despite its benefits, AI adoption in treasury remains cautious due to stringent governance, compliance, and security requirements. Yet companies can put guardrails in place to ensure that their AI is used ethically and in a way that comports with all applicable regulations.

“In 2025, we should expect more formal AI-driven cultures within organizations, coupled with clear protocols for compliance and security. This evolution will help treasurers to incorporate AI into their toolkit more confidently, enhancing their capabilities without undermining the controls that ensure stability and reliability in operations,” said Gavaghan.

Economic and Technological Shifts Impacting Treasury

Global economic uncertainties will persist in 2025, influencing treasury operations. Central banks are adopting varying interest rate strategies, impacting foreign exchange (FX) exposures, liquidity management, and capital structures. For instance, while the U.S. Federal Reserve considers rate cuts, Japan is moving toward hikes, and the Bank of England remains cautious. These fluctuations require treasurers to adopt real-time analytics and predictive insights to manage financial risks.

A significant technological shift is also underway, with legacy treasury systems being phased out in favor of SaaS-based solutions. Traditional on-premise platforms struggle to handle AI-driven data demands, making agile cloud-based solutions crucial for treasurers seeking real-time, accurate financial data.

The Future of AI in Treasury

Treasurers must balance AI adoption with economic volatility and geopolitical risks. AI should augment human insight rather than replace it, enabling treasurers to transition from managing financial operations to streamlining them for competitive advantage. Companies that effectively integrate AI into their strategy will be better positioned to foresee risks and capitalize on financial opportunities in the evolving global landscape.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

New challenges require new solutions. With unprecedented levels of economic volatility, treasury managers need new solutions to keep pace with the rate of change. Finding AI-powered and automated solutions can help companies to model potential scenarios so that they can react more quickly and set their organizations up for success in the future.

Plan for an uptick in data. AI solutions are only as powerful as the data they are trained on. If companies fail to properly manage their data, AI models will not be nearly as effective as treasury leaders need them to be. Companies should find SaaS solutions that help them manage their data and leverage it to drive agile and accurate forecasts.

Find partners that know where you are going and how to get you there. Companies cannot do everything all the time, even though it may seem that they need to in order to remain ahead of the competition. Finding trusted partners like Kyriba that can help support treasury teams to leverage capital more effectively is an important first step to reaching treasury and cash management goals.