Evolving treasury priorities banks should know in 2025

As enterprise businesses' needs continue to change, the financial institutions that support them must also adapt. What was once unique to offer, such as comprehensive mobile capabilities and intuitive user experience, is now essential for banks to offer to remain relevant to the businesses they support.

In a Deluxe Exchange breakout session moderated by Doug Hartsema, managing partner of The Hartsema Group, payment industry experts discussed the crucial priorities corporates want from their bank partners and what banks can do to help them stand out from their competitors. 

Provide easy, simple processes

Simply put, the response from corporate businesses is that banks need to simplify their processes. It isn't about just adding in a new product; it's about finding the solution that truly delivers value to your business customers without too much disruption to their existing processes. Mary Alger, Director of Treasury at Lee Enterprises, Inc., shared that there's no accurate "easy" she can push and get things implemented, but that communication and education from her bank partner is what she needs to get executive-level sign-off on new products.

"It's not always easy; that's where communication comes into and understanding your bank partner," said Chad Parramore, Executive Director and Head of Commercialization at Synovus Bank, "But the safety and soundness of our processes are key. And we do it for a reason."

Strengthen customer relationships

With high levels of competition and the amount of professional movement between banks, Parramore highlighted the importance of building strong, tenured relationships between the business and the bank that supports them. "That relationship is key to understanding what you [as the customer] need and what I need to provide. We're a regional bank. We can compete with the big banks, but what we're going to compete on is the relationship."

Understanding your client's specific business and providing tailored solutions can help increase and maintain customer loyalty. Alger, who was gifted a plastic magic wand from her bank account rep, echoed that the relationship they've built together has kept her returning. "I think that she's been crucial for us because she's very honest with me. I appreciate the honesty, I appreciate the directness, and I appreciate the sense of humor," said Alger. 

Support fraud recovery efforts 

Security risk and fraud reduction continue to be major priorities for corporate businesses. However, Hartsema pointed out that businesses have reportedly shifted their focus to fraud recovery efforts instead of fraud education. While education is still important, as the number of fraud cases keeps rising, more corporations report they're trying to prioritize active resolutions to open cases as much as possible.

Streamline onboarding and implementation

Building off simplicity, Alger also shared that businesses are looking for banks offering more plug-and-play capabilities. Onboarding and implementation can be a significant pain point for business customers.

One way to streamline onboarding: Parramore suggested banks prioritize integrated solutions with their business customers' existing ERP systems. "I might have a different structure from bank to bank, but if I've got a plugin, that makes it so much easier. That's a big focus of all banks. 'How do we make that easy from a self-service standpoint?'" said Parramore.