5 ways to use advocacy and visibility to elevate treasury management’s success

Treasury management stands at a crossroads. Historically, the department operated as an administrative, customer service and back office function. However, as FIs face greater pressure to generate fees and deposits, increased Fintech competition and a need to modernize technology, many are rethinking treasury’s role within the organization.

Today’s treasury is expected to deliver sales, leads and revenue generation while still executing high levels of quality service. A growing number of FIs now position treasury as a self-sustaining sales and service department, and this autonomy enables treasury to:

• Focus more readily on strategic priorities
• React more quickly to changing market conditions
• Generate new income streams
• Address customer requests more quickly and directly

This transformation from back office support role to sales driver can seem daunting, productive and even exciting. Some treasury departments might undergo a formal restructuring, while others might “simply” branch into sales. Either way, success depends on treasury management’s ability to generate clear value for the financial institution. That’s why advocacy and visibility are essential partners in treasury management.

Why advocacy and visibility are critical for treasury management success

In order to meet its new mandate, treasury management must elevate its stature within the financial institution. Treasury management leaders who advocate for their cause and work to increase visibility best position themselves to secure the critical resources necessary for today’s hyper-competitive environment.

It’s important to educate decision-makers about the value and full range of services treasury management brings to the FI. It’s also important to make treasury’s presence known organization-wide, at every level of staffing, and to collaborate with other departments. The more treasury permeates the organization, the easier it is for leaders to justify the technology, talent and marketing investments required for revenue growth.

The onus is on treasury management to prove its value

Advocacy and visibility are only part of the equation. Treasury management leaders also need to be accountable and show incremental gains if they are to secure buy-in from bank leadership.

Treasury must demonstrate how investments yield positive ROI and help banks meet and exceed KPI goals. In other words, treasury leaders need to quantify treasury’s impact on top line and bottom-line results to prove its value to the organization. Ultimately, that might be the best way to advocate for additional investments and increase visibility.

5 ways to advocate and increase treasury visibility

Few changes occur without resistance, and securing organization-wide buy-in for an evolving treasury requires a dedicated effort to change its perception. Getting the word out is the next step toward changing ingrained internal viewpoints and placing treasury in a new light. Here are five ways to do it.

1. Educate

Treasury leadership must start by educating FI staff about what treasury management is and what its duties are. Banking executive leadership should likewise know what treasury can accomplish when granted an expanded role with proper resource allocation.

Securing resources depends not only on what treasury can do, but also why now is a critical time to invest in treasury. Examples include dwindling margins and Fintech competition, which intensify the need to develop innovative treasury solutions that help banks maintain relevance, spur growth and increase revenue.

Resources aren’t limited to technology or marketing, either. With an expanded role, treasury must cultivate an innovative culture with clear paths to career advancement in order to attract top talent and compete with Fintechs. Educating senior leadership about competitive threats and treasury talent woes is imperative.

Treasury departments would be wise to ensure executive leadership fully understands the current financial services landscape, the benefits of treasury evolution and the implications for failure to adapt to market trends and meet customer expectations.

2. Document and share success stories

Moving forward depends on reorienting treasury’s perception with the FI. Only when others view treasury as a credible peer to commercial or retail counterparts will real change begin to occur. That’s why it’s important to share success stories.

Treasury leaders must adopt a more vocal, outgoing role in which they document wins with individual clients and share them anecdotally. Broadcasting successes across the organization — to all levels of staffing — helps elevate treasury’s profile, break down organizational silos and identify oft-overlooked opportunities.

Success isn’t limited to internal sharing, either. It can be leveraged to enhance treasury marketing efforts, attract new clients and increase deposits, fee-based income and overall treasury revenue.

3. Cross-functional outreach

Relationships are another crucial component, and treasury teams excel at getting others to cooperate and support their goals. Leaders who leverage this unique level of collaboration have a head start in enhancing treasury’s role within the FI, especially when treasury already shares most of its clients with other lines of business.

Treasury staff can identify ways to help other departments succeed, and how those departments can help treasury achieve its goals. In doing so, they can also change the perception of treasury’s role. For example, where commercial lenders once sent business to treasury, treasury can now send business to commercial lenders. Products can even be bundled into consolidated offerings, which can prove attractive to business clients.

Communication is key to cross-functional outreach. Treasury must educate commercial lenders, for example, on when and how to engage treasury staff during the lending process. Leaders should also communicate how treasury’s redefined goals align directly with corporate strategy, which means they align with every department’s goals.

Treasury leaders should leverage and maintain internal relationships with commercial relationship managers, IT, operations and executive management to inspire other lines of business and fuel growth. Ultimately, it’s important for treasury to be perceived as a credible business partner that can identify and design new solutions, deliver on business objectives and support client growth. All of this, of course, in addition to its historical role in implementation.

4. Track KPIs and report key metrics

To be viewed as a more progressive and strategic part of the organization, treasury must demonstrate how its efforts make a direct impact on top line and bottom-line results. That means employing business intelligence tools to capture data and report on key metrics. Advocacy efforts are reinforced through regular, ongoing KPI reporting.

Treasury leaders should identify KPIs that illustrate treasury’s contributions to financial institution goals. Examples include client volume, new deposits and fee-based income. They should then develop compelling, visually oriented reports that help executive leadership and other banking staff quickly grasp the influence treasury has on overall institutional success.

In this manner, treasury is able to prove its value to the organization — perhaps the best way to bolster advocacy efforts and increase visibility. It can also leverage success and work with senior leaders to ensure treasury has a seat at the table for key organizational decisions, thus solidifying its visibility within the financial institution.

5. Forecast

Proving treasury’s current value is one thing; demonstrating treasury’s potential is another. Treasury leadership can create forecasts that predict treasury’s impact on revenue growth based on resource allocation. This is a core tenant of treasury advocacy.

For example, treasury leaders know many clients want paperless onboarding, remote deposit capture and integrated receivables. Such technologies require investment, so treasury can forecast the bottom-line impact of their implementation. Forecasts that accurately predict increased revenues make it easier to convince senior leadership to earmark resources for treasury technology.

Good treasury leaders understand that advocacy and visibility mean going beyond communicating current value to predict future value and ROI.

Evolving treasury’s role offers many benefits, but it also represents a new way of doing business. Leaders should expect to encounter some internal resistance at first and plan a strategy to counter it. By anticipating the impact of change on the FI’s culture and by working to advocate and increase visibility, treasury leadership can ease the transition and pave the path for strong results.

The information provided in this blog does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal or financial advice.