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MULTINATIONAL companies’ treasury and finance functions are moving away from mere supporting roles to strategic leadership amid a rapidly evolving business landscape, based on DBS’ survey released on Thursday (Jul 25).
Tan Su Shan, group head of institutional banking at DBS, said treasury and finance teams are uniquely positioned to enhance a company’s strategic planning, risk management and data-driven decision-making, as business leaders face rising challenges from tech outages to supply chain shocks.
“To build resilience and drive growth, companies must embrace innovation, digital transformation, and build sustainable supply chains… Through these measures, companies can better navigate challenges and capture new business opportunities,” she added.
The survey polled 570 senior executives from 15 markets across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, with over 85 per cent of them working at companies with an annual revenue of more than US$1 billion.
Some 94 per cent of the executives indicated that their companies’ treasury and finance functions are playing a more prominent role in shaping corporate strategy.
Meanwhile, 80 per cent noted that such teams are actively driving innovation and new product development, and 79 per cent of the companies leverage treasury and finance expertise to drive procurement and supply chain reconfiguration strategies.
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The functions have also been involved in digital transformation and sustainability-related activities, on top of the teams’ existing responsibilities such as cash and liquidity management, underscoring a growing influence of the departments.
Inga Kudzmaite, regional treasury and tax director, Asia-Pacific, Carlsberg Group, noted that treasury is an enabler for business strategies.
“We play a key role in safeguarding economic value and ensuring the business has all the necessary needs to operate, such as creating the procedures and policies to make sure that foreign exchange or financing is available in the markets where it is required, and that it is used effectively,” Kudzmaite said.
Meanwhile, 76 per cent of the respondents said that diversifying sources of financing is necessary for expansion across Asia, which is a priority for majority of the surveyed companies.
Some 74 per cent noted that selecting a suitable location for a regional treasury centre is critical, with Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai being the top choices.
As treasury and finance teams are playing an increasingly important role in the business landscape, companies that embrace this change stand to unlock new opportunities in a dynamic global marketplace, said DBS.
Action plans include upskilling, embracing new technology and embedding the right culture to enable teams, as well as working with a network of trusted partners to adapt to these new responsibilities, it added.
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