The Treasury Multiplier
At Pecunia, we regularly share case studies based on projects our consultants have worked on together with our clients. But treasury knowledge does not only come from assignments delivered through Pecunia.
Our consultants bring years of experience from different organisations, industries and treasury transformations. From time to time, we also use this platform to share those experiences and the lessons behind them. This case is one of those examples.
It is based on the experience of one of our community members, who was closely involved in a treasury transformation within a fast-growing insurance brokerage group in the DACH region.
The Situation
Growth changes everything.
For this fast-growing insurance brokerage group, a successful buy-and-build strategy had created an increasingly complex treasury landscape: more than 190 legal entities, over 800 bank accounts, continued acquisition activity and a highly decentralised banking structure.
Treasury had already made significant progress. Over the previous twelve months, the group had established the foundations of a more centralised treasury function, including a 13-week cash flow forecast, weekly liquidity governance, cash upstreaming methodologies and initial cash pooling structures.
Treasury coverage had expanded to around 25 legal entities, with plans to reach approximately 40 entities by the end of 2026.
Visibility was improving, but the existing operating model was reaching its limits.
The Challenge
The question was becoming increasingly important:
How do you continue expanding treasury coverage without multiplying manual work, complexity and operational risk at the same time?
The spreadsheet-driven model had worked during the earlier stages of the treasury transformation, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to scale.
Manual forecasting, fragmented payment processes and decentralised banking structures required significant effort to manage. With every new acquisition, another set of entities, accounts and processes also had to be incorporated into the treasury landscape. The organisation therefore began looking at how technology could support the next stage of its treasury development.
The objective was to identify a treasury infrastructure capable of supporting a more centralised function within a highly decentralised and continuously growing organisation. A much more sophisticated task than simply replacing spreadsheets
The Approach
The organisation launched a structured Treasury Management System selection process. Rather than beginning with a comparison of individual software features, the process started by defining what the future treasury function needed to deliver.
Six strategic pillars formed the basis of the target operating model:
- Enterprise-wide cash management
- Cash pooling and in-house banking
- Payment governance
- Cash flow forecasting
- Treasury analytics and reporting
- Corporate finance management
Scalability was one of the central requirements. Any future platform needed to support the existing organisation while also allowing newly acquired entities to be incorporated into treasury processes quickly and consistently.
To assess this properly, participating vendors were asked to demonstrate end-to-end workflows based on the organisation’s actual treasury requirements, rather than relying solely on standard software demonstrations.
The solutions were then assessed through a weighted evaluation framework:
40% Functional capabilities
30% Qualitative assessment
30% Commercial considerations
Multiple stakeholder groups participated in the workshops so that the evaluation reflected both treasury requirements and the wider needs of the organisation. The process ultimately resulted in the selection of the platform that achieved the strongest overall fit across the defined criteria.
Importantly, the exercise demonstrated why a structured selection process matters.
Different Treasury Management Systems have different strengths, and the best solution depends on the organisation’s operating model, priorities, existing infrastructure and future requirements.
For a rapidly growing multi-entity organisation, the ability to support scalability, governance and integration was particularly important.
The Expected Impact
The selected TMS is intended to provide the digital foundation for the next phase of the treasury transformation.
Once implemented, it is expected to support:
- Greater visibility into group-wide liquidity
- More standardised payment governance
- Automated banking connectivity
- Scalable cash pooling structures
- Faster onboarding of newly acquired entities
- Improved working capital management
- More efficient liquidity deployment
- Stronger treasury reporting and governance
- Further opportunities for financing optimisation
One of the most important expected improvements is the speed at which future acquisitions can be incorporated into treasury processes.
Instead of requiring weeks of manual integration, the target operating model is designed to allow newly acquired entities to be connected considerably faster. The business case also identified potential recurring benefits from account rationalisation, process efficiencies and cash pooling structures.
But the broader lesson goes beyond any individual technology platform. As organisations grow, treasury needs an operating model and infrastructure capable of absorbing additional complexity without requiring manual effort to increase at the same rate.
Turning Growth Into Treasury Leverage
For treasury teams in acquisitive or rapidly growing organisations, scalability becomes an increasingly important part of the operating model. Technology can play an important role, but the starting point should always be the requirements of the treasury function itself.
A clear target operating model, realistic use cases and a structured evaluation process make it easier to assess which solution best fits the organisation rather than adapting the organisation around a particular platform.
At Pecunia, we remain platform-neutral in our approach to treasury technology. Our focus is on sharing treasury knowledge, experiences and practical lessons that can help organisations make informed decisions based on their own requirements.
This case is one example of how a structured approach to treasury technology can help turn continued organisational growth into a more scalable treasury model.
Want to learn more? Contact us
