Most Treasury setups will cover the following functions,

• Cash and Liquidity Management
• Financial Risks Management (FX, Interest Rates, Commodities, etc)
• Working Capital Management
• Long Term Funding
• Bank Relationship
• Management and Business Units Support
• Tax and Treasury Accounting
• Company Credit Rating Management
• Company Capital Structure

Based on a 2014 survey done by PWC, the functions of financial risk management, cash and liquidity management and funding rank as the most important roles of a corporate treasury in large organisations.

For small organisations, supporting management and business units, maintaining bank relationships and financial risk management rank as the most important for a corporate treasury. 

Where is the Corporate Treasury usually located? 

It is common to find the Corporate Treasury located at the Head Office of the organization.

And, depending on their size and geographical presence, corporate treasuries may also locate their regional or country Treasury offices around different parts of the world.

Usually, these regional or country offices will be responsible for Treasury issues in their geographical areas. It is possible to find certain setups performing specific functions regardless of geographical boundaries.

There are many reasons and considerations when choosing the location to setup a Corporate Treasury office. The notable factors are:

• Geographical proximity to operations
• Tax incentives and benefits
• Maturity of financial and capital markets
• Availability of skilled treasury staff
• Regulatory environment and Political stability

Increasingly, on top of business related concerns, factors like quality of life, healthy living conditions and even clean air are some of the reasons affecting the choice of the location in setting up Corporate Treasury offices.

There are a couple of well-known cities that are attracting Corporate Treasury offices:

• Asia –           Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai
• Europe –      London, Amsterdam, Dublin, Luxembourg

Corporate Treasurers Should Have Mandates from Senior Management on Treasury Matters

In most setups, the Corporate Treasury falls under the Finance Group in the organization with the Treasurer reporting to the CFO. The organizational structure does vary in some setups but usually the Corporate Treasury is closely related to the Finance arm.

Most Treasurers have mandates from their senior management and for treasury specific matters:

• Cash and Liquidity Management
• Financial Risks Management
• Banking Relationship Management
• Funding and Debt Management
• Proprietary Trading Limits

With the mandates, Treasurers will be required to present and report to senior management on a regular basis. The reports can range from a macro overview to detailed metrics in several key Treasury areas.

In some Treasury setups with proprietary trading mandates, daily reports with live trading positions and up to date performances are delivered to their respective management.