Day one set the pace, and day two of EuroFinance International Treasury Management in Barcelona showed no signs of slowing down.
The conference floor was buzzing again, with conversations flowing between sessions, delegates diligently comparing notes and the busy agenda keeping treasurers moving from one discussion to the next.
Case study: transformation 50
Day two included practitioner-led sessions on some of treasury’s greatest challenges. One of those is fraud. As fraud techniques become more sophisticated, treasury teams are under pressure to strengthen controls without creating layers of manual processes that slow the business down.
Antonios Reizopoulos, head of treasury at Nomios Group, discussed this challenge in the Fighting fraud before payment session. Using a hypothetical business case, he explored how people, processes, technology and governance can work together. He also touched on how AI can make a genuine difference in fraud prevention.
The conversation was a reminder that technology alone is unlikely to solve the problem of fraud. To ensure strong controls, teams must establish clear processes, robust governance protocols and tailored training modules for staff. Technology is only effective when these foundations are in place.
Sessions and talks
Strategic treasury: why liquidity starts with understanding the business
Another major theme running through the morning was the evolving role of treasury. The strategic treasury session explored what happens when treasury moves beyond its traditional responsibilities and becomes more influential in the wider business. Read more
Moving money is getting harder. Treasury is finding ways around the obstacles
In a session on trapped cash, panellists discussed a familiar dilemma: cash can be abundant at group level but inaccessible across the organisation. Moving trapped cash is not easy. Regulation and local banking infrastructure, among other factors, determine what is possible. Read more
Digging into the data
Live polling throughout the conference offered another window into what treasurers are thinking – and some of the results have been surprising.
For instance, more than 80% of treasurers polled said they would trust AI to both produce their cash forecast and prepare the data for it, so long as a human remained in the loop to review the results.
That view has also been supported on stage. Across several sessions attended by the EuroFinance editorial team, treasurers discussed how AI could reduce manual work, improve the quality of forecasts and give teams more time to focus on analysis and decision-making.
The polling results offer one view of the mood at EuroFinance, but conversations between sessions tell another story. On the conference floor, enthusiasm for AI is often accompanied by questions about what comes next – from governance and compliance to how treasury teams will adapt as the technology becomes more embedded in everyday work.
Paul Nicholson, senior conference producer at EuroFinance, noted: “There is an anxiety around AI and technology and what the future holds, particularly around governance and compliance.”
For Nicholson, the conversation should not stop with the technology. “The next focus should be treasury leadership and operating models,” he said. How will treasury functions organise themselves and adapt as AI changes the way work gets done?
Behind the scenes
A conference of this scale does not happen without a huge amount of work behind the scenes. Bringing the treasury community together in Barcelona required months of planning, coordination, problem-solving and plenty of hard work — from building the programme and arranging the speakers to managing the many moving parts that make the conference experience possible.
A huge thank you from the EuroFinance team to everyone who has made this event so memorable. It would not be possible without the support of our partners and industry-leading speakers and the thousands of attendees who have joined us from across Europe and beyond.
Of course, we are not finished yet. There is still plenty more to come from Barcelona as we welcome the community for day three. Follow all the action on LinkedIn, the event hashtag is #EuroFinanceIntl.
Kind regards,
The EuroFinance Team