CTMfile

ECB raises rates as energy shock fuels inflation The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised its three key interest rates by 25 basis points as conflict-driven energy costs keep inflation above target, increasing pressure on borrowing costs across the euro area. From 16 September, the deposit facility rate will rise to 2.50%, while the main refinancing operations and marginal lending facility rates will reach 2.65% and 2.90% respectively.

Global companies are still reshaping their supply chains. Increasingly, the work is happening inside existing networks, through supplier relationships, inventory strategy and the financial capabilities needed to keep them moving. Standard Chartered’s Future of Trade 2026 report, titled ‘Navigating an age of structural uncertainty’, finds that 95% of corporates expect to adjust supply chain activity over the next three to five years.

Swift shifts ISO 20022 readiness date out a year Update and expansion of previous article. Swift announced the deferral of mandatory ISO 20022 readiness requirements out into November 2027. The exact date has not been established. The related payment systems, referred to as market infrastructures by Swift and other payment experts, have moved their dates to align with Swift. This includes the U.S. Fed Wire System and the Bank of England’s CHAPS (Real-Time Gross Settlement system).

Fragmented data threatens treasury’s agentic AI ambitions CFOs and treasurers risk undermining agentic AI projects if fragmented data, manual workflows and weak governance are not addressed first, according to a new EY India report on treasury transformation. ‘From spreadsheet heroics to autonomous treasury: An agentic AI adoption playbook for CFOs and treasurers’ argues that autonomous treasury depends on a governed data foundation and redesigned workflows before AI is scaled.

Finance leaders are being asked to modernise at speed while tightening their grip on cash. Protiviti’s latest Global Finance Trends Survey shows how closely those two demands have become entwined. AI is now used by 77% of finance organisations, while economic, monetary and trade policy volatility has pushed liquidity and cash management towards the front of the workload. Cash has forced its way to the front of that agenda.

Treasurers expect embedded FX to double despite automation barriers Corporate treasurers expect a sharp move away from manual FX execution over the next five years, but most still face substantial technical barriers to automating currency workflows, according to research from Integral. Its report, ‘The programmatic shift: How APIs, embedded FX, and AI will redefine FX distribution’, draws on surveys of 67 corporate treasuries and 76 banks and other institutional market participants.

August’s flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surveys have delivered a more resilient picture of global growth than the geopolitical backdrop might suggest, but the detail is becoming harder for finance teams to read through a single macro lens. Business activity accelerated in the US and Japan, strengthened modestly in the eurozone, UK and India and remained in expansion in Australia. Yet the engines of that growth are changing.

CFOs urged to put AI governance ahead of agent ROI Finance chiefs deploying AI agents should use their first projects to test governance and oversight rather than chase immediate returns, according to Gartner. Unlike traditional automation, which follows fixed rules, or generative AI, which produces content, AI agents can interpret objectives, plan steps, execute actions and interact with multiple systems.

Companies across the euro area are adding payment methods faster than they are removing them, leaving finance functions to manage a broader mix of cash, cards and mobile transactions at the point of sale. ECB data show 92% of businesses taking payments at physical locations accept cash, up from 90% in 2024. Physical card acceptance edged from 87% to 88%, while mobile payment acceptance jumped from 36% to 68% in just two years. Businesses are layering new payment methods on top of existing ones.

On Tuesday, the United States Department of the Treasury’s FinCEN group announced that they have permanently removed the requirement for U.S. persons and U.S. companies to report beneficial ownership information (BOI). This finalizes and formalizes the interim final rule from March 2025. Some additional relief was provided by the final rules. Notably, some companies remain subject to BOI. The final rule will become effective when published in the Federal Register.