Treasury Manager
Treasury Manager is responsible for the company's liquidity, balances and money flows: where funds are held, how payments are made on time, and what it costs to move money between accounts and payment partners.
What a Treasury Manager does
The Treasury Manager runs the company's cash flows: planning where funds are held, whether there is enough money for payments, and how to minimize losses from FX differences, bank fees and idle balances. In high-risk verticals, especially fintech and payments, this role matters more than in a typical business. Money passes through several banks, processors and acquirers, each with its own limits, payout delays and reserves, and a delay at one link can halt client payouts.
The role usually sits in the finance function and reports to the CFO or Finance Director. The Treasury Manager may lead a treasury analyst, a payments specialist and bank operations staff, and works closely with accounting, the risk team, the payments department and business heads who need to know how much money is available in each account at any given time.
Responsibilities
- Monitor balances across all bank, acquiring and payment accounts daily and prepare a cash position forecast for the coming days and weeks.
- Plan liquidity by allocating funds across accounts, placement instruments and reserves so that payments are covered without leaving money idle.
- Manage transfers between legal entities, countries and currencies, choosing banks and routes based on fees, settlement times and limits.
- Arrange currency conversion and hedge FX risks, agreeing terms with banks and internal stakeholders.
- Maintain relationships with banks and payment partners: limits, account terms, documentation, scheduled reviews and requests for limit increases.
- Monitor compliance with limits, loan covenants and regulatory requirements for safeguarding client funds and holding reserves.
- Coordinate the payout schedule with the payments department and the risk team, flagging cash gaps before they occur.
- Produce regular reporting for management: cash position, forecast, cost of funding, and losses from fees and exchange rates.
- Take part in selecting and implementing treasury management systems and in automating bank statement reconciliation.
Skills
- Cash flow forecasting and scenario analysis (base, pessimistic and stress cases)
- Understanding of banking products: current accounts, deposits, overnight placements, FX operations, letters of credit
- Managing FX risk and basic hedging
- Negotiating terms, limits and fees with banks and partners
- Knowledge of regulatory requirements for holding and moving client funds in high-risk verticals
- Handling large transaction volumes and reconciling statements against accounting records
- Understanding the payment chain: acquiring, processing, reserves, settlement timelines
- Analytical thinking and the ability to explain the cash implications of decisions to management in plain terms
- Discipline in handling responsibility for other people's money: dual control, access rights, segregation of duties
Tools
- Online banking and bank client systems for working with multiple banks
- Treasury management systems (TMS) or similar solutions
- ERP and accounting systems for reconciling transactions
- Excel and Google Sheets for liquidity forecast models
- BI dashboards for the daily cash position
- Bank statement monitoring and payment reconciliation systems
- Messaging apps and email for quick communication with banks and partners
How performance is measured
- Accuracy of the cash position forecast (deviation of actuals from forecast)
- Share of days without cash gaps or overdue payouts
- Cost of liquidity management: bank fees, FX losses, opportunity cost of idle funds
- Speed of payments and transfers between accounts
- Share of funds placed in line with treasury policy and limits
- Number of limit breaches and remarks from the regulator or auditors on treasury matters
By vertical
FinTech
In fintech and payments, the treasury manager works with client money and partner reserves. Settlement timelines with acquirers, reserves against refunds and chargebacks, and regulatory requirements for segregating funds are all critical. A liquidity error here quickly turns into delayed client payouts and a risk to the license.
Corporate functions
In general corporate functions, the treasury manager focuses on the company's own funds: financing operations, optimizing balances across legal entities and banks, and controlling account maintenance costs. More attention goes to budget planning and the cost of money, and less to settlements with payment partners.
Levels
Management
At the management level, the Treasury Manager owns the overall liquidity strategy and bank relationships, approves limits and fund placement policy, makes decisions on large transfers and conversions, and reports the cash position and risks to the CFO. They lead a team and are accountable for ensuring that funds are always sufficient for payouts without unnecessary loss of yield.
How to get there
Treasury professionals usually come from the banking sector (operations, credit or corporate relationship managers), from audit or financial analysis, or from accounting and FP&A if they are interested in cash flows and working with banks. In high-risk verticals, employers often prefer candidates who have already worked with payment partners, acquiring or client settlements, since they understand the specifics of delays and reserves.
To enter the profession, learn the fundamentals: how current accounts, FX operations, deposits and lending work, how the payment chain is structured, and how cash position reporting is built. It helps to learn to build a liquidity forecast in Excel or Google Sheets, reconcile statements against accounting records on your own, and understand how limits and covenants work. Practical experience often matters more than certificates, so take on treasury, settlement or financial planning tasks within your current company.
Career growth typically runs from treasury analyst or specialist to independent Treasury Manager, then to Head of Treasury, and on to CFO or senior finance leadership. The key criterion for growth is the shift from executing transactions to owning the liquidity strategy, bank relationships and the company's overall cash position.
Next steps: Head of Treasury, Financial Controller, Finance Manager, Senior Treasury Manager, CFO (Chief Financial Officer)
FAQ
How is a Treasury Manager different from an accountant?
An accountant records transactions and reflects them in the books according to the rules. A Treasury Manager manages the money itself: where it is held, when and how it moves, what it costs to move, and whether there will be enough funds for upcoming payouts. Treasury work relies on forecasts and decisions, not only on recording facts.
Do I need fintech experience to become a treasury manager at a payments company?
Experience in banking or corporate finance is usually more important than industry experience. However, in high-risk verticals it helps to understand settlement schemes with acquirers and processors, reserves, and regulatory requirements for client funds. This can be learned in your current job if it involves payments.
What determines a Treasury Manager's income?
Income depends on the size of the company and the volume of cash flows the treasury manages, the level of responsibility (whether there is a team and authority to decide on large sums), the region and the complexity of the legal entity structure, and experience working with banks and FX instruments.
What mistakes most often cause problems for a treasury manager?
The most common are underestimating cash gaps, when the forecast ignores delays from banks and partners, miscalculating reserves against refunds and chargebacks, and breaching limits or regulatory requirements due to weak controls. A second group of mistakes comes from the lack of segregation of duties on transfers.
Can I become a treasury manager without a higher finance degree?
A degree is often listed in job requirements, but in practice employers look at experience handling cash flows, banks and forecasts. If you have proven experience in a bank, accounting or financial analysis, and an understanding of the payment chain, that is usually enough to start as a treasury analyst or specialist.
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