Corporate treasury management for UK scale-ups: What you need to know

Key takeaways

• Corporate treasury management is the control centre of your company’s finances. It covers how your business manages cash, liquidity, and financial risks across every account and currency.  

• As you expand into new markets, managing multiple bank accounts and currencies becomes complex. Treasury management brings all that data together, improving visibility, reducing FX risk, and helping you plan funding and investment confidently.

• Airwallex is the modern platform for treasury teams. It lets you open global accounts, automate FX, and control payments from one secure, FCA-regulated system, giving UK scale-ups the tools to manage international cash flows with clarity and speed.

As your company grows, managing money across countries, currencies, and entities gets complicated. You might have several bank accounts, different payment systems, and invoices in multiple currencies. Without structure, it’s easy to lose sight of where your cash is and how it’s performing.

That’s where corporate treasury management comes in. But, what exactly is it, why does it matter for scale-ups, and how can technology (including Airwallex) make it simpler? You’ll find the answers to all of those questions right here. Let’s get started.

What is corporate treasury management?

Corporate treasury management refers to how a business manages its cash, financial risks, and funding. It’s about making sure you always have the right amount of money, in the right place, at the right time, and that every pound you hold is working productively.

Your treasury function connects the day-to-day movement of money with your long-term strategy. It gives you visibility over all your accounts and currencies, helps you forecast future cash needs, and protects your margins from risks such as fluctuating exchange rates.

For example:

• If you pay suppliers in US dollars but earn revenue in pounds, treasury management helps you reduce the impact of currency changes.

• If you have multiple subsidiaries, it helps you see where cash is sitting and move it where it’s needed.

• If you’re raising funds, it helps you plan how to invest or allocate capital efficiently.

For scale-ups, good treasury management builds stability and resilience, ensuring growth doesn’t come at the expense of control.

Read more: B2B cross-border payments: the ultimate guide for UK businesses

Why does treasury management matter?

At an early stage, most businesses can track their finances with accounting software or spreadsheets. But, as soon as you start trading internationally or adding entities, manual management stops working. This can lead to:

• Liquidity blind spots, where one entity has excess cash while another runs short.

• Foreign exchange losses, when currency fluctuations erode profit margins.

• Compliance risks, if payments and authorisations lack clear controls.

A structured treasury process fixes these issues. It gives you real-time insight into your global cash position, strengthens control over payments, and ensures your business always has enough liquidity to meet obligations.

How does corporate treasury management work?

Treasury management usually covers four key areas that work together to keep your finances in shape. They are:

1. Cash and liquidity management

2. Risk management

3. Controls and governance

4. Funding and investment

Here’s a look at each area and how they apply to scale-ups.

1. Cash and liquidity management

Cash and liquidity management is about knowing exactly how much cash you have and where it is held. It ensures you can meet your short-term obligations without borrowing unnecessarily.

A good treasury setup lets you:

• See all account balances and transactions in real time.

• Forecast upcoming cash needs using 13-week or six-month projections.

• Move surplus funds between entities efficiently.

• Avoid idle cash sitting in one region while another needs funding.

For example, if your UK entity holds £1 million in surplus funds but your European subsidiary needs €300,000, a connected treasury system helps you transfer and convert money instantly, rather than relying on spreadsheets or email approvals.

This all helps you make confident decisions about when to invest, repay debt, or fund new opportunities.

2. Risk management

Managing risk is a major part of your treasury. It protects your business from unpredictable movements in exchange rates, interest rates, or counterparties.

For scale-ups, foreign exchange (FX) risk is often the biggest concern. If you invoice in one currency but pay costs in another, any change in exchange rates can affect profitability.

Treasury risk management helps you:

• Track currency exposure by entity, contract, or supplier.

• Use forward contracts to lock in exchange rates for future payments.

• Set clear rules for how much exposure you’re willing to tolerate before taking action.

This turns FX management into a proactive process rather than a reactive one, helping you protect margins and plan ahead with certainty.

3. Controls and governance

Every company needs checks and balances to make sure money is handled safely. In treasury management, this is called controls and governance. It means having clear rules about who can move money, approve payments, and access accounts, and making sure those actions are recorded properly.

Good controls protect your business from mistakes and fraud. They also show regulators, investors, and auditors that your financial processes are well managed.

This might include:

• Dual approvals for payments, so no one person can send money without a second review.

• User roles and permissions, which limit who can access or edit certain accounts.

• Written policies explaining who can open or close bank accounts, approve transactions, or invest company funds.

• Audit trails, which automatically record every change or approval made in your systems.

These controls are now essential for compliance with UK and EU financial rules such as PSD2 and anti-money laundering regulations.  

4. Funding and investment

Treasury management is also about how your company raises money and uses its extra cash. This is known as funding and investment.

Funding decisions help you make sure the business always has enough cash to grow, while investment decisions ensure any surplus money earns a safe return instead of sitting idle.

This can include:

• Arranging short-term borrowing, such as credit lines or revolving facilities with banks, to cover working capital needs.

• Managing investor contributions or intercompany loans, if your company has multiple entities under one group.

• Investing surplus funds in low-risk, short-term options such as money market funds, so your cash continues to earn interest without taking on unnecessary risk.

When funding and investment are managed well, your treasury can drive growth by helping your company balance risk, return, and liquidity as it expands.

What should you look for in a modern treasury tech stack in 2026?

Treasury management clearly covers a lot of ground. In the past, many finance teams managed these tasks with spreadsheets and manual reports. That might work for a small company, but as soon as you start growing, it becomes almost impossible to keep up. Data gets out of date quickly, and manual reconciliations can take hours.

A modern treasury tech stack solves this problem. It brings all your cash, payments, and currency data together in one place and updates automatically, so you always know your true financial position.

Here are the main tools that make up a modern treasury setup, along with what they do and why they matter.

1. Treasury management system (TMS)

A treasury management system, or TMS, is the central hub for all your treasury activity. Think of it as your control centre for cash and liquidity.

A TMS connects directly to your bank accounts and accounting systems, giving you a single dashboard to see every balance, payment, and forecast in real time. It can also automate routine tasks, such as reconciling transactions or checking for unusual activity.

With a TMS in place, you can:

• View all your global accounts in one secure platform.

• See up-to-date cash balances across different currencies.

• Get alerts if a balance falls too low or a payment looks suspicious.

• Create instant reports for leadership or investors.

2. Cash forecasting software

Cash forecasting software helps you predict how much money will come in and go out of your business over the next few weeks or months.

Instead of guessing, these tools use real data from your accounting and payment systems to build a rolling forecast that updates automatically.

This lets you:

• Spot upcoming cash shortfalls before they happen.

• Plan when to transfer funds between entities.

• Decide whether to invest surplus cash or keep it available for expenses.

For example, if your forecast shows a large payment due next month, you can plan ahead by converting currencies or arranging short-term funding now, rather than reacting later.

3. FX management platform

If your company operates in more than one currency, managing FX manually can be risky and time-consuming.

An FX management platform helps you track, manage, and automate currency conversions. It shows you how exposed your business is to currency changes and lets you execute trades instantly at the best available rates.

You can also set automatic rules, for example, to convert revenue once it hits a certain amount or to lock in exchange rates for future payments.  

4. Unified dashboards

A dashboard is where all your treasury data comes together in one clear view. Instead of switching between bank portals, spreadsheets, and reports, you can see everything on one screen.

A good dashboard shows your global cash position, upcoming payments, and FX exposure at a glance. It can also generate visual reports that make it easier to explain liquidity and performance to your CFO or board.

How is treasury management changing in 2026?

Treasury management is becoming more digital, predictive, and connected. Here’s what to expect.

Automation becomes standard

Tasks such as reconciliations, cash positioning, and reporting are increasingly handled automatically. This reduces errors and frees your team to focus on strategy.

Open banking and APIs

You can now connect multiple bank accounts and payment platforms securely in one place. Data updates instantly, making manual uploads a thing of the past.

Predictive analytics

AI and data tools now help treasurers model future risks, identify liquidity gaps, and simulate different economic scenarios before they happen.

Stronger regulation

With evolving FCA and EU rules, treasurers are expected to maintain detailed audit trails, approval workflows, and operational resilience plans.

All in all, treasury management is moving from reactive reporting to continuous forecasting and decision-making.

What are the most common treasury challenges for scale-ups?

Even with modern tools, many businesses face treasury set up hurdles. 

Integration friction

Connecting new technology with existing accounting or ERP systems can take time. Start by mapping how cash currently moves and pilot one region before rolling out globally.

Data silos

If each subsidiary uses different banks or systems, it’s easy to lose visibility. A centralised dashboard or TMS helps unify all data and prevent idle cash from being trapped.

Multi-currency complexity

Dealing with multiple currencies adds risk and workload. Automating FX conversions and creating a clear hedging policy helps protect margins.

Evolving compliance requirements

Keep treasury policies documented, maintain audit trails for every approval, and review your processes regularly to stay aligned with PSD2 and AML standards.

Talent shortages

Treasury skills are in high demand. Automation helps reduce the need for manual work, while cross-training finance staff builds in-house capability.

Read more: UK finance leaders reveal friction in global spend and expense management holds their business back

How to build a scalable treasury for long-term growth

Those problems are all avoidable. Here’s a step-by-step approach to building a scalable treasury that supports your business today and in the future.

1. Audit your current setup

Start by understanding how your company manages cash right now.

• Map every account, system, and process. Where does your money sit? Which tools do you use to move it? Who has access?

• Identify bottlenecks. Do you still download daily bank statements? Are payments approved by email? Are reports created manually?

• Measure efficiency. How long does it take to know your current cash position or approve a large payment?

This will show where automation and visibility can make the biggest difference.

2. Define your priorities

Not every business needs the same treasury setup. Focus on the capabilities that will have the most impact right now.

For example:

1. If you operate across currencies, prioritise FX management and real-time exchange visibility.

2. If you’re managing multiple subsidiaries, focus on centralised cash pooling and intercompany transfers.

3. If compliance is your biggest concern, strengthen approval workflows and audit trails.

Clarifying what matters most will help you choose the right systems and integrations, rather than buying tools you won’t use.

3. Choose scalable technology

Once you know your priorities, evaluate solutions that can scale as you grow. Look for platforms that:

• Connect to your existing systems via APIs, so data flows automatically.

• Support multiple currencies and entities within one dashboard.

• Offer strong user controls so you can manage access and approvals easily.

• Provide live reporting and forecasting instead of static spreadsheets.

Tip: If you’re unsure where to start, go for a modular platform like Airwallex that combines global accounts, FX management, and payments in one place. 

Read more: How Airwallex solves the treasurer’s historic headache

4. Get cross-team buy-in early

Your treasury setup affects more than just the finance department. IT, operations, and even procurement will need to work together.

Involve these teams from the start so everyone understands how the new process will work and what data will flow where. Shared ownership helps prevent delays later and makes the system more widely adopted.

5. Build clear controls from day one

Before you go live, define your governance rules. Decide who can approve payments, open new accounts, or execute FX trades. Set up dual approvals for large transactions and create an audit trail for every action.

It’s easier to build these controls early than to add them later.

6. Train your team and review regularly

Treasury tools are powerful, but only if your people know how to use them well. Schedule regular training sessions and refreshers to help your team stay confident with the system.

Review your setup every quarter to see what’s working, what isn’t, and what can be automated next. As your business evolves, your treasury processes should evolve with it.

Why Airwallex is the best platform for modern treasury management

Airwallex gives you a single, modern platform to manage global cash, FX, and payments, without the friction or hassle of traditional banks. 

1. Full support for multi-currency UK operations

You can open global accounts with local GBP banking details and collect funds like a domestic business. Airwallex also lets you hold balances in over 20 currencies within a single wallet, converting only when it suits you. 

2. Local payments, global reach

Airwallex supports UK domestic rails such as BACS and CHAPS, alongside fast international transfers. You can pay suppliers, staff, and partners in more than 150 countries with many payments arriving within minutes.

3. Configurable permissions, control, and auditability

You can define user-level permissions and multi-step approvals directly within Airwallex, without waiting for a bank to make structural changes. Every transaction, approval, and change is recorded automatically, giving you a full audit trail.

4. Integration, reconciliation, and automation

Airwallex connects directly to your accounting or ERP systems through APIs, automatically syncing transaction data for easier reconciliation. Incoming payments, FX conversions, and transfers are recorded in real time, so your cash data is always accurate. 

With these integrations, you’ll cut manual matching, avoid reporting errors, and free up your team to focus on analysis and planning rather than data maintenance.

5. UK regulation, compliance, and fund safety

Airwallex is authorised as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) by the Financial Conduct Authority. Your funds are safeguarded in separate client accounts, ensuring they remain protected and accessible even in the unlikely event of insolvency. We also follow strict AML, KYC, and data protection standards, with two-factor authentication and regular security audits built in.  

6. Flexibility and adaptability for UK scale-ups

You can reconfigure approval structures, add new entities, or expand to new markets instantly without waiting on manual bank processes. Airwallex supports multi-entity management, giving you visibility across your UK and international operations in one dashboard.

It’s built for fast-moving companies that need agility as much as accuracy, giving you treasury infrastructure that scales effortlessly as your business grows.

Smarter cash, stronger control, faster growth

Corporate treasury management is no longer just for large enterprises. For UK scale-ups, it’s a key part of sustainable growth, the bridge between financial control and confident expansion.

The right treasury structure gives you visibility over every account, currency, and transaction, turning cash management from a reactive task into a source of strategic advantage. With clear governance, proactive risk management, and the right technology, your business can scale globally without losing oversight or efficiency.

Airwallex brings all these capabilities together in one FCA-regulated platform, helping you manage cash, payments, and FX with greater speed and precision.

Simpler, smarter treasury

FAQs

1. What is corporate treasury management?

Corporate treasury management is how a business controls its cash, liquidity, FX exposure, and financial risk. For UK scale-ups, it ensures funds are used efficiently, margins stay protected, and growth remains sustainable.

2. Why does treasury management matter for growing companies?

As your business expands across currencies and entities, managing cash manually becomes risky. A strong treasury framework improves visibility, reduces FX losses, and strengthens financial control.

3. How can UK scale-ups improve cash visibility?

Use API-connected platforms or a treasury management system to centralise accounts and automate reconciliations. Real-time dashboards help track liquidity across subsidiaries and currencies instantly.

4. How do scale-ups manage FX risk effectively?

By tracking exposure at entity or contract level and using forward contracts or natural hedges to lock in rates. Automation tools can also trigger trades based on exposure limits.

5. What role does technology play in modern treasury?

Automation and AI streamline cash forecasting, FX execution, and reconciliation. Open banking APIs make it possible to view and move global funds securely from one interface.

6. How does Airwallex support corporate treasury management?

Airwallex gives scale-ups one platform to manage global cash, FX, and payments. It offers local and multi-currency accounts, automated reconciliation, and FCA-regulated safeguarding, helping finance teams keep control and visibility as they scale.