Treasury Management aka Cash Management is the best kept secret in bank fee generation. Why? Because many business bankers don’t know these services well and, therefore, are afraid to talk about them with customers and prospects. When I was starting my banking career, I was the secretary in the cash management area of the bank. Part of my job was to type (over and over) sales proposals for the cash management sales team.
One of my happiest days in that department was the day I got my first PC and I had a revolutionary idea—create a cash management proposal manual where the sales team could simply pick out whatever pages they wanted to use on every product to respond to the “RFP’s” (request for proposal). Creating this manual reduced the amount of time I spent typing a proposal from several hours to about fifteen minutes. And if the sales rep changed their mind about a service? No problem. I could fix it or add or change anything within a few minutes. I was the hero of the department!
But kidding aside, from all that typing about each service and during my six years in the cash management department, first as a secretary, later as an operations liaison, and then customer service representative, gave me the opportunity to learn about cash management products that banks offer. I became very knowledgeable about cash management and to this day I remember what each product does, why it’s offered to business banking customers, and how it works behind the scenes—including how banks can improve fee income! A few years ago, the term cash management was changed (or should we say “updated”) to Treasury Management to reflect the vast number of services offered to help business customers.
So, we’ll use the term treasury management to refer to business banking services designed specifically for business customers and sold by business banking sales teams or treasury management sales teams.
What is treasury management anyway? My own simple definition: Treasury management are all the banking services banks offer to business customers to help them handle and maximize their cash on a daily basis.
Below are some of the most known treasury management services:
- Account Reconciliation
- Accounts Payable (AP) / Accounts Payable (AP) Automation
- ACH Origination Services
- Armored Car Services / Cash Collection
- Automated Cash Handling
- Balance Reporting
- Business Check Card
- Business Credit Cards
- Business Online Banking
- Cash Concentration
- Controlled Disbursement
- Escrow and Sub-Accounts
- Health Savings Accounts
- Merchant Credit Cards
- Multi-Currency Accounts
- Positive Pay / Reverse Positive Pay
- Remote Deposit Capture
- Remote Safe / Cash Recycling
- Sweep Services
- Retail / Wholesale Lockbox
- Wire Transfers
- Zero Balance Accounts
If you are a business banker, it is important to learn more about treasury management services. They will significantly increase your fee income, bring in deposits to help fund loans, and business customers will be better served. As a result, your bank’s profitability will increase.
Looking for ideas to expand your Treasury Management reach to new business customers? Look into the TMClarity Framework, our comprehensive and transformative training and Treasury Management business management system that leads to greater sales success, higher margins, and increased customer retention in a competitive marketplace.
