Ep. 13 | Why Agentic Treasury Is the Future of Finance

Despite rapid advances in AI, many finance teams still rely on multiple banking platforms and spreadsheets to manage treasury. 

According to Tom Steer, the biggest challenge isn't moving money, it's the manual work surrounding payments, cash visibility and financial decision-making. The finance leaders who modernise their treasury infrastructure today will be best placed to unlock automation, optimise working capital and create greater strategic value.

In this episode of the Finance Chief Podcast, host Matt High sits down with Tom, who is Chief Financial Officer at Sokin, to discuss agentic treasury, AI-powered finance, treasury transformation and the future of global business payments. 

Having spent more than 15 years in fintech and payments, including investment banking at FT Partners before joining Sokin, Tom brings an insightful and focused conversation on why finance leaders need real-time visibility, connected infrastructure and intelligent automation to stay ahead.

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In this episode we explore:

• Why treasury remains fragmented despite advances in AI
• How Agentic Treasury moves finance from reactive to proactive decision-making
• Why AI is only valuable when it can take action
• How better treasury visibility improves working capital and cash management
• Why infrastructure and regulation matter as much as AI innovation
• How finance teams can shift from manual processes to strategic value creation

Treasury's biggest challenge isn't moving money

While payments technology has advanced significantly, Tom explains that many finance teams still manage treasury across multiple banking platforms, payment providers and spreadsheets.

Rather than payments themselves creating the problem, the real challenge lies in manually reconciling data, tracking cash positions and making decisions without a complete view of the business. 

Bringing these fragmented systems together creates the foundation for faster, more informed decision-making.

Why agentic treasury changes everything

Tom believes the next evolution of finance isn't simply adding AI to existing software.

Instead, agentic treasury combines real-time visibility, intelligent recommendations and execution within a single platform. Rather than highlighting problems for finance teams to resolve manually, intelligent agents can identify risks, recommend actions and automate routine decisions while keeping finance leaders firmly in control.

Real-time visibility creates strategic value

Many finance teams spend more time assembling financial information than acting on it.

Tom explains how gaining a live view of treasury operations allows businesses to respond faster to changing FX markets, reduce idle cash, improve working capital and free finance professionals to focus on strategic decisions rather than manual reconciliation.

For CFOs, treasury moves from being an operational necessity to becoming a competitive advantage.

Building the infrastructure behind AI

While AI dominates industry conversations, Tom argues the real differentiator lies beneath the technology.

Building regulated payment infrastructure, global banking partnerships and licensed operations across international markets enables organisations to deliver trusted, scalable financial services. Without this foundation, even the most advanced AI tools cannot execute transactions securely or reliably.

The future of the finance function

Looking ahead, Tom believes finance teams will spend less time producing reports and far more time interpreting data, making strategic decisions and driving business growth.

As treasury becomes increasingly automated, the role of the CFO will continue shifting towards optimisation, capital allocation and commercial leadership, supported by intelligent systems that enable faster and better-informed decisions.

Explore more from the Finance Chief Podcast

Catch up on Episode 12, featuring Tom Tildesley, Chief Financial Officer at Innovo Group, discussing entrepreneurial finance leadership, AI readiness, capital allocation and why modern CFOs must balance governance with commercial growth.