Corporate Finance Trends Shift Toward Centralized Treasury and AI

Corporate financial data has long been scattered across banks, ERP systems and local spreadsheets, making it difficult to track cash positions and foreign exchange and interest-rate risks in real time. PYMNTS said centralization can unify data and processes, providing a consistent foundation for cash pooling, hedging and AI-powered forecasting. It can also help finance teams move from retrospective reporting to real-time decision-making.

PYMNTS reported on March 20, 2026, that 83.3% of surveyed chief financial officers planned to adopt at least one AI tool to improve the cash-flow cycle. Among lower-performing companies, the share reporting unpredictable cash flow fell from 68% to 17% after they deployed AI to manage working capital. On March 24, PYMNTS also recommended starting with a 13-week rolling forecast, bank APIs and ERP integration. Neither article disclosed implementation costs.