Understanding Treasury Management: What Every Board Member Should Know

When I first started my banking career, I worked as a secretary in the cash management department. One of my primary responsibilities was typing sales proposals—over and over again—for the cash management sales team. It was a repetitive task, but one that gave me early exposure to a critical area of banking that remains one of the most underutilized sources of fee income today.

One of my proudest moments in that role came when I proposed a simple but transformative idea: create a cash management proposal manual. Rather than typing entire proposals from scratch, I built a collection of product pages that the sales team could assemble as needed. What once took several hours now took about fifteen minutes—and last-minute changes were no longer a problem. That small innovation made a major impact on efficiency, and it also laid the foundation for a deeper understanding of cash management services.

Over the course of six years in the cash management department, first as a secretary, then as an operations liaison, and later as a customer service representative, I developed a strong working knowledge of the products and services banks offer to their business customers. I learned not only what each service does but why it matters—both for the customer and for the bank’s bottom line. Even today, I can recall in detail how each product functions and how it contributes to increasing a bank’s fee income.

Several years ago, the industry shifted from calling these services "cash management" to the more modern term "treasury management," to better reflect the expanded range of solutions now available to business customers. Regardless of the name, the purpose remains the same: helping business customers manage and maximize their cash flow efficiently, while providing the bank with a valuable source of recurring revenue.

If your Board is seeking to deepen its knowledge and lead more effectively in today’s competitive environment, the Treasury Management for Directors course offers a focused, efficient solution.
👉 Learn more and preview the course here.

My own simple definition of treasury management is this:

Treasury management encompasses all the banking services offered to business customers to help them manage, move, and maximize their cash on a daily basis.

As a board member, understanding treasury management is important because it represents a significant opportunity to strengthen the bank’s financial performance. Treasury management services bring in valuable commercial deposits that help fund lending activities, generate recurring fee income, and deepen relationships with business customers—making them less likely to move to competitors.

Some of the most common treasury management services include:

• Account Reconciliation
• Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable Automation
• ACH Origination Services
• Armored Car Services
• Automated Cash Handling
• Balance Reporting
• Business Debit and Credit Cards
• Business Online Banking
• Cash Concentration
• Controlled Disbursement
• Escrow and Sub-Accounts
• Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
• Merchant Services (Credit Card Processing)
• Multi-Currency Accounts
• Positive Pay / Reverse Positive Pay (fraud prevention)
• Remote Deposit Capture
• Remote Safe / Cash Recycling
• Sweep Services
• Retail and Wholesale Lockbox
• Wire Transfers
• Zero Balance Accounts

For community banks, treasury management is not just an add-on product—it is a strategic growth engine. Ensuring that the business banking team is well-versed in these services, and that the bank has the right infrastructure to support them, can have a direct and meaningful impact on profitability.

If we invest in expanding our treasury management offerings and strengthening our internal knowledge, we position our bank to better serve our business customers, improve our deposit base, grow fee income, and ultimately enhance shareholder value.

If you would like to learn more about the role treasury management plays in strengthening your bank’s financial performance, I encourage you to explore our Treasury Management for Directors course. It is designed specifically for board members and provides a clear understanding of how treasury management services contribute to deposit growth, fee income, and overall profitability. You can find more information at www.tmclarity.com/treasury-management-for-directors.