Digital trade finance in the treasury system landscape

As a very specialist area within the treasury landscape, trade finance operations require a different approach to the sector in general. One example of this is a standard Treasury Management System (TMS), which is vital for treasury but rarely meets all the expectations of trade finance operations due to the way it is structured. Even so, organisations still use a TMS to maintain a global liquidity overview of their credit lines across banks – including their trade finance transactions. 

Furthermore, compared to other treasury areas, trade finance teams often rely on more manual processes, such as quarterly fee reconciliation, and manual communication with banks and other financial partners. This means that they could benefit greatly from increased automation.

Key challenges within trade finance operations include:

• Fee reconciliation and bank communication are often underestimated.
• Manual issuance of guarantees and letters of credit leads to inefficiencies.
• Decentralised management of credit lines and instruments limits oversight.
• Inconsistent terms and conditions increase financial risk.
• Restricted access to credit hinders growth.

According to the trade finance section of PwC’s 2025 Global Treasury Survey: 69% of corporates cite manual processes as a major challenge, while 39% of treasury organisations report challenges with their bank communications (e.g.: reconciliation issues and issuance delays).

An effective operating model addresses these challenges by integrating a TMS and a multi-bank Trade Finance system, allowing for a more cohesive and streamlined approach to managing trade finance activities.

It is important for organisations to consider taking a broader approach when transitioning to a new or updated treasury management system, keeping in mind their corporate finance functions, as these are generally not standalone functions.

Designing your target operating model begins with a clear understanding of your strategic objectives and the value chain that supports them. The first goal is to map each step of your business processes, from initial transaction requests through to final settlement, to identify potential inefficiencies and integration points. Establishing consistency—whether through common data elements or standardized workflows—ensures that your treasury and trade finance systems speak the same language, promoting both accuracy and seamless collaboration. Choosing the right technology should focus on how well it addresses your unique operational needs and how easily it can be integrated and scaled as your business evolves. Finally, it is important to manage organizational change proactively by engaging stakeholders early, providing iterative training, and encouraging feedback, so your operating model remains flexible and resilient in the face of future innovation.

Historically, companies sought a single treasury system to do it all. But TMS platforms, while essential for cash, debt, and risk management, are not designed for the specific workflows of trade finance. Trying to force trade finance into a TMS often leads to misaligned fee structures, limited lifecycle tracking and reporting, and constrained bank communication capabilities. Instead, a modular operating model—where a TMS and a trade finance system work in tandem—is often more effective.

A TMS centralises the core treasury operations: cash & liquidity management, financial risk management, debt & investments and payments. A trade finance system, like Komgo’s Global Trade Konnect (GTK), handles the lifecycle of trade instruments: issuance, approvals, amendments, expiry tracking, and fee calculation.

An example of a typical workflow illustrating the integration of these two systems is when a business unit submits a request for a bank guarantee. The trade finance system receives and processes this request, manages internal approvals, and forwards it to the bank. Once the guarantee is issued, the system calculates the associated fees and exports them to the payment hub for payment execution. The system also sends the associated cash flows and guarantee details to the TMS to update the company’s cash positions and to synchronize data on credit utilization. Throughout the process, treasury teams benefit from real-time visibility into their global liquidity usage across all treasury products, including trade finance products.

One practical illustration of this approach: 

PwC helped a client streamline their trade finance processes by implementing Komgo together with FIS® Quantum™ and FIS® Trax™. This allowed the client to execute new trade finance transactions and manage associated credit lines in a seamless end-to-end process. Fees associated with these credit lines are automatically calculated within Komgo, synchronized with FIS Trax for payment processing, and integrated into a comprehensive global liquidity overview in FIS Quantum.

AI and machine learning are influencing the next wave of innovation in trade finance and treasury operations. Potential applications of AI within trade finance include advanced document recognition, automated clause screening, and predictive analytics for risk and credit line utilisation. For example, AI can be leveraged to screen draft texts to help ensure compliance with organisational policy or to auto-populate data in internal systems. 

This evolution is not only happening within treasury organisations, but also within banks, as banks are observed to be  transitioning towards using AI and other technology. For example, multi-bank platforms are gaining traction, enabling standardised messaging and potentially faster processing across institutions. 

However, technology isn’t enough on its own. Successful transformation requires a holistic approach that includes internal policy alignment, commercial team engagement and change management.

The cornerstone of any good partnership is the joint focus on solving the client’s issues. 

Recognising the need for automation, our partnership has collaborated to develop a comprehensive solution aimed at simplifying the complexities of trade finance through automation. FIS, Komgo and PwC joined forces to deliver an end-to-end solution that addresses the complexities of trade finance through automation and integration. And yet, this partnership is not just about integrating systems end-to-end, it’s about aligning strategies to empower organisations with seamless, scalable and strategic tools designed to help improve efficiency and control. 

Collaborating also leverages the strengths of each partner: FIS offers enterprise-grade treasury and payment infrastructure, while Komgo brings deep expertise in trade finance execution. PwC, acting as a strategic advisor and experienced implementation partner, helps ensure that implementations are aligned with FIS’ and Komgo’s development pipelines as well as with broader treasury and trade transformation goals.