How can treasurers drive long-term value in an era of short-term pressures? In conversation with François Masquelier, Chair of the European and Luxembourgish treasury associations, we discussed four levers corporate treasurers can pull to build lasting resilience.
1. Liquidity management is becoming a strategic lever
Businesses don’t operate in isolation. Treasurers increasingly align sustainable investments with core operational needs, using liquidity management to drive long-term resilience, mitigate risk, and build competitive advantage.
2. Sustainability is an opportunity, not a sacrifice
Corporates have often treated ESG as a cost rather than an opportunity. Treasurers can flip that script by quantifying the cash flow benefits of sustainable investments — lower energy volatility, better financing terms — to demonstrate their long-term return.
3. The long game wins
Short-termism is the enemy of resilience. Treasurers can advocate for strategies that reduce cash flow volatility even when the payoff takes years, and for supply chains resilient enough to outlast market cycles.
Family-owned businesses, in particular, tend to look beyond the typical business cycle — for example, by stabilising energy costs. Predictable input costs translate into stronger conversion and client retention, which in turn makes cash conversion cycles more predictable.
4. Data-driven decisions unlock growth
Treasurers’ quantitative expertise is a goldmine for the C-suite. From optimising working capital to de-risking new ventures, their forecasts can lower the weighted average cost of capital and unlock strategic growth.
A broader shift is also underway: moving from an anthropocentric to an ecosystem-centric view of venture strategy sharpens competitiveness over the long term. With European resilience in mind, treasurers should also weigh alternative forms of financing that match these longer investment horizons — not all of which flow through the balance sheet, for example by tapping private capital.
Actionable takeaway: resilience is built from a 12-month or quarterly view, not a single financial year. Ask your treasurer and CFO how their insights can help you diversify funding sources, navigate investment opportunities, and de-risk operational activities.
This conversation took place with François Masquelier, Chair of the Luxembourg Association of Corporate Treasurers and EACT – European Association of Corporate Treasurers. Our thanks to Jerome Bloch for hosting us at 360Crossmedia.