Legacy systems, data gaps slow treasury hub growth: report

Fragmented data and weak integration hinder treasury transformation across Asia.

Hong Kong needs continued investment in fintech infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and talent development to strengthen its position as a corporate treasury hub in Asia, according to a fintech report. 

The report, published by the FinTech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK) and FinStep Asia, said treasury teams face growing pressure to modernise as they manage liquidity, funding, risk, cross-border payments, foreign exchange, and compliance across increasingly complex markets.

Its Technological Transformation of Treasury Operations: Opportunities and Challenges for Hong Kong as Asia's Global Treasury Management Centre report identified legacy systems, fragmented data, cybersecurity risks, and weak end-to-end integration as key obstacles to treasury transformation.

The findings come as the Hong Kong government steps up efforts to attract multinational treasury operations.

Earlier this month, the government unveiled an action plan to promote the development of corporate treasury centres through tax reforms, expanded tax agreements, targeted promotion, and talent and industry initiatives.

The report said technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, application programming interfaces (APIs), blockchain, and tokenisation could improve treasury operations when supported by strong governance and data foundations.

It said AI could support cash flow forecasting, liquidity optimisation, anomaly detection, and scenario modelling, whilst cloud-based and API-enabled treasury systems could improve connectivity between banks, enterprise systems, and payment channels.

Blockchain and tokenisation could support more efficient cross-border settlement, better transaction tracking, and new approaches to liquidity and capital management, the report noted.

Syed Musheer Ahmed, Founder of FinStep Asia, said the next phase of treasury transformation would be driven by stronger data, greater integration, intelligent automation, and secure digital infrastructure.

Jean-Louis Tse, CEO of FTAHK, said technology adoption, regulatory clarity, talent development, and ecosystem collaboration would strengthen the region's position as a corporate treasury centre.

The report drew on research into treasury operations, as well as interviews and discussions with treasury executives, financial institutions, technology firms, policymakers, and infrastructure operators across Asia.