Balancing global trends with regional specificities requires an understanding of the underlying dynamics to navigate potential challenges in this ever-changing region. It requires a keen understanding of the best technological tools to automate tasks and improve efficiency. Rapid treasury transformation has been afforded a boost thanks to the regional drive for real-time payments and application programming interfaces (APIs).

FAB wins two awards this year, as Best Bank for Transaction Banking and Best Bank for Long-Term Liquidity Management. The bank invested heavily in innovative cash management and liquidity solutions to enhance the experience and treasury capabilities of the region’s corporations. According to Anand Sampath, managing director and head of global payments, collections & implementation at FAB, APIs are revolutionizing corporate treasury functions in the Middle East by enabling greater automation, efficiency, and integration across financial systems.

“This seamless integration allows for more-accurate cash flow forecasting, efficient liquidity management, and streamlined payment processes for an overall improved, end-to-end working capital management structure,” Sampath says.

APIs enable clients of HSBC, our winner as Best Bank for Cash Management, to integrate the bank’s capabilities with their enterprise resource planning and treasury management system platforms and move away from batch processing into a real-time treasury environment. They can also take advantage of Swift GPI tracking services, virtual account multiple-entity structures, and an online liquidity management dashboard that offers a consolidated view of global cash position.

Bank ABC takes the award for Best Corporate Cross-Border Payments Solution. The bank collaborated with the Central Bank of Bahrain and JPMorgan Chase to facilitate a landmark instant, high-value, cross-border payment pilot. “Over the past year, we continued to work to scale this solution for our corporate clients, starting with a soft launch—driving increased efficiencies in trade-related payments, alongside building market awareness and use-cases for programmable payments,” says a bank spokesperson.

Citi is our award winner as both Best Bank for Payments and Best Bank for Collections, offering uniform connectivity via 30 instant-payment schemes globally. Cross-border payments into digital wallets support the needs of direct-to-consumer transactions. Financial institutions (FIs) can now take advantage of Citi’s 24/7 USD Clearing for FIs to make commercial payments on behalf of underlying retail and corporate clients. The Citi Global Beneficiary Services Payment Tracker enables FIs to provide payment beneficiaries with full visibility into the status of their domestic or cross-border payments and receive alerts for any changes in their status.

The Middle East is not immune to high interest rates and a potentially slowing global economy, so ensuring sufficient liquidity to meet financial obligations remains a challenge that requires a mix of financial solutions. With its Cairo headquarters and Dubai office, CI Capital Asset Management, winner of the award as Best Provider of Short-Term Investments/Money Market Funds, provides money market and fixed income funds that have been delivering superior returns to investors and earned it a top-ranking position on the Funds’ Performance Report put out by the Egyptian Investment Management Association. The region must also continue with its efforts at diversification away from oil and gas. According to the World Bank, the Gulf Cooperation Council region’s GDP is estimated to have grown by 1.1% in 2023 but is forecast to pick up again to 3.6% and 3.8% in 2024 and 2025, respectively—impressive because of a drop in oil activities. As the Middle East continues to diversify its economies, it will present more opportunities for both domestic and international companies. Treasurers will need to stay up to date on new regulations to ensure compliance while continuing to evolve and embrace technology needed to thrive in this competitive region.