Citi Perspectives 2024 Corporates Edition

| 5 Many sectors are experiencing unprecedented change due to new technologies, placing additional demands on treasury. For example, the healthcare industry is exploring new payment models tomeet evolving business needs and optimize liquidity. Digital asset solutions can address trapped liquidity issues caused by misaligned cutoff times and poor visibility. Looking ahead, distributed ledger technology can synchronize cash flows, thereby enabling real-time cashmovement, reducing risk, enhancing security, and supporting continuous infrastructure and automation. One issue common to companies across many sectors is the rapid evolution of the payments landscape as financial infrastructures evolve and consumers’ and corporates’ expectations grow. Today’s consumers demand fast and convenient payout options, while corporations seek greater transparency and efficiency. Fortunately, as our article shows, the payments market is better served than ever, with a variety of payment options, including real-time, connected and scalable solutions that can significantly help enhance business operations and help firms to realize the future of commerce. In a case study, we zero in on the payment requirements of BLUETTI, a pioneer in off-grid portable power solutions, providing power banks, solar panels and other portable power supply products to distributors and consumers around the world. Like many companies, it needed a payment acceptance solution for cards that could be seamlessly integrated into its website. The challenge was that it wanted to collect from both B2C and B2B customers while receiving rich and consistent transaction data to aid its reconciliation and operations. As payments increasingly shift to a real-time environment, the rest of treasury will need to keep pace. Our Client Advisory Group brings their unique perspective to bear on how innovative, next- gen technologies can help treasury to fund the business and help manage financial risks more effectively, so as to support revenue, optimize cost, manage working capital, and ensure process efficiency. Underlying everything from cash flow forecasting to automated accounting will be the effective harnessing and consumption of data. Elsewhere, we look at the importance of centralizing treasury operations across Africa to enhance the efficiency of cash and liquidity management. Many countries in the region are characterized by local currency devaluations and escalating balance of payments deficits, creating a major FX headache. Treasurers should lean on their banking relationships, both for on- the-ground insights and solutions. We hope you find these articles engaging and welcome your feedback. Please let us know what topics you would like to see featured in upcoming editions. Steve Elms Global Head of Corporate, Commercial and Public Sector Sales, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions