Treasury Compass 2026
Your annual guide to best practices, trends and innovation in corporate treasury. Anchored in the EACT 2026 Treasury Survey, a record 283 respondents, across 12 chapters.
The ATEL Treasury Compass 2026 is the annual reference guide for corporate treasurers, published by the Luxembourg Association of Corporate Treasurers (ATEL). Anchored in the EACT 2026 Treasury Survey, a record 283 respondents across European multinationals, and enriched by practitioner analysis under the Simply Treasury brand, it maps the themes that matter most this year and gives them strategic context.
What the survey is telling us
- 283 respondents — the largest survey in the association's history.
- Cash flow forecasting is the number one priority for the seventh consecutive year.
- 87% of treasurers express interest in AI adoption, yet deployment at scale remains the exception. The gap between intent and execution is closing, but not closed.
- ISO 20022 tops the regulatory agenda (61.3%), ahead of ESG, EMIR, PSD2 and Basel/CRR.
- Real-time is now a strategic imperative, not a preference: real-time reporting and dashboarding lead the technology wish-list.
“Uncertainty is not the exception, it is now the operating environment. The treasurer who waits for normality to return will wait indefinitely. The treasurer who designs their function to profit from volatility will define the profession's next chapter.”
— François Masquelier, Chairman of ATEL, Chair of EACT, CEO of Simply Treasury
Inside the Compass: 12 chapters
Each chapter opens with survey findings drawn directly from the EACT 2026 data, followed by a strategic analysis grounded in practitioner experience.
- EACT Survey 2026: key findings
- Working capital optimisation
- Treasury centralisation: in-house bank versus payment factory
- Transfer pricing in treasury
- KPI / KRI / KVI framework
- Payment security: from KYC to KYP
- Tokenisation and programmable payments
- Uncertainty as the new benchmark
- Hedge accounting automation
- Short-term investment of excess cash
- Interviews of experts: the voice of the industry
- Conclusion and five imperatives for 2027 and beyond
Who it is for
The Compass is designed to be read as a white paper or consulted chapter by chapter as a reference. It helps corporate treasurers, CFOs and treasury teams benchmark their priorities, identify capability gaps, and calibrate their transformation agenda for a year in which uncertainty has become the new benchmark.