(28 July 2025 – Global) East & Partners Analyst Meeting insights provides a detailed overview of breaking research, analysis and thought leadership themes based on valuable combined “voice of treasurer” and “voice of the bank” reporting.
CFO Performance Increasingly Determined by Risk Management Capability
Geopolitical tensions, trade wars, unpredictable Trump policies and GenAI – financial performance now more than ever hinges on treasury leaders ability to assess and react to risk. As US Dollar volatility accelerates and technology impacts cross border payment flows – think stablecoins and instant transfers – FX risk is a significant concern keeping CFOs awake at night.
Interest rate risk is also in focus as pressure is exerted on monetary policy independence and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to resign by President Trump with competing narratives for economic growth and the need to reduce interest rates.
Cybersecurity threats and “shrinking to greatness” places counterparty risk in the spotlight, particularly at a time of wide reaching core banking systems upgrades to keep pace with the rapid uptake of GenAI by business, retail and wealth clients.
Variable regulatory settings and definitional uncertainty hinder progress on sustainability imperatives with ESG risk a fast growing factor as the carbon credit market is subject to heightened scrutiny and transparency.
Adaptive risk management is the priority for treasury leaders with a need to be more flexible and adaptable to respond to the rapidly changing global landscape. Which banks are ahead of the curve on supporting evolving risk management needs and how well are corporates benchmarking their capability against direct line competitors?
“The better our supply chain visibility, the better our ability to manage things, including its funding. We’ve been investing for two years and are getting close to almost real-time.”
Treasurer, US$15Bn, USA Wholesale Distributor
Insight Out – How Much Time Do CTOs Spend on Gaming Each Week?
When East & Partners asked CTOs, CIOs, and CDOs from tier one and two banks across APAC, the Americas, Europe, and the Nordics how much time they spend gaming each week, the results were… surprising and revealing. We weren’t expecting deep behavioural insights, but the results tell a surprisingly human story.
Globally, only 1 in 5 bank CTOs say they game (22 percent). But those who do, average nearly 10 hours per week – that’s over an hour a day. And while that might sound high, it points to something important: in high-stakes, high-responsibility roles, healthy cognitive downtime matters.
The Takeaway? Being a Chief Technology Officer at a tier one or two bank is serious business, but CTOs themselves are not monolithic. The next-gen leader is more likely than ever to engage with technology in ways that go beyond spreadsheets and dashboards. If you’re building products, platforms, policies, or partnerships for the financial services industry – understanding the behaviours behind key stakeholder roles might just give you a competitive edge. For leaders, it’s worth remembering: downtime isn’t laziness, it’s performance maintenance. And sometimes, in the Nordics and Europe at least, that maintenance looks like 12 hours of gaming.
Source: East & Partners Insight Out (N: 121 CTOs, CIOs, CDOs)
How Robust Research Methodology Gives East’s Clients the Edge
One of the benefits of East’s direct research methodology, aside from it being Verifiable, Repeatable, Unbiased and Able to Withstand Scrutiny is the ability to capture verbatim comments from decision makers that really help bring context and life to the numbers for our clients.
Here are a few thoughts collected during our interviews with US corporate treasurers:
“Proof of capability in any particular treasury solution we are looking for is a must – we are not a customer that is happy trialling/experimenting new solutions that are not tested.”
Treasurer, US$6.6Bn, USA Manufacturer
“Our Board required us to start regular performance reporting across a number of key treasury provider relationships during Covid; these are proving very effective in also managing those same relationships.”
Treasurer, US$12.5Bn, USA Resources Group
“We lost our lead RM last year after 25 years and have struggled to maintain, let alone grow, our home bank relationship since; don’t seem to get as much of a hearing and receiving very little extra value anymore.”
Group Treasurer, US$20Bn, USA Manufacturing Group
“Our RM relationship is all important to us; has become very much a business partner to us over the past twelve years and brings great ideas to the table.”
CFO, US$5.Bn, USA Logistics Group
June Analyst Meeting Insights
The June 2025 analyst meeting insights revealed #1 business banking status is no longer predicated on lending alone as “sticky” deposits come into the spotlight, what does value for money really means to the customer and upcoming Capital Brief/East & Partners M&A analytics following exclusive research from Capital Brief and East that suggests top corporates are seeking private credit funding instead of traditional bank loans.
East & Partners’ Outlook uncovers how corporates, middle market enterprises and small businesses are responding to changes in the global economy, from new technology to emerging trends for business banking. Download now.
Top Into the Voice of the Treasurer – East on Demand
All of these complex, difficult to quantify questions are accessible from the East on Demand platform.
Monthly fieldwork enables clients to directly interrogate CFOs and treasurers on any question, in any market with rapid voice of the customer insights generated within two weeks.
Clients utilise the platform for quickfire thought leadership and marketing campaign proof points and support, product and service development, defining a new business case, driving sales pipelines, forecast customer needs and much, much more.
East analysts compile a quarterly list of questions inspired by our unique understanding of the market, driven by client conversations, corporate interviews and market movements. Get in touch to find out what we would ask if we were in your shoes.