The risk of staying stagnant: How corporate banks are stepping up in cash management with virtual accounts

The role of corporate treasurers has changed fundamentally. Only 16% consider their role purely transactional – for the rest, the focus is on providing strategic financial advice, with 49% prioritizing creating scalable, growth driving processes. This has brought a new demand for real-time insights, predictive analytics, and a high degree of flexibility from their banking partners.  

Corporate banks that fail to meet these rising expectations risk losing valuable clients to competitors who can meet their needs. Stay stagnant, and you’ll fall behind. But evolve, and treasurers will respond. 

With new demands stretching the capabilities of traditional account structures, leading institutions are embracing advanced Virtual Account Management (VAM) solutions. By doing so, they retain corporate treasurers and elevate their role from a service provider to a value-driving partner.  

Here we look at how the world’s top banks are using VAM to drive innovation and deliver greater value to their clients—and why now is the time to embrace change. 

Setting new standards: Leading banks embrace VAM

Technology and service is now a key differentiator when it comes to competitive dynamics in corporate banking. That’s why more banks are looking to VAM to provide the quality, flexibility and adaptability that their clients demand. 

• Goldman Sachs is expanding offerings in the U.S. and UK with a suite of Virtual Integrated Accounts (VIAs) that provide real-time visibility, streamlined liquidity services, and flexible solutions for treasury centralization, receivables reconciliation, and in-house banking.

• Bank of America began with a successful European rollout and expanded its VAM capabilities to the U.S. in 2022, leading to more efficient account opening processes and richer functionality for corporate clients. 

• JPMorgan has built a comprehensive suite of virtual account solutions that centralize global operations and deliver real-time liquidity management.  

• Barclays uses virtual account structures to support customers that hold diverse client funds with self-service account management, automated reconciliation and granular reporting. 

• ING’s Virtual Cash Management (VCM) solution optimizes cash concentration and reporting across multiple jurisdictions creating a unified view of liquidity. 

• Lloyds Bank offers Externally Addressable Virtual Accounts (EAVAs), with their own IBANs and sort codes, for seamless “Payments on Behalf Of” and “Receipts on Behalf Of” structures.  

• Deutsche Bank’s virtual account structures enable real-time cash concentration and streamlining reassignment during acquisitions or divestments, powering Deutsche Bank’s growing ‘in-house banking-as-a-service’ product for corporate clients with complex structures. 

The key here is taking a proactive role. Instead of waiting for clients to ask for better solutions, market leaders are looking ahead.  

Why Standing Still Is Not an Option 

By 2025, 40% of corporates plan to rationalize their banking partnerships. If your offerings don’t evolve, this is a direct threat to client retention and revenue growth. To excel in their role, corporate treasurers need banks that provide predictive insights, integrated platforms, and the ability to scale swiftly as their businesses change. 

VAM is becoming a core capability for serving this generation of treasurers. In our work with corporate banks, we have seen VAM increase conversion rates for new client mandates, boost revenue per customer, lower total cost of ownership, and secure long-term client loyalty. More importantly, it helps banks position themselves as key allies in their clients’ strategic decision-making processes. 

VAM gives you the ability to tailor your your cash management offering to your customers’ challenges, such as regulatory pressures, global expansion, cost reductions. In turn, this allows you to offer services that drive measurable, long-term value, including: 

1. Simplified collections: Assigning unique virtual account numbers to streamline payments and automate reconciliation. 
2. Optimize liquidity management: Centralize cash visibility and automate positioning to help customers manage capital in real-time. 
3. Manage client funds: Offer fund segregation with granular control for industries like real estate and legal. 
4. Streamline transactions with POBO and ROBO: Centralize payments and receivables for improved customer compliance and clarity. 
5. Enhance treasury control with in-house banking: Enable customers to manage entities and subsidiaries centrally with unique virtual account numbers for each unit. 
6. Enable multi-currency accounts: Support international businesses with multi-currency management under a single account. 
7. Maximize returns with virtual deposit accounts: Help customers track and manage surplus cash investments efficiently.