Turning the Page: The Best of 2025 and the Road Ahead
The best of 2025 and the road ahead. The topic of AI, naturally, showed up in one way or another during every single NeuGroup peer group meeting and scores of virtual sessions last year—and is the background or focal point of much of what founder and CEO Joseph Neu will be watching in 2026 (see below). But a look at the 10 most-viewed content posts in 2025 (available here) makes clear that amid the push to find AI uses cases, treasury and finance teams remain hyperfocused on the details of risk management, banking, liquidity and capital raising.
This year, NeuGroup looks forward to documenting the extent to which treasury can meaningfully use generative and agentic AI to improve efficiency and effectiveness, and enable functions within the Office of the CFO to solidify their roles as strategic business partners bringing demonstrable economic value to the enterprise.
What Joseph Neu is watching in 2026. Here are half a dozen themes expected to gain momentum the next 12 months:
Rising pressure to reduce SG&A expenses will compel finance teams to do more with less, driving headcounts lower.
Efforts to improve the tech plumbing bringing clean data into AI models and automation tools that support decision-making will shift the focus away from traditional Office of the CFO systems like TMSs and ERPs.
AI-powered cash models will enable treasury to move beyond forecasting to finding sources of additional free cash flow that drive business growth.
Analysis of an enterprise’s risk exposure profile using digital twins that monitor and manage risk will allow finance teams to reduce buffer capital and liquidity needs, thereby improving risk-adjusted return on capital, RAROC.
Expect the introduction of AI agents capable of opening and closing bank accounts and moving funds from one bank or non-bank institution to another—with human oversight. What’s more, the agents will promote fund flows that optimize global liquidity and mitigate trapped cash.
AI assistants will allow a treasurer rotating through the function to perform like an expert—reducing the need for an all-knowing AT. The same applies for heads of FP&A. Ultimately, finance generalists aided by AI may master enough domains to be CFO.
Top-performing NeuGroup Insights 2025 posts.Here are the ten pieces of 2025 content (eight articles, one video, one podcast) read, watched or listened to by the greatest number of people. The list reflects the times we’re in (private credit, tariffs, the yield curve), perennial treasury issues (bank account management, FX hedging, cash investment) and includes three articles initiated by sponsors that clearly resonated with readers.
