While explorers push through the treasury technology frontiers into the deep space of XML and mashups, those following along the path to automation are reaping the benefits of such enterprise. Together, they are meeting the challenges of visibility, control, efficiency, timeliness, security and compliance that put pressure on today's treasury staffs to perform like never before. William Baydalla is seeking a treasury future based on XML. One of the biggest breakthroughs in treasury technology this year is the availability of ISO 20022 XML (Extensible Markup Language) as a message format, he reports.

"The standard is hot, new and globally ready," says Baydalla, head of information reporting in the Global Transaction Banking (GTB) unit of Deutsche Bank. "Banks have tested and implemented ISO 20022 XML in a big way across both the bank-to-bank and now the corporate-to-bank space."

"After being introduced as the core interbank messaging standard for [the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)], ISO 20022 XML is now industrial-strength," says Arthur Brieske, head of global payments strategy for Deutsche Bank's GTB business. "It has been incorporated into treasury and ERP systems. Corporations now have a more efficient and automated way to carry on real-time conversations with their banks."