With interest rates poised to move higher in 2016, manytreasury professionals are hoping for a return to the good old daysof decent yields in safe investments for their corporate andinstitutional cash. However, the world they'll encounter when ratesfinally do rise will be very different from the higher-rateenvironment they left eight years ago.

Since the financial crisis, the near-zero rates—combined with alengthy period of guarantees on demand deposits—helped create a“business as usual” mind-set among many treasury professionals. But2016 promises to be a pivotal year that will usher in a new era incash management, requiring new ways of thinking.

Compared with a decade ago, today's cash investment landscape isshaped by higher risk awareness, more sensitivity to liquiditycosts, and stricter systemic regulation. Dodd-Frank and Basel IIIare already causing the biggest banks to limit uninsured deposits.And when money market reforms are instituted in October 2016,institutional money funds will have less stability, greater risk,and lower yield potential.