{
  "id": 5456589,
  "title": "The 4 New Working-Capital Levers CFOs Can Pull in Real Time",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/04/the-4-new-working-capital-levers-cfos-can-pull-in-real-time",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-04T00:57:07.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PYMNTS",
    "slug": "pymnts",
    "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/back-office/cfo/2026/the-4-new-working-capital-levers-cfos-can-pull-in-real-time/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The latest advancements in payment infrastructure are providing Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) with greater control over their working capital. These new tools allow CFOs to make strategic decisions regarding when, where, and how money moves, rather than simply settling obligations quickly out of convenience. This shift in perspective has the potential to optimize cash balances, reduce borrowing costs, and improve overall working-capital efficiency. CFOs can now analyze and decide on the most cost-effective payment methods based on factors such as transaction costs, late fees, FX exposure, and supplier terms. By leveraging real-time data and automated treasury systems, CFOs can operate with smaller precautionary balances, concentrate surplus cash more effectively, and reduce unnecessary borrowing. While this transformation does not eliminate existing challenges like fraud, sanctions, and regulatory complexities, it does shift the focus of treasury technology from simply managing cash settlement schedules to orchestrating payments according to economic conditions.",
  "summary": "The next generation of payment infrastructure is giving CFOs something more valuable than speed. It’s giving them optionality. Real-time rails, richer ISO 20022 data, virtual accounts, embedded FX and automated treasury systems are providing finance teams with new levers over four variables CFOs have historically struggled to control with precision: when liquidity leaves, where it sits, […] The…",
  "key_points": [
    "CFOs gain real-time control over working capital via advanced payment infrastructure.",
    "New tools enable strategic decisions on money movement timing, location, and method.",
    "CFOs can reduce borrowing costs and optimize cash balances using real-time data."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}