Times are definitely challenging for treasury teams nowadays. Traditionally tasked with managing cash, the treasury unit has slowly evolved into a department that strategizes ways to optimize the use of cash, while managing a corporate's financial risk profile.

Treasury teams have remained relatively the same in size through the years, although they have been required to work between job functions and departments, acting as a key link that help tie the business together.

In a strategic effort to cut costs, some regional treasury centres have begun centralizing their treasury-related activities. The treasurers at The Asset's Asia Treasury Trailblazer Summit roundtable were weighing which aspects of their multiple functions would benefit the most from the integration process.

Some suggest to centralize policy, hedging and cash approval, while others note the benefits of integrating procurement and trading.

Bernhard Schmitt CFO of DKSH Holdings, however, warns too much centralization has its downside.

"If you centralize procurement too much you can't get the good deals in a country because you will not know the market well enough," Schmitt says.

Risk management (e.g. interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk) has also been growing in focus for treasury teams within the region. According to PwC's Asia Corporate Treasury Survey 2014, 61% of treasurers surveyed considered FX risk exposure as a "very important" concern to them followed by liquidity risk, 50%; interest rate risk, 32%; counterparty credit risk, 28%; and commodity risk, 22%.

As a trend, corporates have started taking a closer look at counterparty risk management, analysts say, and have been studying to see what would happen if a key buyer or supplier suddenly faces financial uncertainty.

While most corporates looked to mitigate risk in their supply chains, others have taken a step further and have begun reexamining their counterparty risk relationship with banks.

In the past, companies are comfortable concentrating their deposits within a single bank. Recent trends suggest that this is changing with businesses looking to maintain multiple bank relationships to distribute risk.

Some are even finding ways to make themselves immune to banking risk. For example Daimler's Southeast Asian treasury team last year sought to reduce its reliance on banks by using global transaction services organization Swift as a solution.

Moreover, treasury teams under a strategic role continue to influence different departments within an organization such as sales. "We incentivize people on collected sales. Just little changes in their bonus system can really help us," says Schmitt.

In addition to their expanded internal roles, treasury professionals also face tough questions about how Basel III regulations will affect banks' view of their businesses. The banks' credit availability, appetite for deposits, and pricing for certain services will be some of the things on the mind of treasury teams when the regulation is enforced in 2019.

When looking to the future, corporate treasurers at the summit mentioned that adjusting to new forms of technology will be a challenge especially since everything is developing rapidly with regards to e-commerce and different channels of collection. "Today we have 95% of our transactions done through brick and mortar, but one day if it's only 50% what can I do? I need to embark on a solution now," empathizes Lelaina Lim, CFO of RSH.

There is no question that the role of treasurers is evolving amid a more complex business environment. From traditional payments and collections processes, treasury teams' expertise are now relied on to guard assets and grow businesses.

"The corporate treasury management function needs to be strategically located to support the front line business team in spots where they can strike business deals and where the defense can be efficiently organized to handle the risks that may be encountered," says Peter Pang deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.