For treasury teams, managing cash is becoming increasingly complex. Businesses are operating across more markets and currencies, while expectations for real-time information, greater automation and simpler digital experiences continue to grow.

Against this backdrop, our focus is on understanding the challenges our clients face and developing practical solutions around their priorities.

As the UK’s biggest bank for business, we support more than 1.5 million business customers, from start-ups to global institutions, connecting them with expertise, insights and solutions to help them thrive.

That approach has been recognised at the Euromoney Transaction Banking Awards 2026, where NatWest was named the United Kingdom’s Best Cash Management Bank.

Euromoney’s Best Cash Management Bank award assesses banks across areas including strategy, sales advisory, product and solution delivery, digital innovation, and investment in talent and teams. Its assessment focuses on scalable solutions supporting the day-to-day cash management needs of corporate and financial institution clients across payments, liquidity and digital platforms.

Partnership starts with understanding the challenge

At the heart of our approach is the strength of our client partnerships. That means understanding what matters to clients and working with treasury teams to identify the challenges they are trying to solve before shaping practical solutions around their priorities, rather than simply presenting products.

One example highlighted by Euromoney is the 2025 pilot of our enhanced Corporate Virtual Accounts, giving participating clients the ability to create externally addressable sterling virtual accounts through round-the-clock self-service. Treasury teams can establish account hierarchies suited to their organisations, with support for real-time Faster Payments and Open Banking services for accessing account information and initiating payments. The proposition is designed to help simplify complex account structures while improving reconciliation and cash visibility.

The pilot is part of our wider Cash Management Transformation Programme, supporting increased automation and client self-service.

Innovation focused on client impact

Innovation is a critical enabler, but technology alone isn’t the objective. Our focus is on turning technology and insight into tangible outcomes for clients.

Digital transformation remains central to our cash management strategy. Continued investment in APIs, host-to-host connectivity, Open Banking, automated reporting and real-time treasury services is helping organisations integrate banking more closely with their ERP and Treasury Management Systems. By improving the flow of information between systems, these capabilities can help reduce manual intervention and support greater accuracy, governance and operational resilience.

This principle can also be seen in the continued development of our liquidity and foreign exchange capabilities.

Euromoney highlighted enhancements to Currency Cash Concentration, our service for consolidating and managing multi-currency cash balances. Developments included support for longer-term foreign exchange swaps, balances held with third-party banks and automated foreign exchange trades triggered by client-defined exchange-rate thresholds. These additions are designed to provide greater flexibility and control when managing cash across banking relationships.

Together, these developments reflect a wider ambition: connecting payments, liquidity and data while translating innovation into practical benefits for clients.

Expertise throughout the journey

Technology is only one part of effective cash management. Alongside investment in digital capabilities, our cross-functional, sector-aligned teams bring expertise throughout the client journey, from understanding a challenge and designing a solution to implementation, delivery and ongoing optimisation.

That combination of technology and expertise is particularly important when clients have complex or time-sensitive requirements.

For example, Euromoney also recognised the introduction of a new account-opening model for insolvency practitioners, capable of establishing accounts within 24 hours of receiving a valid request, enabling practitioners to begin managing estate funds more quickly.

It is another example of an approach centred on solving a practical client problem, rather than innovation for its own sake.

Recognition built on partnership

Being named the United Kingdom’s Best Cash Management Bank is an important recognition of the progress we are making, but it is also a reflection of the work that sits behind it.

It follows recent recognition from Global Finance, which also named NatWest Best Bank for Cash Management in the UK 2026. Together, the awards reflect the continued focus of colleagues across the bank on supporting clients with their evolving treasury and cash management needs.

That includes the clients who work closely with us to share their challenges and shape solutions, and colleagues across NatWest whose expertise and collaboration help turn those ideas into practical outcomes.

Guillaume Fleuti, Head of Transaction Services & Trade, said:

“This recognition means a great deal because it reflects what sits at the heart of our approach to cash management: strong client partnerships, solving real treasury challenges and using innovation where it can make a meaningful difference. Innovation alone isn’t enough. It needs to be combined with expertise to understand a client’s needs, design the right solution and support them through implementation and beyond. I’d like to thank our clients for their continued confidence in us, and colleagues across NatWest whose commitment, expertise and collaboration have contributed to this achievement.”

Isabelle Girolami, Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking, added:

“Our clients’ treasury needs continue to evolve as businesses become more connected and expectations around speed, visibility and digital experiences increase. Our role is to listen, understand those needs and bring together the right technology and expertise to help address them. This recognition reflects the work colleagues across NatWest are doing every day to support our clients as their needs evolve.”

The recognition reinforces our ambition to be a trusted partner for treasury and cash management and to continue investing in the technology, expertise and relationships that help our clients move forward.

We’re the bank that turns possibilities into progress.