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Treasury Council

Treasury strategy and balance sheet management

Prep sessions
10
Bottom Line Up Front
  1. 1.

    The Fed stayed restrictive on July 29. The FOMC held the target range at `3.50%-3.75%` by a `9-3` vote, and the dissents were hawkish, not dovish: three members preferred a `25 bp` hike. The short end still competes for cash. As of the July 31 H.15 release using July 30 data, effective fed funds was `3.63%`, 3-month Treasury bills were `3.69%`, the 2-year Treasury was `4.23%`, and the 10-year Treasury was `4.68%`.

  2. 2.

    System liquidity is still healthy. The July 31 H.8 shows total commercial bank deposits at `19.4011T` for the week ended July 22, with `2.5373T` in large time deposits and `16.8638T` in other deposits. The July 30 H.4.1 shows reserve balances at `2.9846T`. This is still not a macro liquidity crisis. FUB's issue remains funding quality, operating-balance capture, and treasury execution.

  3. 3.

    The best internal deposit datapoint in the four-week window is still tactical, not structural. Brian reported on July 7 that June deposits were up `$37.5M` versus a `$283M` forecast and NIM improved `13 bps` month over month (`4 bps` core). Good month. Not proof the mix problem is solved.

  4. 4.

    The late-July treasury signals are more encouraging than the early-July view, but still incomplete. On July 30, Treasury reported NIB deposits to total deposits had moved out of red, treasury-management fee revenue growth was about `17%`, and deposit growth was about `13%`. At the same time, NPS remained red because survey response rates were too low to trust the signal.

  5. 5.

    Karen's segmented treasury pack still appears to be missing from the accessible July 4-August 1 review set. That matters. Treasury Council still does not have a current monthly instrument for segment economics, large-balance runoff, fee-waiver trends, or correspondent banking status. The last hard First Fidelity / wire-economics reference still traces to March 9.

Talking Points
1. Balance Sheet: June improved, but July's better color is still not a full management pack
  • â€șJuly 7 Q2 halftime:
  • â€șdeposits up `$37.5M` in June versus a `$283M` forecast
  • â€șNIM up `13 bps` month over month, including `4 bps` core
  • â€șJuly 30 treasury scorecard:
  • â€șNIB deposits to total deposits moved out of red
  • â€ștreasury-management fee revenue growth about `17%`
  • â€șdeposit growth about `13%`
  • â€șThese are useful signals, but they are not a segmented balance-sheet view.
  • â€șThe room still lacks a current read on:
  • â€șNIB by segment
  • â€ștop relationship runoff risk
  • â€șpricing exceptions and fee waivers
  • â€școst of funds by balance class
2. Treasury Strategy: the operating model is still doing violence to treasury economics
  • â€șabout `3,000` administrative hours per month for about `1,000` requests
  • â€șabout `$105,000` monthly salary cost
  • â€șcustomer and account data fragmented across `9` systems
  • â€șmanual re-keying through email, Salesforce, Word/legal forms, and support processing
  • â€șslower onboarding delays treasury activation
  • â€șfragmented servicing reduces operating-balance attachment
  • â€șerrors and rework erode customer confidence and fee capture
3. Treasury product momentum: there are real near-term wins available
  • â€șFUB currently cannot receive instant payments, creating deposit-friction risk
  • â€șone July 22 discussion cited about `$6M` of outflow via alternative payment apps such as Cash App
  • â€șthe proposal to activate Jack Henry PayCenter for RTP and FedNow receive capability carried an estimated annual cost of about `$63K`
  • â€șthe same discussion framed the deposit-retention opportunity at about `$2.1M`
  • â€șby July 30, Treasury had approved implementation of instant-payments receive via RTP and FedNow for consumer and business customers
4. Customer and treasury notes: the NPS signal is still noisy, but the process signal is not
  • â€șNPS remains red
  • â€șonboarding survey response is only about `10%`
  • â€șsurveys often go to signers rather than trainees
  • â€șthe team wants broader service and post-onboarding measurement, not a single narrow onboarding survey
  • â€șThe NPS number itself is not fully trustworthy yet.
  • â€șThe underlying process diagnosis is still credible: onboarding, service flow, workflow fragmentation, and cross-sell activation all need work.
5. Karen / First Fidelity / correspondent banking: still stale
  • â€șFUB current wire volume: about `17K/month`
  • â€șFirst Fidelity incremental volume estimate: about `6K/month`
  • â€șincremental Fed wire cost at that volume: about `$0.30/wire`
  • â€șFinestra per-wire cost: about `$1.74/wire`, with Karen to verify contract detail
  • â€șrelationship framing for Ryan: `8-figure NIB + $5/wire`
Watch Items
  • â€șAny shift in Fed language between now and the September meeting. The July meeting did not soften policy posture.
  • â€șWhether August internal deposit and NIB data confirm July's improving color or reveal another tactical bounce.
  • â€șWhether treasury can convert the NIB-out-of-red improvement into a segmented management discipline instead of a single scorecard anecdote.
  • â€șWhether NPS/CSAT measurement gets fixed fast enough to become decision-useful.
  • â€șWhether instant-payments receive actually ships on the stated fast timeline.
  • â€șWhether Karen's pack appears before the next meeting. If not, that is a management signal in its own right.
Next Actions
  1. 1.Ask Karen for the current treasury pack and make it a standing pre-read requirement.
  2. 2.Ask Ryan and Brian for current month-to-date deposits, NIB, deposit cost, and NIM/NII so the room is not anchored on June plus partial July signals.
  3. 3.Treat treasury workflow simplification as a balance-sheet issue, not a side systems project.
  4. 4.Confirm RTP/FedNow receive implementation dates, owner, and success metric.
  5. 5.Force a dated answer on First Fidelity: active, stalled, or dead.