Fully integrated investment solution drives efficiency at BT

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Fully integrated investment solution drives efficiency at BT

Published: Sep 2025

Best Investing Solution

Highly Commended Winner

BT Group Plc.

Photo of Tom Cahalane and Roland White, BT Group.

Tom Cahalane

Treasury Manager

Gergely Bolla

Assistant Treasurer

Peter Duboczki

Group Treasury Accounting Manager

Tamás Boros

Group Treasury Manager

Adam Molnar

Group Treasury Back Office Senior Manager

Bela Horvath

Group Treasury Operations Manager

Roland White

Treasury Systems

Andrew Binnie (sponsor)

Treasury Director

UK | Hungary

British Telecommunications plc (BT), a leading UK telecommunications company, operates in over 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broadband, mobile services, subscription television and IT services in the UK.

in partnership with

The challenge

BT’s treasury team manages a substantial cash and liquidity portfolio. Initially, when BT started using money market funds (MMFs), trades were placed by phone and confirmed manually. As BT’s investment requirements and cash strategy expanded, there was a need to streamline processes, and the treasury team adopted an independent cash management portal for quicker trade placement and reduced manual processing. However, when the original portal was acquired by another provider in 2019, BT needed a new solution that offered wider market coverage, better management reporting and further automation.

A new solution was required to optimise BT’s cash portfolio, streamline the investment process and automate as much as possible. The existing system still required manual processing and reconciliations, leading to potential settlement risks and cash flow issues. BT needed a more efficient and integrated solution to handle high-value transactions with minimal errors.

The solution

In 2023, BT initiated a vendor-driven request for proposal (RFP) to find a more efficient investment platform to complement an upgrade of its treasury management system (TMS), ION’s City Financials. After an extensive RFP process, BT selected Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Mosaic platform in early 2024.

“We chose Mosaic for its ability to offer a single, integrated system that seamlessly connects with City Financials, automating post-transaction and performance data reporting. This integration was crucial for improving commercial outcomes and operational efficiency,” explains Tom Cahalane, Treasury Manager.

The solution involved integrating Mosaic with BT’s TMS, City Financials, to streamline the trading and management of liquidity fund investments across all MMF providers.

The RFP process and selection of Mosaic took place in early 2024, with the implementation following shortly after. It forms part of BT treasury’s ongoing modernisation and transformation that commenced in 2021 with the creation of a best in class operations team in Budapest, Hungary.

The implementation was carried out within BT’s treasury operations, which manage investments and cash flow for the company’s global operations. The key players were BT’s treasury team, supported by technical teams in BT, ION and Goldman Sachs.

The integration was achieved through strong collaboration between Mosaic and City Financials, incorporating Trade Instruct APIs and Single Sign-On access. This allowed BT’s treasury team to use their TMS as the primary workflow tool, with Mosaic operating in the background to execute investment-related activities and provide straight through processing.

The implementation of Mosaic and City Financials has significantly increased efficiency, reduced manual processes, and strengthened the integrity of treasury operations for BT. This strategic technology upgrade has created three layers of resilience within BT’s treasury function, demonstrating how a fully integrated investment solution can drive operational improvements and efficiency gains for large, multinational corporations.

“I am proud of the BT treasury team for the relentless pursuit of excellence through continuous evaluation and execution of process improvements. Receiving the Adam Smith Award highlights our achievements, underpinning team engagement and inclusion whilst also strengthening our internal and external relationships.”

Andrew Binnie (sponsor), Treasury Director

Best practice and innovation

BT demonstrated best practice and innovation by clearly defining its goal to select a best in class system during the RFP process. The treasury team established precise criteria, enabling effective market evaluation, shortlisting four providers and selecting two finalists to deliver improvements.

The treasury team played a crucial role in identifying internal stakeholders and ensuring the right resources were aligned at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and ION for rapid project execution. This alignment ensured all partners were adequately resourced, BT’s stakeholders were fully engaged and the treasury team delivered the project on time, more quickly than anticipated. The new system streamlined daily tasks by simplifying processes and mitigating risks. This improved efficiency has made training new team members much easier, built confidence and enhanced team resilience. The treasury team can now focus fully on their purpose of managing treasury processes, being business partners and risk managers without being burdened by routine manual tasks.

Key benefits

Cost savings.
Headcount savings.
Process efficiencies.
Increased automation.
Risk mitigated.
Improved visibility.
Errors reduced.
Manual intervention reduced.
Increased system connectivity.

As Cahalane concludes, “The objective of this project was clear – a cost-effective solution that not only gave us savings but an opportunity to transform processes. Our goal has always been to reduce potential points of failure, remove ‘key man’ risk and eliminate manual processes through sensible automation. We are always looking for ways to simplify and to make what we do the best that it can be.”

BT’s journey to optimise their cash portfolio and streamline investment processes is a prime example of forwardthinking treasury management. The integration of Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Mosaic platform with BT’s TMS, City Financials, has significantly increased efficiency, reduced manual effort and strengthened overall treasury operations. We are proud to have been selected for this strategic technology upgrade, which has created three layers of resilience within BT’s treasury function, supporting their global operations and commercial outcomes.

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The Adam Smith Awards are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2025 awards attracted 454 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards

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