Stop Giving It Away: Reclaiming Treasury Management Fee Income
Jan 14, 2025
One of the most common challenges community banks face is the widespread practice of waiving treasury management (TM) fees. This is part 1 of our 8-part series on Why Treasury Management Excellence Matters. On the surface, it can seem like a gesture of goodwill to business customers. It often leads to significant lost revenue and unintended cultural damage inside the bank. Today, let’s work on reclaiming treasury management fee income.
Waiving TM fees results in two major problems. First, it leaves a substantial amount of non-interest income on the table - sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Second, it sends a damaging message internally: that the time, expertise, and services provided by TM staff are not valuable. This erodes morale and discourages further growth of the TM department.
The solution is straightforward in concept but requires leadership discipline: stop waiving TM fees. However, achieving this requires more than a policy change - it demands a cultural shift across the institution. Leadership must clearly communicate the value of TM services, establish pricing policies, and allocate the necessary resources to support the sales and operational teams. This means ensuring your Board, President, and CEO champion TM as a core revenue driver, not an optional service.
Changing the fee culture will not happen overnight. It requires reinforcing the value of TM in every conversation, providing business bankers with the tools they need to communicate value, and setting clear expectations for pricing consistency.
Strong treasury management practices strengthen customer relationships, generate non-interest income, and demonstrate your bank’s professionalism. Charging appropriately for these services is not just about revenue - it's about reinforcing the value of the expertise your bank provides.
Want to strengthen your team’s understanding of treasury management? Explore our training for bank directors today.
👉 Learn more about Treasury Management for Directors
TMClarity™ empowers Community Banks to attract more business core deposits and increase non-interest fee income. Our framework enables you to become world-class in the selling, implementation, and customer support of treasury management services offered to your business customers.
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