EuroFinance

Corporate treasury often rewards complex methods. Phong Vu, treasurer at Broward Health, a public health care system in the United States, takes a different view. According to Vu, the discipline is less about sophistication than about sequence: first secure cash, then make it more efficient.

The question is not daily liquidity management but what to do with excess funds. “Because we have excess cash, we don’t really have to manage tightly on a day-to-day basis,” he says; instead, the task is “trying to get the best returns possible from the pool that we have.”

Segment first, optimise later

From that starting point, the structure is simple. Cash is divided by use: what is needed for operations today, and what can be deployed for returns.

At the base are bank balances—the operational layer, shaped by account structures and payment needs. Above sits a secondary pool, where surplus liquidity can be deployed more productively. The hierarchy is deliberate: immediate obligations first, optimisation second.

Vu draws a line between “cash” and “liquidity”. Cash is what is needed today. Liquidity stretches beyond—days, weeks, or months. This timing distinction guides investment decisions. Once near-term needs are covered, the remaining funds can be put to work with fewer constraints, he added.

The next question is where that cash should sit. Bank deposits, though convenient, are rarely optimal. Returns are uncertain and often determined after the fact. Nor are banks inclined to pay above market rates. The logical response is to reduce idle balances and channel excess into instruments such as money-market funds, where yields are more transparent and typically higher.

Yet optimising does not mean complexity. In larger organisations, Vu has overseen teams dedicated to managing diversified portfolios. His current setup is leaner—and his approach reflects that. Investment choices are streamlined through a portal offering a defined set of funds and instruments. The trade-off is intentional: less breadth and greater control. Complexity, he suggests, should match resources, not exceed them.

Diversification follows the same logic. Rather than rigid policies, Vu relies on internal guidelines shaped by experience. Exposure limits—such as caps per fund manager—provide discipline without overcomplicating the process. Technology again plays a role. The portal consolidates reporting, allowing him to monitor positions without constant intervention. Risk management, in this framework, is less about structure than about visibility, he noted.

The next evolution of money

Beyond the mechanics of cash lies a broader question: how the system itself might change. Here, Vu turns to stablecoins and tokenised deposits. Though not yet in use at Broward Health, he sees them as inevitable. The argument is historical as much as technological. Money, he notes, has always evolved—from physical commodities to fiat currencies—each shift reflecting both innovation and social acceptance.

Distributed ledgers, in his view, represent the next stage. They replace institutional trust with system-based trust: instead of relying on banks or custodians, users rely on the ledger itself. That shift is significant, but not new. What may differ this time is speed. In a world accustomed to rapid change, adoption could come faster and perhaps more quietly than expected. “It may happen without us even knowing it,” he suggests.

Regulation will shape that transition, but not define it. While supportive frameworks can encourage adoption, they conflict with the decentralised ethos of tokenisation. How far governments are willing to cede control remains an open question.

For now, such debates remain secondary to the practicalities of treasury. Scale, more than theory, determines priorities. At small amounts, differences in returns are minor. At larger sums, they become decisive. “You care when it’s a million dollars,” Vu remarks—and even more so when the figures run into billions.

The implication is clear. Treasury is not about pursuing complexity for its own sake. It is about aligning decisions with scale, resources and objectives. Get that sequence right, and the rest follows.

Phong Vu, treasurer at Broward Health, will be speaking at the EuroFinance’s 30th International Treasury & Cash Management Summit Miami in May.  He will speak in the session “Cash investments, short term funding, MMF and repo markets for corporate treasury ”, alongside Kátia Dib, Senior director, global treasury operations at The Mosaic Company; and Jeremy Reedus an Independent treasury professional.