The era of easy margins is over. For decades, community financial institutions (CFIs) relied on a predictable formula: gather local deposits, lend them out at a healthy spread, and maintain a lean back office. But the economic gravity of the mid-2020s has shifted that foundation. While net income across the sector saw a 2.4% dip in 2024, a different story emerged in the margins: non-interest income surged by nearly 6%. This divergence is not a temporary blip; it is a signal. Building your 2026 Treasury Management roadmap is no longer a secondary project for the operations team; it is the primary funding engine for your institution’s future loan growth and the most reliable driver of non-interest fee income available to the C-suite.
For too long, many CFIs have treated Treasury Management (TM) as a throw-in to secure a commercial loan. In 2026, “giving away the farm” by waiving high-value fees is a strategy that will erode your institution’s valuation. To compete with the scale of megabanks and the agility of fintechs, CFI leaders must stop viewing treasury as a support function and start viewing it as a strategic profit center.
The “Free Service” Trap: Why CFIs Are Leaving Millions on the Table
The most common hurdle in community banking is what we call the relationship fallacy. Many Relationship Managers (RMs) believe that waiving TM fees strengthens a client bond. They view it as a gesture of goodwill that secures the real business: the loan. In practice, this habit devalues your expertise and trains your best clients to view sophisticated cash management as a commodity rather than a strategic asset.
The Multiplier Effect of Fee Income
The math of the free service trap is punishing. Consider the multiplier effect: every $1 in fee income can equate to $4 or $5 in institutional value when paired with the low-cost deposits those services attract. When your team ignores fee leakage (such as unbilled manual wire repairs, specialized reporting, or Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) maintenance), they aren’t just being friendly. They are ignoring the rising costs of cybersecurity and compliance that these services require.
The Cost of Fee Leakage
Fee leakage often happens in the shadows of legacy verbal contracts. A long-term commercial client might have been promised free wires for life in 2014. In 2026, the cost of processing those wires, including the sophisticated fraud monitoring and liquidity management required, has tripled. By failing to audit these legacy agreements, CFIs are essentially subsidizing their clients’ operational costs at the expense of their own shareholders.
Step 1: Strategic Alignment & The Treasury Leader Mindset
Before you can execute a technical roadmap, you must address the cultural one. As we detailed in our guide, How Your Community Financial Institution Can Become Treasury Management Ready, the first step is a pivot from being lenders to becoming deposit and fee gatherers.
Moving Beyond the Product Silo
By 2026, your vision must move TM out of its product silo. In many institutions, the TM officer is only brought in after the loan is approved, often as an afterthought to set up the accounts. This is a tactical error. A Treasury Leader should have a seat at the table during the earliest stages of credit discussions. This ensures that the full value of the relationship, including the operating accounts, the merchant services, and the payroll processing, is captured from day one.
The Cultural Shift
This shift requires the CEO and CFO to redefine what success looks like for a Relationship Manager. If an RM is only incentivized on loan volume, they will continue to waive fees to close deals. If, however, they are incentivized on the total profitability of the relationship, their behavior will change. They will start to see TM not as a hurdle to a loan, but as the key to a more profitable, stickier client.
Step 2: Modernizing the Tech Stack for Your 2026 Treasury Management Roadmap
The baseline for commercial expectations has shifted. It is no longer enough to offer a functional digital portal; your clients now require agentic AI for cash management and real-time decision support.
The Rise of Agentic AI
In 2026, Treasury Management is moving from passive to active. Agentic AI refers to systems that don’t just show a balance, but act based on pre-set parameters. For example, an AI-driven treasury platform can automatically sweep excess funds into higher-yield accounts or flag a suspicious ACH pattern before it becomes a loss. For a CFO at a mid-sized manufacturing firm, this isn’t just a feature; it’s a labor-saving tool that justifies a premium fee.
The API Revolution
Commercial clients increasingly demand real-time visibility. Utilizing APIs to feed data directly into a client’s ERP system (like NetSuite or Sage) is the new standard for data transmission. When your bank’s data is hard-wired into the client’s accounting software, the switching cost becomes incredibly high. This is how CFIs can use modern platforms to deliver the big bank digital experience while maintaining the “local bank” service that megabanks cannot replicate.
Step 3: Implementing Value-Based Pricing
Most CFIs use a cost-plus model: one that takes their internal cost and adds a small markup. To succeed in 2026, you must transition to value-based pricing, where the fee is determined by the benefit to the client rather than the cost to the bank.
The Value Matrix
Consider the following services through the lens of value, not cost:
- Security (Positive Pay): It’s not just check processing; it’s fraud insurance. A single intercepted fraudulent check can save a client tens of thousands of dollars. Price it as a security service, not a transaction fee.
- Efficiency (ACH & Wire): You are reducing their administrative overhead and manual labor. If your platform saves their controller five hours a week, that has a quantifiable dollar value.
- Convenience (RDC): Remote Deposit Capture saves the client a trip to the branch. In a world of high fuel costs and labor shortages, that convenience is a premium product.
Tiered Bundling
Move toward Business Online Banking PLUS models. Instead of nickel-and-diming for every wire, create bundles that include a set number of transactions, enhanced security features, and API access for a flat monthly fee. This captures recurring monthly revenue and simplifies the billing process for both the bank and the client.
Step 4: Training Sales & RMs to Sell Value
The confidence gap is the primary reason fees are waived. RMs often lack the specific training to defend a fee schedule when a client pushes back. They feel like they are charging a friend, rather than billing a client for professional services.
The Needs-Based Discovery
Specialized training is required to give your team the ability to confidently charge for the value they provide. This involves moving to an extensive needs-based assessment process. Instead of asking “Do you need a checking account?”, the RM should ask, “How much time does your team spend reconciling manual payments each month?”
This process often uncovers services for which the client is currently paying a third-party fintech . By bringing those services in-house, you solve a friction point for the client while capturing the revenue. It’s not about selling a product; it’s about solving a business problem.
Incentive Alignment
Finally, ensure your incentive models reward TM fee generation. If an RM knows that a $500-a-month TM fee counts toward their quarterly bonus just as much as a small loan increase, they will prioritize the Treasury Management conversation.
Step 5:Continuous Fee Analysis in Your 2026 Treasury Management Roadmap
Your roadmap must include a mechanism for ongoing optimization. A fee schedule is not a set-it-and-forget-it document. It is a living strategy that must respond to market shifts.
The Account Analysis Audit
Use the monthly account analysis statement as a diagnostic tool. An audit often reveals that 20% of your commercial clients are receiving services they aren’t being billed for, or that their earnings credit rate (ECR) is set so high that it’s wiping out all fee income. Identifying these verbal contracts that no longer make sense in a high-cost environment is the fastest way to boost non-interest income without adding a single new client.
Market Benchmarking
Market benchmarking is equally vital. Your fee schedule should stay competitive, but it must also reflect the reality of your specific market’s economic conditions. If the bank down the street is charging $50 for a service you provide for $20, you’re not positioning your financial institution competitively; you’re just undervaluing your own offerings.
Hypothetical Case Study: The Tale of Two FIs
To illustrate the impact of a 2026 Treasury Management Roadmap, let’s look at two hypothetical community banks over a five-year period.
Bank A: The Relationship Model
Bank A continues to use TM as a loss leader. They waive Positive Pay fees for any loan over $1M and haven’t updated their fee schedule since 2019. Their RMs are focused solely on loan growth.
- Result: By year five, Bank A’s non-interest income has stagnated. Their cost of deposits has risen sharply because they haven’t captured the operating accounts of their borrowers. Their valuation lags behind the peer group because their revenue is entirely dependent on interest rate swings.
Bank B: The Value-Based Model
Bank B implements a 2026 Treasury Management Roadmap. They invest in an API-first tech stack and put their RMs through intensive value-based sales training. They audit their account analysis monthly and eliminate unbilled services.
- Result: By year five, Bank B has seen a 15% increase in non-interest income. More importantly, their cost of funds is 40 basis points lower than Bank A’s because they have secured the sticky operating deposits of their commercial clients. Their valuation is significantly higher because they have a diversified, predictable revenue stream that isn’t tied to the Fed’s rate decisions.
Featured Asset: The Value-Based Pricing Playbook
Stop giving away your expertise for free. Read our Value-Based Pricing Playbook for Community Banks to get the scripts, strategies, and confidence your team needs to win the 2026 market.
Executive Summary: Your Roadmap to Treasury Leadership
The roadmap to 2026 is paved with data-driven pricing and a sales team that understands its own worth. By shifting from a lending-first culture to a value-first treasury model, CFIs can protect their margins and deepen client loyalty simultaneously. The institutions that thrive in the coming years will be those that recognize Treasury Management for what it truly is: the heartbeat of a modern commercial bank.
Ready to find the hidden revenue in your portfolio? Set up a no-obligation discovery call with DeNovo Treasury today to discuss our Fee Analysis and Optimization services.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Why should we charge for services we’ve historically given away for free? In the 2026 landscape, the cost of delivery, from cybersecurity to compliance, has skyrocketed. Giving away value for free doesn’t just hurt your bottom line; it prevents you from reinvesting in the very technology your clients need to stay safe. DeNovo Treasury specializes in helping CFIs transition legacy clients to value-based pricing without damaging the relationship.
- Our RMs are lenders, not TM experts. How can they be expected to sell these services? This is the most common hurdle CFIs face. You don’t need your RMs to be technical experts; you need them to be equipped for identifying TM needs. DeNovo Treasury provides the specific sales training and playbooks that empower RMs to identify opportunities and bring in the TM specialists to close the deal.
- How do we know if our TM pricing is actually competitive? Most banks are either pricing based on what they did ten years ago or what the bank down the street is doing. Neither is a strategy. DeNovo Treasury’s Fee Analysis and Optimization service provides data-driven benchmarking to ensure you are capturing maximum value while remaining highly competitive in your specific market.
- What is the biggest risk of not updating our Treasury Roadmap? The biggest risk is deposit churn. As fintechs and megabanks offer more sophisticated automated tools, your best commercial clients will move their operating accounts to where the technology is better. If you lose the operating account, the loan usually follows shortly after.
