The contemporary financial landscape is characterized by accelerated cash movement, escalating risks, and a diminished margin for error. This challenging environment forms the operational reality for chief financial officers (CFOs) and treasurers within middle-market enterprises globally.
Against this backdrop, the third annual Growth Corporates Working Capital Index 2025–2026, a comprehensive report by Visa in collaboration with PYMNTS Intelligence, sheds light on crucial industry trends. Drawing insights from 1,457 CFOs and treasurers across 23 countries, 10 industries, and five global regions, this ambitious study reveals a significant paradigm shift in how financial leaders perceive and utilize working capital. No longer regarded merely as a defensive cash reserve for contingencies, working capital is now being actively deployed as a vital catalyst for growth within markets defined by persistent volatility. In this dynamic context, liquidity has emerged as the pivotal differentiator, enabling firms not just to withstand disruption but to proactively thrive amidst it.
Efficiency: The New Growth Capital for Modern Enterprises
A notable finding from the index is the profound impact of efficiency on capital generation. Four out of five firms successfully liberated an average of $19 million last year through the strategic implementation of external working capital solutions. This freed-up capital, contrary to past defensive strategies where it might have remained static, was actively re-allocated. It was channeled into strengthening essential supplier relationships and funding crucial growth initiatives, crucially, without necessitating additional debt. This underscores a fundamental evolution: efficiency is no longer solely about cost reduction; it has effectively transformed into the new growth capital, fueling expansion and strategic investments.
The Ascendance of the Adaptive CFO in Volatile Markets
The report highlights the critical role of adaptive CFOs in navigating today's complex economic environment. These highly successful financial leaders demonstrated a remarkable ability to leverage working capital for agile and rapid responses to market shifts. Their strategies included making early payments to suppliers, strategically purchasing inventory ahead of price fluctuations, and proactively maintaining robust supply chains even during periods of scarcity. By transforming swift action into a core strategic imperative, these leaders have effectively converted market volatility from a potential threat into a distinct competitive advantage, setting a new benchmark for financial leadership.
Corporate Cards: Evolving into Strategic Growth Levers
Once relegated to the realm of mere back-office conveniences, corporate cards are experiencing a significant redefinition, now recognized as powerful instruments for driving growth. The past year saw a dramatic threefold increase, with 15% of growth corporates opportunistically utilizing these cards compared to the previous year. The inherent advantages of corporate cards—including faster settlement times, reduced manual processing, and enhanced audit trails—equip CFOs with the agility and confidence to seize emerging opportunities instantaneously. This shift underscores their evolution from transactional tools to indispensable components of a dynamic financial strategy.
Addressing Late Payments: Beyond Revenue Erosion
The pervasive issue of late B2B payments continues to exert a significant drag on financial performance. Growth corporates reported losing nearly 4% of their total revenue annually while attempting to collect these overdue payments. However, the financial impact extends far beyond direct revenue loss. Late payments introduce significant distortions across the entire financial ecosystem, undermining the reliability of forecasts, delaying critical investments, and ultimately stalling strategic initiatives. Recognizing these profound implications, a growing number of CFOs are actively adopting faster-settlement tools, particularly commercial and virtual cards, to effectively compress Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and ensure uninterrupted cash flow velocity, thereby safeguarding both revenue and strategic momentum.
Artificial Intelligence: A New Ally for the Finance Team
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming financial operations. A substantial six out of ten CFOs are already leveraging generative and agentic AI technologies for crucial functions such as precise forecasting, streamlined supplier onboarding processes, and comprehensive workflow automation. The benefits cited are compelling: AI significantly sharpens cash flow visibility, accelerates supplier decision-making, and effectively reclaims valuable time for strategic tasks. As more financial workflows transition towards autonomy, the compounding advantages of AI will become increasingly evident, leading to broader visibility, compressed operational cycles, and instilling greater confidence in leaders to execute decisions with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
Charting the Future: A Roadmap for Adaptive Financial Leadership
The Growth Corporates Working Capital Index 2025–2026 transcends being merely another compilation of data; it serves as a critical roadmap illustrating how contemporary CFOs are not only adapting but actively thriving in an environment where volatility is the enduring norm. The report emphatically demonstrates that liquidity, strategically empowered by an optimal combination of advanced corporate cards, cutting-edge AI technologies, and sophisticated working capital solutions, has definitively emerged as the primary growth engine for middle-market firms worldwide.
The official launch of the Growth Corporates Working Capital Index 2025–2026 on Monday, September 29th, will be accompanied by two practical tools specifically designed to facilitate immediate action and insight:
- The Dynamic Report: An interactive and intuitive platform offering granular industry-specific and regional insights, enabling users to explore data relevant to their particular context.
- The Working Capital Performance Benchmark: A concise, five-minute personalized assessment designed to allow CFOs to objectively compare their firm's working capital performance against their industry peers, identifying areas of strength and potential improvement.
While the intrinsic importance of liquidity has always been a cornerstone of sound financial management, the findings of this year’s index unequivocally prove its evolution into a potent competitive weapon. The CFOs who master the art of wielding this weapon most effectively are unequivocally positioned to redefine and rewrite the narrative of growth in 2026 and beyond, solidifying their firms' leadership in a perpetually evolving global economy.
