Field Notes · 19 May 2026
Segregation of duties inside deal capture
Deal modules create financial exposure quickly. Role design that works on an organisation chart can still fail inside the treasury application.
In treasury policy documents, dealers and settlers are almost always separate. Inside the application, shared “temporary” roles, copied profiles, and weekend cover arrangements quietly undo that separation.
Where conflicts hide
We look for users who can both enter and confirm a deal, or who can amend settlement instructions after confirmation without a second approver. Cover arrangements during leave are a frequent source: a settler receives dealer rights “for two weeks” and the rights remain after the colleague returns.
Sampling that respects markets
For FX and money-market activity, we sample across quiet and busy days, not only month-end. A control that holds on a slow Tuesday but fails on a volatile Thursday is still a financial control problem. We also check whether cancelled or amended deals leave a complete trail — missing history is itself a finding.
Fixing without freezing the desk
Remediation rarely means shutting the desk. It usually means cleaning role templates, adding a short-lived access request path for genuine cover, and reviewing privileged grants monthly. Those steps are ordinary treasury hygiene; the application simply has to enforce what the policy already claims.