Association for Financial Professionals

Association for Financial Professionals
Name	Association for Financial Professionals
Formation	1980
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Type	Professional association
Membership	Treasury, finance, corporate, banking professionals
Leader title	President and CEO

Association for Financial Professionals is a professional association serving corporate treasury and finance professionals in the United States and internationally. It provides certification, education, research, and advocacy services to practitioners in treasury, cash management, risk management, corporate finance, and payments. The association interacts with regulators, standards bodies, trade groups, and multinational firms to influence practices affecting liquidity, payments systems, and financial risk.

History

The organization was founded amid evolving corporate treasury practices in the late 20th century alongside institutions such as Federal Reserve System, Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury (United States), and industry groups like American Bankers Association and The Clearing House. Early milestones involved collaboration with Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and participation in initiatives connected to SWIFTNet, CHIPS (clearing house), Fedwire, and Automated Clearing House modernization. The group expanded services through partnerships with International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Bank for International Settlements, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and standards bodies such as International Organization for Standardization and Financial Accounting Standards Board. Over time, it addressed issues highlighted by events including the 2008 financial crisis, the Dot-com bubble, and regulatory responses like the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002.

Membership and Organization

Membership comprises treasury, corporate finance, and accounting professionals employed by companies ranging from multinational corporations like General Electric, IBM, Toyota Motor Corporation, and ExxonMobil to financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Members interact with counterparts in organizations including Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Institute of Management Accountants, Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, Certified Treasury Professional programs, and national associations like CFA Institute, Financial Executives International, National Association of Corporate Treasurers (UK), and European Association of Corporate Treasurers. The governing structure mirrors practices used by nonprofits such as American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Project Management Institute, with boards, committees, and regional chapters engaging with entities like Chamber of Commerce of the United States and state-level groups.

Certification and Professional Development

The association administers professional credentials comparable to programs from Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Financial Analyst, Financial Risk Manager, Institute of Internal Auditors, and Project Management Professional. Its certification pathways address competencies similar to curricula at academic institutions such as Harvard Business School, Wharton School, London School of Economics, Sloan School of Management, and INSEAD. Continuing professional education initiatives involve partnerships with vendors and trainers like Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG, McKinsey & Company, and technology providers including Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, FIS (company), Fiserv, and TreasuryXpress. The credentialing process is influenced by standards from International Federation of Accountants and testing norms used by organizations such as Educational Testing Service.

Research, Publications, and Surveys

The association produces surveys and benchmarking reports that inform practitioners and policymakers alongside research from think tanks and academic centers such as Brookings Institution, Peterson Institute for International Economics, National Bureau of Economic Research, Wharton School, and Harvard Kennedy School. Major reports address topics in payments, treasury operations, and risk similar to work by McKinsey Global Institute, Boston Consulting Group, Accenture, Gartner, and Forrester Research. Survey outputs are cited in media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Bloomberg News, and Reuters. It publishes practitioner-oriented materials in collaboration with publishers like Wiley, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and trade outlets such as Treasury & Risk, Bankers Magazine, and American Banker.

Conferences and Events

Annual conferences convene professionals, regulators, and vendors similarly to gatherings organized by Money20/20, Sibos, ASHRAE (finance-related sessions notwithstanding), IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings, and industry expos like Finovate and Consensus (CoinDesk). Events feature speakers drawn from corporations such as Microsoft, Amazon (company), Apple Inc., Visa Inc., Mastercard, and institutions like Federal Reserve Bank of New York, European Central Bank, Bank of England, and People's Bank of China. Vendor exhibitions include firms such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Stripe, Plaid (company), Adyen, and Square, Inc. to showcase treasury, payments, and fintech solutions. The association’s summit programming is comparable to conferences by SXSW, TED, World Economic Forum, and Sibos in scope for networking and policy discourse.

Advocacy and Standards-setting

Advocacy efforts engage with legislative and regulatory entities akin to interactions by American Bankers Association, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Financial Stability Board, and Basel Committee. The association contributes position papers on issues related to payments, anti-money laundering rules like Bank Secrecy Act, sanctions administered by Office of Foreign Assets Control, and data privacy regimes such as General Data Protection Regulation and U.S. state privacy laws. Its standards-related work aligns with initiatives by National Institute of Standards and Technology, International Organization for Standardization, ISO 20022 migration efforts, and cross-border payment modernization driven by Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and private-sector consortia such as R3 (company).

Category:Professional associations